How to improve graphics?

[dwightpaige79]

In F-14 Alpha x86_64 KDE 4. Graphics are not so good. One problem is that there is a blank space at top of screen and to right of screen. As if the display has shifted because KDE menu panel at bottom of desktop is not visible. I had to add a menu panel to top. System Settings>Display and Monitor lists resolution as 1024x768. Normal for this monitor [Acer AL2016W] is 1680x1050. According to sysinfo system is using:

Mesa Project
Model: Software Rasterizer
Driver: 2.1 Mesa 7.9-devel

My hardware [onboard ASUS M2NPV-VM]:

$ lspci
...
00:05.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation C51PV [GeForce 6150] (rev a2)
...

*might* work better with nouveau driver. I edited 'boot/grub/menu.lst' from:

title Fedora (2.6.35.4-12.fc14.x86_64)
root (hd0,8)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35.4-12.fc14.x86_64 ro root=UUID=03dd7262-0ccf-4e44-9b82-fbb1458af8c8 rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_LVM rd_NO_MD rd_NO_DM LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYTABLE=us nomodeset rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initramfs-2.6.35.4-12.fc14.x86_64.img

to:

title Fedora (2.6.35.4-12.fc14.x86_64)
root (hd0,8)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35.4-12.fc14.x86_64 ro root=UUID=03dd7262-0ccf-4e44-9b82-fbb1458af8c8 rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_LVM rd_NO_MD rd_NO_DM LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYTABLE=us xdriver=nouveau rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initramfs-2.6.35.4-12.fc14.x86_64.img

but that led to no login screen. So how do I get it to use nouveau driver? Or is there a better way to improve graphics? I understand that we can't use nvidia driver yet because of some debug stuff in kernel... This hardware rarely works with nv driver.

[AdamW]

Do you have a /etc/X11/xorg.conf file which specifies Driver=vesa ?

[dwightpaige79]

Do you have a /etc/X11/xorg.conf file which specifies Driver=vesa ?

Yes. I have edited that to nouveau but if I am able to boot into X at all graphics is using:'2.1 Mesa 7.9-devel' driver even though xorg.conf says 'nouveau'. The Mesa driver does have proper resolution and works OK for ordinary desktop stuff. Currently I'm booting without an xorg.conf file and relying on dynamic configuration. It's just that booting into F14 is an adventure. It may or may not boot correctly many times booting to a black screen. Tonight I did not have usable graphics until 7th boot. Another problem will be that multimedia won't work well with either Mesa or nouveau. And then there's the issue that I don't know what the heck Mesa is. Of course I could fix that with some Scroogling and reading. So far the dynamic configuration in F-14 is not working as well for me as it has in F-13 [even when it was in development].

[GoinEasy9]

Mesa is/are your open source drivers. Have you "yum install mesa-dri-drivers-experimental" yet? Your card should work with the Mesa drivers.

[AdamW]

Mesa is the OpenGL implementation used by all open source drivers, it's not something alternative to nouveau. You're using the nouveau driver. Obviously, you're hitting some kind of intermittent bug with it. When it boots to a blank screen, is the system actually running? Can you switch to a console? Can you power it down cleanly by pressing the power button and waiting, or do you have to force it off? Can you ssh into it?

[dwightpaige79]

Mesa is the OpenGL implementation used by all open source drivers, it's not something alternative to nouveau. You're using the nouveau driver. Obviously, you're hitting some kind of intermittent bug with it. When it boots to a blank screen, is the system actually running? Can you switch to a console? Can you power it down cleanly by pressing the power button and waiting, or do you have to force it off? Can you ssh into it?


I guess the main problem is that it doesn't boot the same way every time. Sometimes it boots into offcenter graphics with unwanted 1024x768 res. Or sometimes it boots to the black screen. When I do get black screen it is after logging in from a very visible login screen followed by visible splash screen while desktop loads. Then I get black screen but with cashew in upper right corner and here login sound. So system is working and there actually is a desktop. I can select the cashew and a visible window opens. Also I can right click on desktop which also opens a visible window from which I can launch a visible konsole. There is no visible menu panel either. Strange. I started thinking that it may be related to screensaver? When I open System Settings>Display and Monitor>Screensaver my desktop freezes. Don't know if that confirms my suspicion or not.

Edit: FWIW when I do successfully boot into graphics as I want them this is what sysinfo lists as Display info:

Vendor: nouveau
Model: Gallium 0.4 on NV4E
Driver: 1.5 Mesa 7.9-devel