Fedora on a Dell Latitude D800

[RushB]

Having a horrible time with the display and video driver. I have the WSXGA+, so I should be able to do 1680X1050 - I have tried adding the setting to my config with no success. Does anyone have one they can post?

Thanks,
RushB

[Ug]

I've just had a look on the Linux Laptop page for you, and I've found the following which may be of some help to you:

http://jutila.net/articles/d800/display.php
http://mikehardy.net/linux_latitude_d800/

Hope it helps.

[RushB]

Yeah, I have tried those. I make the changes and can no longer get "display" to come up. Hopefully someone running it on a system similar to mine will post their config somewhere on the net. Such a big, beautiful screen, I hate not being able to use it.

Later,
RushB

[Ug]

Keep trying....

[RushB]

I am, but I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. I add "1680X1050" and then I can't bring "display" up any longer.

I need to add the nvidia drivers, what's the best way to shut down X so you can install them? C-A-Backspace shuts it down for a minute, but it comes back up before I can get the command typed in to add the driver.

Later,
RushB

[mhelios]

you have ran redhat-config-xfree86 to check the available resolutions? and it didn't list 1680x1050? your monitor handbook lists this as a supported res? What have you got in your "Screen" section of your /etc/X11/XF86Config file.
You should be adding the res in the modes section such as:

SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1680x1050" 1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection

Another suggestion is that if you can't get that res working, try a similar arrangement such as: SXGA+ - 1400 X 1050
UXGA - 1600 X 1200

As for shutting down X and installing nvidia drivers run `/sbin/init 3` as root or sudo and it'll switch to a VT with no X running (you may need to press enter a couple times to regain the display to the login process). From there, you can navigate to the directory where you downloaded the latest nvicia drivers (5336 are newest) and run "sh nvidia-installer-blah" as root or sudo and that's it. Once down do a `/sbin/init 5` to restart X.
See this tutorial for a more in depth intruction:
http://fedoranews.org/contributors/nicholas_hillsdale/nvidia/

[RushB]

I am supposing that since XP will do 1680X1050 that Fedora will as well. It's a Dell D800 Latitude with a WSXGA+ TFT LCD.

If I make the changes that most sites suggest to the XF86Config, then "Display" will no longer come up. Remove it, and it will come back up again.

Not sure what the problem is... thanks for the help, Nvidia driver is installed and working. I have the full screen at 800X600 and 640X480 - but just no luck getting 1680X1050.

Thanks,
RushB

[mhelios]

I may have found the problem. WSXGA+ resolution needs a specific modeline option set.

Add this to your XF86Config Monitor section:
(Modeline recommended by Mark Vojkovich of XFree86.org.)

Modeline "1680x1050" 147.14 1680 1784 1968 2256 1050 1051 1054 1087


Then as I posted above, add 1650x1050 to your Display section:

Modes "1680x1050"


Hope that fixes it!

[RushB]

It's there, just doesn't work correctly.

Here is my XF86Config - give it a look and tell me where I am screwing up.

# XFree86 4 configuration created by redhat-config-xfree86

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "single head configuration"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally
# no need to change the default.

# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.

RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"

# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
# Option "XkbDisable"

# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
#
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# If the normal CorePointer mouse is not a USB mouse then
# this input device can be used in AlwaysCore mode to let you
# also use USB mice at the same time.
Identifier "DevInputMice"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Option "dpms"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Unknown monitor"
DisplaySize 330 210
HorizSync 31.5 - 100.0
VertRefresh 30.0 - 90.0
Modeline "1680x1050" 147.14 1680 1784 1968 2256 1050 1051 1054 1087
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "Videocard vendor"
BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce4 4200 Go (Dell Mobile)"
VideoRam 65536

EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
#Modes "1680X1050" "1280X1024" "1280X800" "1024X768" "800X600" "640X480"
Depth 16
Modes "1680X1050" "1280X1024" "1280X800" "1024X768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
#Modes "1680X1050" "1280X1024" "1280X800" "1024X768" "800X600" "640X480"
Depth 24
Modes "1680X1050" "1280X1024" "1280X800" "1024X768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group 0
Mode 0666
EndSection

[mhelios]

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
#Modes "1680X1050" "1280X1024" "1280X800" "1024X768" "800X600" "640X480"
Depth 16
Modes "1680X1050" "1280X1024" "1280X800" "1024X768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
#Modes "1680X1050" "1280X1024" "1280X800" "1024X768" "800X600" "640X480"
Depth 24
Modes "1680X1050" "1280X1024" "1280X800" "1024X768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection


I would suggest changing all the capital letter "X" in your Modes line to small "x".
i.e. 1680X1050 to 1680x1050.

If that doesn't work, post your /var/log/XFree86.0.log file (use [code] tags for readability).

[RushB]

That worked. Figured it was something easy I was missing. It comes up fine, but my choices are not as I listed them in the "Display" I don't get 1680X1050, and the other modes. I get the 1920, which is too high for this LCD. But that's ok, I can figure that out later - most importantly I can see everything in my screen.

Thanks,
RushB

[Ug]

That Red Hat XFree86Config is crap. I had a similar problem to RushB but just trying to get 1024x768 working on a 15" generic monitor. It just refudes to accept the parameters I gave it, and then killed my monitor. Forcing me to have to rescue the config file continuously. :mad:

[mhelios]

After adding multiple different resolutions to your Modes line, try using the key combo:
Hold down Ctrl and Alt keys and press the + or - keys on the numeric keypad to cycle through the resolutions set above. Maybe you'll find one that works nicely and large enough doing it this way.