ATI Video Card, Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty

[Cluttermagnet]

Please forgive me if this has already been well covered. I have upgraded my Celeron D, 2.4GHz box from Feisty 7.04 to Jaunty 9.04. I can only get a max screen size of 800x600. Have seen this many times before. Trouble is, I have an ATI Radeon 9200SE in this box. If it had an nVidia video card, I would know what to do- install the proprietary nVidia driver listed in the distro and modify xorg.conf. With the ATI card, no such driver is offered.The monitor is an EMC Multisystems model 765 (product no. SA-769). I did an on line search and couldn't turn up any info as to some good HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges. I'm thinking that I might just try adding the info into xorg.conf, if I can get such info. BTW I could also try substituting 1 of 3 other monitors I have, where it might be easier to find that type of data. Is this approach going to work with the ATI card? Or is there a driver I could try? Thanks! ....... Clutter

Edited February 6, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Post a copy of your xorg.conf here, Clutter, just soes we know's what we're workin' wid, yer know.

[Frank Golden]

Please forgive me if this has already been well covered. I have upgraded my Celeron D, 2.4GHz box from Feisty 7.04 to Jaunty 9.04. I can only get a max screen size of 800x600. Have seen this many times before. Trouble is, I have an ATI Radeon 9200SE in this box. If it had an nVidia video card, I would know what to do- install the proprietary nVidia driver listed in the distro and modify xorg.conf. With the ATI card, no such driver is offered.The monitor is an EMC Multisystems model 765 (product no. SA-769). I did an on line search and couldn't turn up any info as to some good HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges. I'm thinking that I might just try adding the info into xorg.conf, if I can get such info. BTW I could also try substituting 1 of 3 other monitors I have, where it might be easier to find that type of data. Is this approach going to work with the ATI card? Or is there a driver I could try? Thanks! ....... Clutter

Hi Clutter, This is a situation where there are no propritary (fglrx) drivers available for your older card.About the time Jaunty released (the month before) Ati dropped support for a bunch of older cards.Jaunty has a radeon driver available in the repos.Do a search in Synaptic for radeon and install those drivers.These open source drivers don't offer hardware 3-D acceleration as of this time but they should allow you to change resolution up.This situation is a sore spot with me because I have a ATi Mobility Radeon X1400 card in my notebook and my card is now unsupported in linux as well.The fglrx driver (Catalyst for Linux) release for March 2009 has no support for a slew of older cards.Ubuntu, starting with Jaunty has a newer version of xserver that doesn't work with the pre-March 2009 driver releases.Older versions of Ubuntu could be made to work with the older Catalyst (Catalyst 9.2 and earlier) although you had to D/Lthe installer and compile a DKMS module manually.Intrepid had the module in the repos and was updated frequently.ATi releases a new Catalyst for Linux update every month.This wiki offered links to the newest updates as well as detailed direction for installing in various Linux distros including Ubuntu.http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Main_PageThe older pre-March 2009 versions won't install and the newer ones will break X.I'll boot into my Jaunty install and see if I can find more info for you.ATi sucks. Edited February 6, 2010 by Frank Golden

[Frank Golden]

Clutter, the drivers you need are in the repos.They are xserver-xorg-video-radeon and xserver-xorg-video-ati.DO NOT try to install anything with fglrx in the title, it will mess up your system.

[Urmas]

ClutterLabs testing vintage monitors again? I found this: http://www.silug.org/lists/forsale/200302/msg00000.html

It's almost 3 yrs old. Mfg: March, 1999. I got it in fall '99.Works fine with KVM and many distros @ 1024x768/70Hz. It's pretty close to this one: http://www.proview.net/product/px/px770.htmCRT Sz: 17.0-inch (15.7" viewable), DotPitch: 0.27mm, Case Color: PuttyMaxRes: 1280x1024@65Hz, H Freq: 30-70kHz, V Freq: 50-150Hz, VClk Freq: 110MHzSize, posistion, tilt, parallelogram, pincushion and trapezoid adjustments.NOT on-screen display for adjustments.

So - let's forget the "ati"/"radeon" angle for now... and:

gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Edit this bit... here's BEFORE:

Section "Monitor"		 Identifier	"Configured Monitor"EndSection

Here's AFTER:

Section "Monitor"	  		 Identifier	 "Configured Monitor"  		 VendorName	 "EMC"  		 ModelName	  "765"  		 HorizSync	   30.0 - 70.0  		 VertRefresh	 50.0 - 150.0EndSection

Save. Reboot. Report back to Mission Control.

[Cluttermagnet]

Thanks, guys- some excellent suggestions! I now feel very optimistic about overcoming this minor problem. Will report back some time in the evening, USA east coast time. Meanwhile, we got dumped on here by very heavy snowfall- latest reports anticipate 30-36in by the time it ends (nearly 1 meter of snowfall in 24 hours). So Clutter is going to be very busy shoveling out his ~50ft driveway and clearing off the car and the van. Be back 'soon'...Clutter

[securitybreach]

I woke up to 25 inches of snow here in PA so I know what you mean. It worked out for me because now I do not have to go to work today. I just moved up here a last year so I am not used to this much snow or any snow for that matter.

[Cluttermagnet]

Here's how I spent my afternoon. Took me about 4 hours to get it done. Still have to clear off the car and van on Sunday. I'm pretty worn out and my back is a bit sore. I'll be OK.A couple of feet of snow in the driveway

Edited February 7, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[Cluttermagnet]

OK, here are my results so far. I changed xorg.conf just as Urmas suggested. It was a success, up to a point. After reboot, it came back up at 1280x1024 (5:4). My previous session had been with 800x600. (4:3, I believe)The problem is that the 1280x1024 is pretty fine print on this smaller CRT display. So I went into System/Preferences/Display and set it for 1024x768 (4:3) and hit Apply. The screen then became diagonal gibberish, totally unreadable. I waited to see if it would go back on its own, since I had not had the opportunity to "Keep This Setting" or whatever. But no change for the better, just the diagonal distortion. So I backed out RSEIUB and here I am at 1280x1024 again.I think that if I now apply the two drivers Frank recommends, this thing may then be able to run at 1024x768 for me. What do you guys think?Yes, Frank- ATI definitely sucks. Fortunately I have never felt a need for 3D. If I did, I'd be a lot more irate myself.Urmas- I seem to specialize in older stuff as Raymac does. Every monitor in this house is a CRT model. Some are getting old. Almost all of them came to me for free. Guess that's why I like old stuff so much.

Edited February 7, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[securitybreach]

Clutter, it sounds as though 1024x768 is not supported by this monitor or at least not at the frequency you have set. What you describe sounds like the monitor frequency is incorrect. That may be why you get the "diagonal gibberish" in your output. I may be wrong but that is what is sounds like.

[Cluttermagnet]

Clutter, it sounds as though 1024x768 is not supported by this monitor or at least not at the frequency you have set. What you describe sounds like the monitor frequency is incorrect. That may be why you get the "diagonal gibberish" in your output. I may be wrong but that is what is sounds like.

I'm not quite understanding you. I set a range of frequencies by my changes to xorg.conf. I thought the OS and the monitor more or less worked it out between them, depending on what screen size the user selects. On one if my monitors, a DEC, that monitor displays one of these rates (frequencies), but that frequency seemed to change automatically after I changed the resolution.Perhaps I could only set another screen aperture which has 5:4 ratio. Trouble is, no others with that ratio are listed- although quite a number of 4:3 ratio apertures were available.BTW in the case of nVidia cards, I do remember that after you add the proprietary drivers and also set up xorg.conf, you suddenly have nVidia running things and you have to work in the control window that the nVidia drivers generate. Within that environment, you see a very large number of aperture sizes available, and several ratios as well. Here's the kicker- as I remember, any and all if those aperture/ratio combinations result in a screen which is at least visible, if perhaps a little stretched here and there. Edited February 7, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[securitybreach]

Well you are right as far as setting the range but what you described sounded like the monitor was out of range. This may not be the case but in the past I set a monitor at the wrong frequency and I saw something like you described. I was just trying to figure out what was going on with your monitor. So that may not be the problem.Also the nvidia tool you were describing is called nvidia-settings.

[Urmas]

Hey Clutter,That's your snow removal tool of choice? "Digging a hole with a spoon" comes to mind... Resolutions... you may want to play with xrandr ... tweak tweak tweak:http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-adjust-sc...-on-ubuntu.html

[Cluttermagnet]

Hey Clutter,That's your snow removal tool of choice? "Digging a hole with a spoon" comes to mind...

Well, frankly, I need the exercise. I cleared the whole driveway using a standard 'wide' snow shovel. I take frequent breaks, whenever the heart rate gets a little too high, leaning on the shovel. Most of my neighbors seem to have snow blowers or hire snow plowing services, etc. My 2 immediate next door neighbors both hand shovel.

Resolutions... you may want to play with xrandr ... tweak tweak tweak:http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-adjust-sc...-on-ubuntu.html

That page looks very interesting. Let me read a bit there until I fully understand how this works.Meanwhile, no one has commented on whether or not I should try installing the 2 ATI/Radeon drivers from the repositories, as Frank suggests. What do you think?

[Cluttermagnet]

Well you are right as far as setting the range but what you described sounded like the monitor was out of range. This may not be the case but in the past I set a monitor at the wrong frequency and I saw something like you described. I was just trying to figure out what was going on with your monitor. So that may not be the problem.Also the nvidia tool you were describing is called nvidia-settings.

Yep, that's the one. Boy, isn't nVidia just so much easier?

[Cluttermagnet]

Post a copy of your xorg.conf here, Clutter, just soes we know's what we're workin' wid, yer know.

Thanks, Eric-I was under 'field conditions' while working on that box. It's downstairs where it's presently unheated. Runs around 52 F in winter. We have a wood stove going on the upper (main) level. Toasty. Anyway, I tried and failed to copy xorg.conf. I do that so infrequently that I have to refer to old threads where Bruno tutors me on the basics of middle mouse button technique. FWIW, the 'before and after', as listed in the post from Urmas accurately covers my own xorg.conf before and after.BTW this was such a major snowfall in our area that the local schools will be closed Monday and Tuesday this week. With overnight freezes, the snow takes on the consistency of big piles of gravel. You need earth moving equipment at that point. It would break snow plows, even the big ones. It will be a slow dig out around here. I think we got about 24 in +/- here. Edited February 7, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[sunrat]

Sure looks cold over there. Here we're having a spell of 30C + now. That's in the 90s for users of legacy F temp scale.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

It's 45F here in Tampa this evening. I just finished a big mug of iced tea w/ crushed ice in it. I'm FREEZING now!

[zlim]

Fortunately, even though we had up to 21" (53.34cm) of snow on Saturday, we still have electricity and heat, unlike about 95,000+ households in PA.One guy interviewed in MD said the house inside temp was down to 47F (8C) so that is a bit crispier than your's Cluttermagnet.Now we are waiting to see what Wed. storm brings.

[securitybreach]

Fortunately, even though we had up to 21" (53.34cm) of snow on Saturday, we still have electricity and heat, unlike about 95,000+ households in PA.One guy interviewed in MD said the house inside temp was down to 47F (8C) so that is a bit crispier than your's Cluttermagnet.Now we are waiting to see what Wed. storm brings.

So your in PA too? I also heard of a lot of people losing power but thankfully we did not lose power.

[zlim]

I spoke too soon. Our power was out for 25 minutes this morning and this is before the first flake for the next blizzard even fell! I thought perhaps someone had skidded into a pole.We did get a follow up taped recording from MetEd this evening telling us the cause of the outage. It was equipment failure.

[securitybreach]

Unfortunately that happens sometimes. It is a rare occurance but I have been through that years ago.

[Cluttermagnet]

For Urmas-(Anyone feel free to comment)As you can see, I invoked xrandr and got a listing of display 'possibilities'. Then I tried forcing it to do 1024x768. Instead I got a complete usage manual of xrandr, it appears. Do I need to sudo or gksudo or something here?Still on the table- should I try installing the 2 ATI/Radeon drivers from the repos as Frank suggests?

clutter@clutter-desktop:~$ xrandrScreen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 1024, maximum 1280 x 1024default connected 1280x1024+0+0 0mm x 0mm   1280x1024	  61.0*    1024x768	   85.0     800x600		86.0     640x480		86.0     640x400		86.0     640x350		86.0     512x384		 0.0     400x300		 0.0     320x240		 0.0     320x200		 0.0  clutter@clutter-desktop:~$ xrandr -- output VGA -- mode 1024x768 -- rate 85usage: xrandr [options]  where options are:  -display <display> or -d <display>  -help  -o <normal,inverted,left,right,0,1,2,3>			or --orientation <normal,inverted,left,right,0,1,2,3>  -q		or --query  -s <size>/<width>x<height> or --size <size>/<width>x<height>  -r <rate> or --rate <rate> or --refresh <rate>  -v		or --version  -x		(reflect in x)  -y		(reflect in y)  --screen <screen>  --verbose  --dryrun  --nograb  --prop or --properties  --fb <width>x<height>  --fbmm <width>x<height>  --dpi <dpi>/<output>  --output <output>	  --auto	  --mode <mode>	  --preferred	  --pos <x>x<y>	  --rate <rate> or --refresh <rate>	  --reflect normal,x,y,xy	  --rotate normal,inverted,left,right	  --left-of <output>	  --right-of <output>	  --above <output>	  --below <output>	  --same-as <output>	  --set <property> <value>	  --scale <x>x<y>	  --transform <a>,<b>,<c>,<d>,<e>,<f>,<g>,<h>,<i>	  --off	  --crtc <crtc>	  --panning <w>x<h>[+<x>+<y>[/<track:w>x<h>+<x>+<y>[/<border:l>/<t>/<r>/<b>]]]	  --gamma <r>:<g>:<b>	  --primary  --noprimary  --newmode <name> <clock MHz>			<hdisp> <hsync-start> <hsync-end> <htotal>			<vdisp> <vsync-start> <vsync-end> <vtotal>			[+HSync] [-HSync] [+VSync] [-VSync]  --rmmode <name>  --addmode <output> <name>  --delmode <output> <name>clutter@clutter-desktop:~$

Edited February 10, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[Cluttermagnet]

Fortunately, even though we had up to 21" (53.34cm) of snow on Saturday, we still have electricity and heat, unlike about 95,000+ households in PA.One guy interviewed in MD said the house inside temp was down to 47F (8C) so that is a bit crispier than your's Cluttermagnet.Now we are waiting to see what Wed. storm brings.

Coincidentally, I measured 21in here from that same storm. Local weather guessers predict 10-20in more between Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Yikes!We're very fortunate here. Although we frequently see power outages in this neighborhood, non so far in this snowy weather. If I lost the mains, I'd still be able to heat with the wood stove, cook with my Coleman propane dual burner stove, run the propane lantern, and so forth. Far better than most of my neighbors, who would find themselves without water (no power for well pumps), no lights, no furnace, etc.I have now shoveled two ~50ft driveways over the past 4 days. Took my time, took it easy. My back is only slightly sore. Secret weapon: Ibuprofen, an anti inflammatory as well as a pain killer, quite effective at keeping the lower back muscles from freaking out (spasms = pain). Edited February 10, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[sunrat]

Try it with no spaces between the dashes and the options, like this:

clutter@clutter-desktop:~$ xrandr --output VGA --mode 1024x768 --rate 85

Edited February 10, 2010 by sunrat

[securitybreach]

Clutter, I feel your pain. I shoveled for 4 hours today myself. Oh why did I move up north??

[Cluttermagnet]

Thanks, Sunrat-I tried it as you suggest, losing the spaces between dashes and options. I also tried sudo + the same line. In that case, it asked me for the password for clutter. In neither case did the display change. No 1024x768, still stuck in 1280x1024.

Clutter, I feel your pain. I shoveled for 4 hours today myself. Oh why did I move up north??

Keeping one step ahead of the killer bees? Edited February 10, 2010 by Cluttermagnet

[securitybreach]

Nah I moved here because realty is super cheap compared to Florida.Anyway,

[Urmas]

Check out what /var/log/Xorg.0.log says:

$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log

(The "relevant bits" here? See: http://unix.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/Fr...4/msg02231.html )Terminal copy/paste issue:EITHER:1. In terminal, paint (left button) the selection you want to copy/paste. 2. (Left) click on the forum reply box in FF (this will move focus from terminal to browser).3. Wheel click to paste.OR:1. In terminal, paint (left button) the selection you want to copy/paste.2. Right click the highlighted stuff, choose "Copy".3. (Left) click on the forum reply box in FF (this will move focus from terminal to browser).4. Right click --> "Paste".

[Cluttermagnet]

Wow! Urmas- I'm not sure what to do about this. I successfully opened the Xorg log in Terminal, but the file is apparently such a huge dump that I lose the 'beginnings' part. In other words, if I scroll clear back up to the top, the huge 'dump' of info is in the middle of describing one of many possible 1024x768 configurations. It also describes many 1280x1024 configs. I cannot see what came right after the log command that was executed in Terminal.BTW I'm not sure just what you would have me look for. There sure is a lot of extremely minute detail in there, So, what to do next? How do I use this info to my benefit with xrandr?

Edited February 10, 2010 by Cluttermagnet