[EdLUG] Graphics issues

Sat Nov 12 23:17:29 UTC 2016

Hi Roy,

I made the xorg.conf file with exactly those contents and permissions (and
now understand the elusive chmod codes!). On rebooting I checked with
xrandr and it loaded as 1600x900 resolution, which isn't even listed in
xorg.conf, but that may have been the resolution I was using before
rebooting.

Anyway, I set the resolution to 1280x720 (which is what I want) and
rebooted and hey presto it stuck. I tested it with a few screen locks by
closing the laptop lid, and it seems to preserve my choice, though I do now
seem to have a slightly odd issue in that the screen blacks out half way
through typing my password, and I have to use the power button to bring the
screen back on, but it still has the password half typed. I think I can
live with that however.

So, all good so far, I'll keep an eye on it and revive the thread if it
shows signs of freezing up again.

Thanks so much for all your help!!

Andrew.

On Sat, Nov 12, 2016 at 2:07 PM, Edinburgh Linux Users Group <
edlug at lists.edlug.org.uk> wrote:

> On 2016.11.12 00:45, Edinburgh Linux Users Group wrote:
> > Hi all,
>
> >
> > So, additional info:
> >
> > The desktop environment is Cinnamon
> > There is indeed a display settings dialog box which does change the
> > settings (but sometimes causes a freeze) but the settings are not
> > preserved, which is the only reason I looked into xrandr in the first
> > place.
> > The screen resolutions I am trying to hit are either 1280x720 or
> > 1360x768,
> [snip]
>
> > On line 181 it says "....switch to mode 1920x1080 at 60.0..." still as
> > part of
> > boot (I presume) but I don't know why it picks that.
> > Other than that, I'm not sure what I'm looking for.
>
> That's Xorg starting up and using the automatically detected
> 1920x1080 at 60.0 native resolution of the display.
> We probably have different views if its a part of the boot process
> or not.  I use a console logon and start the desktop myself,
> so I don't view Xorg startup as part of boot.  Users with a
> graphical log in probably do, since Xorg is required to display the
> login screen.
>
> Reading man intel, the man page for the Intel video driver, makes
> it look like the driver doesn't need anything special to make it provide
> other resolutions, as long as they are advertised in the EDID data
> read from the display. Some drivers list them in the log, some don't
>
> Lets try the easy bit first.  On its own, it may not be sufficient.
> Make a file /etc/X11/xorg.conf with the following content.
>
>
> Section "Screen"
>     Identifier  "Screen 1"
>     DefaultDepth 24
>
>     Subsection "Display"
>         Depth       24
>         Modes        "1280x720" "1360x768" "800x600"
>         ViewPort    0 0
>     EndSubsection
> EndSection
>
> The file needs to be  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root
>
> man xorg.conf will make your eyes glaze over but it will explain
> what all those lines do.
>
> This should cause xorg to start in  "1280x720" mode
> providing that mode is defined elsewhere.  If not, you can read
> all about it in /var/log/Xorg.0.log
> It will try all three modes before it gives up and uses the default
> 1920x1080.
> Pastebin the log again so we can see what actually happened.
>
> If it fails because the modes are not defined, the next step
> is to define them.
>
> Don't be too surprised if you get 800x600. Everything working
> in a non default mode is a big step in the right direction.
> Making it the right mode is just fine tuning.
>
> Oh, one odd thing that might happen is that you get a virtual
> screen size of 1920x1080 and a viewport within it of one of the
> Modes.  The viewport follows the mouse as you approach the
> edges of the displayed area. Think of it as looking at a big
> scene (the virtual desktop) through a smaller aperture,
> (the viewport) which you can slide around.  I've not used
> this feature for a long time.
>
> The
> ViewPort    0 0
> says to start with the viewport in the top
> left of the virtual desktop.
>
> [snip original material]
>
> Regards,
>
> Roy Bamford
>
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>
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