Intel 915GM driver + i810_drv.o patch -> no virtual terminals (and other issues)

[sergio]

when Fedora Core 4 has been released, gcc 4.0.0 has one bug that
breaks i810 and libvgahw.a in console mode, you can find details on
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=161242
Upgrading to gcc 4.0.1 and recompile xorg packages is the solution for
the problem.

Quoting Alain Cochard <alain at geophysik.uni-muenchen.de>:

> During a Fedora Core 4 install on a Latitude D610, it said "Unknown
> monitor" and offered me the choice between 800x600 and 640x480.  I
> choose the former and it worked.
>
> The only thing I know about my monitor is what the BIOS says: 14" XGA
> with native resolution 1024x768.
>
> Is there a way to find out more? Is it important?
>
> So I tried to get that 1024x768 resolution.
>
> My initial xorg.conf had <Driver "vesa"> in the Device section.  As I
> have the Intel 915GM graphics card, I put "i810" instead of "vesa",
> but then X failed (no screen found).  I then installed the i810_drv
> patch by Alan Hourihane <http://www.fairlite.demon.co.uk/intel.html>
>
> I did it by simply replacing the old i810_drv.o file by the new one; is this
> correct?
>
> It worked again, but:
>
> (1) I lost the virtual terminals (the F1 to F6 keys).  More precisely,
>    I have a black screen while the terminals are there (if I log in
>    as root (blindly) and type 'reboot', it does reboot).
>
> (2) and I lost my screen savers: the screen becomes black instead, and
>    after about 1 minutes instead of what I had chosen (5 minutes).
>
> (3) plus it was still a 800x600 resolution.
>
> I could solve problem (3) and get the 1024x768 resolution by following
> the directions at <http://www.geocities.com/stomljen/>:
>
> -  by using a Section "Modes" with a modeline option as determined by
>   gtf
>
> -  and by keeping only <Modes "1024x768"> in the SubSection "Display".
>
>   Do I need to have a modeline option for each resolution, to be able
>   to keep using Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"?
>
> -  and by changing the option HorizSync in the Section "Monitor"
>
>   I got that by chance; is there some rational way of determining the
>   best range to use?
>
> But I am still with problems (1) and (2).
>
> I read about 2 more indirect ways (than the i810 patch) of having the
> i915GM card to be fully used:
>
> - install the i915 so called "snapshot" from
>  <dri.freedesktop.org/snapshots>, as described, e.g., here:
>  <http://www.nerdgirl.dk/linux/installation.php>
>
> - install the so called 915resolution tool at
>  <http://www.geocities.com/stomljen>
>
> I'm not clear at all about the differences between the 3 ways I've
> mentioned above (not even it that statement makes sense at all).
>
> Is there a chance that by following one of these ways (they are
> already beyond what I would usually dare to do) I will be able to
> solve problems (1) and (2)? Or is there something else I should try to
> do?
>
> Sorry that I couldn't find a shorter way of explaining my problem.
> Thanks in advance for any hint.
>
> Alain
>