Problems with widescreen (16:9) under CentOS 5 w/ xorg-x11-drv-i810-1.6.5-9.40.el5

[Robert Heller]

At Sat, 22 Sep 2012 18:53:23 -0400 Adam Jackson <ajax at nwnk.net> wrote:

> 
> On 9/22/12 5:55 PM, Robert Heller wrote:
> 
> > First of all, using the VGA connection, the X server *refuses* to use
> > any Modeline that is not a 4:3 aspect ratio.  It seems that the X
> > server presumes that *all* VGA connected monitors are 4:3.  (All three
> > of the new wide screen monitors do have 15-pin VGA connections, so this
> > 'presumption' is obviously false, esp. since the monitors using DDC
> > while connection via VGA are suggesting 16:9 mode lines.)
> 
> It's not the X server's fault.
> 
> The i810 driver, when it comes to output setup, is no better than the 
> vesa driver.  It can only set modes that happen to be listed in the 
> video BIOS, regardless of what the display happens to claim to support. 
>   Since most 845 video BIOSes predate the wide availability of 16:9 
> monitors, they naturally tend not to list any 16:9 modes.
> 
> RHEL5 (and therefore CentOS 5) does include an additional video driver 
> for Intel graphics chips called 'intel' instead of 'i810', which does 
> not have this limitation.  I don't recall offhand whether that version 
> worked correctly with 8xx-series chips; it might, I don't think I went 
> out of my way to disable that, but if it doesn't work you get to keep 
> both pieces.
> 
> Alternatively, go search for 'i915resolution', which will allow you to 
> override Intel VBIOS mode lists (and yes it does work on 8xx chips 
> despite the name).

I did download and install i915resolution and did patch the Intel VBIOS
mode lists, but that didn't help, except for the HP monitor, which does
work correctly at 1600x900, but only over the DVI connection, not the
VGA connection.

I will check and see if I can get the server to use 'intel' driver
instead of the i810 driver.

> 
> - ajax
> 
>                                                                      

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933 / heller at deepsoft.com
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