New Monitor Weirdnesses or how do I get Xorg to pay attention to my xorg.conf file?

[Robert Heller]

At Sat, 5 Dec 2015 21:48:17 -0500 xorg at lists.x.org wrote:

> 
> On 04/12/2015 9:06 PM, Robert Heller wrote:
> > At Fri, 4 Dec 2015 15:11:33 -0500 xorg at lists.x.org wrote:
> >
> >> I am just using the KVM included in CentOS7 with Cloudstack.
> >> Not sure what I am missing by not including Xen but I am pretty new at it.
> > CentOS 5 predates KVM and used Xen for virtualization. CentOS 6 and 7 include
> > KVM for virtualization and don't use a Xen hypervisor. You are not 'missing'
> > anything: Xen is just the older virtualization hypervisor.
> That is what I suspected. Thanks to the reassurance.
> >
> >> I can not help but believe that CentOS 7 would be a better platform for
> >> virtualization than CentOS 5.
> >>
> >> CentOS 7 is not too bad but it is different and it has taken me a while
> >> to stop fighting it.
> > I don't want to take that step until I have learned to deal with the likes of
> > systemd, etc.  I install CentOS 6 as the host and install CentOS 7 in a VM, to
> > have a standbox to learn in, and still be able to get work done.
> Sounds like a good plan.
> I just jumped in with a couple of  spare physical machines to see if I 
> could get Centos 7 to production quality/use in key roles.

I don't have the spare hardware and cannot at this time afford to buy it.

> I was able to build the systems and test them with the ability to drop 
> the old system back in if it did not work.

I will be installing C6 on a 'spare' logical volume and leave the existing C5 
system in place, creating a 'dual boot' system.  I've done this before with 
the previous times I have migrated.

I'll just be doing this much sooner than I had originally planned.

> 
> >> The changes to networking and the firewall were hard to absorb. The new
> >> way to manage processes is still a bit of a challenge for me but I am
> >> not spending any time on this since it works just fine.
> >>
> >> I run a software firewall, DNS server and virtual router which I moved
> >> from CentOS 4 to CentOS 7 and it seems to work better but it is hard to
> >> tell if it is the newer hardware or the new OS. This is a critical part
> >> of the infrastructure and I am happy with the change.
> >> The hardware was too old to run the nouveau driver properly so I am
> >> running the NVIDIA legacy driver. Works but I am not using it as a
> >> workstation.
> >>
> >>
> >> Ron
> >>
> >>    On 04/12/2015 12:43 PM, Robert Heller wrote:
> >>> At Fri, 4 Dec 2015 11:42:18 -0500 xorg at lists.x.org wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> If you ready for some fun, CentOS 7 is out and into its third revision.
> >>>>
> >>>> Did I miss the discussion about the drivers from NVIDIA? I am using them
> >>>> with new and old hardware(different machines).
> >>>> A bit tricky to get working and there are different drivers for legacy
> >>>> cards and newer cards.
> >>> The drivers from NVIDIA are not supported for Xen-based systems.  I am using
> >>> Xen for virtualization, so the drivers from NVIDIA are not an option.
> >>> Appearently the kernel and Xorg that sh
> >>>
> >>>> I had trouble with the nouveau driver but it may have been me or may
> >>>> have been an early version.
> >>> The nouveau driver is not available for CentOS 5 -- the kernel and Xorg
> >>> libraries are too old.
> >>>
> >>>> CentOS 7 runs well but it does have a lot of changes to the tools that
> >>>> one got used to in CentOS 5 and 6.
> >>> *I* am not ready for that big a change.  It would probably be too disruptive
> >>> for my work flow.  I *may* install CentOS 7 as a VM at some point.
> >>>
> >>>> It is supposed to be a better workstation OS.
> >>>>
> >>>> I am still running 5 and 6 on some production machines.
> >>>> I am not using my units as workstations but like to have the GUI working
> >>>> well in case I have some maintenance activities that are easier in the GUI.
> >>>>
> >>>> Ron
> >>>>
> >>>> On 04/12/2015 10:30 AM, Robert Heller wrote:
> >>>>> At Fri, 4 Dec 2015 12:32:59 +1000 Dave Airlie <airlied at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> On 4 December 2015 at 12:27, Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com> wrote:
> >>>>>>> At Thu, 3 Dec 2015 16:27:22 -0500 Felix Miata <mrmazda at earthlink.net> wrote:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Robert Heller composed on 2015-12-03 16:00 (UTC-0500):
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> I use a distro with long term support.
> >>>>>>>> Not without a price. What you have is hardware technology that is more
> >>>>>>>> advanced than the foundation on which that support is built. A GeForce 8200
> >>>>>>>> needs either the FOSS nouveau driver, which seems to be missing from CentOS
> >>>>>>>> 5, or the proprietary NVidia driver. VESA is a low technology fallback driver
> >>>>>>>> wholly incapable of properly supporting widescreen displays. AFAICT, there's
> >>>>>>>> no amount of xorg.conf or xrandr twiddling you can do to overcome the
> >>>>>>>> shortcomings of a fallback driver.
> >>>>>>> The video chipset has been working fine with the CentOS software, with a 4:3
> >>>>>>> monitor. The (available) proprietary NVidia driver won't work with a Xen
> >>>>>>> kernel.
> >>>>>> The graphics card BIOS contains the modes that vesa can use. It doesn't have
> >>>>>> widescreen modes in it. The below 3 choices are yours.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> CentOS6 should drive things better in theory.
> >>>>> I guess I will have to upgade to CentOS 6...
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> Dave.
> >>>>>>>>>     *I* have better things to do than
> >>>>>>>>> spend all of my time dealing with incompatible updates every few months.
> >>>>>>>> You have 3 choices that I can see:
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> 1-upgrade software to the technology level of your hardware (nouveau driver,
> >>>>>>>> likely requiring KMS kernel)
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> 2-backlevel your video hardware (either supported gfxcard, or supported 4:3
> >>>>>>>> or 5:4 aspect display)
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> 3-suffer a standard aspect video mode on your widescreen display
> >>
> 
> 

-- 
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