[lug] Fedora 7 w/i915GM graphics controller

[Michael J. Hammel]

On Sun, 2007-10-07 at 13:30 -0600, Kevin Fenzi wrote:
> Yeah, my laptop has an intel in it... 
Is it the 915GM?  Or a later version?

> Weird. Yeah, I have always used xrandr when wanting to enable other
> outputs. It works great for adding/removing projectors or other
> monitors. 
> 
> Try a stock xorg.conf, then plug in your vga and do a 'xrandr --auto'
> and see if it comes up as you expect. See 'xrandr --help' for all the
> vast pile of options for it. You should be able to enable/disable, set
> right/left/up/down, resolutions, etc. 

If I boot with no xorg.conf, the intel driver correctly detects a
1280x800 LCD for the laptop and that works just fine - it even seems to
work with MythTV's frontend (no frame drops).  However, xrandr doesn't
see the VGA or TV outputs at all.  I have to install an xorg.conf file
that specifically configures these two outputs for xrandr to see them.
Once I start down that path, things just don't work.  I can't find a
config that lets me have 1280x800 on the LVDS (re: LCD) output and
1024x768 (or even 800x600) on the VGA with the LVDS showing my desktop
(Screen 0) and the VGA showing just the desktop background (Screen 1 -
no GNOME panels, etc).  That's the config I had previously with FC5 and
the i810 driver.

I found a workaround that is ugly but at least gets me a working VGA
output.  I boot the laptop and let gdm start without an xorg.conf file.
Technically this uses the intel driver.  Then I login (by console, but I
think it would work just as well if I logged in via gdm) and copy over
an xorg.conf file I have for the i810 driver.  I plug in the VGA
monitor.  Then I force gdm to restart (Ctrl-Alt-Backspace).  When gdm
restarts the VGA output is working and my laptop is at the correct
resolution (1280x800).  I login to my session and I have dual screens:
laptop @ 1280x800 and VGA output @ 1024x768.

Config file for i810:
http://www.graphics-muse.org/source/X11/xorg.conf-i810-dualhead-f7.conf

I haven't verified if I can go back to LVDS only (no VGA) from this
point without a reboot.  I know I can't first fiddle with the intel
driver to get xrandr working and then try to switch to the i810 because
then I lose all video - black screen.  Ugly.  So the only safe way is
this "reboot and move" method.

I haven't tested how stable this i810-based config is.  It's possible
the driver will blow up after extended use in this manner (the old i810
driver would do that once in awhile, but infrequently).  But it worked
last night long enough to show I could launch OOo's Impress and start
the slideshow on the VGA display.  I'm good to go for my presentation
this week at least.

Now to see if this works for TV out.  Probably won't get to try that
till this weekend, though.

I'd love it if the intel driver actually worked with xrandr they way
it's supposed to, but it just isn't working for me.  The best I've ever
done with it is to have VGA cloned from LVDS and both at 1024x768.  I've
had 1280x800 on the LVDS at one point but the desktop actually
overlapped onto the VGA, or maybe it was the VGA overlapped onto the
LVDS.  Anyway, it wasn't usable.  

-- 
Michael J. Hammel                                    Senior Software Engineer
mjhammel at graphics-muse.org                           http://graphics-muse.org
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