[lug] Fedora 7 w/i915GM graphics controller

[Michael J. Hammel]

On Mon, 2007-10-08 at 16:28 -0600, Collins Richey wrote:
> I don't have an I810, and thus can't help. Every story I've read about
> the card in the past months as been a sob story.

Well, I'm getting further along.  I now understand how to use the intel
driver better, well enough to setup dual head dynamically using xrandr.
But there is a serious limitation that makes me think either the Intel
guys don't understand X11 or there is a shift in Xorg away from the use
of the use of Screens.

First, I have the i915GM chipset.  The intel driver doesn't properly
handle viewports larger than 2048x2048 for chipsets prior to the 945 (I
believe).  So when using the intel driver with my laptop, which does
1280x800, and an external VGA @ 1024x768 I can't align them side by
side.  If I did then the total viewport width would be larger than 2048.
Fortunately, I can align them vertically.  The total height of the two
monitors is < 2048. 

New xorg.conf: http://www.graphics-muse.org/source/X11/xorg.conf-xrandr

So my xorg.conf sets up the three possible output ports: LVDS (LCD
monitor), VGA and TV-Out but only the LVDS will come up initially if
nothing is connected to the other two ports.  Note that if I have the
VGA plugged in initially, when GDM starts, the LVDS will take on the
resolution of the VGA (the smaller of the two resolutions).  So to force
the LVDS to use it's preferred resolution initially, don't plugin in the
VGA until you're ready to login from GDM (or even after you've logged
in).

Before logging in via GDM I plug in the VGA.  When I log in, I do:

xrandr --output VGA --preferred --above LVDS

That gets me dual head with two different display resolutions.  The VGA
is accessible by dragging my mouse (and windows) "up" from the LCD
display.  All is fine and dandy.  Except...

1. I can find no way to get my desktop GNOME panels to be left on the
LVDS monitor.  When I add the VGA with the xrandr command the panels get
moved to the VGA.  It doesn't matter if I enable VGA, then disable LVDS
then add it back in (trying to reverse the original process).  I always
end up with the panels on the VGA.  This makes the VGA "monitor 1",
according to OpenOffice.

2. This whole process simply sets up "Monitors", not X11 "Screens".  The
difference (to a user) is subtle.  OpenOffice is happy to place an
Impress slide show on a specific monitor, so presentations work fine
with this.  But MythTV (and many applications) still rely on seperate
X11 screen definitions mixed with Xinerama.  So, with this
configuration, I can find no way to get MythTV on the second display
device (in this case, the VGA).  While I haven't tried it, I'm pretty
sure I won't be able to get it onto the TV out either.  Arggghhh.

I was able to switch back and forth between dual head and single head
fairly easily (xrand --output VGA --off, to get back to single head)
although at one point I did get the black screen of death - no video
output at all - forcing me to hard reset the system.
-- 
Michael J. Hammel                                    Senior Software Engineer
mjhammel at graphics-muse.org                           http://graphics-muse.org
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