Q: How can I create an optimal XFree86 v. 3.x configuration for my video card?
I've reloaded Linux on my workstation and am dissatisfied with the video resolution / colour depth / refresh rates. How can I create an optimal XFree86 v. 3.x configuration for my video card?
A: 1. Find out whether your video card requires the SVGA XFree86 server engine software or one of the "accelerated" server binaries. You can look at the on-line video-chipset information at http://www.xfree86.org/ .
2. Run the xf86config utility, setting the horizontal and vertical frequency limits to those show in your monitor's technical specifications. Your pointing device will usually be of type PS/2. Select the maximal set of video modes allowed, at the maximal number of colour depths offered. Allow the xf86config utility to write /etc/X11/XF86Config. Copy it to /etc/X11/XF86Config-GENERATED, for safekeeping.
3. Open two root-user virtual terminals. In both, cd to /etc/X11. In one, open XF86Config in your preferred editor program (e.g., vi or pico). Prune out the superfluous (as detailed below) sections and comment lines. Save. When you're done, there should be one each (only) of the following sections:
Files
Keyboard
Pointer
Monitor
Device
Screen
Delete all Device sections other than the ones most appropriate for your video chipset. (The one you'll keep will be either the SVGA one or the Accel one, depending on your video card.) Delete all Screen sections other than the one for your monitor.
The only commented-out lines to leave are the VideoRAM and Clocks lines you'll probably find already there, commented out, plus the comment line that directly precedes each Modeline in the Screen section.
Delete the two Modelines and matching comment lines for 640x400, the entire "low-res doublescan" section, and all Modelines (with matching comment lines) for modes higher than you want to go. (E.g., delete all Modeline pairs for modes higher than 1024x768i, if that's the maximum resolution you want.) Save.
4. Go to the bottom of the file. Decide what default colour depth you want. Hard-code it by either eliminating all other Subsection "Display" subparagraphs, or by inserting (e.g.) "DefaultColorDepth 16" as a new line near the top of the Screen section.
For any Subsection "Display" that is of interest, edit the Modes line to (1) eliminate modes you won't ever use, and (2) reverse the order of the modes. That is, xf86config, somewhat obstructively, writes them in lowest-to-highest order, resulting in X defaulting to the lowest mode. Mine initially said:
Modes "640x480" "800x600" "1024x768"
I changed it to
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
You may want to add "ViewPort 0 0" to any Subsection "Display" that is of interest. Save.
5. In your other virtual terminal, type
X > xerrors 2>&1
Observe whether X (bare X, in this case, with no window manager) comes up or not. If it comes up or partially does so, kill the X server using Ctrl-Alt-Bkspc. Do "less xerrors". This is the complete stdout + stderrors output of the X server at its default colour depth and best valid mode.
You'll see something like this. Note the part I've highlighted:
XFree86 Version 3.3.6 / X Window System (protocol
Version
11, revision 0, vendor release 6300) Release Date: January 8
2000
If the server is older than 6-12 months, or if your card is
newer than
the above date, look for a newer version before reporting
problems.
(see http://www.xfree86.org/current/)
and http://www.xfree86.org/current/ERRATA.html.
Operating System: Linux 2.2.15pre20 i686 [ELF]
Configured drivers: SVGA: server for
SVGA graphics adaptors (Patchlevel 1): NV1, STG2000, RIVA 128,
RIVA TNT, RIVA
TNT2, RIVA ULTRA TNT2, RIVA VANTA, RIVA ULTRA VANTA, RIVA
INTEGRATED, GeForce
256, GeForce DDR, Quadro, ET4000, ET4000W32, ET4000W32i,
ET4000W32i_rev_b,
ET4000W32i_rev_c, ET4000W32p, ET4000W32p_rev_a,
ET4000W32p_rev_b,
ET4000W32p_rev_c, ET4000W32p_rev_d, ET6000, ET6100, et3000,
pvga1, wd90c00,
wd90c10, wd90c30, wd90c24, wd90c31, wd90c33, gvga, r128, ati,
sis86c201,
sis86c202, sis86c205, sis86c215, sis86c225, sis5597, sis5598,
sis6326, sis530,
sis620, sis300, sis630, sis540, tvga8200lx, tvga8800cs,
tvga8900b, tvga8900c,
tvga8900cl, tvga8900d, tvga9000, tvga9000i, tvga9100b,
tvga9200cxr, tgui9400cxi,
tgui9420, tgui9420dgi, tgui9430dgi, tgui9440agi, cyber9320,
tgui9660, tgui9680,
tgui9682, tgui9685, cyber9382, cyber9385, cyber9388, cyber9397,
cyber9520,
cyber9525, 3dimage975, 3dimage985, cyber9397dvd, blade3d,
cyberblade, clgd5420,
clgd5422, clgd5424, clgd5426, clgd5428, clgd5429, clgd5430,
clgd5434, clgd5436,
clgd5446, clgd5480, clgd5462, clgd5464, clgd5465, clgd6205,
clgd6215, clgd6225,
clgd6235, clgd7541, clgd7542, clgd7543, clgd7548, clgd7555,
clgd7556, ncr77c22,
ncr77c22e, cpq_avga, mga2064w, mga1064sg, mga2164w, mga2164w
AGP, mgag200,
mgag100, mgag400, oti067, oti077, oti087, oti037c, al2101,
ali2228, ali2301,
ali2302, ali2308, ali2401, cl6410, cl6412, cl6420, cl6440,
video7, ark1000vl,
ark1000pv, ark2000pv, ark2000mt, mx, realtek, s3_savage,
s3_virge, AP6422, AT24,
AT3D, s3_svga, NM2070, NM2090, NM2093, NM2097, NM2160, NM2200,
ct65520, ct65525,
ct65530, ct65535, ct65540, ct65545, ct65546, ct65548, ct65550,
ct65554, ct65555,
ct68554, ct69000, ct64200, ct64300, mediagx, V1000, V2100,
V2200, p9100,
spc8110, i740, i740_pci, i810, i810-dc100, i810e, Voodoo
Banshee, Voodoo3, smi,
generic (using VT number 7)
XF86Config: /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config
(**) stands for supplied, (--) stands for probed/default
values
(**) XKB: keymap: "xfree86(us)" (overrides other XKB
settings)
(**) Mouse: type: PS/2, device: /dev/psaux, buttons: 3
(**) Mouse: 3 button emulation (timeout: 50ms)
(**) SVGA: Graphics device ID: "NeoMagic 2160"
(**) SVGA: Monitor ID: "Sony LCD"
(**) FontPath set to
"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/:unscaled,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/,
usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/freefont/"
(--) SVGA: PCI: NeoMagic NM2160 rev 1, Memory @ 0xfd000000,
0xfea00000
(--) SVGA: chipset: NM2160
(--) SVGA: videoram: 2048k
(**) SVGA: Using 16 bpp, Depth 16, Color weight: 565
(--) SVGA: Maximum allowed dot-clock: 90.000 MHz
(**) SVGA: Mode "1024x768": mode clock = 85.000
^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
(**) SVGA: Mode "800x600": mode clock = 50.000
^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
(**) SVGA: Mode "640x480": mode clock = 45.800
^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
(--) SVGA: Virtual resolution set to 1024x768
(--) SVGA: NeoMagic MagicGraph 128XD (NM2160) chip
(--) SVGA: NM2160: Panel is a 1024x768 color TFT display
(--) SVGA: NM2160: Internal LCD only display mode
(--) SVGA: NM2160: Video modes are displayed in the upper-left
corner
(--) SVGA: NM2160: Low resolution video modes are stretched
(--) SVGA: NM2160: MMIO registers at 0xFEA00000
(--) SVGA: NM2160: Linear framebuffer at 0xFD000000
(--) SVGA: NM2160: Using hardware cursor
(--) SVGA: Using XAA (XFree86 Acceleration Architecture)
(--) SVGA: XAA: Solid filled rectangles
(--) SVGA: XAA: Screen-to-screen copy
(--) SVGA: XAA: 8x8 color expand pattern fill
(--) SVGA: XAA: CPU to screen color expansion (TE imagetext, TE
polytext)
(--) SVGA: XAA: Using 8 128x128 areas for pixmap caching
(--) SVGA: XAA: Caching tiles and stipples
(--) SVGA: XAA: Horizontal and vertical lines and segments
System:
`/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb/xkbcomp -w 1 -R/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb
-xkm -m us -em1
"The XKEYBOARD keymap compiler (xkbcomp) reports:" -emp "> "
-eml "Errors from
xkbcomp are not fatal to the X server" keymap/xfree86
compiled/xfree86.xkm'
The three lines I've highlighted identify the Modeline that X will attempt to use for each cited mode. The Modeline you ended up using before killing X (in the example, the one for 1024x768) either gave functional, stable-looking, good-looking results on your monitor, or it didn't.
If it looks good, you'll want to keep that mode's Modeline, and delete all other Modelines for the same mode (e.g., all other 1024x768 pairs). If it doesn't look good, kill X immediately using Ctrl-Alt-Bkspc (if X comes up at all), and then eliminate that Modeline, so you can go test the next candidate.
In either case, switch back to the first virtual terminal (in which you're editing XF86Config). Find the bottom of the Monitor section, just above the Device one. Higher frequency Modelines ("better", if they work) are towards the bottom; less-aggressive ones are towards the top of the section. X always tries Modelines from the bottom of the section moving up. As mentioned earlier, X parses "Modes" lines (in the "Screen" section at the bottom) from left to right.
The "mode clock" figure I highlighted above will be the next number on each Modeline immediately following the mode-numbers label. E.g., the "mode clock = 85" one for 1024x768, on my system, is this one:
# 1024x768 @ 76 Hz, 62.5 kHz hsync
Modeline "1024x768" 85 1024 1032 1152 1360 768 784 787 823
If the monitor had not synchronised (shown a good display) using that Modeline, I would now at least comment out the line, if not remove it along with its comment line. I would then save, switch to the second virtual terminal, re-run "X > xerrors 2>&1", and repeat the cycle, eliminating 1024x768 Modelines until one worked. That will logically be the best 1024x768 Modeline, so I would then stop there and (if I cared) optimise 800x600.
Since the monitor did synchronise, I eliminate all other 1024x768 entries, and move on to 800x600.
In order to test the next-lower mode with minimal effort, I just duplicate the "Modes" line I'm using, comment one copy out for safekeeping, and eliminate modes I don't want to try:
#Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
Save. Switch to the second virtual window. Do the previously-described series of steps for 800x600, instead of 1024x768.
If you make errors and delete something you shouldn't have, you can revert to XF86Config-GENERATED (your safety backup).
The above steps are NOT required for an acceptable X display, but will reliably result in one optimised for top performance and XF86Config legibility. Among other things, XF86Config will be trimmed to about 1/10 of its usual length.
Further fine-tuning of the video frequences is possible using the xvidtune utility.