June 30, 2003

XFree86 Configuration

Configuring XFree86 for Philips 17B CRT monitor and video card with S3 Trio3D chipset.

Monitor Specs
Model: Philips 17B 17" CRT monitor.
Hsync: 30-66Khz
Vsync: 50-160Hz

Video Card Specs
Manufacturer: S3 Incorporated
Chipset: Trio3D

It took a while to figure out that just because there is a driver name that corresponds exactly to what video card the bios thinks it's connected to ("s3virge" for S3 Trio3D), it doesn't necessarily mean that it's the one you're suppose to use. You couldn't get more logical than that! :P Don't get me wrong...the "s3virge" driver was working fine, except it didn't allow me to use my monitor to it's full potential - the best resolution it would do was 640x480, which is just plain _ugly_!...IMHO!

Anyway, this page gave me a clue that I should use the "vesa" driver instead of "s3virge", so I changed my XFree86 configuration file (/etc/X11/XF86Config-4) to have the following lines:

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Generic Video Card"
        Driver          "vesa"
EndSection
...and for my monitor configuration, I have: 
Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Generic Monitor"
        HorizSync       30-66
        VertRefresh     50-160
        Option          "DPMS"
EndSection
...there's also the screen stuff which looks something like: 
Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Device          "Generic Video Card"
        Monitor         "Generic Monitor"
        DefaultDepth    16
         SubSection "Display"
                Depth           16
                Modes           "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
 EndSection

So now, I can display X-windows at a "friendly" resolution of 1024x768 :-)

Posted by sophia at June 30, 2003 11:44 PM
Comments

I have gotton really lazy in configuring my X using any utility found in debian.

What I do instead:

I use Knoppix!

http://www.knoppix.org/

before I do any debian installation I boot off the cdrom with knoppix.

Then I scp the XF86config-4 file found in the /etc/X11 directory to some remote location or I save it to a floppy.

Then I just install debian as usual.

I skip over the X install and then simply put the XF86Config-4 file (generated by Knoppix) in the directory and then start X with no fuss.

I know its cheating, but I have gotton lazy.

I think that SARGE is going to include the knoppix auto-detect software made by knoppix.

until then, with woody, try this out.!

Posted by: Marcus James Fidel on July 6, 2003 05:26 AM

Thanks a heap for this advice Marcus - it saved me heaps of time!

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