Xfce Forum

mesmith

Member

Registered: 2008-11-02

Posts: 7

video card/monitor problems

I'm new to Xfce and Linux.  I installed xubuntu on my system with what apeared to be no real problems.  However, my video/monitor combo is very sluggish and will not let me go above 800x600.  I have tried to find the source of the problems in numerous forums and Google searches.  There seems to be no way for me to inform this system of of video card and monitor preferences.  The config file merely displays "Configured" devices.  Surely there is some way to enter my video card and monitor type and then edit if necessary.  I am using an S3 Trio 3D/2X (362/368) AGP card with 4MB memory.  The monitor is a Dell m781p.  Under Windows, this combo will run above 800x600 if I drop down to 16bit color.  I have a feeling from running this system that my video card and monitor (even at 800x600) are using very basic default devices contributing to the poor performance.

How can I inform the system of my actual devices?

eriefisher

Member

From: ON, Canada

Registered: 2008-10-25

Posts: 408

Re: video card/monitor problems

Your  /etc/X11/xorg.conf is probably set to use the "vesa" driver. I think you need the "s3virge". Check with synaptic that it is installed then edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf and replace "vesa" with "s3virge" as root. Log out and back in to take effect.

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Siduction
Debian Sid
Xfce 4.18

mesmith

Member

Registered: 2008-11-02

Posts: 7

Re: video card/monitor problems

Apparently I have the S3Virge pkg.  My xorg.config file looks like this:

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Default Screen"
    Monitor        "Configured Monitor"
    Device        "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

What exactly did you mean by "as root."  I'm new to this and didn't understand.  Also, there appear to be a couple of other copies of the xorg.config with date time stamps.  Proably from other attempts to fix this, but they are identical.  Should I ignore them?  Anything I can do about the monitor in terms of dropping the color from 24 to 16?

Thanks.

eriefisher

Member

From: ON, Canada

Registered: 2008-10-25

Posts: 408

Re: video card/monitor problems

I didn't catch it the first time but it looks like your running Xubuntu? You could try:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

Follow the instructions and select the hardware you know you have. You should get to some where to select which video driver to use, select the s3virge. Your xorg.conf should look something like this:

Section "Device"
  Identifier "Card0"
  Driver     "s3virge"
  Option    "whatever"
  Option    "whatever"

Below that you should see Section "Screen", you can change the color depth there and the Modes are screen resolution.

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Siduction
Debian Sid
Xfce 4.18

mesmith

Member

Registered: 2008-11-02

Posts: 7

Re: video card/monitor problems

I have run that and it ends after the keyboard has been specified.  No opportunity to enter any information about the card or monitor.  An xorg.config file is produced, date/time stamped, and is identical to the one I have already posted (no mention of vesa in the file).

This is a serious problem if a user has no way to alter the configuration after installation.  What will someone do who has purchased a new video card or monitor after installation?  The ability to tune the configuration seems rather fundamental.  The web is full of advice (that apparently worked) for older versions of this system.  It seems that with 8.10 such flexibility has ended and the configuration internals are, to me at least, a black box.  Surely the configuration information is stored somewhere, and hopefully, can be edited.  No one seems to be able to help.