Very Computer

Hi,

I've an Hitachi CM641ET 17'' CRT display. I've configured it with the
same HorizSinc and VRefresh as the console framebuffer, and it's now
working at 1024x768.

The problem is that I still have the same problem I had with my previous
display (Shamrock Tech Co Ltd 15'', 1024x768): when something changes in
the screen (e.g. when I move the pointer or when a new window appears),
      it shows some thin horizontal white stripes.

It's hard to reproduce it, because the stripes' color depends on the
colors of the current screen. I'm using XFCE, and when I move the
pointer to the panel, the panel appears. If I move the pointer over the
panel, I can see the white stripes over the black wallpaper.

I can live with this when I'm, e.g., using VIM, Kile, OOo, but this is
very annoying when I'm looking at a movie with Xine and Mplayer or when
I'm playing a game with a NES emulator.

If this had already happened to somebody, please tell me how to solve it.

If someone here is using another CM641ET Hitachi CRT, please tell me
which settings should I put in my xorg.conf.

Here is a copy of my xorg.conf. If you found something wrong here,
please point me at the error.

----

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "Layout0"
        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
        InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load  "freetype"
        # Load "xtt"
        Load  "extmod"
        Load  "glx"
        Load  "dri"
        Load  "dbe"
        Load  "record"
        Load  "xtrap"
        Load  "type1"
#       Load  "speedo"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Mouse0"
        Driver      "mouse"
        Option      "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
        Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Keyboard0"
        Driver      "keyboard"
        Option      "XkbModel" "pc105"
        Option      "XkbLayout" "pt"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
#       HorizSync    60.0 - 60.0
        HorizSync    48.5 - 48.5
#       VertRefresh  75.0 - 75.0
        VertRefresh  60.0 - 60.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Card0"
        Driver      "s3virge"
        ChipSet     "virge gx"
        Card        "s3virge virge gx"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Card0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1024x768"
        EndSubSection
EndSection
----

TIA
--
Nuno J. Silva (aka NJSG)
Lisbon, Portugal
Homepage: <http://njsg.no.sapo.pt/>
Registered Linux User #402207 - http://counter.li.org

Using Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.7
Gentoo Linux -- Linux 2.6.15-gentoo-r1 i686 Mobile Pentium II
Intel Pentium II (80686) Deschutes - 334Mhz -- 256 Mbs SDRAM
Intel Mobile Pentium II (80686) - 300 Mhz -- 64 Mbs SDRAM
Intel Pentium (80586) - 166 Mhz -- 32 Mbs RAM

-=-=-
``Steve Balmer, CEO of Microsoft, recently referred to LINUX as a
cancer. Unsurprisingly, that's incorrect; LINUX was released on August
25th, 1991 and is therefore a virgo.''
    -- Kevin L

Quote:> Hi,

> I've an Hitachi CM641ET 17'' CRT display. I've configured it with the
> same HorizSinc and VRefresh as the console framebuffer, and it's now
> working at 1024x768.

> The problem is that I still have the same problem I had with my previous
> display (Shamrock Tech Co Ltd 15'', 1024x768): when something changes in
> the screen (e.g. when I move the pointer or when a new window appears),
>      it shows some thin horizontal white stripes.

This suggests to me that it's not the monitor that is causing the problem.

What version of x.org are you using? Can you try another graphics card
to see if it also does the same?

Other than change the monitor what have you tried to solve the problem?
Have you even looked on google for pointers...?

A 07-03-2006 15:13, Chris escreveu:

I think you're right... I've tried it also with another display (NEC),
which was being used in my pentium desktop computer. The same thing
happened. I connected it, and I've used the same settings. The problem
remained.

Quote:

> What version of x.org are you using? Can you try another graphics card
> to see if it also does the same?

I will try to use the display with my laptop. If it works with no
problem I will copy the xorg settings. If the problem remains with the
new settings in the Pentium II desktop, the problem must be with my S3
Virge video card.

Quote:

> Other than change the monitor what have you tried to solve the problem?

I've tried to change the xorg.conf settings related with the refreshment
rates, and I've tried some times to delete the xorg.conf file and create
a completely new configuration file using the textmode (ncurses)
configuration utility.

Quote:> Have you even looked on google for pointers...?

When it happened with the Shamrock, I googled a bit and I found nothing.
  Maybe it's time to try again.

But there's another strange fact: this problems happens with xorg, but I
had Windows 98 installed and there was no problem when I tried to use
1024x768 with it. If I were able to run windows, I would set it to
1024x768 and see which frequencies was it using. The problem is that
I've accidentally formatted the beggining of the windows partition...
well, I can reinstall it, but I was thinking about using some recovery
utility.

--
Nuno J. Silva (aka NJSG)
Lisbon, Portugal
Homepage: <http://njsg.no.sapo.pt/>
Registered Linux User #402207 - http://counter.li.org

Using Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.7
Gentoo Linux -- Linux 2.6.15-gentoo-r1 i686 Mobile Pentium II
Intel Pentium II (80686) Deschutes - 334Mhz -- 256 Mbs SDRAM
Intel Mobile Pentium II (80686) - 300 Mhz -- 64 Mbs SDRAM
Intel Pentium (80586) - 166 Mhz -- 32 Mbs RAM

-=-=-
``There are only 10 types of people in the world: those that understand
binary, and those that don't.''

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The xorg settings from your laptop will only work on your desktop if
they have the same graphics chip and the same 'type' of LCD.

As I asked before what version of x.org are you using and which Linux
distro? Trying a newer version of x.org, which will have newer drivers,
might solve the problem.

A 08-03-2006 16:35, Chris escreveu:

I've tested the display with the laptop VGA port: it works like a charm.

So I think the problem is with the graphics card (S3 ViRGE). This may be
  also the cause of another problem: X11 boots slowly in my PII desktop
(the screen stays black for more than one minute), than in my laptop
(which is supposed to be slower than my PII desktop), which shows the X
screen less than an half minute after starting xdm.

I've also looked at the rates used by the X-Windows in the laptop (my
display has a function in the menu which shows the rates), and I tried
to use these settings with my PII desktop X11 installation. But it did
not worked (in the log, there was an error message simillar to "Screens
found but none has an usable configuration").

Quote:

> As I asked before what version of x.org are you using and which Linux
> distro? Trying a newer version of x.org, which will have newer drivers,
> might solve the problem.

Here's the result of "X -version":

<code>
X Window System Version 6.8.2
Release Date: 9 February 2005
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 6.8.2
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.12-gentoo-r10 i686 [ELF]
Current Operating System: Linux deschutes 2.6.12-gentoo-r10 #1 Sat Mar 4
00:40:12 UTC 2006 i686
Build Date: 26 February 2006
         Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.X.Org
         to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
</code>

I'm using Gentoo Linux, and I think this is the most recent stable
version. They're working on the new X11R7 ebuild, but (AFAIK) it is not
ready yet.

Do you think that upgrading to X11R7 can solve the problem?

--
Nuno J. Silva (aka NJSG)
Lisbon, Portugal
Homepage: <http://njsg.no.sapo.pt/>
Registered Linux User #402207 - http://counter.li.org

Using Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.7
Gentoo Linux -- Linux 2.6.15-gentoo-r1 i686 Mobile Pentium II
Intel Pentium II (80686) Deschutes - 334Mhz -- 256 Mbs SDRAM
Intel Mobile Pentium II (80686) - 300 Mhz -- 64 Mbs SDRAM
Intel Pentium (80586) - 166 Mhz -- 32 Mbs RAM

-=-=-
``Is there any way I can help without actually getting involved?''
  -- Jennifer, WKRP

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Quote:> A 08-03-2006 16:35, Chris escreveu:

> I've tested the display with the laptop VGA port: it works like a charm.

> So I think the problem is with the graphics card (S3 ViRGE). This may be
>  also the cause of another problem: X11 boots slowly in my PII desktop
> (the screen stays black for more than one minute), than in my laptop
> (which is supposed to be slower than my PII desktop), which shows the X
> screen less than an half minute after starting xdm.

Sounds like a hardware problem. Can you replace the graphics card? Or,
have you tried re-seating the card, it may have come a little loose?

Quote:

> I've also looked at the rates used by the X-Windows in the laptop (my
> display has a function in the menu which shows the rates), and I tried
> to use these settings with my PII desktop X11 installation. But it did
> not worked (in the log, there was an error message simillar to "Screens
> found but none has an usable configuration").

Like I said, the laptop settings won't work on your desktop unless they
use the same hardware, which is unlikely.

[snip]

Quote:

> I'm using Gentoo Linux, and I think this is the most recent stable
> version. They're working on the new X11R7 ebuild, but (AFAIK) it is not
> ready yet.

> Do you think that upgrading to X11R7 can solve the problem?

I doubt it as the graphics chip you're using is quite old now so any
recent version of X should be stable.

A 13-03-2006 14:56, Chris escreveu:

I have only one graphics card (all my other computers have on-board
graphics card), but I'll ask some friends of mine if they can lend me a
graphics card.

Quote:> Or, have you tried re-seating the card, it may have come a little loose?

I'll try that, but I think it's rightly seated. I will also try to seat
it in another slot, maybe that helps.

Quote:

>> I've also looked at the rates used by the X-Windows in the laptop (my
>> display has a function in the menu which shows the rates), and I tried
>> to use these settings with my PII desktop X11 installation. But it did
>> not worked (in the log, there was an error message simillar to
>> "Screens found but none has an usable configuration").

> Like I said, the laptop settings won't work on your desktop unless they
> use the same hardware, which is unlikely.

You were (and are) right :-)

Quote:> [snip]

>> I'm using Gentoo Linux, and I think this is the most recent stable
>> version. They're working on the new X11R7 ebuild, but (AFAIK) it is
>> not ready yet.

>> Do you think that upgrading to X11R7 can solve the problem?

> I doubt it as the graphics chip you're using is quite old now so any
> recent version of X should be stable.

Hum... maybe I should buy a better graphics card (AGP, with 3D support,
...)... What do you recommend?

--
Nuno J. Silva (aka NJSG)
Lisbon, Portugal
Homepage: <http://njsg.no.sapo.pt/>
Registered Linux User #402207 - http://counter.li.org

Using Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.7
Gentoo Linux -- Linux 2.6.15-gentoo-r1 i686 Mobile Pentium II
Intel Pentium II (80686) Deschutes - 334Mhz -- 256 Mbs SDRAM
Intel Mobile Pentium II (80686) - 300 Mhz -- 64 Mbs SDRAM
Intel Pentium (80586) - 166 Mhz -- 32 Mbs RAM

-=-=-
``Now we'll have to kill you.''
  -- Linus Torvalds

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[snip various Q&As]

Quote:

>>> Do you think that upgrading to X11R7 can solve the problem?

>> I doubt it as the graphics chip you're using is quite old now so any
>> recent version of X should be stable.

> Hum... maybe I should buy a better graphics card (AGP, with 3D support,
> ...)... What do you recommend?

As you don't seem to be a big user of 3D accelerated apps then any
current should suffice - the amount you want to spend will be your
limiting factor :-). ATI and NVidia are the main players in this arena,
but their open-source support for 3D is non-existent. The only exception
is the older radeon 9250 from ATI which has 3D drivers included in X -
many people on this ng have had success with it.

Alternatively you can use the proprietary dirvers from nVidia and ATI
for more powerful cards. Reports vary quite a lot with the ATI drivers
whereas nVidia are more consistently good (I've had no problems for long
time).

A 20-03-2006 17:27, Chris escreveu:

I'm interested in trying some 3D games for Linux (ATM I've only tried
two: TuxRacer (which was slow when I tried it - will a better graphics
card resolve this?), and Quake III Arena (Demo) (AFAIK the minimum
requeriments for this game are a Pentium III and a graphics card with a
certain amount of builtin memory (which I doubt my card has))), and I'm
also interested in trying XGL and AIGLX, so I'm interested in a graphics
card with 3D which is completely supported by X.

Is it a good idea to use a nVidia card with the proprietary drivers?
Will it be able to run any 3D application or will it prevent me from
running some open-source/free software applications?

--
Nuno J. Silva (aka NJSG)
Lisbon, Portugal
Homepage: <http://njsg.no.sapo.pt/>
Registered Linux User #402207 - http://counter.li.org

Using Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.7
Gentoo Linux -- Linux 2.6.15-gentoo-r1 i686 Mobile Pentium II
Intel Pentium II (80686) Deschutes - 334Mhz -- 256 Mbs SDRAM
Intel Mobile Pentium II (80686) - 300 Mhz -- 64 Mbs SDRAM
Intel Pentium (80586) - 166 Mhz -- 32 Mbs RAM

-=-=-
``No keyboard found, press <F1> to continue.''

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