Arch Linux

cujo

Member

Registered: 2007-03-28

Posts: 45

Determine Old Graphics Card or Some other X problem

So I recently "inherited" an old PII machine that I've installed arch on.  I've used a couple of live cds in the past on it (dog slow), and they would typically detect the graphics card/monitor setup and give me the correct resolution.  Basically, I don't know what the graphics card is, and the monitor is capable of 1680x1050. 

However, my arch X setup won't give me the max resolution.  I'm using the vesa drive for lack of a better idea.  I'm not sure if the problem is my config file or the driver I'm using.  Can anyone give me pointers on how to figure this one out?

Hohoho

Member

Registered: 2007-06-23

Posts: 222

Re: Determine Old Graphics Card or Some other X problem

lspci output would help.

cujo

Member

Registered: 2007-03-28

Posts: 45

Re: Determine Old Graphics Card or Some other X problem

Well, it appears to be a...

VGA compatible controller: Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G200 AGP (rev 01)

The Screen section of my xorg.conf looks like...

Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
Subsection "Display"
  Viewport 0 0
  Depth 24
  Modes "1680x1050"
EndSubSection

cujo

Member

Registered: 2007-03-28

Posts: 45

Re: Determine Old Graphics Card or Some other X problem

Aha.  The obvious problem is that the vesa driver doesn't seem to support 1680x1050.  That coupled with the xf86-video-mga driver and now all is well on the old clunker.