Setting correct resolution

unnilquadium · 2017-08-27 11:23:50

Hello everyone.

Fairly noob here, and I know that this problem has been addressed many times but I still can't get this right, so please bear with me...

I'm trying to set my monitor's correct resolution to show in the various ttys (BTW that's 1680x1050) using the nvidia-340xx driver (correct for my card which is a GT218). The card doesn't support that resolution through the vbe modes.

I've messed with everything in the grub config file, tried v86d (but that only works with the supported vbe modes I think), tried to generate o custom EDID file (no success, but I have limited knowledge on this). All without success.

Everything works with the nouveau driver, despite having this message during boot:
[ 14.451665] nouveau 0000:04:00.0: bios: OOB d7500086 d7500086

I'm happy to stick with the nouveau driver, but I've read in the wiki that we can get performance gains by using the nvidia one, and since my computer is an oldie every bit counts...

Any ideas? Can I try something else? Does the nvidia driver really offer that much of a performance gain over the nouveau?

Cheers.

seth · 2017-08-27 11:50:29

xorg, wayland or linux console?
You should not be using a framebuffer console itfp. (unsupported by nvidia) and for xorg, please provide the xorg log (w/ the nvidia driver)

verynice · 2017-08-27 11:56:16

As far as I know proprietary drivers work better at advanced 3D rendering etc. which is very useful with newer games but not so much if you intend to use your computer normally. As you have said yourself it seems like yours won't run any AAA-games anyway.
The biggest bottleneck on old machines is often the hard drive (a SSD is preferable) and the CPU.

You said that you switched from nouvea to the nvidia driver. Have you blacklisted the open source driver or disabled it in any other way? Sometimes(almost aways actually) they might mess with each other and bad things happen.
You should also probably check which driver is currently running on your graphics card.

Also check the wiki on NVIDIA:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NV … ed_drivers

If your card is too old it might not be supported anymore.

unnilquadium · 2017-08-27 16:01:35

Yeah the card is no longer supported.

Anyway, the nvidia driver works normally with Xorg. No problems there... It's just annoying that I can't get the native resolution when switching to another console, eg. tty2~6.

I'm able to set any resolution shown in the vbe modes of my card using v86d, but since the card doesn't have my monitor's native resolution I can't get the resolution right.

I think I'll just stick with the nouveau for now, since I'll not be playing any games apart from the occasional solitaire...

Any further thoughts still appreciated

seth · 2017-08-27 19:35:52

This is not about the GPUs driver support.
The nvidia blob does explicitly not support framebuffer consoles - no matter which GPU or driver version (run "dmesg | grep NVRM")

Anyway. v86d means you're using uvesafb? Deliberately? Did you see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uv … resolution ?
What's the output of "hwinfo --framebuffer"?
Seen https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … resolution ?

unnilquadium · 2017-08-27 20:46:57

Yes, I've tried the instructions detailed here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uvesafb

And it worked for the resolutions contained in the output of hwinfo --framebuffer, but unfortunately my monitor's native resolution (1680x1050) is not listed.

Output of hwinfo --framebuffer:
02: None 00.0: 11001 VESA Framebuffer
[Created at bios.459]
Unique ID: rdCR.QtXQU5o09ZF
Hardware Class: framebuffer
Model: "NVIDIA GT218 Board - 06910002"
Vendor: "NVIDIA Corporation"
Device: "GT218 Board - 06910002"
SubVendor: "NVIDIA"
SubDevice:
Revision: "Chip Rev"
Memory Size: 14 MB
Memory Range: 0xcf000000-0xcfdfffff (rw)
Mode 0x0300: 640x400 (+640), 8 bits
Mode 0x0301: 640x480 (+640), 8 bits
Mode 0x0303: 800x600 (+800), 8 bits
Mode 0x0305: 1024x768 (+1024), 8 bits
Mode 0x0307: 1280x1024 (+1280), 8 bits
Mode 0x030e: 320x200 (+640), 16 bits
Mode 0x030f: 320x200 (+1280), 24 bits
Mode 0x0311: 640x480 (+1280), 16 bits
Mode 0x0312: 640x480 (+2560), 24 bits
Mode 0x0314: 800x600 (+1600), 16 bits
Mode 0x0315: 800x600 (+3200), 24 bits
Mode 0x0317: 1024x768 (+2048), 16 bits
Mode 0x0318: 1024x768 (+4096), 24 bits
Mode 0x031a: 1280x1024 (+2560), 16 bits
Mode 0x031b: 1280x1024 (+5120), 24 bits
Mode 0x0330: 320x200 (+320), 8 bits
Mode 0x0331: 320x400 (+320), 8 bits
Mode 0x0332: 320x400 (+640), 16 bits
Mode 0x0333: 320x400 (+1280), 24 bits
Mode 0x0334: 320x240 (+320), 8 bits
Mode 0x0335: 320x240 (+640), 16 bits
Mode 0x0336: 320x240 (+1280), 24 bits
Mode 0x033d: 640x400 (+1280), 16 bits
Mode 0x033e: 640x400 (+2560), 24 bits
Mode 0x0345: 1600x1200 (+1600), 8 bits
Mode 0x0346: 1600x1200 (+3200), 16 bits
Mode 0x034a: 1600x1200 (+6400), 24 bits
Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

I've also found this answer by Gusar in this thread ( https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=117576 ):
To get a high-res console, you need the nouveau driver. But nouveau and nvidia can't co-exist, so when you installed the nvidia package, nouveau got blacklisted. There's no other way. If you want a high-res console, you can't use the nvidia driver for X.

Which means that I'm stucked with the nouveau driver if I want 1680x1050, I guess...

Arch Linux

#1 2017-08-27 11:23:50

Setting correct resolution

#2 2017-08-27 11:50:29

Re: Setting correct resolution

#3 2017-08-27 11:56:16

Re: Setting correct resolution

#4 2017-08-27 16:01:35

Re: Setting correct resolution

#5 2017-08-27 19:35:52

Re: Setting correct resolution

#6 2017-08-27 20:46:57

Re: Setting correct resolution

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