widescreen support for framebuffer

iBertus · 2006-09-09 02:50:43

I just grabbed a new 20" widescreen with a native res of 1680x1050 and everything works great with Xorg. I changed my xorg.conf to the new resolution and hit startx and it "just worked." Now, I'm trying to obtain a similar resolution without X running. I can't manage to get the correct setting for this framebuffer resolution using the standard VESA framebuffer (not brand specific).

Is it possible to run a framebuffer console with a 1680x1050 resolution? It'd be great to use the whole surface of my display for various things.

zen_guerrilla · 2006-09-09 10:16:16

You need a kernel patched with vesafb-tng, http://dev.gentoo.org/~spock/projects/vesafb-tng/. I have a 1280x800 fb on my laptop. Note however that fb-capable media programs (ie. mplayer, fbi) don't work correctly with vesafb-tng.

patroclo7 · 2006-09-09 11:23:50

If it is available, the best choice is often to use a specific framebuffer driver. It depends from your chipset. E.g., radeonfb is now a mature driver, with lots of feature vesafb does not have (automatic choice of resolution, acceleration, ability to suspend properly). Also the fb drivers for intel chipsets are better than vesafb. May be also some others (I have no experience with some of them).

In order to use the specific drivers, you need to compile your own kernel, since they need to be into the kernel and arch kernels use vesafb.

lanrat · 2006-09-09 12:22:20

Try beyond kernel it has vesa-tng by default. For examples take a look at this thread (at the bottom).

iBertus · 2006-09-09 15:12:11

I'm running Arch64 and IIRC vesa-tng doesn't work correctly with x86_64 kernels. Also, I'm running the nvidia proprietary drivers and it still doesn't work correctly with the nvidia framebuffer driver.

elasticdog · 2006-09-10 20:21:08

I don't know if using a different framebuffer driver will change this or not, but I use the beyond kernel and found someplace that the only available resolutions for your fb are listed here:

$ cat /proc/fb0/modes

I've never been able to get anything widescreen with my 1680x1050, but haven't really looked in to it much either.

iBertus · 2006-09-11 03:37:26

It's not looking good for widescreen fb support without vesa-tng. What is the highest standard res that vesafb supports? I know that 1600x1200 is out b/c my monitor maxes at 1680x1050, but what about something between 1600x1200 and 1280x1024?

lanrat · 2006-09-12 08:16:16

Seems that elasticdog is right. The mode has to be supported by Video BIOS (unless you have one of the intel chipsets and you can change standard modes - that's what I'm doing to make i810 work with my external 1440x900 LCD connected to the laptop).

EDIT: If you can't change Video BIOS modes somehow, how about SVGATextMode? That's a nice alternative to vesafb.

Arch Linux

#1 2006-09-09 02:50:43

widescreen support for framebuffer

#2 2006-09-09 10:16:16

Re: widescreen support for framebuffer

#3 2006-09-09 11:23:50

Re: widescreen support for framebuffer

#4 2006-09-09 12:22:20

Re: widescreen support for framebuffer

#5 2006-09-09 15:12:11

Re: widescreen support for framebuffer

#6 2006-09-10 20:21:08

Re: widescreen support for framebuffer

#7 2006-09-11 03:37:26

Re: widescreen support for framebuffer

#8 2006-09-12 08:16:16

Re: widescreen support for framebuffer

Board footer