Changing kernel options for Xorg.

chris_debian · 2011-01-25 16:49:16

Hi, all!

My video card (ATI Radeon) and monitor (Sun GDM-5410) combination cause problems with some kernels, ie, I get 'out of range' problems on my monitor. The default kernel on the Arch build is one of the distros that struggles with this.

I did an install of Gentoo the other day and using the Gentoo installation guid [0], ensured that everything was correctly 'switched-on' in the kernel and X was fine. I want to get Arch installed with X running properly, and was wondering what the best way is to ensure the kernel options are 'switched-on' and the kernel compiled properly. I don't need anything special like proprietary drivers, so I should just be able to take the stock Arch kernel and make my changes. Does Arch do this in a special 'Arch' way, or is there anything else I need to know?

I did Google this, but the article was talking about grabbing another kernel and compiling stuff in. I don't need another kernel :-)

[0] Specifically Para 2 http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/xorg-config.xml

Any help appreciated.

Cheers,

Chris.

Last edited by chris_debian (2011-01-25 16:49:25)

karol · 2011-01-25 19:41:40

The wiki has article(s) about compiling a kernel.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Kernel_Compilation
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ke … rom_Source

Last edited by karol (2011-01-25 19:43:15)

chris_debian · 2011-01-28 07:03:12

karol wrote:

The wiki has article(s) about compiling a kernel.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Kernel_Compilation
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ke … rom_Source

Thank you. I guess the question is, if I compile an option into the kernel for my graphics card, will I have to do this every time the kernel is upgraded?

I'll look at the links you provided and hopefully things will be a bit clearer.

Ten years ago, I'd re-compile kernels without thinking about it. I guess that because the kernel now has such good hardware support, i'm a little out of practice. :-)

Thanks,

Chris.

Last edited by chris_debian (2011-01-28 07:04:09)

tomk · 2011-01-28 07:17:30

So what kernel options do you need exactly? A quick glance at that gentoo doc suggests that all those options are already provided in the Arch kernel.

IOW - are you sure it's a kernel issue?

karol · 2011-01-28 07:19:45

chris_debian wrote:

the question is, if I compile an option into the kernel for my graphics card, will I have to do this every time the kernel is upgraded?

If the kernel is upgraded, the old kernel26 package gets replaced by the new one, so you need to enable the things you want every time or don't upgrade the package.

chris_debian · 2011-01-31 06:59:25

karol wrote:

If the kernel is upgraded, the old kernel26 package gets replaced by the new one, so you need to enable the things you want every time or don't upgrade the package.

Apologies for the delayed reply, Karol. I'll have a good re-read of the wiki guide to X installation, as it would seem silly for a tweak to X to require a re-compile on every upgrade, especially as on most distros, X config 'just works'.

Thanks, again.

Chris.

karol · 2011-01-31 07:10:25

Do as tomk suggested: make sure it's kernel-related.
You can try various kernel line switches, like 'nomodeset', but first read about X and the video drivers.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-01-25 16:49:16

Changing kernel options for Xorg.

#2 2011-01-25 19:41:40

Re: Changing kernel options for Xorg.

#3 2011-01-28 07:03:12

Re: Changing kernel options for Xorg.

#4 2011-01-28 07:17:30

Re: Changing kernel options for Xorg.

#5 2011-01-28 07:19:45

Re: Changing kernel options for Xorg.

#6 2011-01-31 06:59:25

Re: Changing kernel options for Xorg.

#7 2011-01-31 07:10:25

Re: Changing kernel options for Xorg.

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