Arch Linux

xiaq

Member

From: somewhere in China...

Registered: 2011-03-06

Posts: 89

Console resolution, video driver and framebuffer mode

I have had a related post before, but for clarity I think it's better to open another thread.

I have ATI graphics card and the natural resolution of my laptop LCD is 1366x768. The open-source video driver (ati-dri) can bring the display of console (as well as X) to the right resolution, but everyone else can't. By "everyone else" I mean Grub and the closed-source video driver (fglrx). fglrx is, able to set the right resolution on X though; but on console it sucks.

I decided to investigate this matter, and following https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB#hwinfo, I ran:

~% sudo hwinfo --framebuffer
02: None 00.0: 11001 VESA Framebuffer                           
  [Created at bios.459]
  Unique ID: rdCR.A3Y7SCr7Y49
  Hardware Class: framebuffer
  Model: "(C) 1988-2005, ATI M92"
  Vendor: "(C) 1988-2005, ATI Technologies Inc."
  Device: "M92"
  SubVendor: "ATI ATOMBIOS"
  SubDevice: 
  Revision: "01.00"
  Memory Size: 16 MB
  Memory Range: 0xd0000000-0xd0ffffff (rw)
  Mode 0x0300: 640x400 (+640), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0301: 640x480 (+640), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0303: 800x600 (+832), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0305: 1024x768 (+1024), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0310: 640x480 (+1280), 15 bits
  Mode 0x0311: 640x480 (+1280), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0313: 800x600 (+1600), 15 bits
  Mode 0x0314: 800x600 (+1600), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0316: 1024x768 (+2048), 15 bits
  Mode 0x0317: 1024x768 (+2048), 16 bits
  Mode 0x030d: 320x200 (+640), 15 bits
  Mode 0x030e: 320x200 (+640), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0320: 320x200 (+1280), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0393: 320x240 (+320), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0395: 320x240 (+640), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0396: 320x240 (+1280), 24 bits
  Mode 0x03b3: 512x384 (+512), 8 bits
  Mode 0x03b5: 512x384 (+1024), 16 bits
  Mode 0x03b6: 512x384 (+2048), 24 bits
  Mode 0x03c3: 640x350 (+640), 8 bits
  Mode 0x03c5: 640x350 (+1280), 16 bits
  Mode 0x03c6: 640x350 (+2560), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0333: 720x400 (+768), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0335: 720x400 (+1472), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0336: 720x400 (+2944), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0360: 848x480 (+896), 8 bits
  Mode 0x0361: 848x480 (+1728), 16 bits
  Mode 0x0362: 848x480 (+3456), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0321: 640x480 (+2560), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0322: 800x600 (+3200), 24 bits
  Mode 0x0323: 1024x768 (+4096), 24 bits
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

which prints a lot of modes, but not including 1366x768. Instead of asking why everyone else doesn't work, I suppose I should ask: Why does the open-source video driver work on both console and X? It makes use of the framebuffer, which, hwinfo showed, doesn't support a 1366x768 mode. So it must be cheating somewhere. How does it cheat? Can I apply the same trick to get 1366x768 resolution in Grub and with fglrx on console? And why does fglrx succeed to cheat on X but fail on console?

Last edited by xiaq (2011-04-24 09:22:44)

Meyithi

Member

From: Wirral, UK

Registered: 2009-06-21

Posts: 550

Website

Re: Console resolution, video driver and framebuffer mode

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KMS

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xiaq

Member

From: somewhere in China...

Registered: 2011-03-06

Posts: 89

Re: Console resolution, video driver and framebuffer mode

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KMS

So only by KMS can I get those "extra" modes(like 1366x768x32)? But what about fglrx on X?

Last edited by xiaq (2011-04-24 09:30:53)

ChoK

Member

From: France

Registered: 2008-10-01

Posts: 346

Re: Console resolution, video driver and framebuffer mode

Traditional FB doesn't have any widescreen resolution. Look into this https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uvesafb

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Perfection is reached, not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away.
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xiaq

Member

From: somewhere in China...

Registered: 2011-03-06

Posts: 89

Re: Console resolution, video driver and framebuffer mode

Traditional FB doesn't have any widescreen resolution. Look into this https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Uvesafb

Thanks but as the wiki page pointed out, the mode table of the graphics card's BIOS contain no widescreen items; 915resolution is needed to patch the BIOS and uvesafb will work in widescreen mode after that. However, 915resolution is not available for ATI cards... Are there similar tools for ATI cards? I Google'd and found this, but I have no idea on how to use it.