Thinkpads Forum

Well, I think I finally have a working, stable, ubuntu system. Most of my prior problems were due to trying to tweak the system from its basic setup (naturally). That said, I now have the trackpoint scroll working, the restricted drivers (ati/fglrx) working, 1680x1050 resolution on my T60 15.4" WSXGA+, tcpip printer working, and access to my Windows workgroup. I've configured email, set up the Pan newsreader, and gotten plugins (java6, sw/flash, adobe reader) for Firefox. All in all, not bad.

I'm going to run through my mistakes so others can avoid them.

A big mistake was trying to circumvent the dual password request for the keyring manager and for the wireless network. The suggestions from Google led me to try changing from roaming mode (worked for awhile, but eventually my wireless stopped working). Then I added a line to /etc/pam.d/gdm ("@include common-pamkeyring"), which brought things to a grinding halt at the login screen. First time around, I shut off the computer and that led to a "kernel panic" which, in turn, led to a personal panic!

I ended up reinstalling (unnecessarily as it turned out, because I repeated my error and ended up in the same place). This time, however, I found a solution online:

If at "kernel panic - not syncing" screen:

First check your memory.
if ok:
Boot in safe mode
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg
sudo reboot

If then back at frozen login screen:
Cntl-Alt-F2
login
sudo vi /etc/pam.d/gdm
remove the line "@include common-pamkeyring"
save, exit, reboot

Somewhere along the line I installed the Catalyst 7.12 driver using Envy. Couldn't get 1680x1050. Started looking for a way to do it. Do NOT recheck the restricted driver; it's SUPPOSED to be unchecked!!! The effects of two video drivers fighting for control IS interesting to see, however.

Ok... So now the questions: The restricted driver apparently set up a custom monitor for the 1680x1050 resolution. At one point, I think I saw that info in /etc/X11/xorg.conf, but it is no longer there! Is there a place where I can find the proper configuration for my WSXGA+ screen, or find the settings the restricted driver used (so if something bad happens I can revive it)?

Also, I would like to install the ati 7.12 driver and get the 1680x1050 resolution functioning, and I think the custom monitor specs would accomplish that ( I don't know if the custom monitor settings are retained and if you can just select it?). Someone suggested in another thread that you could go to: System-Administration-Screens and Graphics-select widescreen, generic, plug-and-play, and get the resolution that way? I can just try these out, but If I can get the custom monitor settings, I'll be set no matter what.

The 7.12 driver, btw, is a temporary solution to the "suspend and return" problem (but not, apparently the "hibernate and return" problem). Thus my interest in getting those drivers working.

Any and all help gratefully accepted!

Not to discourage you but when i tried switching to the 7.12 drivers i could not get 1680x1050 to work.

With the restrictred drivers i would not have that res at the start, but all i had to do was edit the Xorg.conf file and add the 1680x1050 as an available resolution and restart X, then it would be picked up automatically.

However with 7.12 everytime i tried this, it would revert back to 1440x1050, i tried for a while and never could get it to work. I also found the performance of the 7.12 drivers pretty bad, and i wasn't using Compiz either!

In the end i just built a custom kernel to solve the suspend/resume issue (everything works for me suspend/resume as well as hibernate/resume), if you're brave i'd be willing to share my .deb packages, the great thing about linux is that even if it does not work, it still keeps the previous kernel as an option in your boot menu.

also see my post here http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=55045

Hmm... Maybe not worth the aggravation, then. There have been some posts that suggest that it CAN be done, and my assumption has been that it would result in some tangible improvement over the restricted driver. If that isn't the case, then maybe it's not worth pursuing.


edit: I did find some infomation; maybe it'll help...

LTN154P2-L05 Samsung

@60Hz -- Hsync-Vsync=64.1:
Modeline "1680x1050" 122.00 1680 1784 1960 2240 1050 1059 1089
@50Hz -- Hsync-Vsync=53.4:
Modeline "1680x1050" 101.67 1680 1784 1960 2240 1050 1059 1089

Here's a guide to install ATI 7.11 Linux Driver. It'll fix your resolution, but mess with hibernation/sleep.

ATI 7.11 Guide

UPDATE:

Ok, backed up everything, uninstalled XGL, used Envy to load the 7.12 driver. As expected, the resolution defaulted to less than the 1680x1050 I wanted (I'm not sure what the actual resolution was, however).

I tried several of the tactics I'd read about. I added the MODELINES in my post above to xorg.conf, added the 1680x1050 resolution as well (and made it first as suggested). I added the MODES[0] section suggested by someone else. I selected "custom 1", as well as "plug and play w/wide screen". Nothing I'd read about had any (useful) effect. Had to recover my previous xorg.conf file several times to get things working again.

My tentative, and probably naive, conclusion is that the system/driver tries to autodetect and verify the screen resolution prior to fully loading xorg.conf and fails. Having failed, it stops trying to process the xorg.conf you wrote, and substitutes a default xorg.conf instead. So, no matter what you try, it never really gets implemented.

It would be useful to know in what way the restricted driver operates differently from the ati driver, since it somehow overcomes the autodetect problem. I'd also like to know where it gets (and keeps) its monitor information.

Anyway, I'm back to the RESTRICTED DRIVER-XGL-COMPIZ-EMERALD combination which functions ok, and I'll just do without the suspend/hibernate capability for now. Maybe this'll all get sorted out in the next release.

so, rmcder, are you going to take my suggestion and build a custom kernel now

minhi wrote:so, rmcder, are you going to take my suggestion and build a custom kernel now

Take pity on a newbie... I don't think I'm ready to start making custom kernels just yet!