t43 linux mint 8 video question

[garysblim]

Hi all:

I'm kind of a newbie on linux and have installed linux mint 8 on my T43. Everything seems to work. For the screen, I get 1400x1050 resolution although it complains the screen not detected. But when I tried to change the visual effects, I get an error saying "display effects could not be enabled". Anyone has any idea to solve this? Thanks so much,

Gary

[Neil]

My guess is a graphics driver issue. Do you have Intel or ATI graphics?

[garysblim]

It's ATI fire gl. I've tried installing driver from ubuntu but that didn't work. The aticonfig doesn't recognize the card. btw, LM sees the card as radeon card. I really like LM but am tempted to try ubuntu now... Thanks

Gary

[Neil]

Well...you know Mint is based on Ubuntu, so I doubt Ubuntu will have anything additional to offer over Mint. You might want to try Mandriva. IIRC, the Radeon drivers are built-in instead of having to be added as with Ubuntu and derivatives.

[garysblim]

Really? I'll give it a try tonight. I'm hoping to make it like a 'mac'. Btw, does virtualbox work in mandriva? Thanks.

[Neil]

Yes, virtualbox will work on most any distro. BTW, have you looked at the Mac4Lin Project?

[garysblim]

great! And yes. That's how I found out the video wasn't working properly. I couldn't install the dock and activate high quality appearance. Thanks!

[garysblim]

I installed Mandriva 2010 and so far most of the function work except waking up from sleep. I've reading and it seems a common problem. Is there a work around? Thanks.

[GomJabbar]

Resume from Sleep (to RAM) works fine here on my T42 in Mandriva 2010. Resume from Hibernation (to Disc) also works fine.

I use /usr/sbin/pm-suspend for Suspend to RAM.
I use /usr/sbin/pm-hibernate for Suspend to Disc.
I initiate these commands with my hardware hotkeys Fn+F4 and Fn+F12.

Here is my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

Code: Select all

# File generated by XFdrake (rev )

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the xorg.conf man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option "DontZap" "False" # disable <Ctrl><Alt><BS> (server abort)
    #DontZoom # disable <Ctrl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)
    AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does not work
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension
    Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
    Load "extmod"
    Load "glx" # 3D layer
    Load "dri" # direct rendering
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "monitor1"
    VendorName "Generic"
    ModelName "Flat Panel 1400x1050"
    HorizSync 28.8-90
    VertRefresh 60
    
    # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
    # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "768x576"     50.00  768  832  846 1000   576  590  595  630
    
    # 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "768x576"     63.07  768  800  960 1024   576  578  590  616
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "device1"
    VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc"
    BoardName "ATI Radeon X1950 and earlier"
    Driver "ati"
    Option "AccelMethod" "XAA"
    Option "AGPMode" "4"
    Option "GARTSize" "64"
    Option "EnablePageFlip" "on"
    Option "ColorTiling" "on"
    Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "screen1"
    Device "device1"
    Monitor "monitor1"
    Subsection "Display"
            Depth    24
            # Here you can set virtual screen size:
            Virtual 2800 1050
    EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "layout1"
    Screen "screen1"
EndSection

[garysblim]

Hi GomJabbar:

Thanks for the reply. I think I have the same set-up. I think my works as long as I don't switch power source. i.e. if I put the laptop to sleep (close lid) during ac plug-in, I am not able to wake it up on the road with battery or plug in again at work. I'll try putting it to sleep with fn+f4 to see if it makes a difference.

Thanks,

Gary

[GomJabbar]

You might try running one or the other of those commands as root and see how it goes. That would rule out Mandriva using a different method to enter suspend.

[garysblim]

thanks. but now i have lost my bluetooth driver suddenly. It was working fine communicating with my mouse and my phone. After waking up, it's lost communication / driver. The HW console doesn't see bluetooth either. I've tried rebooting with not much luck. it seems the driver is now corrupted or something. lol

[GomJabbar]

Will Fn+F5 wakeup bluetooth? My laptop has bluetooth, but I don't really use it.

I don't know about bluetooth, but I find with my cellular connection, it's best to terminate the connection before Suspending the computer. Otherwise, I may not be able to reconnect after Resume.

[garysblim]

thanks for the reply.no, fn key can only turn off but can't enable again. I also try sending:
echo enabled > /proc/acpi/ibm/bluetooth
But again, it doesn't work. After uninstalling and installing ibm & bluetooth, it briefly worked but crashed the system. I also had problem accessing bios (the system froze). It never happened to me even when i was running xp... Very strange.

Gary

[garysblim]

Latest update. Just got home and turned on the laptop. And there it is, the bluetooth works again! This is just too strange. Now, I'm wondering if the fan control isn't working too well and cause the system to overheat? Right now, it's fan is running at 3979 (see below).

status: enabled
speed: 3979
level: auto

Does anyone know if this is a good way to keep the cpu cool? I'll keep it running tonight and see if the same problem happens again.

Thanks,

Gary