[PLUG] X, xorg.conf.d, etc.
King Beowulf
kingbeowulf at gmail.com
Sat Mar 21 20:21:12 UTC 2015
On 03/21/2015 08:42 AM, Keith Lofstrom wrote:
> --- The ask ---
>
> The X window graphics system is evolving, the man pages and
> howtos and tutorials I can find are not keeping up. Where are
> some recent well written introductions to X, debugging, etc?
>
That's odd. Ubuntu, Gentoo, Arch, Fedora and some others have updated
their wikis in the past year - some THIS YEAR (not that anything changes
very much). Not bad for a bunch on unpaid volunteers.
> --- explanation ---
>
> * Irrelevant gripe, why I cannot "just google it":
>
> Google (and DuckDuckGo) no longer generate de-novo query
> directed search results, but seem to pick a precomputed set from
> prior similar (in their opinion) searches, resulting in a crapton
> of irrelevance, with filtering words ignored. Hence, back to
> the preGoogle "human search engine".
Your search-fu is weak, Grasshopper. Ether search engine will at least
point you to "read the manpages" as well as numerous wikis, forums and
tutorials, with Google doing a bit better job.
>
> * I've got three X problems to debug:
>
> 0) I want to increase the debugging level of the Xorg.0.log file.
> While the file contains a lot of useless crap (the modeline list
> over and over again), it does not provide vital stuff for debug
> (like which modeline it is actually using).
Not crap, the repeats are from autodetection, and yes the actual modlne
selected is in there - how it is displayed may differ a bit between teh
different intel chipsets . I specify my monitor capabilities in
xorg.conf and don't see that stuff.
>From 'man Xorg" you can try increasing the log level (no display
manager, ie boot into CLI)
startx -- -logverbose 5 (default is 3)
or in xorg.conf (see man xorg.conf):
Section "Device"
...
Option "ModeDebug" "true"
...
EndSection
Google searches:
http://www.x.org/wiki/FAQVideoModes/
http://www.x.org/archive/X11R7.7/doc/man/man5/xorg.conf.5.xhtml
*** http://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.7/doc/
You can also use 'xrandr --query' to determine your current modeline and
which ones are available/supported.
The only time you will need to create a custom modeline is for older
non-EDID, or special unique, monitors and antique GPUs. Otherwise,
simply specifying monitor's resolution and refresh is enough.
More search results:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=927&num=2
http://www.arachnoid.com/modelines/
Finally, modelinees (timings etc) are for analog VGA monitors only.
digital HDMI, DVI, are a different beast.
>
> 1) The intel driver /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/intel_drv.so
> seems to add about 5% to the monitor EDID pixel clock rate (I
> suspect it is an M to Mi confusion). I want to tell it to use
> one of the slower clock options it lists in the (repeated)
> modeline list.
See above and check your intel chipset support:
http://www.x.org/wiki/IntelGraphicsDriver/
>
> 1a) This is complicated on one machine because I occasionally
> switch on and off a second monitor, though that does not seem
> to be directly correlated to my current problems - it does make
> kluging more complicated.
Should have no effect, other than filling up you X logs with EDID and
autodetect info.
>
> 2) Particular to one of the machines (with builtin intel HD
> graphics), when the display goes into timeout lock, and perhaps
> other times, it generates a screen full of herringbone garbage
> rather than the usual lockout message (the mouse pointer sprite
> still works). A crtl-alt-F5 followed by ctrl-alt-F1 restores a
> readable lockout page, but my geekishness-resistant users think
> that is stupid, and so do I. Generating a bug report without
> decent log data is difficult.
Hmmm...that pattern is the default root X window background, IIRC, with
no display manager or window manager. Sounds like whatever DM or WM you
are using crashed.
Besides the xorg log, you may want to also check:
/var/log/messages
/var/log/syslog
/var/log/dmesg
This is not an X.org issue.
>
> So - with some current documentation (do they still write that?)
Yes. And print actual paper books, too.
> of the current evolving X paradigm I can debug and generate usable
> bug reports. "The screen is messed up, trust me" will not work.
> Suggestions?
When asking for help, you may want to provide a bit more information:
Distro, kernel version, VGA or DVI, etc.
Also, be a bit more concise. There's a lot of fluff in your post,
though while funny in a snarky sort of way, is irrelevant to seeking
assistance, and may be off-putting to some.
>
> Keith
>
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