[5776] in Release_7.7_team
RHEL 4.5 configures X reasonably, but RHEL 5 does.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (William Cattey)
Fri May 18 17:54:33 2007
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From: William Cattey <wdc@MIT.EDU>
Date: Fri, 18 May 2007 17:53:55 -0400
To: rhe-release@mit.edu, hardcore@mit.edu, release-team@mit.edu
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Summary:
Previous worries that RHEL 4.5 could not configure X were unfounded.
On the Optiplex 745 with the ATI Radeon 1300 Pro:
up to 1280x1024 works via VESA.
up to 1400x1050 works via DVI
If your xorg.conf specifies 1400x1050 the VESA display will be too
big for the screen.
If your xorg.conf specifies 1600x1200 the VESAS display will draw a
blank, but the DVI display will know to not use that setting.
Detail:
It took a while for me to understand why the released version of RHEL
4.5 seemed to be unable to properly configure the X server while the
beta version seemed perfect.
Basically, I'd FORGOTTEN that I'd been testing RHEL 4.5 beta with the
proprietary driver from ATI. I've gone back and done careful testing
and can assert the following:
If all you want to do is drive an LCD at 1280x1024 (which is the
Athena standard setting) on the Dell Optiplex 745, RHEL 4.5 will do
that just fine with the inexpensive 19 inch analog display plugged in
via VESA, as well as with the fancier 20 inch digital display whether
it be plugged in via VESA or via DVI.
The free X server that comes with RHEL 4.5 may offer you higher
resolutions. Nothing higher than 1280x1024 works via VESA. One notch
higher, 1400x1050 will work if the 20 inch digital monitor is plugged
in via the DVI port.
An xorg.conf file that specifies a resolutions of 1600x1200 or
1400x1050 will be accepted in VESA mode, and the X server will simply
look wrong at 1400x1040, or the monitor will complain about being
over-driven at 1600x1200.
When connected via DVI, the X server will accurately ignore a
1600x1200 setting and auto-configure for 1400x1050.
X configuration under RHEL 5, however is DEFINITELY broken! Auto
configure stuff does not work with the ATI Radeon 1300 Pro found in
the Optiplex 745, and we're working with Red Hat on that.
-Bill
----
William Cattey
Linux Platform Coordinator
MIT Information Services & Technology
W92-176, 617-253-0140, wdc@mit.edu
http://web.mit.edu/wdc/www/
