Author Topic: [SOLVED] Xwin on i845G problem  (Read 2203 times)

Offline jond

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[SOLVED] Xwin on i845G problem
« on: October 29, 2014, 07:06:43 AM »
Trying to get Xwin working at proper res on a Dell GX260 w/ i845G graphics.

Boots up very dim at less than half brightness, low resolution looks like 1024x768 and low color depth.

This platform works fine on multiboot with MSwin and other lightweight Linux detected at full color depth and monitor resolution of 1680x1050.

Tried both Tiny Core and Core Plus, same thing. Also tried loading xf86-intel-video package but still the same.

How to remedy this in Tiny Core? Thanks
« Last Edit: October 29, 2014, 12:20:22 PM by jond »

Offline Juanito

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Re: Xwin on i845G problem
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2014, 07:16:47 AM »
you could try 915resolution with Xvesa or Xfbdev

Did you try xf86-intel-video with Xorg-7.7?

Offline jond

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Re: Xwin on i845G problem
« Reply #2 on: October 29, 2014, 10:30:26 AM »
Did you try xf86-intel-video with Xorg-7.7?

Hmmm...I did get something working finally. I know I tried Xorg-7.7 before and it didn't work.

But tried Core Plus fresh install again. Loaded Xorg-7.7 and rebooted, no change. Added xf86-video-intel, no change. Added xf86-video-intel to onboot.lst and BANG it booted up at what appears to be 1680x1050 and high color depth,(I don't know where to check?) and normal brightness.

So I decided to try with Tiny Core. Loaded Xorg and intel, then screen went to garbage. Hard rebooted and comes up non-responsive black screen. Booted another Linux and looked at onboot.lst and it had entry of Xorg at line 3, not line 1 like the Core plus. Changed that and still black screen.

I hate to be taking potshots at this and would rather be doing it the proper way in proper order. I could keep fiddling with Tiny Core and randomly stumble on the sequence that makes it work. So what is that? Is the order of loading extensions and onboot.lst important?

Offline Juanito

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Re: Xwin on i845G problem
« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2014, 10:47:56 AM »
Both Xorg-7.7 and xf86-video-intel need to be loaded before the x window system starts.

If you load xf86-video-intel once the x window system has started, you need to exit to the prompt and issue the "startx" command.

You can look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log to see what's going on in terms of resolution, colour depth, etc.

Offline jond

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Re: Xwin on i845G problem
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2014, 12:18:35 PM »
Tried Tiny Core again and it worked. I must have done something out of order along the way while fussing with it and gotten the sequence messed up.

From fresh install: (either Core Plus or Tiny Core)
-Install Xorg-7.7 and xf86-video-intel
reboot and no change
- edit onboot.lst to remove Xvesa.tcz from line 1 and replace with X-org-7.7.tcz and xf86-video-intel.tcz
just Xorg-7.7.tcz by itself is what gave the black screen, and some other combo gave 640x480.

So now working properly at 1680x1050, shows in the log, and I assume at least 24bit color, I don't see that in the log, and proper brightness.

OK, got the basics, now I can start playing with Tiny Core.  ;)