[SOLVED] No info in Xorg.conf file

[eckeroo]

My configuration file 'xorg.conf' located in /etc/X11 doesn't seem correct. There are no settings for the monitor, screen resolution, refresh rates etc.

Is my xorg.conf file correct? I suspect my system is defaulting to some other configuration file. I would like to be able to edit my screen settings. But I can't do it with my xorg.conf in its current state.

I'm using Ubuntu 8.04 and I've installed all recent updates. My video card is an old Voodoo 3 3000 and I've installed libglide3 using the synaptic package manager.

Regards

The entire xorg.conf file:

# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
EndSection

[markbuntu]

xorg.conf is being deprecated. The people at x are trying to get completely away from needing an xorg.conf as their automatic detection/configuration improves. It will completely dissapear soon so get used to not having one.

[kerry_s]

xorg.conf is being deprecated. The people at x are trying to get completely away from needing an xorg.conf as their automatic detection/configuration improves. It will completely dissapear soon so get used to not having one.

yeah, it fricken sucks. for us that it can't get right were screwed. :lolflag:

[makkan77]

So how would one go about to change the default color depth and resolution and so forth?
I needed to do this to stop my old laptop from flickering insanely whenever I moved a window. Fourtunately it reads changes in xorg.conf but it would be nice to know how to change those values in the future.

[kerry_s]

So how would one go about to change the default color depth and resolution and so forth?
I needed to do this to stop my old laptop from flickering insanely whenever I moved a window. Fourtunately it reads changes in xorg.conf but it would be nice to know how to change those values in the future.

i don't think it's worked out yet.
for now i'm just going to stick with etch, at least in etch all i have to do is> dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg < then log out and press ctrl+alt+backspace to restart X, that's it done i get exactly what i want.

[Arthur Archnix]

I find it unlikely that xorg.conf will be removed, got a source on that Kerry?

In any event, current man pages suggest that the configuration goes something like:
auto
global xorg.conf
user xorg.conf

Since Hardy doesn't specify a global or user xorg.conf all you get is the auto config, which sometimes doesn't work.

You have two options to fix it. Either try to work with the gui tools that are available to set the display resolution and depth, or just add a section to your xorg.conf under /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Considering this was a transition release a working, but commented out, xorg.conf should have been included by default. As it is now, the easiest way is to find someone who posted their xorg.conf from gutsy online and then edit that to your needs.

[kerry_s]

I find it unlikely that xorg.conf will be removed, got a source on that Kerry?

In any event, current man pages suggest that the configuration goes something like:
auto
global xorg.conf
user xorg.conf

Since Hardy doesn't specify a global or user xorg.conf all you get is the auto config, which sometimes doesn't work.

You have two options to fix it. Either try to work with the gui tools that are available to set the display resolution and depth, or just add a section to your xorg.conf under /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Considering this was a transition release a working, but commented out, xorg.conf should have been included by default. As it is now, the easiest way is to find someone who posted their xorg.conf from gutsy online and then edit that to your needs.

ooh, i never said it was going to be removed, i just said it don't work right. even when you manually edit it, it might not have a effect, for example: i took the xorg.conf from etch and tried to use that and got nada, it was just stuck at 800x600 and would not budge. :(

i got a feeling my stuff is just getting to old for the more modern distros, i guess i'm going to actually have to buy some really new stuff eventually. i got a $15 mother board, free case, salvaged my hd, ram, cpu from my old rig, $5 cdrw, $10 for the 19" crt(just have to get that anti-glare coating off and it will be perfect). it's perfectly good though it's 1.8 ghz, 1gig ram, 100gig hd, nv video card, the monitor and card can do 1600x1200, to be stuck at 800x600 is ridiculous. :lolflag:

ohh, by the way it's not just ubuntu 8, lenny did it to me to, but like i said etch is perfect.

[Arthur Archnix]

Yeah, Lenny uses a slightly newer xorg then Hardy AFAIK, but it's still quite different from Gutsy and uhh... slightly, slightly lots newer then Etch. ;)

There's always the possibility that its a driver issue, which you could test by temporarily enabling the testing repo... which goes for the OP as well (driver issue, not testing repo), though it's not the first thing I'd look at.

[pietjanjaap]

If ubuntu does not see your videocard or monitor correctly then you have to do this:

With ubuntu 8.04, dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg is not the same anymore, now you can install your keybord and more with this.
But your videocard and monitor goes like this,
start in safe mode,
choose the last options with the "Try to fix X-server",
Here ubuntu will search and identify your monitor and videocard, so you have all your posssible settings.
Then reboot and install your videcard driver.(i use envy for this).

[kerry_s]

Yeah, Lenny uses a slightly newer xorg then Hardy AFAIK, but it's still quite different from Gutsy and uhh... slightly, slightly lots newer then Etch. ;)

There's always the possibility that its a driver issue, which you could test by temporarily enabling the testing repo... which goes for the OP as well (driver issue, not testing repo), though it's not the first thing I'd look at.

driver issue? monitors don't use drivers. the vid drivers are fine, it's just resolution detection in my case. it should just work once you put the resolution size you want, in my case 1600x1200. what were saying is even though we put the right info in xorg.conf it still don't work.

i tried a lot of things, when i did upgrade etch to lenny it did worked, but i had a unstable system, that's why i tried ubuntu 8, which gave me the same grief as a straight lenny install.

anyways, dropping back down to etch works for me for now, i'll mess with it some other day when i'm not so tired, i have my trusty laptop so i'm good to go, right now i'm just cleaning the anti-glare film off that 19" monitor with some easy-off oven cleaner, i haven't even really messed with it once i got it installed and working under etch.

take care.

[eckeroo]

Hello all,

Thanks for the info regarding the xorg.conf But I know feel I'm unable to alter my voodoo 3 display settings at all. I suppose what is really needed is an updated libglide3 driver package that is suitable for Ubuntu 8.04.

Could anyone cut-and-paste up a xorg.conf file from gusty for a voodoo 3 3000 with libglide3 installed? I'd like to try and replace my current xorg.conf with it. If that doesn't work, then I'll suppose I'll have to admit defeat.

I've looked at a good deal of threads on Ubuntu forums regarding the voodoo3 card, but unless I can bypass the X servers autoconfig and impose my own configuration on the xorg.file, this card is almost useless.

cheers

[markbuntu]

Well, xorg config is still used by some drivers and you have to tell some others, like fglrx to use it, but I don't know anything about the voodoo drivers.

[kerry_s]

Hello all,

Thanks for the info regarding the xorg.conf But I know feel I'm unable to alter my voodoo 3 display settings at all. I suppose what is really needed is an updated libglide3 driver package that is suitable for Ubuntu 8.04.

Could anyone cut-and-paste up a xorg.conf file from gusty for a voodoo 3 3000 with libglide3 installed? I'd like to try and replace my current xorg.conf with it. If that doesn't work, then I'll suppose I'll have to admit defeat.

I've looked at a good deal of threads on Ubuntu forums regarding the voodoo3 card, but unless I can bypass the X servers autoconfig and impose my own configuration on the xorg.file, this card is almost useless.

cheers


change as you need i got it from the net:

Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/CID"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
# paths to defoma fonts
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/CID"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "GLcore"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "hu"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 3"
Driver "tdfx"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "HP M500"
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 3"
Monitor "HP M500"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

[eckeroo]

Thanks Kerry,

I tried this but with my details, saved the edited xorg.conf file, and markbuntu is right enough, the conf file is still active. However, my edited conf didn't work and it made me reconfigure back to the way it was originally.

I think this problem with the voodoo 3 card requires someone who knows what they are doing when editing the xorg.conf file.

Today, someone was kind enough to give me a GeForce 3 titanium 200 card. This card has drivers available for it, and although once the drivers were installed, it initially did not have the option in 'screen resolutions' to go beyond 800x640. Until I had read in another post somewhere to install 'nvidia-settings' and this solved the problem.

I now have a nice setup and cheers to everyone who helped. I'm enjoying this unbuntu stuff.:)

[Brunel]

Well eckeroo I had the same problem as you have, although my videocard is voodoo 5 5500 AGP.

I being searching for months for a solution since the clean installation of Hardy, until found this thread and after some xorg.conf edit and reboots... I done it\\:D/

First edit your xorg.conf like this:

Old xorg.conf (as it was since clean installation of Hardy)


# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "es"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
EndSection


New xorg.conf


# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "es"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 3"
Driver "tdfx"
BusID "(put your PCI or AGP here)"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "(put your model of your monitor here)"
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "(put your model of your monitor here)"
Device "3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 3"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection

EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
EndSection

Then reboot...

Wait until a window opens asking you to 'Configure', 'Cancel' or 'Continue' click on 'Configure' a select your model of monitor and videocard, then ok...

Login.. and reboot...

Now you should be able to change your resolution, refresh... from system>preferences>display resolution



Don't forget to install/reinstall all related to '3dfx' with synaptic.

That's it. The only problem now is that the login screen don't fit the monitor, but I'm on it... I'll tell you when I'd fix it.

Cheers:popcorn:

[eckeroo]

Brunel seems to have solved this one.

Unfortunately, I got another video card and I'm unwilling to insert the old voodoo card just to see if Brunel's solution works.

I'll take his word and mark this thread solved.

:cool:

[ricardisimo]

If ubuntu does not see your videocard or monitor correctly then you have to do this:

With ubuntu 8.04, dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg is not the same anymore, now you can install your keybord and more with this.
But your videocard and monitor goes like this,
start in safe mode,
choose the last options with the "Try to fix X-server",
Here ubuntu will search and identify your monitor and videocard, so you have all your posssible settings.
Then reboot and install your videcard driver.(i use envy for this).

Hereś a pickle: Hardy (by way of the LiveCD installer) does not detect my onboard graphics correctly (I think it tries to load ati instead of vesa, which works well enough). and so the display is totally messed up... I can just barely make out what is going on onscreen. I can see the "Install" icon, and I could probably feel my way through the five or six steps required of the LiveCD. Should I install it this way in the hopes of later setting the driver to vesa somehow?