[SOLVED] xorg.conf on Hardy Heron: What the heck?

[Arthur Archnix]

Can someone please tell me why there are no settings in my xorg.conf for my video card? In gutsy a pretty darn good xorg.conf file would be generated for you automagically at install time. Now, there's nothing there but "configured video device".

Instead, we have a hidden utility for changing video settings:

gksudo gtk-displayconfig

But I don't want to use the gui. My changes are not persisting. I think. It's hard to tell, the gui thingy isn't that great. What file do I edit, how is ubuntu determining what driver I need to use, for what card, and where can I edit advanced options like disabling dri?

And most importantly, where is this documented?

[roma2]

Everything you need to configure is in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, including driver version, dri settings, video modes, etc.

to get the file section parameters, open a terminal and type

man xorg.conf

and for more information use

man xorg

To get a list of your pci devices (e.g., your video chipset) use

lspci

You'll need to restart the X server after your changes by either logging out or using <ctrl>+<alt>+<backspace>. I would include a copy of my file, but it is currently a mess as I am trying to configure twinview for my external monitor on my laptop docking station.

Hope this helps

[Arthur Archnix]

I appreciate the response Roma, but it doesn't really address my question. At least, not directly. My point was that xorg.conf contains zero information about my video card. Under Gutsy there was a section called device that listed my video card (properly), the current driver in use, the name of it (for system use), and any options. Now, there is only a name "configured video card". Configured by whom, where, how?

I ran dpkg-reconfigure -xserver-xorg, and it didn't even have a try at my video card. All it did was reconfigure my keyboard.

So again, if there's no information about my video card in xorg.conf, how is Ubuntu determining the display information? Do I edit xorg.conf and hope Hardy doesn't decide to over-ride my settings, or am I permitted to understand what's going on, given the option to use it or lose it. So to speak.

PS. Have you taken a look at the man page for xorg.conf? Clearly, I'm not the only one frustrated with the lack of documentation.

[GnuSense]

Art, if you backed up your Hardy xorg.conf you may well be able to splice bits back in to your new, ultra-minimalist xorg.conf like I did.

Actually, since I couldn't get Hardy to configure dual monitors using the GUI tools (and, AFAIK, there are NOT any other tools in Hardy and the GUI tools are pretty rough at this point), I just used my old xorg.conf and edited in enough "Configured" stuff to get my rodent to work in Hardy. It worked well enough even though I understand the old "xinerama" dual monitor stuff is deprecated.

If you didn't back up your old xorg.conf maybe you can use your older Ubuntu live discs to generate another one.

[Arthur Archnix]

Gnu, I've read your 'report'. It's exactly why I'm trying to get some answers. Luckily, I'm not having any problems. Whatever black magic is operating in the background is working. But the reason I switched to Linux was because it wasn't black magic. Everything was open to the user. Ubuntu seems to be moving away from that. Why else does no one seem to know what files need to be edited, and how? Why is there no documentation about the changes from Gutsy to hardy in terms of manually configuring the devices?

Fedora 9 is being released in a few days, then there's debian, arch... I know there are other options. But what's happening to Ubuntu? Why are the only tools gui tools? Why does dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg not do what it used to? Where is this change documented?

[jocko]

Fedora 9 is being released in a few days, then there's debian, arch... I know there are other options. But what's happening to Ubuntu? Why are the only tools gui tools? Why does dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg not do what it used to? Where is this change documented?

Actually, what causes this is the fact that the version of xorg in hardy automatically detects card and driver and is no longer dependent on xorg.conf for configuration.
This means if nothing is specified in xorg.conf, xorg configures itself.
I'm sure this will happen in other distros as well when they start using xorg 7.3 or higher.
I guess if you want to find documentation on this, you should check x.org.
I think this is good (when it works), but I don't understand why they had to remove the driver and display options from dpkg-reconfigure...

[mc4man]

unfortunately i think what hardware you have, what drivers your using, ect. will determine how and what path to take to get things right. What seems consistent is if the 'autodection' isn't doing this you need what I'd call a working xorg.conf. that you can edit if need be and have it take effect. i did a fresh install last night of hardy on my main box (nvidia 7800 gs) and thru a bit of bs managed to get a good xorg.conf, edited in a few lines and it's now working perfectly ala gutsy. My method may not work for you so not worth posting. What I would suggest you may try is enable screens and graphics and enter the proper info there - that should give you a xorg you can work with. (can be found edit menus-> other
If the new xorg isn't persistent let me know i have a couple of of the wall ideas in that regard.
May work best with nvidia card and restricted drivers

[roma2]

Gnu, I've read your 'report'. It's exactly why I'm trying to get some answers. Luckily, I'm not having any problems. Whatever black magic is operating in the background is working. But the reason I switched to Linux was because it wasn't black magic. Everything was open to the user. Ubuntu seems to be moving away from that. Why else does no one seem to know what files need to be edited, and how? Why is there no documentation about the changes from Gutsy to hardy in terms of manually configuring the devices?

Fedora 9 is being released in a few days, then there's debian, arch... I know there are other options. But what's happening to Ubuntu? Why are the only tools gui tools? Why does dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg not do what it used to? Where is this change documented?

Yeah, I misunderstood your original post. Sorry about that.

[Yellow Pasque]

But the reason I switched to Linux was because it wasn't black magic. Everything was open to the user. Ubuntu seems to be moving away from that.

Ubuntu is a user-friendly Linux distribution in the Debian/GNU tradition. It's got a huge repo, is well-documented, and is very configurable.

If you want an elegant, minimalistic build, check out Arch Linux.

[Arthur Archnix]

I think Jocko's on the right track. xorg 7.3 is the main culprit here, though why the automagic reconfiguration of xserver has been crippled is unclear. The site, unfortunately, has nothing to speak of. They just refer you to the man pages. The man pages, are pretty much the same as they were under gutsy, though I'll keep looking there for something new.

I'd gone through them before, however, and noted that I'm not the only one frustrated with the poor documentation. Read the man page for xorg.conf yourself if you want to understand why I say that. Hint: It's in the video adapter section.

Temüjin: You don't need to sell me on Ubuntu. I'm sold. I'm just frustrated. I wish I understood what's changed from Gutsy in X. I'm trying to find out, reading man pages, searching forums, asking on IRC, searching the net... I can't find out. I can't get answers. I agree that about tries to be user-friendly, but is this ongoing mystery really in the Debian tradition? I see less and less in Ubuntu that's in line with the Debian tradition with every release.

Just to repeat... I'm not having problems. My video works fine. But I don't understand how it works fine, or why, and I used to. And this bothers me. Because if it breaks I can't fix it. And I can't help others fix theirs.

I'm gonna read up on x 7.3 and post back here if I find anything. Assuming some brilliant ubunterite doesn't fill in the details before I manage to do that.