Re: [gentoo-amd64] Re: Radeon driver update

[Chris Faulkner]

It could be something simple as the right fonts are not loaded and it's
using a generic font to display.

On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 9:25 AM, Mark Haney <mhaney@××××××××××××.org> wrote:

> Duncan wrote:
>
>> "Mark Haney" <mhaney@××××××××××××.org> posted
>> 495B5F9B.2000902@××××××××××××.org, excerpted below, on  Wed, 31 Dec 2008
>> 07:03:39 -0500:
>>
>>  I updated the xf86-ati-driver package late yesterday and now my fonts
>>> are all screwed up.  My text is really big compared to what it was
>>> before.  I thought maybe xorg.conf was re-written but it looks fine to
>>> me.  As it is, my system is usable but not comfortably so.  So what the
>>> devil have I done to it?
>>>
>>
>> Knowing the version now... and in cases like this, the version before...
>> often helps...
>>
>
> I was running 6.6.3 and then updated to 6.8.0-r1.  I'm not running ~amd64.
>  I'm not running any Xorg overlays, just plain jane Xorg.  This system is a
> laptop, so the config has been set (and working) for well over 2 years now.
>
>>
>> FWIW, xf86-video-ati-6.9.0 here, on ~amd64, tho I've not updated in a few
>> days so it's possible there's an update I've not seen yet if you're running
>> ~amd64.  Of course, if you're running the xorg overlay, who knows, tho Beso
>> mentioned running it at one point if I'm not mistaken.
>>
>> As to the problem, what sort of monitor(s) are you running and do you have
>> its dimensions set?  In xorg log (Xorg.0.log), does the monitor detection
>> list the dimensions and are they accurate?
>>
>
> The dimensions look like they are set correctly (1280x800):
>
> (II) RADEON(0): Supported additional Video Mode:
> (II) RADEON(0): clock: 68.9 MHz   Image Size:  331 x 207 mm
> (II) RADEON(0): h_active: 1280  h_sync: 1296  h_sync_end 1344 h_blank_end
> 1408 h_border: 0
> (II) RADEON(0): v_active: 800  v_sync: 801  v_sync_end 804 v_blanking: 816
> v_border: 0
>
>
> I had to setup a 'Modeline' that corresponded to the correct dimension of
> my monitor back when I first setup gentoo on this laptop.
>
>>
>> The reason I ask is that over the years, I've discovered that various X
>> component updates (I never pinned down which ones) can have radically
>> different ways of calculating the defaults, and that the only way to
>> reliably keep it the same was to put the screen measurements in xorg.conf.
>>  Since then, the drivers have supposedly gotten better at detecting it
>> correctly from ddc, but at least with dual monitors and the video-ati driver
>> mentioned above, xorg can still get it wrong (and does here, trying to apply
>> the dimensions from just one to the combination of both, so the size is
>> wildly distorted in one direction).
>>
>> One of the problems recently seems to be the RandR support, which is
>> supposed to be better at "Plug-n-pray" live detection and adjustment, but
>> which at least with the video-ati radeon driver on reasonably stable
>> multi-monitor desktop system configs is still lacking features and version
>> to version stability compared to the previous merged-framebuffer solution.
>>
>> So anyway, if you've not configured, either thru your desktop environment
>> or xorg.conf, a standard dpi or display size (in mm not pixels), do so.  It
>> should go a long way to ending font size changes based on changeable xorg
>> defaults.  If your display config is static enough to configure it in xorg,
>> the setting to configure is DisplaySize, in the Monitor section in newer
>> RandR style configs (they put it there so you could specify them per
>> monitor, since monitors are supposed to be plug-n-pray with RandR, now), I
>> forgot where in old configs, but see the xorg.conf manpage.  Or in KDE
>> 3.5.10, you can set DPI in the main font config dialog.  YMMV in other KDE
>> versions or other DEs.
>>
>>
> I don't think I've setup a standard DPI or display size in my xorg.conf
> file.  I don't recall doing so and I"ve not touched that config file in over
> a year.  How/where do I do that in xorg.conf?
>
>
>
>
> --
> Frustra laborant quotquot se calculationibus fatigant pro inventione
> quadraturae circuli
>
> Mark Haney
> Sr. Systems Administrator
> ERC Broadband
> [phone]
>
> Call (866) ERC-7110 for after hours support
>
>


-- 
Chris Faulkner
615-653-4400 (Skype: chris.faulkner615)
Linux/Unix/Windows Network Engineer

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