X setup

Here's the setup:

I got my Radeon HD 4870 based card, output connected to a SONY STR-DA2400-ES recevier. And the receiver is again connected to a 37" Sharp Aquas TV with 1920x1080 resolution. YAY!


# lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV770 [Radeon HD 4870]

# X -version
X.Org X Server 1.6.2
Release Date: 2009-7-7
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.29-gentoo-r5 x86_64
Current Operating System: Linux boff 2.6.29-gentoo-r5 #1 SMP Tue Jul 14 19:06:28 CEST 2009 x86_64
Build Date: 19 July 2009 02:19:44PM

# fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series
OpenGL version string: 2.1.8673

# eselect opengl list
Available OpenGL implementations:
[1] ati *
[2] xorg-x11

# kdeinit4 --version
Qt: 4.5.1
KDE: 4.2.4 (KDE 4.2.4)

Basically this is all working. Googleearth, KDE4.2.4 with desktops effects etc.

Below is the xorg.conf file today. I've done some experiments earlier to get the system to work with 1920x1080. Notice the NoRandr, DPMS, NoDCC and an explicit monitor section for my TV. After running aticonfig none of these are in use any more.



Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "default layout"
Screen 0 "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"

# Specify a working mode
Identifier "Sharp"
HorizSync 55.0 - 68.0
VertRefresh 45.0 - 65.0
ModeLine "HDTV" 148.5 1920 2008 2052 2200 1080 1084 1089 1125 +hsync +vsync
Option "DPMS" "false"
# 1920x1080 67.5Khz/60Hz , 56.2kHz/50Hz
Option "NoDDC" "True"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
Option "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
Option "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
Option "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"

# Turn of xrandr detection of modes
Identifier "radeonhd-device"
Driver "radeonhd"
Option "NoRandr"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
Driver "fglrx"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "radeonhd-screen"
Device "radeonhd-device"
Monitor "Sharp"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Virtual 1920 1080
Depth 24
Modes "HDTV"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
Device "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
Monitor "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Notice how I don't have the following:

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" Enable
End Section

I thought this was necessary to get the desktop effects, but apparently not.

In order to have readable fonts I needed to modify kdmrc I added -dpi 112 to ServerArgsLocal. And in System Settings - Appearance - Fonts, I've chosen Force Fonts DPI: 96

One problem with the setup is that I need to have both receiver and TV turned on when booting. Another problem turned up lately after upgrading kernel and changing from radeonhd to fglrx drivers; X freezes whenever I change channel on the receiver. The system does not freeze, I can still log in using ssh. But restarting KDM does not work, not even after killing its processes with kill -9.