Running Xvesa at Higher Refresh Rates

[Dougal]

I discovered this while trying Jeff's solution for changing the resolution in XFCE.
I'm not sure if you're supposed to do this

[GuestToo]

one way of setting the refresh rate for xvesa is to boot to dos, use a dos program to set the refresh rate, then boot Puppy

if you start the Xorg server, it should be able to set the refresh rate, then if you switch to the Xvesa sever, it should run with that refresh rate

i'm not sure why you would want to run Xvesa if you can run Xorg, though ... there is no 2d acceleration, so it's more work for the cpu

so no, i can't see anything wrong with what you are doing ... if it works, great, you've found a way to set the refresh rate for Xvesa from Puppy (i can't stand 60hz on a crt screen)

[Gn2]

VESA:

Has announced proposed changes to the older standard.

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&ie=IS ... arch&meta=

It historically was useable for all ISO compliant vid drivers/monitors

That was almost all Mfg'd. for many years
Those standards used refresh rates and resolutions safely compatible to hardware
The EDID probe of monitor determined hardware capability & then used to set modelines for VESA

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&ie=IS ... arch&meta=

Xorg does not set any standard - it's the X- server full configuration for a GUI desktop
Xorg may be edited to suit user preferences (if careless, an unsafe refresh rate or unusable modeline
may be tried)

If unuseable, that generally results in the X server aborting, dumping user back to text mode.

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&ie=IS ... arch&meta=
NOTE: use above at own risk
Safest - use your Equipt. manual or Google for hardware Specs.
GTF is another tool often included with the O/System
If the man pages are used, both are explained.
man gtf/xrandr
Wizards are great - knowing what is taking place is better,
user is then in control.

As GuestToo noted, 3d Accell. is not available in VESA (or frame buffer) mode - however the Vid chipset proprietary driver is Req'd for full capabilities.
Otherwise the CPU is still used

There are "generic" drive engines (nv/frame -buffer etal) that use the GPU RAM - lessening CPU load.
If Nvidia proprietary driver is used, the generic (nv) must be
disabled in modules.dep - the frame buffer conflicts.
Nvid's own install shell script warns of this.
(Should it be missed., lsmod will confirm - use rmmod then edit (comment"# out line in modules.dep)
> modprobe nvidia & all is well.

HTH

[Dougal]

i'm not sure why you would want to run Xvesa if you can run Xorg, though ... there is no 2d acceleration, so it's more work for the cpu

I never mentioned running Xorg... all that's used is xrandr (which depends on libXrandr and libXrender).

As a matter of fact I don't use Xvesa, but apparently a lot of other people do, since they can't run Xorg.

[Gn2]

Agreed xrandr is a very useful "tool" to enable any compatible
options;
The caveat is "compatible"
Please read the man page on usage, use caution .

When in doubt - there is no doubt !

[BarryK]

Dougal, this will interest John Murga and others who are into creating 50MB Puppies.

[raffy]

Yes, the "others" includes me.

And am one of those who need a step by step how-to to be 50% confident of getting it right.

So are there a number of ways to do this, or just one? Thanks!

[Gn2]

Yes there are a number of ways !

Rather than follow any Forum user How-to as guide -
Nor yet need to always wait upon any pre-supplied wizardy:

May I respectfully advise ~
Backup Cfg, then edit X server Cfg w/aid of any "official" documentation.

Xrandr is not intuitive nor new_user_friendly.
The Web abounds with Xorg, proprietary chipset driver info.
One such example is:

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/xorg-config.xml

Patience is the key which opens many doors ~
Backup is the safety which keeps all exits open in case of
a quick retreat being needed.

[Dougal]

Xrandr is not intuitive nor new_user_friendly.

I never suggested anyone use Xrandr itself... there's Barry's /usr/sbin/xrandrshell (same as the "resolution changer" in the Xorgwizard) which just gives you a list of resolutions to select from.

Raffy: as I mentioned above, just use the "resolution changer" from the xorgwizard.

If you're using MeanPup, you might need to copy over some files if they don't exist: /usr/sbin/xrandrshell, /usr/X11R7/bin/xrandr, /usr/X11R7/lib/libXrandr, /usr/X11R7/lib/libXrender. Maybe something else that I don't know is missing...