Pupeee on asus 900, screen reolution problem.

[tyk3]

Hi all.

I've been playing around with pupeee on my EEE 900, and while overall I love it, I do have one small problem, namely I cannot seem to get the video to display at the correct resolution, namely 1024x600.

The xorg setup wizard does not list it as an option. I have even manually edited xorg.conf, but it just keeps dropping back to 800x600. Has anybody else had this problem, and any success resolving it?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[tempestuous]

The vbios needs to be forced to accept 1024x600 as a valid resolution. Run this command -

Code: Select all

915resolution -l

and take note of the mode number which corresponds to 1024x600x16bit.
Then follow Raffy's instructions about how to modify /usr/X11R7/bin/xwin and configure -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 319#164319

[tyk3]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I tried doing as you suggested (It's so long since I had to use 915 resolution I'd forgotten it existed!) but it does not list 1024x600 in the output, so I couldn't go any further.

Any other ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[tempestuous]

I forgot the correct usage of 915resolution. See the official instructions here -
http://www.geocities.com/stomljen/readme.html

Just choose an existing mode number which has a resolution you don't want, then the 915resolution command will reset that mode number to your desired resolution.

[tempestuous]

If my suggestion worked, it would be useful if you could confirm.
Others are bound to ask this same question.

[reis]

It took me a long time to get pupeee (installed on a usb flash drive) booting into a resolution of 1024x600. Part of the fix was to edit /initrd/pup_r01/etc/resolutionfix.
I changed this to read "915resolution 38 1024 600"
I also used the xorgwizard to pick 1024x600x16.
If xorg.conf doesn't pickup the 1024x600 mode, you will need to change that also.
I couldn't get 1024x600x24 to work. Don't know why.

Also, the resolutionfix file did not exist when I booted off the pupeee CD. It must have been created when I installed to the USB drive, or as a result of my messing around. I hope this hint will help someone to write the definitive instructions.

[tempestuous]

Thanks for posting your results reis.
Valuable information can go unnoticed to others requiring that same information unless users confirm the outcome of suggested fixes.

[reis]

Further research shows that resolutionfix is created by the /usr/X11R7/bin/xwin script mentioned previously in this thread. This script runs X windows and in pupeee it contains the line:
"915resolution 43 800 480 16"
which is what the 7" EEEPC's need.
This is probably why my earlier attempts to change the resolution failed.
Editing that line will probably be part of the story.

[raffy]

Would someone please post the output in eee-900's terminal when the following is executed:

Code: Select all

915resolution -l

(that is L for "list"). To copy the output, hightlight it with the mouse, go to an editing window (such as posting a message here), then hit SHIFT-INSERT.

We need this to decide which number to use in the 915resolution command line added to xorgwizard and xwin.

At present, however, you can use what reis posted (above):

Code: Select all

915resolution 38 1024 600 16

(I added 16 for the color bits.)

[reis]

The output of 915resolution on a EEE PC 900 after booting from the pupeee b4 CD was:

Code: Select all

Intel 800/900 Series VBIOS Hack : version 0.5.3

Chipset: 915GM
BIOS: TYPE 1
Mode Table Offset: $C0000 + $269
Mode Table Entries: 36

Mode 30 : 640x480, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 32 : 800x480, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 34 : 1024x768, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 38 : 1280x1024, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 3a : 1600x1200, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 3c : 1920x1440, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 41 : 640x480, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 43 : 800x480, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 45 : 1024x768, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 49 : 1280x1024, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 4b : 1600x1200, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 4d : 1920x1440, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 50 : 640x480, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 52 : 800x480, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 54 : 1024x768, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 58 : 1280x1024, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 5a : 1600x1200, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 5c : 1920x1440, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 60 : 1280x770, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 61 : 1280x770, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 62 : 1280x770, 32 bits/pixel

If I booted with the pfix=nox option, then the output was the same except that modes 32,43&52 were 800x600 instead of 800x480.

[raffy]

Ah, so the fix should be (for 16-bit OR 32-bit color):

Code: Select all

915resolution 45 1024 600 16

or 

915resolution 54 1024 600 32

Use only one, I guess the first one.

[growler]

Read this thread with interest to try to get my MSI Wind going.

output of the patched

#915resolution -l

Shows:

Intel 800/900 Series VBIOS Hack : version 0.5.3

Chipset: 945GM

it also gives amongst others

Mode 45 : 1024x768, 16 bits/pixel

so I ran:

#915resolution 45 1024 600 16

and the list then showed

Mode 45 : 1024x600, 16 bits/pixel

I modified the /usr/X11R7/bin/xwin script - the first line after the version comments

915resolution 45 1024 600 16

I can run xvesa at 1024x600 but cannot get Xorg going at all.

I ran ddcprobe and got similar output to raffy's with edidfail:

vbe: VESA 3.0 detected.
oem: Intel(r) 82945GM Chipset Family Graphics Chip Accelerated VGA BIOS
vendor: Intel Corporation
product: Intel(r) 82945GM Chipset Family Graphics Controller Hardware Version 0.0
memory:7872kb
mode: 1270x1024x256
mode: 1280x1024x64k
mode: 1280x1024x16m
mode: 1024x768x256
mode: 1024x768x64k
mode: 1024x768x16m
mode: 640x480x16m
mode: 800x600x64k
mode: 800x600x16m
mode: 640x480x256
mode: 800x600x256
mode: 640x480x64k
edid:
edidfail

Also I have "wind" issues getting the wireless and hard wired network interfaces going - the wired card is an nvidia so I thought the forcedeth module might be the one but nah ... no go?

The wireless chip is a realtek 8187 I tried all the wireless modules in turn and then used the ndiswrapper with the XP driver - the XP driver that came on the CD had to be updated off the MSI web-site - once I had updated that I got wan0 recognised but the scanner cannot see any wireless networks - she's still not going

Appreciate any pointers to get this puppy going!

[tempestuous]

I can run xvesa at 1024x600 but cannot get Xorg going at all.

According to this
http://forums.msiwind.net/default-msiwi ... t1653.html
you should add these 2 lines to your xorg.conf:

Code: Select all

Option "AccelMethod" "exa"
Option "MigrationHeuristic" "greedy"

the wired card is an nvidia so I thought the forcedeth module might be the one but nah ... no go?

No, I think the ethernet chipset is the new Realtek RTL8101E. We tested a new driver for this chipset in 4.1alpha5, and Barry is now including this driver from alpha6. It's called "r8101".

The wireless chip is a realtek 8187

The current Puppy 4.1alpha's have the new "rtl8187" driver for the Realtek RTL8187 USB wifi interface ... but wait ...
I just read that the MSI Wind has the RTL8187SE, which is a new miniPCI version of the chipset.
Realtek has just released an early version of a driver for this device. I suggest you wait for the final release of Puppy 4.1 at which point we may be able to provide this driver.

[growler]

I can run xvesa at 1024x600 but cannot get Xorg going at all.

According to this
http://forums.msiwind.net/default-msiwi ... t1653.html
you should add these 2 lines to your xorg.conf:

Code: Select all

Option "AccelMethod" "exa"
Option "MigrationHeuristic" "greedy"

I have the modified xwin script with the 915resolution setting in it still to get the 1024x600 16 bit res. I reran the Xorgwizard - and then before starting it I modified to add these two lines in to the Device Section ... still no joy. Will keep trying and report back if I nail it.

the wired card is an nvidia so I thought the forcedeth module might be the one but nah ... no go?

No, I think the ethernet chipset is the new Realtek RTL8101E.

I am too old and confused ....my bad sorry!! The wired ethernet card is actually an RTL8169 and it works like a charm as with 99.5% of puppy hardware detection in my pleasant experiences with it. I was mixed up with another machine - an ASUS Barebones kit I purchased recently P1-AH2 - this has the nvidia ethernet card that won't go with the forcedeth driver. I believe it is an 'MCP51 Ethernet Controller'

I just read that the MSI Wind has the RTL8187SE, which is a new miniPCI version of the chipset. Realtek has just released an early version of a driver for this device. I suggest you wait for the final release of Puppy 4.1 at which point we may be able to provide this driver.

FANTASTIC!! Really appreciate your help tempestuous!!

[growler]

I thought I would try Barry's latest 4.1 alpha 7.. on the Wind.

From a frugal USB stick boot.

I can happily confirm Xorg works out of the box - correctly finding the correct res. 1024x600 x 16 and 24 bit. So does vesa 1024 x 600 24 bit.

The new realtek 8101E fast ethernet driver is detected and module loaded. The r8169 driver loaded and worked in 4 ok but I guess this is now actually the correct optimised driver. It got a dhcp address and connected me happily to the LAN.

Installing to a partition of the HD using the universal installer worked flawlessly reminding me to dismount it first.

Booting from hard disk (from the grub prompt) into xorg takes just 32 seconds! The boot into XP from the same point is 75 seconds and still egg-timer and hard disk light flashing for another 60 seconds 'till its usable. Even the frugal boot off USB stick is way faster as there is no fsck going on now on the pup_save file.

Shutdown and powers off too. Didn't shutdown and power off completely in 4.

4.1 is looking very good for me!!

The stumbling block appears to be the wireless driver for the rtl8187SE. It appears that the driver was alpha and there were some issues with it from the link you gave me. However, I asked realtek and they provided me with a tarball files are dated 16th July 2008.

I am downloading the devx_407.sfs and patched kernel to see if I can figure out how to get it going. Will report back for those interested.

[growler]

Progress report....

I have the source code in /root/my-applications/rtl8187se....../ and there is an executable script makedrv in this directory that the compilation instructions say to run ... so I ran it and it results in a nasty message unable to find the

/lib/modules/2.6.25.16/build

directory - in another post I understand this might by a symlink to the source which I have under /usr/src/linux-2.6.25.16/

so I'll give this a go ....

I thought I'd compile a kernel and modules so I know what I am up to. I followed Barry's instructions and copied the DOTConfig over to /usr/src/linux2.6.25.16/.config and ran make menuconfig etc... the final stage make bzImage creates a bz2 compressed kernel and the scripts in 4.1 alpha 7 load a lzma or something compressed kernel - I guess there is some other command or compression utility required to convert the vmlinuz to a lzma compressed file

Anyway I had to copy my old kernel back... and back in business for now. Steep learning curve here .... appreciate any pointers!

[growler]

Success!!!!

The answer to building the driver was to create a symlink for the build directory as follows

#cd /lib/modules/2.6.25.16
#ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.6.25.16/ build

where

/usr/src/linux-2.6.25.16

is the directory where I extracted Barry's patched source (downloaded from puptrix.org) to.
You also need the devx_407.sfs

Then

#cd /root/my-applications/rtl8187se_linux_26.1016.0716.2008
#./makedrv

this compiles the driver. (Once you've pressed Fn F11 to turn on the wireless card.... DOH!) You can test it with

#/root/my-applications/rtl8187se_linux_26.1016.0716.2008/wlan0up

then go into the network wizard and wlan0 should now show up and you can configure your profile to connect to your LAN.

To make the module load automatically on boot you have to copy the modules to the right place:

#cp /root/my-applications/rtl8187se_linux_26.1016.0716.2008/ieee80211/*.ko /lib/modules/2.6.25.16/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/

and

#cp /root/my-applications/rtl8187se_linux_26.1016.0716.2008/rtl8185/r8180.ko /lib/modules/2.6.25.16/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/r8180.ko

#depmod -a
#modprobe r8180

She should then come up next time you boot up.

If tempestuous and Barry don't include the driver in 4.1 then I'll make a PET for other MSI Wind users - if I can figure out how to make the module visible to the network wizard!!

[tempestuous]

Well done growler.
I'm waiting until the final kernel configuration is decided for Puppy 4.1 before I spend too much time compiling extra drivers.
But I just did some reading about the RTL8187SE driver, and it seems far from reliable. You may want to test the driver for extended periods before breaking out the champagne!
As usual, encryption is the litmus test. If you need (or want to try) WPA encryption, the correct -D parameter with wpa_supplicant for this driver is "ipw".

[growler]

I am using WEP at the moment but will experiment with WPA-2.

My reading of the MSI Wind forum and the ubuntu list postings regarding this wireless driver was that the early driver had some problems - this code on 16th July they seems to be more solid - at least it works well over the few hours I have had it going with WEP.

I'll report back with experiences with WPA-2

[growler]

I've put a PET together for kernel 2.6.25.16

When you install this PET it will set up the driver for you. Go into the network wizard and wlan0 should be there for you to scan for wireless networks and set up a profile for your connection.

Still solid after quite a few hours online now and much faster than the flaky ndiswrapper marvell driver I have on the desktop. Still yet to play with WPA encryption though - a possible stumbling block.

Hope this is of use to someone...