Linux Driver for 1907FP LCD

No, Dell's not that lame, nor is nVidia or RedHat... If something seems "wrong", there's probably a (non-obvious) solution to be found:

I got a 19" 1905FP w/ a Precision 670n, RHEL4, Quadro FX 540... Seems to default to 1024x768 no matter what monitor you have, which makes sense: the monitor isn't actually part of the machine, and they don't know a priori what monitor you'll connect to it.

Do this: Go to "System Settings" >> "Display", then enter the 'root' password. On the dialog box that opens, go to the "Advanced" tab. Under "Monitor", it may be listing a generic monitor, which is your problem... Click "Configure..." and see if the "Dell" listings have 1907FP -- it might not; could be too new (the 1905 was, for the out-of-box RHEL4 -- If you update your OS, it might appear here afterwards, as mine did.)

If not, no worries -- go to "Generic LCD Display" and select the native resolution of the 1907. You can click "Probe Monitor" and it should set the Hz Sync Range and Vert Ref Rate correctly (you can verify and/or change per the monitor's spec sheet). Click OK and you can then set the DPI from the Display dialog. Go back to the "Display" tab and then select the resolution you want and (probably) "Millions of Colors".

Click OK and the restart your X session. (Close ALL your windows, then press "Ctrl-Alt-Backspace", which will log you out instantly. Log back in & that should do the trick... Hope this helps.

Hmmm... That was going to be my next recommendation.

I'm surprised you can't select a different monitor via the GUI. But, as I recall, I gave up on the "System Settings >> Display" dialog fairly quickly -- Nice concept (GUI front end), but in this case, not so proficiently implemented. Plus, they make me nervous on principle. (I suspect the reason has a lot to do with the complexity of video card config in X11/Linux. That and "Never trust a computer".. :^) I like being able to "lift the hood" and work on sysadmin stuff directly, using a terminal window.

I also ended up editing the "xorg.conf" file by hand (save a backup!); you'll note that the nVidia driver package READMEs explicitly instruct "the user" to make hand-edits to this file. (Begging the question, "Why is the 'Display' dialog so damnably simple-minded for such a complex config file???)

Things to specifically look for:

* Comment out '# Load "dri"' in 'Section "Module"' -- this per nVidia, although I'm not sure why...

* In 'Section "Device"', be sure to change 'Driver' from "vesa" to "nvidia" -- this is key...

* And, as you've done, add "1280x1024" (and any others your monitor supports) to 'Modes' near the bottom...

That *should* work. I've copied my "xorg.conf" file for you to compare to yours. Again, *always* make backups of what you modify.

And don't forget to restart your computer or do the "Ctrl-Alt-Backspace" to restart X after you change anything in this file.

Lastly, if you screw your X windows up like I did playing with configuring for dual monitors, reboot and when the kernel loader tries to start X and can't, tell it *not* to try to restart X, which will boot you to command-line mode. Log in as 'root', then restore your backup copy of "xorg.conf", reboot, and try again...

Good luck!

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Dell Precision 670n + RHEL4 WS 2.6.9-5.EL kernel
nVidia Quadro FX 540 video card + Dell 1905FP LCD monitor
nVidia Linux driver version 1.0-7676


# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "single head configuration"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"

# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally
# no need to change the default.
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
# Load "dri"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"
# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
# Option "XkbDisable"
# To customise the XKB settings tosuit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
#
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Dell"
ModelName "Dell 1905FP (Digital)"
HorizSync 30.0 - 81.0
VertRefresh 56.0 - 76.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA"
BoardName "NVIDIA Quadro FX 540"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group 0
Mode 0666
EndSection

It's being a real brat, isn't it? (Mine crashes when the screensaver runs... Still working on that w/ TS.)

I just had a thought... There's nothing in the "xorg.conf" file that actually stores the "default"/preferred screen res, just the default depth. (Why not?) Which begs the question, 'Where is this being stored?' -- should be in one of your home files, but I can't find it... (Let me know if you do; I want to know, too.)

I'm assuming you're configured for 24bpp ("Millions of Colors")... And that you're running Gnome (not KDE or xdm), as I am...

Oh, and are you running the DVI interface on the Quadro card, too? Anything else plugged into the analog vid port? (if so, unplug it; it'll complicate/confuse things, believe me...)

Did you check your X.Org Log files for clues? (under "System Tools >> System Logs") Specifically, check to see if it's concluding that your display clock is not compatible with 1280x1024 (assuming that's what you're trying to achieve; it's a typical native res for 19" LCDs)... Which means, make sure that your Hz & Vert sync rate ranges ARE correct -- it actually pays attention to these things...

Last resort: If it doesn't want to play nice, trying taking its favorite option off the table:

SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection

Again, thanks for the help.
I have followed your suggestion to modify my xorg.conf. The only line I need to change is just to comment out Load "dri"' in Section "Module"'.

However, still the same problem after I reboot. Even Applications -> System Settings -> Display shows 1280x1024 resolution, I still have to do Applications -> Preferences -> Screen Resolution to change it to 1280x1024 EVERY TIME after I log in.

Hi,

I am running Ubuntu Linux and I have been using an old 17" Dell CRT
at 1280x1024 with it.

I just bought a Dell 1907FP LCD for my XP box, but after reading your
post I decided to plug in the LCD to my Linux box and it works just fine
at the 1280x1024 resolution.

So my guess is something in your config files for your x-server needs
to be set up differently.

Hope that helps,

Esmail

Message Edited by esmail on 04-06-2006 07:09 AM

It's possibel to use this monitor at 1280x1024 with RHEL4. If you do a fresh install of RHEL4, there is a driver for 1905FP, which is compatible with 1907FP.