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SMS-2.0.7, Configure X
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Lars
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Joined: 25 Oct 2010
Posts: 136

PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 1:03 am    Post subject: SMS-2.0.7, Configure X Reply with quote

Hi gerasimos!

My first question about my legacy server (I can expand it later, but take it in short now).

I've tried to make the X-configuration more suiting my needs (1280x1024) but ended up with this when I check in KDE->Settings-Peripherals->Display: See attached png-image.

As you can see, the Refresh rate is: 0 Hz.
I've never met anything similar having used this monitor-screen since 2005 for 3 different machines with 6-8 different Linux distributions.

My most important question: Do I put my Monitor at any risk with the Refresh rate=0 Hz?
I'm quite fond of it and it was not cheap Wink .

Regards
Lars



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gerasimos_h
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 7:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What type of graphics card do you have?

I doubt that it's actually 0Hz, look at /etc/X11/xorg.conf, what it says under section monitor?

gerasimos_h

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Lars
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Joined: 25 Oct 2010
Posts: 136

PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 12:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Graphics card is one of those terrible intel integrated ones: Intel GMA500 graphics acceleration. (I attach hwinfo --gfxcard).
(In my SMS-1.6.0 installation from 2011 on a small eeePC I also have got one of those integrated intel grapics card. There I never had to touch my X-configuration. It worked from scratch using "intel" driver.)

xorg.conf under section Monitor:
Code:
Section "Monitor"
Identifier   "Monitor0"
VendorName   "PHILIPS"
ModelName    "BRILLIANCE 109P4"
HorizSync    30-111
VertRefresh  50-160
EndSection


It's actually me who edited xorg.conf based on information from the monitor vendor.

Some background information:
This machine that I got is a strange little thing, a fitpc2 that my friend bought in 2011.
The closest spec's I've found: http://www.fit-pc.com/web/products/specifications/?model%5B%5D=fit-PC2-C1600-D1G-W
Originaly I think it was shipped with LinuxMint installed.
From what I recall my friend installed SMS, probably 2.0.5 or 2.0.6, in 2013, but told me he ran SMS without graphics for one year.
When he upgraded to 2.0.7 he reported that he finally had driver support for the graphics card.
-But when I first booted the machine I was surprised when I found that he ran the grapics with a very low resolution: 640x480 and with driver Vesa? -With those settings KDE Display settings reported Refresh rate: 86 Hz.

Quote:
I doubt that it's actually 0Hz,

In fact me too.
I made a quick search on "0 Hz refresh rate" and found some people had used a tool called fbdev. But could not find it for Slackware. (found some src-code with .meta-extension and some kind of Slackbuild-script signed Volkerding, but didn't dare to try it).
Later edit: About fbset; I tried it in Mint but ended up with /dev/fb* No such file.
In Mint there are no /dev/fb's, neither in Slackware. Consulted the fbset man page: fbset show and modify frame buffer device settings out of the /etc/fbmodes database. -So I've come to the conclusion that fbset does not show the actual refresh rate, just the actual setting. So fbset is probably no solution for my initial question: Is my Vertical refresh really 0 Hz?


One week ago I mailed the swedish retailer about Linux drivers for the grapics card, but have got no answer.

From the information in hwinfo I made a search on vendor-device list but found no Linux driver for the Intel GMA500.
Made a more thorough search including the intel driver database and found nothing.
On the way I found some comments indicating that the Linux support for Intel GMA500 was dead.
-I should also mention that I tried the suggested driver from hwinfo: gma500_gfx. It immediately killed the X-server. -I note that my friend also had blacklisted gma500 in /etc/modprobe.d/

-Should also mention tthat my friend had kept the LinuxMint9 installation: But I found similar problems there, even though he had downloaded and installed a driver called emgd. I've kept his xorg.conf in Mint (but have tried some own editions without success). The Mint grapical tool "Display settings" also report Refresh rate: 0 Hz.



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Last edited by Lars on Thu Feb 05, 2015 8:00 pm; edited 1 time in total
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gerasimos_h
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 12:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi,
sorry for the late reply, been busy last 2 days...
Wow that's a big message, sorry for replying with a small one Smile

Do you really need the Xorg running all the time, do you have an X app running...?

I usually recommend to put it at run level 3 and if you want anything, start the X+KDE, it will save you RAM this way too...

Anyway have you try running "xrandr"?
It will show you the actuall Hz that your monitor is running, plus the supported modes...

gerasimos_h

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Lars
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 12:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi!

It's quite allright gerasimos Smile !

You're absolutely right, normally I always run my server in run level 3. But, this fitpc2 does need a whole lot of reconfiguring to suit my needs.
My Slackware friend was quite comfortable with running a whole OS in text. -Me, in 2001, coming from the M$Win World, am not Confused .

Yes, while waiting for your reply, I among many other things have tried xrandr:
Code:
$ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 1280 x 1024, maximum 1280 x 1024
default connected 1280x1024+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1280x1024       0.0*
   1024x768        0.0
   800x600         0.0
   640x480         0.0
$

That is, it shows exactly the same values as my graphic OS' Display settings.

I also tried cvt from the resolutions above and introduced them as Modelines in the Monitor section without any result.

-The fitpc2 retailer finally replied that they knew of no other GMA_500 drivers than the ones I've tried.

Yesterday finally, I made a call to the swedish HQ of Philips and after a while got in contact with a kind elder engineer about my question "do I put my CRT-monitor at risk running it with a refresh rate in of 0 Hz?"
First he commented on my screen and verified that it was one of high quality out of their professional series and well worth being careful with.
Then he promised to take my question further to one of the senior engineers on mmd-p, former Philips, in Netherlands if I only gave him the basic facts of my graphics setup. -Which i did. Won't expect any answer for a week or so, but anyway Wink .
Till then I won't use my monitor with my fitpc2.

Among all things I've read during last week is that LCD Monitors can well handle inputs with 0 Hz Refresh rate due to some internal "clock" that makes the monitor take over the refresh rate and give it a value of 60 Hz.

...So, If the answer from Philips is a warning, one solution might be a cheap LCD-screen for my configuration needs Embarassed .

Anyway, thank you for taking my problem seriously! -You don't have to care about this thread any more, you've done enough. When I get a reply from Philips I can describe it here, though I doubt than anyone else today sits with monitors from early Jura Very Happy .

Best regards
Lars
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gerasimos_h
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another "safe" solution would be running vnc (e.g. headless) on fitpc2 and connect through a vnc client to it, from any OS, so you don't risk damaging your monitor...

a little how to
http://sms.it-ccs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2511#2511

gerasimos_h

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Lars
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Posts: 136

PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 9:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well thank you gerasimos!

I know my friend sometimes used that. -But I hesitated on installing it because he explained vnc made it possible to connect from outside the local network. I have also carried a misunderstanding: I thought it required X capabilities on the server.

But I will consider it if the answer from Philips is a warning.

Best regards
Lars
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Lars
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Two additional question out of poor knowledge in the area Embarassed -If you know?

If I run SMS in text mode (Slackware run level 3) does this not also require a certain horizontal sweep frequency as well as vertical refresh rate?

Since I never digged deeper into VNC; When I run a VNC-client on another machine, what Window system is actually running? Or more specific: Who's: The servers or clients?
(somewhat related to what I wrote above about vnc perhaps requiring a working Window system on the server)
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gerasimos_h
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 3:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

First, if your machines are on local network with private addresses like, 192.168.x.x no one can contact your machines from outside (WAN), unless you create a port forward on your aDSL router, for specific port to specific private address...
But even if your machines are on public addresses, like one-to-one NAT you can use your firewall to block VNC service port, although VNC service requires password to login anyway, so someone needs the password to connect...

The VNC service requires X+KDE to be installed, not running, so only thing you do is to enable VNC service and login with a client like tightvnc, realvnc or what ever client you use on any OS or device.
When you connect it's the same as running "startx" on SMS, you see the server.

Running SMS headless, you don't even need a monitor connect to it, you can switch it off if you like or remove it...

gerasimos_h

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Lars
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry for late reply! I've been away for a day.

I found the objections to my security hesitation almost when I had written them Embarassed !
My hardware firewall, changing ports, setting a strong password. Besides I could simply inactivate rc.vncservers when my configuration was finished.
Thank you for pointing this out to me!

The note you made about X-KDE installed, but not running in the server is interesting...
(I'm still curious about what kind of video signals that is delivered to my client. E.g. the hor/vert rates. As well as I am about the rates when I use runlevel 3. Though this really is something you absolutely don't need to care about! I'll try to figure a way to get that information.)

Best regards
Lars
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Lars
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 9:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The setup of tightvnc went, thanks to your small howto, smoth Smile .
The names of the files vncserver - tightvncserver were initially confusing, but I guess they all belong to tightvnc.

I use SuSE13.1 as a client and it works perfect.

In the vncclient display of SMS there is no way to get info about the used Display rates, neither in the graphical KDE-Display settings or by xrandr. The latter replies X is not running which is a fact.
I therefore assume that the Xorg server is totaly controlled by the client an run with a fair setup of hor/vert rates: in my case 1280x1024 59.9*+.

Neither in /etc/tightvnc.conf nor /etc/rc.d/rc.vncservers.conf I found a way to configure the used Ports. -I guess I'll have to add a line
Code:
vnc [Portnr]/tcp

in /etc/services?
Or do I have to write a script to define that service as well? Since there were no default settings for vnc in /etc/services.
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gerasimos_h
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 10:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you are talking about VNC port, it's the number at rc.vncservers.conf...
Default port for vnc is 5900, for instance if you setup 0:root the port it's 5900, if you setup 10:root the port it's 5910....

in this sample config all three ports are open
Code:
51:root  (vnc port 5951)
52:someuser  (vnc port 5952)
32:anotheruser  (vnc port 5932)


gerasimos_h

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Lars
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 12:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, I was thinking of VNC port. I found out what you wrote above about assigning port number to users, as well as your initial suggestion about adding a rot user
Code:
VNCSERVERS="10:root"

assigned port 5910 to root.
-But I was really thinking about leaving the 5900-series and use another. But left that question since my vnc is not reachable from the outside. I'll keep the 59.. series.
-I also found out that even if Xorg in the vncserver machine "as such" cannot deliver a higher resolution than 640x480, the vncclient uses the resolution set in /etc/tightvncserver.conf. Great Very Happy!
Thank you gerasimos!

-Finally, I've got two configuration "mysteries" that I would like to ask you about, not that I think you can solve them but rather to consult your experience. -One concerning Xorg, the other /etc/httpd.

-If you think you could look at them, would you like me to start a new thread or can I take them here?

Regards
Lars
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gerasimos_h
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 8:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Stat a new thread, that way it will be easier for other users, while searching the board... Smile

gerasimos_h

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