Linux MintPPC Forums • View topic - Solved -Newbie PowerMac G5

str8bs · Joined:Fri Feb 24, 2012 6:12 pm Posts:111

Another observation may be related to bug 668828.

In Debian 7 Gnome Classic with the aforementioned "workaround 3" in place to get around display corruption, I see:

Code:

xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 1024, maximum 4096 x 4096
DVI-I-2 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 338mm x 270mm
   1280x1024      60.0*+   75.0  
   1152x864       75.0  
   1024x768       75.1     60.0  
   800x600        75.0     60.3  
   640x480        75.0     60.0  
   720x400        70.1  

Note the maximum is still showing 4096 x 4096 even though I've done all I can think of to limit it. I also can drag windows off my screen in all four directions.
IF I remotely understand what is going on, this could also present itself as poor video performance in addition to the display corruption. It appears that video memory is still being allocated for an area of 4096 x 4096.

linuxopjemac · Joined:Fri Oct 08, 2010 3:45 pm Posts:2742

Str8bs, you made my day well. It started this morning with an accident with my car, but now that I fixed my iMac G5 and everything works as it was like end 2011, I am VERY HAPPY AGAIN!!! Thank you so much, this is my xorg.conf file:

Code:

##only difference is Virtual entry in this one is square "Virtual 1680 1680" instead of display actual size 1680 1050

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "FX5200"
    BusID        "PCI:240:16:0"
    Driver          "nouveau"
    Option   "Monitor-VGA-1" "VGA_Port"
    Option   "Monitor-DVI-D-1" "DVI_Port"
    Option   "Monitor-TV-1" "TV_Port"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "DVI_Port"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier   "VGA_Port"
    Option   "Ignore" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "TV_Port"
    Option   "Ignore" "true"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Default Screen"
    Device        "FX5200"
        DefaultDepth    24
           SubSection       "Display"
             Depth            24
        Virtual 1680 1680
           EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
   Identifier   "Default Layout"
   Screen      "Default Screen"
EndSection

xrandr -q gives

Code:

xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1680 x 1050, maximum 4096 x 4096
DVI-D-1 connected 1680x1050+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 433mm x 270mm
   1680x1050      59.9*+

my mouse stops nicely in the 4 corners of the screen...although 4096x4096 is reported as max...

str8bs · Joined:Fri Feb 24, 2012 6:12 pm Posts:111

linuxopjemac: Car accident?

Happy to see you well and back here posting!

RE: Bug and Virtual - My mouse stops also. I am spending too much time with Windows 7.

I still think the maximum 4096x4096 is wasting resources which are in short supply for most PPC users. I may be way off, but I am basing this on section 11.5 from this wiki.

Quote:

II.5. Placing outputs in a virtual screen

Randr 1.2 provides the ability to create a large virtual screen and place multiple output in it, either with or without overlapping zones. To reduce memory consumption, drivers will often create a default virtual screen with small dimensions, for instance 1600x1200. Look at the output of xrandr to know your virtual screen dimensions. It would be 2048x1152 if xrandr reports:

$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1400 x 1050, maximum 2048 x 1152

EDIT: My interpretation of the wiki regarding maximum size is incorrect. Thanks to M. Dänzer for clarification via the bug report.

Again,
Glad you are well!

chocolateboy · Joined:Thu May 17, 2012 8:58 pm Posts:1

Just wanted to say thanks for sleuthing this!

Same "half screen corruption/refresh" problem with Ubuntu 12.04 (sorry, couldn't get any Linux MintPPC ISOs to support the hard drive :-/) on a G5 iMac with a GeForce FX Go5200. The nouveau.conf workaround works a treat! Haven't had any luck with the xrandr trick as I only have one mode listed. I'll try the "square" xorg.conf workaround at some stage, but the first solution is fine for now.

EDIT: switched to the "square" workaround and now enjoying video as well!

Thanks again!

ojordan · Joined:Sun Dec 18, 2011 12:12 pm Posts:63

@ chocolateboy or anybody else with nouveau

Can you try adjusting your exa options in your xorg.conf? See http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/pre ... exa.4.html . I believe this could be a better workaround.

For example, with my radeon card I use in the device section the following option:

Option "MigrationHeuristic" "greedy"

More info at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ#Configure_graphics

str8bs · Joined:Fri Feb 24, 2012 6:12 pm Posts:111

@chocolateboy - Glad it helped.

@ojordan - No joy as of current build. I tried "greedy" and "smart" with no change.

str8bs · Joined:Fri Feb 24, 2012 6:12 pm Posts:111

Correction to Workaround #2 for corrupt graphics bug.

Making Virtual "square" seems to be irrelevant. ydim just needs to be increased enough to move corruption "off screen."

Reference:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1937940&page=2

este.el.paz · Joined:Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:57 pm Posts:403 Location: SoCal

@str8bs:

Thanks for your work on this and for posting what you are finding, it's looking like I'm going to have some heavy lifting to do in terms of fixing my iMac G4 and its X relationship from "nv" to "nouveau" and deal with that problem, and then get the ethernet un-busted . . . so, in a few days I'll be trying to read thru your posts and see if I can make adjustments in the CLI.

e.e.p.

str8bs · Joined:Fri Feb 24, 2012 6:12 pm Posts:111

@eep
I almost picked up a G4 iMac a few weeks ago, but my wife gave me THAT look.

este.el.paz · Joined:Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:57 pm Posts:403 Location: SoCal

str8bs wrote:

@eep
I almost picked up a G4 iMac a few weeks ago, but my wife gave me THAT look.

@str8:

Good decision, sometimes they do know what is best for us . . . . The iMac is still languishing w/o a display, haven't had time to flush as far as spending time to figure out how to get it to work with nouveau after nv was cleared out . . . .

e.e.p.