On 27 May 2015 at 19:05, Ken Moffat <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 10:57:32AM -0500, Bruce Dubbs wrote:
> > Richard Melville wrote:
> > >I've just configured my latest kernel (4.0.3) to utilise KMS (thanks
> Ken)
> > >rather than the legacy vesafb, but of course this has created other
> > >problems.
> > >
> > >The upside is that the font size on the console looks good on my monitor
> > >(1440x900) and the backlight now switches itself off when required -- it
> > >must have been broken on vesafb.
> > >
> > >The downside is that the EDID information fed to the kernel appears to
> give
> > >the wrong screen size.  Only about 60% of the width and height are used.
> > >
> > >Maybe there's something I've missed in the kernel config.  I've now
> turned
> > >off all legacy frame buffer settings that I can find, but it's made no
> > >difference.
> > >
> > >My feeling is that the monitor EDID info is corrupt; it's a cheap and
> > >fairly old model of unknown origin.  If this is the case then I need to
> > >build an EDID file and place it in /lib/firmware.  But first I have to
> > >discover exactly what the setting are for my monitor.
> > >
> > >My questions are: has anybody successfully built a custom EDID file, and
> > >what is the best way to query the monitor for the settings?  Normally I
> > >would use xrandr, but I don't have xorg (with its libraries) installed,
> and
> > >I don't need it.  Can xrandr be installed standalone?  I've found a
> couple
> > >of other tools on the web (read-edid and edid-rw) but I'm unfamiliar
> with
> > >them.
> > >
> > >Any help much appreciated, otherwise I'll plough on alone :-(
> >
> > I've never had to do anything like that, but my first step would be to
> try a
> > commercial distro and see if the same problem persists.  I'd also take a
> > look at the Xorg log.
> >
> >   -- Bruce
> >
> Those sound like good places to start - remember to backup grub.cfg
> so you can restore it after the distro is installed.
>

I'm using syslinux rather than grub.  I'll boot a live Mint version from a
USB flash drive which should (maybe) give some indication of the problem.

>
> There seem to be *two* EDID config options which mention FIRMWARE in
> the kernel, but I'm not sure which I use (my server uses one, but
> not sure about my desktops), and if it really is corrupt then I
> doubt changing the config will help.
>

Linus says it should http://is.gd/gUjI2t

>
> There is a read-edid or parse-edid tool (lots of references if you
> google 'linux EDID'), but it seems to be used to get the right data
> from a working example of the same monitor.  I did find a post which
> mentioned setting custom modelines : I guess using xrandr would be
> the least painful way to try that (and ctrl-alt-backspace if it goes
> bad : hope it doesn't trash the monitor).
>

I don't have Xorg installed; I'm only using the Intel I915 frame buffer.
I'll try xrandr from the live Mint boot.

>
> I also found an oldish post mentioning setting up a conf file for
> the monitor with options including
>
> Option "UseEDID" "FALSE"
> and also Horizsync and Vertrefresh ranges
>
> but I'm not sure if it worked.
>

Thanks Ken, I'll plod on.

Richard
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