ati radeon driver does not autodetect displaysize on Latitude D600

Bug #575496 reported by Glen Ditchfield
6
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
xserver-xorg-driver-ati
Invalid
Medium
xserver-xorg-video-ati (Ubuntu)
Incomplete
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-video-ati

(This is a follow-up to bug 80940)
This bug is still present in Lucid. xdpyinfo still reports
  dimensions: 1400x1050 pixels (370x277 millimeters)
  resolution: 96x96 dots per inch

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: xserver-xorg-video-radeon 1:6.13.0-1ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-21.32-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-21-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue May 4 19:36:01 2010
DkmsStatus: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
GdmLog:
 Error: command ['kdesudo', '--', 'cat', '/var/log/gdm/:0.log'] failed with exit code 1: QInotifyFileSystemWatcherEngine::addPaths: inotify_add_watch failed: No such file or directory
 QFileSystemWatcher: failed to add paths: /home/gjditchf/.config/ibus/bus
 Bus::open: Can not get ibus-daemon's address.
 IBusInputContext::createInputContext: no connection to ibus-daemon
 cat: /var/log/gdm/:0.log: No such file or directory
GdmLog1: Error: command ['kdesudo', '--', 'cat', '/var/log/gdm/:0.log.1'] failed with exit code 1: cat: /var/log/gdm/:0.log.1: No such file or directory
GdmLog2: Error: command ['kdesudo', '--', 'cat', '/var/log/gdm/:0.log.2'] failed with exit code 1: cat: /var/log/gdm/:0.log.2: No such file or directory
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100426.1)
Lsusb:
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: Dell Computer Corporation Latitude D600
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
 Socket 1:
   product info: "O2Micro", "SmartCardBus Reader", "V1.0", ""
   manfid: 0xffff, 0x0001
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
 Socket 1:
   5.0V 16-bit PC Card
   Subdevice 0 (function 0) [unbound]
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=6b3cd808-d2f4-423d-91b5-0b4583b1156e ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-video-ati
dmi.bios.date: 06/29/2005
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
dmi.bios.version: A16
dmi.board.name: 0G5152
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellComputerCorporation:bvrA16:bd06/29/2005:svnDellComputerCorporation:pnLatitudeD600:pvr:rvnDellComputerCorporation:rn0G5152:rvr:cvnDellComputerCorporation:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Latitude D600
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: i686
 kernel: 2.6.32-21-generic

Revision history for this message
Glen Ditchfield (gjditchfield) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Glen Ditchfield (gjditchfield) wrote :

As was the case for Hardy, the vesa driver does a much better job of detecting the display size.
I generated an xorg.conf with "sudo xorg -configure", changed the driver in section "Device" from "radeon" to "vesa" (and commented out "VendorName", "BoardName" and "BusID"), and rebooted with "nomodeset".
xdpyinfo reports screen dimensions 291x212 mm, and resolution 122x126 dpi.

Bryce Harrington (bryce)
Changed in xserver-xorg-video-ati (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Bryce Harrington (bryce)
tags: added: kubuntu
Revision history for this message
In , Glen Ditchfield (gjditchfield) wrote :

Created an attachment (id=35581)
Xorg log

This bug goes back to at least October 2007. For history and more log files, and a reference to a possible patch, see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/575496

The Radeon driver distributed with Ubuntu 10.04 and earlier distributions does not correctly detect monitor sizes. On Dell Latitude D600s with 14 inch 1400x1050 LCD displays, it incorrectly calculates a panel size of 370x277 mm and a resolution of 96 dpi, instead of the correct 124 dpi. The KDE desktop is misled by this when converting point sizes to pixels, and displays everything in unpleasantly small characters.

Revision history for this message
In , Glen Ditchfield (gjditchfield) wrote :

Created an attachment (id=35582)
xdpyinfo output

Many more log files for Ubuntu 10.04 at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/575496

Revision history for this message
In , Julien Cristau (jcristau) wrote :

First, xdpyinfo reporting 96dpi by default is expected, see bug 23705.

Also from the xrandr output on the lp bug, it seems we don't get the actual size of your display. Is there an edid file in /sys/class/drm/card0-LVDS-1/? If so please attach it.

Revision history for this message
In , agd5f (agd5f) wrote :

Older radeons rarely had edids for the LVDS panel, the vbios lvds table only has the panel modeline, not the physical size.

Revision history for this message
In , James H. Cloos Jr. (cloos-jhcloos) wrote :

> Older radeons rarely had edids for the LVDS panel, the vbios lvds
> table only has the panel modeline, not the physical size.

The old radeon driver (back in the xfree86 days) did know that my
laptop’s screen was 12”×9”. I originally added --dpi 133 to my X
startup scripts only because the integer conversions between inch
(for dpi) and mm (for dimensions) led to rounding errors.

To the Reporter: you may need to add --dpi 124 to your startup
scripts to get accurate sizing with the current X server.

Revision history for this message
In , Felix Miata (mrmazda) wrote :

(In reply to comment #4)
> I originally added --dpi 133 to my X
> startup scripts only because the integer conversions between inch
> (for dpi) and mm (for dimensions) led to rounding errors.

> To the Reporter: you may need to add --dpi 124 to your startup
> scripts to get accurate sizing with the current X server.

Actually, most scalable fonts work best when DPI is a multiple of 12, so 120 (10.0X) or 132 (11.0X) can be expected to work better than 124 (10.33X) or 133 (11.08X).

Revision history for this message
In , agd5f (agd5f) wrote :

(In reply to comment #4)
> > Older radeons rarely had edids for the LVDS panel, the vbios lvds
> > table only has the panel modeline, not the physical size.
>
> The old radeon driver (back in the xfree86 days) did know that my
> laptop’s screen was 12”×9”. I originally added --dpi 133 to my X
> startup scripts only because the integer conversions between inch
> (for dpi) and mm (for dimensions) led to rounding errors.

The driver did not even have support for reading edids from LCD panels at that time so it must have been some different behaviour in the xserver rather than the driver.

Revision history for this message
In , Glen Ditchfield (gjditchfield) wrote :

"ls -l" says that /sys/card/drm/card0-LVDS-1/edid exists, apparently with 128 bytes in it. However, all other commands I tried say it is empty.

[salver:card0-LVDS-1]$ ls -l /sys/class/drm/card0-LVDS-1/edid
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 128 2010-05-12 22:09 /sys/class/drm/card0-LVDS-1/edid
[salver:card0-LVDS-1]$ wc edid
  0 0 0 edid

Revision history for this message
In , Glen Ditchfield (gjditchfield) wrote :

I generated an xorg.conf file with "Xorg -configure", and modified it to contain "DisplaySize 285 215" in the Monitor section. (The generated file had "#DisplaySize 290 210", commented out.) Xorg.0.log now contains

  (II) RADEON(0): EXA: Driver will not allow EXA pixmaps in VRAM
  (**) RADEON(0): Display dimensions: (285, 215) mm
  (**) RADEON(0): DPI set to (124, 124)
  (II) Loading sub module "fb"

However, xdpyinfo still says the monitor has 96 dpi, and KDE still uses small lettering.

From bug 23705, I understand that Xorg sets DPI to 96 in the default case (and strongly disagree with the decision!), but when I explicitly set the screen dimensions, you should go along with me. Adding a "--dpi" option in the KDM start-up scripts is just not right.

Note also that, as mentioned in the Launchpad bug, the vesa driver calculates nearly correct dimensions and DPI.

Revision history for this message
In , Glen Ditchfield (gjditchfield) wrote :

Created an attachment (id=35605)
Xorg log when DisplaySize is set

Revision history for this message
In , Glen Ditchfield (gjditchfield) wrote :

Created an attachment (id=35606)
xorg.conf that sets DisplaySize

Revision history for this message
In , agd5f (agd5f) wrote :

This is an issue with the expected xserver behaviour rather than the driver.

Revision history for this message
In , James H. Cloos Jr. (cloos-jhcloos) wrote :

> The driver did not even have support for reading edids from LCD panels
> at that time so it must have been some different behaviour in the
> xserver rather than the driver.

Appologies for the confusion; I'm sure it was getting the info from
the BIOS. It even knew that the panel was an IBM ITUX97.

If my box had that info available, it stands to reason that the
Reporter's box may as well.

(It did format the data in the logs as though it had used edid, but it
had to have used the BIOS to get it.)

Changed in xserver-xorg-driver-ati:
importance: Unknown → Medium
status: Unknown → Confirmed
Changed in xserver-xorg-driver-ati:
importance: Medium → Unknown
Changed in xserver-xorg-driver-ati:
importance: Unknown → Medium
penalvch (penalvch)
Changed in xserver-xorg-video-ati (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Low
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Glen Ditchfield (gjditchfield) wrote :

The computer is currently unbootable. If it recovers, the current development release cannot be installed because of the kernel's PAE requirements.

Revision history for this message
penalvch (penalvch) wrote :

Glen Ditchfield, thank you for your comment. The requirement for PAE started with Quantal. Hence, would you be able to boot Precise as outlined in https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PAE ?

Revision history for this message
In , Ajax-a (ajax-a) wrote :

Mass closure: This bug has been untouched for more than six years, and is not obviously still valid. Please file a new report if you continue to experience issues with a current server.

Changed in xserver-xorg-driver-ati:
status: Confirmed → Invalid
Revision history for this message
Donny Den Haag (donnydenhaag) wrote :

This is a great solution https://shehrozpc.com/

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