# EDID info - using I2C/DDC



## Expatriot (Dec 22, 2008)

Hello,

I am trying to teach myself FreeBSD (release 7), and am having trouble configuring Xorg.

I am running it as a guest under VMware Player on a Vista 64-bit host. My machine is a Toshiba M305D-S4830 laptop, which has a 14.1 inch display with a native resolution of 1280x800. The chipset is an AMD M780V and the GPU in an integrated AMD 3100 with shared memory (256 1519 MB).

I have no trouble getting it to operate at 1024x768, but am unable to get it to function at the native resolution. Is this a limitation of the "vmware" driver, which I installed as a port?

I have searched all over the net to find the horizontal sync and vertical refresh rates, without success (Toshiba doesn't provide the information). I have looked for the EDID info at "/var/log?Xorg.0.log" as detailed in "5.4.3.2 Adding a Widescreen Flatpanel to the Mix" in the Handbook but the information either isn't there or the information is presented in a different format as detailed in the Handbook, and I am not recognizing it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.


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## SirDice (Dec 23, 2008)

The VMWare console is rather virtual, so it doesn't really have a horizontal or vertical refresh rate. 
You might try setting both to 0-99999.


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## Expatriot (Dec 23, 2008)

Hello,

Thanks for the reply. Still no go. The best I can get is 1024x768.


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## adamk (Dec 23, 2008)

What's the output of 'xrandr' ?

Adam


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## Expatriot (Dec 23, 2008)

Hi,

It says "Can't open display" although I have no trouble using startx.

Thanks for your help.


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## adamk (Dec 23, 2008)

I mean from within X 

Adam


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## Expatriot (Dec 23, 2008)

Hi,

Here is the output from xrandr and part of my xorg.conf:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1024 x 768, maximum 2360 x 1770
default connected 1024x768+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1024x768       85.0*    75.0     70.0     60.0  
   800x600        85.0     75.0     72.0     60.0     56.0     73.0  
   640x480        85.0     75.0     73.0     60.0  
   640x400        85.0     65.0  
   832x624        75.0  
   720x400        85.0  
   640x350        85.0  
   320x240        85.0  
   400x300        85.0  
   512x384        85.0  
   1152x864       85.0  
   1280x960       56.0  
   1400x1050      60.0  
   1600x1200      72.0  
   1920x1440      75.0  
   2048x1536      85.0  
   854x480        60.0  
   1280x720       70.0  
   1366x768       75.0  
   1920x1080      85.0  
   1280x800       75.0  
   1440x900       60.0  
   1680x1050      85.0  
   1920x1200      60.0  
   720x480        75.0  
   720x576        85.0  
   320x200        60.0  
   800x480        70.0  
   1280x768       75.0  
   1280x1024      85.0  
   2360x1770      60.0  

-----------------------

    Identifier	"Mouse1"
    Driver	"vmmouse"
    Option "Protocol"    "Auto"	# Auto detect
    Option "Device"      "/dev/sysmouse"

    HorizSync   0-99999

    VertRefresh 0-99999

    Identifier  "** VMWare guest OS (generic)          [vmware]"
    Driver      "vmware"
    #VideoRam    262144
    # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate

    Identifier  "Screen 1"
    Device      "** VMWare guest OS (generic)          [vmware]"
    Monitor     "My Monitor"
    DefaultDepth 24

    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes       "1280x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        ViewPort    0 0
    EndSubsection

I appreciate your help.


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## adamk (Dec 23, 2008)

Well 1280x800 is showing up.  You can always use 'xrandr -s 1280x800' to change the resolution *after* X starts up.  In the Monitor section, you can try adding a Modeline and PreferredMode option.  I'm not 100% sure that the vmware driver supports it, but it'd be like so:

Modeline "1280x800_75.00"  106.50  1280 1360 1488 1696  800 803 809 838 -hsync +vsync
Option "PreferredMode" "1280x800_75.00"


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## Expatriot (Dec 23, 2008)

Hi,

I can change the resolution using "xrandr -s "1280x800", but add those lines to my xorg.conf file doesn't do anything.

Where did you get those values that you told me to try, and what do they represent? (I have pretty limited math skills, so I am always a hesitant to screw around where I have to figure stuff out.)

Finally, what process would have helped me discover the solution by myself? I looked at the manual and untold numbers of forum posts and web pages, but never once saw it mentioned.

Thanks again for the help.


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## adamk (Dec 24, 2008)

Yeah, I wasn't sure if the vmware driver would support the PreferredMode option, and I'm not surprised it doesn't.  Those values came from the utility 'cvt'...  It takes three arguments: the horizontal resolution, vertical resolution, and refresh rate.  In this case, I ran 'cvt 1280 800 75'.  

I'm not sure how to go about getting the vmware driver to use a specific resolution, by default, with your xorg.conf file.  You could always simply add that xrandr command to your gnome/kde/xfce session (or your .xinitrc or .xsession file).

As for the process to finding the solution...  I'm not sure there is one short of googling for information and running Xorg for years 

Adam


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## Expatriot (Dec 24, 2008)

Okay. I can live with changing the resolution manually.

I am pretty excited about using FreeBSD for everything once I get a little more experience with it, even though I like MS Windows. (Yes, yes, I know I am a schlub, but I can't help it... I think back to when Lotus and WordPerfect both cost hundreds of dollars twenty-some years ago and how hard it was to make them 'talk' to each other!)

Just for giggles, I also set up a VM with W2k and ran some Ruby programs, which I timed. I am just learning to program, so my Ruby programs are not very sophisticated, and I realize that my whole approach isn't overly scientific, but I am amazed at how much faster FreeBSD is.

Again, thanks for your help. It's great that people take the time to help strangers.


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