HOWTO: Get proper video resolution with trident video card and Ubuntu 8.04

[boy_cad]

All the recent posts should refer to the 10.04 release. Still looking for that research time. But first ... prep the R30 impregnation

[herrdeh]

Hello everybody,

as this seems to be the ultimate thread on trident video chips, here is my issue:

I could make my girl's Toshiba Satellite 1800-750 work, with /etc/X11/xorg.conf as attached I get a 1024 x 768 screen.

But: I dont have hardware accelaration - switching windows takes several seconds sometimes, and movies (e.g. DVDs) are as slow as one picture every several seconds.

I did some research and found that hardware accereration is not active:

• installed mesa-utils
• glxinfo said (besides several other things) "OpenGL renderer string: Software Rasterizer"

As far as I can see in the Xorg.0.log, the trident driver is loaded. I experimeted with several variations in the /etc/sorg.conf, but didnt come to a clou.

If anybody had a good idea, I (and my girl) were very happy.

Thanks a lot and greetings, herrdeh

PS.: Files attached, all are text files, extensions dont matter.

[dreaminhere]

I have much the same problem as Herrdeh with getting a picture every several seconds when I try to play SuperTuxKart. Highly annoying I have a Toshiba Satalite A25-S07 and have tried various config files on the internet with no avail.

[herrdeh]

I filed a bug report here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...nt/+bug/706004

Maybe some folks would like to vote for the issue.

Yours, Wolf

[roki]

I filed a bug report here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...nt/+bug/706004

Maybe some folks would like to vote for the issue.

Yours, Wolf

IMHO it is not a bug that these old trident chips just are not fast enough for gaming and movies.

- Roki

[herrdeh]

@ Roki

I'm quite sure that on my machine the system doesnt use hardware acceleration at all:

glxinfo said (besides several other things) "OpenGL renderer string: Software Rasterizer"

So if we'd find a way to make use of the hardware accererator of the old trident chip, graphics output would be much faster anyways. Some folks reported having played DVDs on that machines way back with Ubuntu 6 or so- and wintendo actually can do as well.

[krustybaguette]

This guide assumes that you are doing a fresh install of ubuntu 8.04 and you get a wrong resolution with a trident video card.

These are the steps I did:

1. Boot up the ubuntu live cd. I selected "Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer".

2. Once it has booted up open up a terminal and enter "sudo displayconfig-gtk" (without the speech marks)Feel free to post whether it worked or not

I am trying to get 9.10 (Karmic) up and running and having the Trident Video issue. The command listed in #2. results in "Command not found" both after using terminal in installed version and after rebooting with Live CD. I've also found no trace of an xorg.conf file in /etc or /etc/X11

I found what purports to be a driver for my Trident card. It's a 2.4 MB file named "XF86_SVGA" but can't figure out what to do with it. I tried to copy it to /etc/X11 but "paste" did not appear so I assume I'm not allowed to alter that folder.

Perhaps I should download and try the older version of Ubuntu anyway as I'm probably a little underpowered with this PIII 497 Mhz Toshiba Portege 7140CT and 320 mb RAM.

[krustybaguette]

[QUOTE=sdavmor;8218273]Yes, it will be empty. Copy & Paste in this code. Log out. Log back in. Go into "System","Display". Select 1024 resolution. Apply it. Have fun.


snipped code, but this looks like what I'm looking for. My Toshiba Portege 7140CT has Trident Cyber Blade e4-128 controller chip. I've been searching for drivers, how to install, etc. when it appears that all I have to do is create an "xorg.conf" file and put it in the right place!!!

Many thanks.

[roki]

@ Roki

I'm quite sure that on my machine the system doesnt use hardware acceleration at all:

glxinfo said (besides several other things) "OpenGL renderer string: Software Rasterizer"

So if we'd find a way to make use of the hardware accererator of the old trident chip, graphics output would be much faster anyways. Some folks reported having played DVDs on that machines way back with Ubuntu 6 or so- and wintendo actually can do as well.

AFAIK there is no hardware acceleration for 3D in these trident chips, so OpenGL will stay in software rasterizer and gaming is impossible. For DVDs and other video stuff you should find another output method than OpenGL. I don't know which one is the best.