[mythtv-users] Monitor issues

Thu Aug 23 11:36:18 UTC 2018

> Some time ago when I had tiny fonts my fix was to add a line like:
> 
> ??? Option???????? "DPI" "100x100"
> 
> to the "Device" sections of the /etc/X11/xorg.conf
> 
> With my current NVIDIA 304.135 driver that doesn't seem to be necessary.
> 
> John
> 
> On 8/22/2018 8:51 AM, Allen Edwards wrote:
> > Thanks for the reply. I really do appreciate the help.
> >
> > I previously had a 6000 series card with the 304 drivers as
> > recommended but not installed.? When I switched to the 8600 card the
> > recommended driver was 340 and I installed them.
> >
> > I spent at lease an hour with Google looking for a solution to the
> > tiny font problem.? The problem is that the font is not just tiny, it
> > is completely unreadable so it is impossible to do anything.? I can
> > best describe it as this.? If the text should be "hello World" what I
> > would see is "__".? OK, not quite that small but probably font that is
> > 3 pixels high.? Bottom line is I can't do anything other than use
> > Myth, which is fine. Here is a screen shot and it really does look
> > like this.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I also see that if I go to my monitor instead of the TV, there I can
> > read the characters sometimes but the monitor is being detected as a
> > smaller resolution. I can't tell exactly what size as that readout is
> > too blurry but I think it is 480 x something and not the 1280 or
> > whatever the monitor actually is. I suspect these problems are related.
> >
> > Also, I appreciate the links from mtdean but I can't do anything on
> > the TV as a monitor because of the small fonts.? Here is a section
> > from xorg.conf that seems to lack specifics
> >
> > *Section "Monitor"*
> > *? ? Identifier? ? ?"Monitor0"*
> > *? ? VendorName? ? ?"Unknown"*
> > *? ? ModelName? ? ? "Unknown"*
> > *? ? HorizSync? ? ? ?28.0 - 33.0*
> > *? ? VertRefresh? ? ?43.0 - 72.0*
> > *? ? Option? ? ? ? ?"DPMS"*
> > *EndSection*
> > *
> > *
> > *Section "Device"*
> > *? ? Identifier? ? ?"Device0"*
> > *? ? Driver? ? ? ? ?"nvidia"*
> > *? ? VendorName? ? ?"NVIDIA Corporation"*
> > *EndSection*
> > *
> > *
> > *Section "Screen"*
> > *? ? Identifier? ? ?"Screen0"*
> > *? ? Device? ? ? ? ?"Device0"*
> > *? ? Monitor? ? ? ? "Monitor0"*
> > *? ? DefaultDepth? ? 24*
> > *? ? SubSection? ? ?"Display"*
> > *? ? ? ? Depth? ? ? ?24*
> > *? ? EndSubSection*
> >
> >
> > I guess I will switch back to the 304 driver.? Just to confirm I so
> > this by doing this:
> >
> > *sudo apt-get purge nvidia**
> > *sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers*
> > *sudo apt-get update*
> > *sudo apt-get install nvidia-304*
> >
> > Allen
> >
> > On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 2:42 AM, Stephen Worthington
> > <stephen_agent at jsw.gen.nz <mailto:stephen_agent at jsw.gen.nz>> wrote:
> >
> >     On Wed, 22 Aug 2018 01:39:38 -0700, you wrote:
> >
> >     >This is not strictly a Myth issue but I need to solve this before
> >     working
> >     >on getting VDPAU working.? I switched to a Geforce 8600GT in the
> >     hopes of
> >     >getting VDPAU working which I failed at so far.? But what I am
> >     asking here
> >     >is how to get a workable system.? I have two choices now.? 1) Single
> >     >monitor on the TV with all the system fonts and icons so small
> >     they are
> >     >unreadable. I mean so small it is completely unreadable.? The
> >     MythTV fonts
> >     >are fine, normal, but the Ubuntu fonts are tiny. Or I could 2)
> >     Leave the TV
> >     >that way and add a second monitor, which I have.? But the
> >     computer will not
> >     >recognize a second monitor.? I have looked at nvidia config and
> >     at the
> >     >standard Display section. Neither show a second monitor.? I do
> >     this with
> >     >the monitor plugged into the DVI slot that works and the TV
> >     plugged into
> >     >the DVI slot that has no signal.
> >
> >     I can remember having that tiny fonts problem at some time, and
> >     finding a quick fix for it via a Google search.? But that was quite a
> >     few years ago - probably when I was using 14.04 or maybe even earlier.
> >     And I can not remember anything about the fix.
> >
> >     For an 8600GT, I believe you should be installing the Nvidia 304
> >     series driver.? Sometimes the recommended driver is 340 series, and
> >     that will cause problems with a card that old.? So please check what
> >     video drivers are installed.? What is the output of these commands:
> >
> >     lshw -C video
> >     apt list --installed | grep nvidia
> >
> >     Also, be aware that Nvidia has stopped all support for the 304
> >     drivers, so they do not work with 4.15 kernels without patching.? But
> >     they should be fine in 16.04 if you do not install the HWE (Hardware
> >     Enablement stack) which brings in the newer kernels.? I am using the
> >     304 drivers on my mother's MythTV box running 16.04 and they work well
> >     for her builtin motherboard GPU (Nvidia C77), which is a similar age
> >     to the 8600GT.
> >
> >     To run with dual monitors, the easy way to test is to use the
> >     nvidia-settings GUI tool.? Run it from a non-root command prompt on
> >     the GUI screen.? It will allow you to select the monitor setup, if the
> >     drivers have seen more than one monitor.


This what I do that fixes the issue with this card/driver - 

to take care of small fonts once use start using vdpau:

   sudo nvidia-xconfig --no-use-edid-dpi

edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add to Monitor section:

   Option "DPI" "96 x 96"

reboot

 
To take care of video tearing in playback in MythTV

  sudo nvidia-xconfig --no-composite