[opensuse] Help with Alienware 17 R3 laptop
I have a few questions, some of which may be pretty dumb. I did look on Google for help with the graphics resolution but with no success. Has anybody else set one of these up? 1. My graphics consists of a Nvidia GTX980M and and Intel HD Graphics 530. Two controllers I guess. The native screen resolution is 3840x2160. When I attempt to load the Leap DVD installation, which I believe uses the Nouveau driver on the Nvidia hardware, the text is so small I can hardly read it. I do not understand how to control the mapping between the graphics controller and the screen. I was able to boot up one of my existing leap 4.1 distributions that resides on a USB drive. But again I could not read text on the screen due to the small size. I ran xrandr and it displayed various possible x/y resolution pairs. I executed one of the options, xrandr 1920x1440, and was able to get a magnified window of reduced size. Is there a way to tell X that I desire a zoom by at least a factor of two? When I attach an external monitor, windows can find it and write to it without problems. But windows may be using the Intel graphics rather than the Nvidia adapter. Anyway, xrandr does not show anything for the external HDMI port. 2. The Ethernet and wlan hardware is not recognized by the distribution DVD media. Windows says the Ethernet is a Killer e2400 Gigabit Ethernet Controller. The wlan is Killer wireless-n/a/ac 1535 wireless network adapter. Are these supported in the openSuse distribution, and if so why doesn’t the installation disk see them? Sorry, but with no network and invisible text on the screen life is a bit difficult. Any suggestion or pointers would be appreciated. As an aside, I attempted to run the Alienware on board diagnostics and was again presented with the unreadable small text. I did read the Alienware manuals and see no reference to screen resolution. Thanks Don -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
don fisher composed on 2016-03-04 12:54 (UTC-0700):
1. My graphics consists of a Nvidia GTX980M and and Intel HD Graphics 530. Two controllers I guess. The native screen resolution is 3840x2160. When I attempt to load the Leap DVD installation,
Your meaning here is ambiguous. Does this mean initiating a new Leap installation from DVD, or booting up an existing Leap installation originally made from DVD?
which I believe uses the Nouveau driver on the Nvidia hardware, the text is so small I can hardly read it. I do not understand how to control the mapping between the graphics controller and the screen. I was able to boot up one of my existing leap 4.1 distributions that resides on a USB drive. But again I could not read text on the screen due to the small size. I ran xrandr and it displayed various possible x/y resolution pairs. I executed one of the options, xrandr 1920x1440, and was able to get a magnified window of reduced size. Is there a way to tell X that I desire a zoom by at least a factor of two?
More than one way actually. Including a supported resolution on the kernel cmdline will cause the vttys to use the specified mode. So video=1920x1080[1] tacked onto the end of the kernel stanza, either on the fly at boot time or via bootloader configuration, would double the height and width of screen objects (e.g. text)(which is actually a quadrupling of physical size). If X is running on the Intel driver, X will inherit that same mode, with equivalent impact on screen object sizes. Resolution set on the vttys via kernel cmdline does impact X's otherwise automagic determination of resolution to use with the other FOSS drivers. Section "Monitor" Identifier "myHighDPIscreen" DisplaySize 369 208 # 132 DPI @ 1920x1080 EndSection The above included in /etc/X11/xorg.conf (or in an otherwise valid /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-monitor.conf) on an installed system will cause Xorg itself to assume the attached display is in fact 369mm wide and 208mm tall. Used with a 28" 3840x2160 screen, which is 620mm wide by 349mm tail, height and width of screen text should be increased 76.5%. Any arbitrary values can be supplied to DisplaySize. In effect, DisplaySize can be used as a scaling factor much as you ask, just not as simple to implement as you might wish. By default, Plasma5, and possibly other environments, will ignore this global X configuration option. To have Plasma5 obey it requires autoload=false be included under [Module-kscreen] in ~/.config/kded5rc. Two more ways to globally decrease resolution are via xrandr's --fbmm and --dpi options (which also require the autoload=false override to be effective in Plasma5). xrandr --dpi 120 will increase text height and width 25% over the Xorg default of 96, so if you actually want a doubling in text height, try xrandr --dpi 192. Sometimes rounding errors appear, so the declared DPI may differ by 1 from what xrandr in a terminal will report. To obtain a precise DPI is more reliable by using --fbmm. To double text height on a 620mm by 349mm 28" screen, try xrandr --fbmm 310x175. Adjust as desired for whatever size your 3840x2160 screen actually is, or what magnification level ultimately works best for you. I've been putting whatever xrandr script I require for openSUSE use into /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/. The KDM greeter is not affected by this script, but the X sessions are. (Where to put it in openSUSE so that the greeter is affected by it I have yet to determine.) ...
Sorry, but with no network and invisible text on the screen life is a bit difficult. Any suggestion or pointers would be appreciated. As an aside, I attempted to run the Alienware on board diagnostics and was again presented with the unreadable small text. I did read the Alienware manuals and see no reference to screen resolution.
[1] video= works with Grub v0.97.x. Whether same works similarly with other bootloaders I have tested only so far as to know it does have the desired impact with Grub2 at least in certain environments. It may be that Grub2's gfxmode as same or similar impact and may be substituted to reach the same desired result. video= is not limited to specifying the VESA modes that bootloaders themselves are limited to using, but may specify any mode supported by a connected display. -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
05.03.2016 01:14, Felix Miata пишет:
[1] video= works with Grub v0.97.x. Whether same works similarly with other bootloaders I have tested only so far as to know it does have the desired impact with Grub2 at least in certain environments. It may be that Grub2's gfxmode as same or similar impact and may be substituted to reach the same desired result.
gfxmode defines graphic mode that grub2 gfxterm driver is using. Unless changed by gfxpayload, this mode will also be left unchanged and "inherited" by kernel. But this will not affect kernel decision, how it selects the "best" mode to use. OTOH video= option directly tells kernel driver to (try to) use specified mode. So you actually need both - gfxmode for bootloader and video= for kernel, even if they are the same, because kernel may well select different mode otherwise. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 03/05/2016 12:29 AM, Andrei Borzenkov wrote:
05.03.2016 01:14, Felix Miata пишет:
[1] video= works with Grub v0.97.x. Whether same works similarly with other bootloaders I have tested only so far as to know it does have the desired impact with Grub2 at least in certain environments. It may be that Grub2's gfxmode as same or similar impact and may be substituted to reach the same desired result.
gfxmode defines graphic mode that grub2 gfxterm driver is using. Unless changed by gfxpayload, this mode will also be left unchanged and "inherited" by kernel. But this will not affect kernel decision, how it selects the "best" mode to use. OTOH video= option directly tells kernel driver to (try to) use specified mode.
So you actually need both - gfxmode for bootloader and video= for kernel, even if they are the same, because kernel may well select different mode otherwise.
I would like to restate my question. I would like the system to behave like a standard 1920x1080 system. I would like to be able to connect it to an external monitor with that native resolution. Is there any way to make this system behave like it was a standard HDMI system? Or should I try and return it for an exchange to the older model? I did not realize that the support for a 4K system would shrink everything. I guess I missed the obvious. But the Leap distribution DVD also presents an unreadable screen at 4K. The community is usually way ahead of me on these things, so I had assumed it would work, somehow. Any thoughts on the second part of the question posed in my original post on the Qualcom Atheros Killer Ethernet adapter? Again, nothing found by the Leap installation DVD. Am I the only one to try the Alienware 17 R3 laptop? Don -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
don fisher composed on 2016-03-05 12:52 (UTC-0700):
I would like to restate my question. I would like the system to behave like a standard 1920x1080 system. I would like to be able to connect it to an external monitor with that native resolution. Is there any way to make this system behave like it was a standard HDMI system?
For that purpose it *should* be sufficient to create /etc/X11/xorg.conf containing the following: Section "Device" Identifier "DefaultDevice" EndSection Section "Monitor" Identifier "DefaultMonitor" Option "PreferredMode" "1920x1080" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "DefaultScreen" Device "DefaultDevice" Monitor "DefaultMonitor" EndSection
Or should I try and return it for an exchange to the older model? I did not realize that the support for a 4K system would shrink everything. I guess I missed the obvious. But the Leap distribution DVD also presents an unreadable screen at 4K. The community is usually way ahead of me on these things, so I had assumed it would work, somehow.
On the first screen to light up after POST booting the installation media, you should be able to select an acceptable video mode for the installation process itself using the F3 key. If that doesn't work with your 3840x2160 display, and you cannot locate an existing one, file a bug. -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
06.03.2016 02:11, Felix Miata пишет:
On the first screen to light up after POST booting the installation media, you should be able to select an acceptable video mode for the installation process itself using the F3 key. If that doesn't work with your 3840x2160 display, and you cannot locate an existing one, file a bug.
This does not affect GUI part. While it is possibly a bug, it was this way for as long as I can remember - in installation system GUI always selected the "best" possible resolution. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Andrei Borzenkov composed on 2016-03-06 09:11 (UTC+0300):
Felix Miata composed:
On the first screen to light up after POST booting the installation media, you should be able to select an acceptable video mode for the installation process itself using the F3 key. If that doesn't work with your 3840x2160 display, and you cannot locate an existing one, file a bug.
This does not affect GUI part.
True it's that way now...
While it is possibly a bug, it was this way for as long as I can remember -
...and has been for a long time. I was composing multiple messages at once over a several hours of interruptions and crossed my wires.[1] I'm not so sure it's always been this way. ISTR it used to be that the installation system prior to KMS, when modesetting driver didn't yet exist, used FBDEV or VESA and the F3 key set the mode for both vttys and GUI.
in installation system GUI always selected the "best" possible resolution.
"Best" is a subjective term in such a context. :-p [1] https://lists.opensuse.org/yast-devel/2016-03/msg00027.html -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
06.03.2016 09:29, Felix Miata пишет:
Andrei Borzenkov composed on 2016-03-06 09:11 (UTC+0300):
Felix Miata composed:
On the first screen to light up after POST booting the installation media, you should be able to select an acceptable video mode for the installation process itself using the F3 key. If that doesn't work with your 3840x2160 display, and you cannot locate an existing one, file a bug.
This does not affect GUI part.
True it's that way now...
While it is possibly a bug, it was this way for as long as I can remember -
...and has been for a long time. I was composing multiple messages at once over a several hours of interruptions and crossed my wires.[1] I'm not so sure it's always been this way. ISTR it used to be that the installation system prior to KMS, when modesetting driver didn't yet exist, used FBDEV or VESA and the F3 key set the mode for both vttys and GUI.
Of course! This rings the bell now. @don you could try using nomodeset video=1920x1080 as kernel options in installer. Note that it means that installed system will also use "nomodeset" but you can change it later. If 1920x1080 does not work, try picking other one.
in installation system GUI always selected the "best" possible resolution.
"Best" is a subjective term in such a context. :-p
[1] https://lists.opensuse.org/yast-devel/2016-03/msg00027.html
-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
05.03.2016 22:52, don fisher пишет:
On 03/05/2016 12:29 AM, Andrei Borzenkov wrote:
05.03.2016 01:14, Felix Miata пишет:
[1] video= works with Grub v0.97.x. Whether same works similarly with other bootloaders I have tested only so far as to know it does have the desired impact with Grub2 at least in certain environments. It may be that Grub2's gfxmode as same or similar impact and may be substituted to reach the same desired result.
gfxmode defines graphic mode that grub2 gfxterm driver is using. Unless changed by gfxpayload, this mode will also be left unchanged and "inherited" by kernel. But this will not affect kernel decision, how it selects the "best" mode to use. OTOH video= option directly tells kernel driver to (try to) use specified mode.
So you actually need both - gfxmode for bootloader and video= for kernel, even if they are the same, because kernel may well select different mode otherwise.
I would like to restate my question. I would like the system to behave like a standard 1920x1080 system. I would like to be able to connect it to an external monitor with that native resolution.
Normally I expect both kernel KMS drivers and X11 drivers to detect monitor resolution and use it. So if you really have 1920x1080 monitor, I fail to see how you can get twice of this. I do have notebook with this screen resolution and I get it, not anything else. Of course, on relatively small screen even this resolution results in far too tiny text.
Is there any way to make this system behave like it was a standard HDMI system? Or should I try and return it for an exchange to the older model? I did not realize that the support for a 4K system would shrink everything. I guess I missed the obvious. But the Leap distribution DVD also presents an unreadable screen at 4K. The community is usually way ahead of me on these things, so I had assumed it would work, somehow.
Again - how you get 4K on native 1920x1080 screen?
Any thoughts on the second part of the question posed in my original post on the Qualcom Atheros Killer Ethernet adapter? Again, nothing found by the Leap installation DVD.
Am I the only one to try the Alienware 17 R3 laptop?
Don
-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 2016-03-06 07:09, Andrei Borzenkov wrote:
Normally I expect both kernel KMS drivers and X11 drivers to detect monitor resolution and use it. So if you really have 1920x1080 monitor, I fail to see how you can get twice of this. I do have notebook with this screen resolution and I get it, not anything else. Of course, on relatively small screen even this resolution results in far too tiny text.
What about detecting the size of the display? I understand he has 3840x2160 native resolution, so if fonts are based on number of pixels, on a laptop they will be unreadably small. I miss a quick setting to change the size of letters in the display. Letters and everything, of course. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 13.1 x86_64 "Bottle" at Telcontar)
04.03.2016 22:54, don fisher пишет:
I have a few questions, some of which may be pretty dumb. I did look on Google for help with the graphics resolution but with no success. Has anybody else set one of these up?
1. My graphics consists of a Nvidia GTX980M and and Intel HD Graphics 530. Two controllers I guess. The native screen resolution is 3840x2160. When I attempt to load the Leap DVD installation, which I believe uses the Nouveau driver on the Nvidia hardware, the text is so small I can hardly read it. I do not understand how to control the mapping between the graphics controller and the screen.
Do you have any BIOS setting to select video card? If not, you are probably using Intel during installation (although there could be software switch, at least on my Dell Latitude E5450 nvidia-settings offers permanent switch between Intel and nVidia). ...
2. The Ethernet and wlan hardware is not recognized by the distribution DVD media. Windows says the Ethernet is a Killer e2400 Gigabit Ethernet Controller. The wlan is Killer wireless-n/a/ac 1535 wireless network adapter. Are these supported in the openSuse distribution, and if so why doesn’t the installation disk see them?
You should always show at least output of "lspci -nn" when asking such questions. Do not assume that everyone knows what hardware of the day vendor decided to put into your specific model. Nor are marketing names of any use. It seems that at least /some/ of Alianware 17 R3 are using Qualcom QCA6174 HW2.1 for wireless. In this case Leap does not have firmware for it. You could try Tumbleweed or try installing latest kernel-firmware from Kernel:stable. But in any case, using newer kernel will make sense with so new hardware. I do not know what LAN device you have (it is some Atheros as well), please show "lspci -nn" to start guessing. May need firmware as well.
Sorry, but with no network and invisible text on the screen life is a bit difficult. Any suggestion or pointers would be appreciated. As an aside, I attempted to run the Alienware on board diagnostics and was again presented with the unreadable small text. I did read the Alienware manuals and see no reference to screen resolution.
You should avoid brand new hardware unless you are prepared to do a lot of research and workarounds to get it working ... -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 03/06/2016 12:04 AM, Andrei Borzenkov wrote:
04.03.2016 22:54, don fisher пишет:
I have a few questions, some of which may be pretty dumb. I did look on Google for help with the graphics resolution but with no success. Has anybody else set one of these up?
1. My graphics consists of a Nvidia GTX980M and and Intel HD Graphics 530. Two controllers I guess. The native screen resolution is 3840x2160. When I attempt to load the Leap DVD installation, which I believe uses the Nouveau driver on the Nvidia hardware, the text is so small I can hardly read it. I do not understand how to control the mapping between the graphics controller and the screen.
Do you have any BIOS setting to select video card? If not, you are probably using Intel during installation (although there could be software switch, at least on my Dell Latitude E5450 nvidia-settings offers permanent switch between Intel and nVidia).
...
2. The Ethernet and wlan hardware is not recognized by the distribution DVD media. Windows says the Ethernet is a Killer e2400 Gigabit Ethernet Controller. The wlan is Killer wireless-n/a/ac 1535 wireless network adapter. Are these supported in the openSuse distribution, and if so why doesn’t the installation disk see them?
You should always show at least output of "lspci -nn" when asking such questions. Do not assume that everyone knows what hardware of the day vendor decided to put into your specific model. Nor are marketing names of any use.
It seems that at least /some/ of Alianware 17 R3 are using Qualcom QCA6174 HW2.1 for wireless. In this case Leap does not have firmware for it. You could try Tumbleweed or try installing latest kernel-firmware from Kernel:stable. But in any case, using newer kernel will make sense with so new hardware.
I do not know what LAN device you have (it is some Atheros as well), please show "lspci -nn" to start guessing. May need firmware as well.
Sorry, but with no network and invisible text on the screen life is a bit difficult. Any suggestion or pointers would be appreciated. As an aside, I attempted to run the Alienware on board diagnostics and was again presented with the unreadable small text. I did read the Alienware manuals and see no reference to screen resolution.
You should avoid brand new hardware unless you are prepared to do a lot of research and workarounds to get it working ...
Thanks to all. The laptop does have a 3840x2160 native screen resolution, so that is why I get the small text. I threw in the towel and returned the unit, since I feel I do not have the expertise to open this new ground. I could not do an lspci -nn since I have no Ethernet connection to transmit the results. This laptop has been out for about a year (is that still brand new hardware?), so I had assumed somebody else would have solved some of these problems. Alienware support is useless. I could not even find out if there was another card that I could use in place of the Qualcom QCA6174 HW2.1. Thanks again for your assistance. I may try this again when I know more about the hardware. Don -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
participants (4)
-
Andrei Borzenkov -
Carlos E. R. -
don fisher -
Felix Miata