Help with Nvidia Drivers

Temetka · 2016-08-29 06:50:10

Ok,

I got the Nvidia driver installed and working on my system which is a laptop. My LCD resolution is 1920x1200. For the most part the resolution is correct. I think my issue is with DPI settings. Let me try to explain.

The Tint2 bar is small like it should be at this resolution and my wallpaper is displayed correctly. However firefox is frickin huge as is conky. Now I did do some due diligence and googled around before coming here.

Let me give you some outputs to help out here

xorg.conf

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 304.123  (pbuilder@zam904)  Fri Oct 17 22:33:14 UTC 2014

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 340.46  (buildd@brahms)  Tue Oct  7 08:00:32 UTC 2014

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Seiko/Epson"
    HorizSync       49.4 - 74.1
    VertRefresh     40.0 - 60.0
    Option         "DPMS"
    Option         "UseEdidDpi" "FALSE"
    Option         "DPI" "147 x 145"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "Quadro FX 1700M"
EndSection

Section "Screen"

# Removed Option "metamodes" "1920x1200 +0+0"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "Stereo" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Under the monitor section in Xorg.conf, I added 2 lines to disable EDID and use custom DPI. This DPI I got from the nvidia-settings command and xorg.conf is the one create by nvidia-config + my 2 line addition. I got the idea for this from this link:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions … ge-853657/

which links to

http://http.download.nvidia.com/XFree86 … dix-y.html

here is the output of the xdpyinfo command

temetka@Pheonix:~$ xdpyinfo | grep -B1 dot
  dimensions:    1920x1200 pixels (332x210 millimeters)
  resolution:    147x145 dots per inch

That author mentions not being able to go above 100x100. I haven't tried that setting but I will. But the way the OP in the linuxquestions.org site describes his issue is pretty much bang on with the issue I am having. I did get nvidia-settings to output an EDID.bin file which I tried to specifiy use of under the "screen" section in xorg.conf to no avail. I removed the line, but in full disclosure of what I have done to troubleshoot this - there it is.

During my googling I have come across people who mention making changes to GRUB. I'm not sure if that's the path I want to go down or not. I just wnat my GUI / system to be able to take full advantage of my hardware.

I'm going to try the 100x100 setting and report back after a reboot. But I know it should be higher than that. Any input you guys could offer would be great.

Thanks and take care.

EDIT: Changed it to 100x100 end everything looks good. So my question then is this:

Why would the Nvidia driver report a higher DPI setting than can be set in Xorg? Or is setting it to 100x100 the same as telling Xorg to "use 100% DPI" for lack of my understanding? (Hope that made sense). 100x100 is square. This LCD is a 16:10 LCD so I believe the 147x145 as reported by Nvidia-settings is the correct DPI to use.

Last edited by Temetka (2016-08-29 06:55:05)

Temetka · 2016-08-29 09:40:41

ugh, not KDE. One of my favorite things about BL is OpenBox. I love it, it's so simple and out of my face. I used to be a big KDE guy, but ever since they switched to the whole plasma thing, it just turned me off to it. KDE 3.5 was the best version IMO.

I'll look into the HiDPI settings though. Any other apps I need to be aware of such as conky, file manager etc?

damo · 2016-08-29 11:02:20

I am interested in seeing how this pans out, with the xorg.conf (not sure if I need one though). I have just got a new laptop, with nvidia+intel, and haven't been able to get the nvidia graphics working with BL.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-08-29 12:28:09

There are several method available to set the DPI.

As you already have it set in an Xorg configuration file (btw, do you really need all those options?) then you should make sure it is also set in ~/.Xresources as well:

https://github.com/BunsenLabs/bunsen-co … sources#L7

Uncomment the line (remove the "!" symbol) and change it to the desired value.

For other methods, see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HiDPI

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-08-29 12:31:04

damo wrote:

nvidia+intel

Have you tried https://wiki.debian.org/Bumblebee?

Note that any Xorg configuration files that attempt to force the NVIDIA drivers (such as those generated by `nvidia-xconfig`) must be (re)moved for Bumblebee to work correctly.

damo · 2016-08-29 14:34:28

@HoaS Yes, but only succeeded in producing a black screen!

On Mint it worked with no manual configuration, just using the Driver Manager (no bumblebee was installed).

On ubuntu I had to modprobe a driver after restarting with nomodeset.

Interestingly, with the default nouveau, BL was the only one of the three that first booted after installation without needing the nomodeset kernel parameter!

I was going to revisit this when I had some time

xaos52 · 2016-08-30 09:40:18

This works for me on BL.
I have been using primusrun for firefox, gimp and darktable since a couple of months now without problems.
I am not using playonlinux.

Temetka · 2016-08-30 12:36:43

Not sure if I should mark this as solved or not.

With the Nvidia drivers loaded I see better performance when watching local video's and by forcing youtube to use h.264 instead of HTML5. That being said, I've had to go and edit the v-offsets of my conky's or things don't line up properly. Yet with the Nouveau drivers, I don't have to do that, but I get worse video playback performance and higer CPU usage.

It would be nice if my environment of choice (openbox in this case) just automagically took care of this for me in terms of HiDPI support across all app's no matter what version of GTK they use. Sure I could install another environment, but I'd probably have even higher CPU usage at idle or with my basic conky's, vlc music, and web browsing going on.

For instance right now, I have 6 tabs open in firefox (with a bunch of addon's to block scripts, flash, ads, trackers), vlc playing some music and 2 running conky's. The first conky is my primary one and displays your typical system stats, top running processes, net info, basic weather, and a calendar conky that displays the next 9 months out. This is on a Core2Duo system with 8GB of RAM. I'm sitting at 10% CPU and 700MB of RAM used. This is how I like it. Everything is nice and fluid and fast. But I know I'm not taking full advantage of my 1900x1200 LCD and that bothers me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty happy with how things are setup right now. That being said it would be nice if "those who develop these things" would just make stuff work automagically, no muss - no fuss. It's a dream I know. But it would be nice. Then I could spend more time working on conky, or writing (something I *love* doing on linux) or just geeking out to youtube.

Thanks to all whove had input so far, you guys are great and are the primary reason when I decided to have a permament linux system again why I chose BL over all the other distro's. The OS is amazing and the community even more so.

Last edited by Temetka (2016-08-30 12:39:16)

#1 2016-08-29 06:50:10

Help with Nvidia Drivers

#2 2016-08-29 09:40:41

Re: Help with Nvidia Drivers

#3 2016-08-29 11:02:20

Re: Help with Nvidia Drivers

#4 2016-08-29 12:28:09

Re: Help with Nvidia Drivers

#5 2016-08-29 12:31:04

Re: Help with Nvidia Drivers

#6 2016-08-29 14:34:28

Re: Help with Nvidia Drivers

#7 2016-08-30 09:40:18

Re: Help with Nvidia Drivers

#8 2016-08-30 12:36:43

Re: Help with Nvidia Drivers

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