REPOST : VDQ Display (FC4 & ViewSonic VG910b)

[Beartooth SenectoFlatuloid]

I tried this as a followup to my acpi-cpufreq post, but see no responses,
probably because the response in that thread had been that the "fatal
error" message was not in fact a problem.

But I started that thread in hope of getting an answer to a display
problem, which persists; acpi just wasn't, as I had hoped, its reason.

So, with apologies, I retry as a fresh thread, hoping to get at least the
question right this time.

I had to put a new  monitor into a home LAN containing three FC4 machines
which I run behind a KVM switch : an ASUS with a Maxtor 6E040L0 hard drive
(which has never been a problem), and two old P2s which serve as backups.
I learned, eventually, by much trial and error, that I have to unplug not
only the monitor but also the keyboard and mouse from the KVM switch and
connect all three directly to each machine I want to run, before I can
configure the display on it.

Nevertheless, first one old P2 and then the other fails to display
properly: I got one set so that it worked, after much switching of the GUI
display control between VG910b and generic LCD 1280x1024, and much editing
of /etc/X11/xorg.conf ; then I tried doing the same with the other. Now it
displays usably, but the first old P2 does not!

If I simply scp my /etc/X11/xorg.conf from one of the machines that work
into the problem machine, it doesn't work there; I log out and back in,
and it still doesn't; I reboot, and the it has to repair my whole X11 --
leaving the display still not right, and often unusable.

If I ssh into the problem machine from one of the ones that work, become
root, and do pico -w /etc/X11/xorg.conf (pico is the only editor I know),
changing the section "Screen" to match what works on one of the others, it
doesn't take, after logout and back in, nor on reboot. (But at least, that
way, it doesn't have to repair X11.)

By "doesn't take" I mean the entries in the file are changed, but the
display isn't right, and the GUI for setting the display (Main Menu >
Desktop > System Settings > Display) fails to reflect them. It seems
addicted to 800x600 a/o 640x480 and 256 colors. This persists whether
DefaultDepth under "Section Screen" in /etc/X11/xorg.conf is set to 8, 16,
or 24.

But the ViewSonic VG910b is 1280x1024 with millions of colors.

(It's actually a rich man's monitor, out of my class: a 19" flat panel;
but it was the only one the store had that was listed under the hardware
tab in the GUI for the display. And my previous flat panel monitor -- all
I have room for -- had bitten the dust, unfixably, said the shop. So I
choked hard and bought the VG910b.)

If I ssh into the problem machine from one of the ones that work, become
root, do pico -w /etc/X11/xorg.conf, and change not only the section
"Screen" but also the section "Monitor" to match what works on one of the
others, the result is the same.

Btw, the ASUS, my problem-free main machine, is set to the VG910b,
1280x1024, and millions of colors; it's fine. The old P2 that works, like
the problem machine, is currently set to VG910b 1280x1024 with 256 colors;
it isn't right, but it's usable. It has been set to generic LCD, also with
1280x1024 and 256 colors, and worked about the same -- as I'd've expected.
I've tried both these settings, and many others, on the current problem
P2; some are less bad than others, but none are decent.

I don't know why the number of colors matters so much on the P2s but not
on the ASS, but it does: neither "thousands" nor "millions" gives a decent
display; it has to be the 256.

-- 
Beartooth Oldfart, Double Retiree, Neo-Redneck, Linux Convert
Remember, I have precious little idea what I am talking about.