[Qemu-devel] How to get 1280x1024 display from guest running Xorg?

[Qemu-devel] How to get 1280x1024 display from guest running Xorg?

[Robin Atwood]

This has been driving me mad! I have just installed Solaris 10 under Qemu and 
specified the Xorg server to be used. I created xorg.conf with xorgconfig and 
X started fine at 1024x768 using the Cirrus driver. When I edited xorg.conf 
to specify a 1280x1024 display, the Xorg.0.log file showed "no mode". Now, I 
have both Win XP and Plan 9 running at 1280x1024, so I booted up XP and poked 
around the "Display/Settings" dialog and determined XP was running the 
display at 1280x1024 at 43Hz interlaced and 16 bit colour. So, using the 
handy http://xtiming.sourceforge.net site, I generated a mode line like XP's 
and added it to the xorg.conf file. X refused the interlaced mode so I tried 
an uninterlaced one at 43Hz. That kind of worked but only rendered half the 
screen! Everything else I tried got rejected as "bad mode...". 

So does someone have a magic modeline or xorg.conf to get Xorg going in a 
guest at high-res? There's another guy on the Linux-under-Qemu forum with the 
same problem hosting Ubuntu. I am using qemu 0.9, FWIW.

TIA
-Robin.
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Robin Atwood.

"Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
 Where there ain't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst"
         from "Mandalay" by Rudyard Kipling
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: [Qemu-devel] How to get 1280x1024 display from guest running Xorg?

[Ben Taylor]

---- Robin Atwood <robin@binro.org> wrote: 
> This has been driving me mad! I have just installed Solaris 10 under Qemu and 
> specified the Xorg server to be used. I created xorg.conf with xorgconfig and 
> X started fine at 1024x768 using the Cirrus driver. When I edited xorg.conf 
> to specify a 1280x1024 display, the Xorg.0.log file showed "no mode". 

You may have to define HorizSync and VertRefresh in the xorg.conf file.

I have a nexenta alpha 6 with updates that just comes up in 1280x800 by setting
the HorizSync value in the xorg.conf.

> Now, I 
> have both Win XP and Plan 9 running at 1280x1024, so I booted up XP and poked 
> around the "Display/Settings" dialog and determined XP was running the 
> display at 1280x1024 at 43Hz interlaced and 16 bit colour. 

So you also need to define DefaultDepth in the xorg.conf file.

> So, using the 
> handy http://xtiming.sourceforge.net site, I generated a mode line like XP's 
> and added it to the xorg.conf file. X refused the interlaced mode so I tried 
> an uninterlaced one at 43Hz. That kind of worked but only rendered half the 
> screen! Everything else I tried got rejected as "bad mode..."

Since the virtual monitor doesn't specify EDID, it is unlikely to be able
to handle resolutions over the basic ones.  I know that a while ago (maybe
18 months) I was able to get something like 1156x864 out of the adapter
with early versions of Solaris express.
. 
> So does someone have a magic modeline or xorg.conf to get Xorg going in a 
> guest at high-res? There's another guy on the Linux-under-Qemu forum with the 
> same problem hosting Ubuntu. I am using qemu 0.9, FWIW.

Probably a combination of HorizSync/VertRefresh in the monitor section,
DefaultDepth in the Screen section, and a mode line, you might get what
you want. 

HTH,

Ben

Re: [Qemu-devel] How to get 1280x1024 display from guest running Xorg?

[Robin Atwood]

On Wednesday 21 Feb 2007, Ben Taylor wrote:
> ---- Robin Atwood <robin@binro.org> wrote:
> > This has been driving me mad! I have just installed Solaris 10 under Qemu
> > and specified the Xorg server to be used. I created xorg.conf with
> > xorgconfig and X started fine at 1024x768 using the Cirrus driver. When I
> > edited xorg.conf to specify a 1280x1024 display, the Xorg.0.log file
> > showed "no mode".
>
> You may have to define HorizSync and VertRefresh in the xorg.conf file.
>
> I have a nexenta alpha 6 with updates that just comes up in 1280x800 by
> setting the HorizSync value in the xorg.conf.

I have done that but what values are you using?

> > Now, I
> > have both Win XP and Plan 9 running at 1280x1024, so I booted up XP and
> > poked around the "Display/Settings" dialog and determined XP was running
> > the display at 1280x1024 at 43Hz interlaced and 16 bit colour.
>
> So you also need to define DefaultDepth in the xorg.conf file.

Done that.

-Robin.
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Robin Atwood.

"Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
 Where there ain't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst"
         from "Mandalay" by Rudyard Kipling
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: [Qemu-devel] How to get 1280x1024 display from guest running Xorg?

[Robin Atwood]

On Wednesday 21 Feb 2007, Ben Taylor wrote:
> ---- Robin Atwood <robin@binro.org> wrote:
> > This has been driving me mad! I have just installed Solaris 10 under Qemu
> > and specified the Xorg server to be used. I created xorg.conf with
> > xorgconfig and X started fine at 1024x768 using the Cirrus driver. When I
> > edited xorg.conf to specify a 1280x1024 display, the Xorg.0.log file
> > showed "no mode".
>
> You may have to define HorizSync and VertRefresh in the xorg.conf file.
>
> I have a nexenta alpha 6 with updates that just comes up in 1280x800 by
> setting the HorizSync value in the xorg.conf.
>
> > Now, I
> > have both Win XP and Plan 9 running at 1280x1024, so I booted up XP and
> > poked around the "Display/Settings" dialog and determined XP was running
> > the display at 1280x1024 at 43Hz interlaced and 16 bit colour.
>
> So you also need to define DefaultDepth in the xorg.conf file.
>
> > So, using the
> > handy http://xtiming.sourceforge.net site, I generated a mode line like
> > XP's and added it to the xorg.conf file. X refused the interlaced mode so
> > I tried an uninterlaced one at 43Hz. That kind of worked but only
> > rendered half the screen! Everything else I tried got rejected as "bad
> > mode..."
>
> Since the virtual monitor doesn't specify EDID, it is unlikely to be able
> to handle resolutions over the basic ones.  I know that a while ago (maybe
> 18 months) I was able to get something like 1156x864 out of the adapter
> with early versions of Solaris express.
> .
>
> > So does someone have a magic modeline or xorg.conf to get Xorg going in a
> > guest at high-res? There's another guy on the Linux-under-Qemu forum with
> > the same problem hosting Ubuntu. I am using qemu 0.9, FWIW.
>
> Probably a combination of HorizSync/VertRefresh in the monitor section,
> DefaultDepth in the Screen section, and a mode line, you might get what
> you want.

Solved it, and it was so simple! There is a qemu CLI option "-std-vga" which 
causes an enhanced Bochs VGA adaptor to be emulated. So, specify that when 
you boot, use the VESA driver in xorg.conf and the default 1280x1024 mode now 
works.

From the man page:
-std-vga
 Simulate a standard VGA card with Bochs VBE extensions (default is Cirrus 
Logic GD5446 PCI VGA). If your guest OS supports the VESA 2.0 VBE extensions 
(e.g. Windows XP) and if you want to use high resolution modes (>= 
1280x1024x16) then you should use this option. 

I think this is a recent update because I recall looking at this option and 
deciding it was not what I needed. Or, I am going blind...

Cheers...
-Robin.
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Robin Atwood.

"Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
 Where there ain't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst"
         from "Mandalay" by Rudyard Kipling
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: [Qemu-devel] How to get 1280x1024 display from guest running Xorg?

[Robin Atwood]

On Wednesday 21 Feb 2007, Julian Seward wrote:
> (replying off list)
>
> So you have Solaris 10 (x86 ?) running on qemu-0.9 ?  Is it stable?
> Does it work?  I have it running on vmware-5.5.3 but would prefer to
> move to running it on qemu if possible; however I've had mixed
> results with qemu in the past and don't want to spend loads of time
> on failed attempts to get it to work.  Hence the question.

It was a great battle to install but now it is stable. Do the following 
things:
1. install from the DVD image
2. Use the text console install
3. At the end of the install, backup the image file *before* the first reboot
4. If during the first boot of the image, you get a segfault, restore  and try 
again until you get to a prompt. Ignore any service failures. (the filesystem 
seems prone corruption at the first boot.)
5. If you have problems caused by damaged files, re-install choosing 
the "Update" option: this will restore the damaged files.

After that, I was able to boot reliably into X. However, the filesystem seems 
very fragile if not shut down cleanly, so take regular backups!

HTH
-Robin.
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Robin Atwood.

"Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
 Where there ain't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst"
         from "Mandalay" by Rudyard Kipling
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: [Qemu-devel] How to get 1280x1024 display from guest running Xorg?

[Julian Seward]

Thanks for the feedback.  Since I do not wish to be involved in a 
great battle (as you so nicely put it) I'll stick with VMware (sigh).

J


On Wednesday 21 February 2007 15:05, Robin Atwood wrote:
> On Wednesday 21 Feb 2007, Julian Seward wrote:
> > (replying off list)
> >
> > So you have Solaris 10 (x86 ?) running on qemu-0.9 ?  Is it stable?
> > Does it work?  I have it running on vmware-5.5.3 but would prefer to
> > move to running it on qemu if possible; however I've had mixed
> > results with qemu in the past and don't want to spend loads of time
> > on failed attempts to get it to work.  Hence the question.
>
> It was a great battle to install but now it is stable. Do the following
> things:
> 1. install from the DVD image
> 2. Use the text console install
> 3. At the end of the install, backup the image file *before* the first
> reboot 4. If during the first boot of the image, you get a segfault,
> restore  and try again until you get to a prompt. Ignore any service
> failures. (the filesystem seems prone corruption at the first boot.)
> 5. If you have problems caused by damaged files, re-install choosing
> the "Update" option: this will restore the damaged files.
>
> After that, I was able to boot reliably into X. However, the filesystem
> seems very fragile if not shut down cleanly, so take regular backups!
>
> HTH
> -Robin.

Re: [Qemu-devel] How to get 1280x1024 display from guest running Xorg?

[Ben Taylor]

---- Robin Atwood <robin@binro.org> wrote: 
> On Wednesday 21 Feb 2007, Julian Seward wrote:
> > (replying off list)
> >
> > So you have Solaris 10 (x86 ?) running on qemu-0.9 ?  Is it stable?
> > Does it work?  I have it running on vmware-5.5.3 but would prefer to
> > move to running it on qemu if possible; however I've had mixed
> > results with qemu in the past and don't want to spend loads of time
> > on failed attempts to get it to work.  Hence the question.
> 
> It was a great battle to install but now it is stable. Do the following 
> things:
> 1. install from the DVD image
> 2. Use the text console install
> 3. At the end of the install, backup the image file *before* the first reboot

This is a good recommendation for any install.  I know I must have
4-5 copies of my working Win98SE and WinXPHome images.

> 4. If during the first boot of the image, you get a segfault, restore  and try 
> again until you get to a prompt. Ignore any service failures. (the filesystem 
> seems prone corruption at the first boot.)

How much memory are you giving the virtual machine.  Solaris 10 really
needs 384MB and more like 512 for S10U3 to run reasonably.

> 5. If you have problems caused by damaged files, re-install choosing 
> the "Update" option: this will restore the damaged files.

That really sounds like a problem with the checksum of the DVD 
iso or a bad DVD burn.  I must have burned 4-5 copies of S10U3 this
weekend and finally got a DVD-RW to work with no errors after
writing it on one machine, pulling the DVD writer and putting on
the machine to install.

> After that, I was able to boot reliably into X. However, the filesystem seems 
> very fragile if not shut down cleanly, so take regular backups!

That's very odd.  Solaris's UFS is a very stable file system. 

I'll give it a whirl and see how it goes.

Ben

Re: [Qemu-devel] How to get 1280x1024 display from guest running Xorg?

[Robin Atwood]

On Wednesday 21 Feb 2007, Ben Taylor wrote:
> ---- Robin Atwood <robin@binro.org> wrote:
> > On Wednesday 21 Feb 2007, Julian Seward wrote:
> > > (replying off list)
> > >
> > > So you have Solaris 10 (x86 ?) running on qemu-0.9 ?  Is it stable?
> > > Does it work?  I have it running on vmware-5.5.3 but would prefer to
> > > move to running it on qemu if possible; however I've had mixed
> > > results with qemu in the past and don't want to spend loads of time
> > > on failed attempts to get it to work.  Hence the question.
> >
> > It was a great battle to install but now it is stable. Do the following
> > things:
> > 1. install from the DVD image
> > 2. Use the text console install
> > 3. At the end of the install, backup the image file *before* the first
> > reboot
>
> This is a good recommendation for any install.  I know I must have
> 4-5 copies of my working Win98SE and WinXPHome images.
>
> > 4. If during the first boot of the image, you get a segfault, restore 
> > and try again until you get to a prompt. Ignore any service failures.
> > (the filesystem seems prone corruption at the first boot.)
>
> How much memory are you giving the virtual machine.  Solaris 10 really
> needs 384MB and more like 512 for S10U3 to run reasonably.

I have 2GB of RAM so I always give a VM 1G.

-Robin.
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Robin Atwood.

"Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
 Where there ain't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst"
         from "Mandalay" by Rudyard Kipling
----------------------------------------------------------------------