Graphics driver for PS3 in Fedora 7

spiderbaby · Post by **spiderbaby** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:29 am

Hi all,

First post from a noob (Linux and PS3 development). I've installed Fedora 7 on our PS3 but I'm having problems with the graphics drivers.

My monitor's native resolution is 1680x1050 with a preferred rate of 60 Hz. I'm using ps3videomode to set the resolution but the only options which work are "ps3videomode -v 7" (576p) and "ps3videomode -v 2" (480p). I think that this is because the screen resolution (System->Preferences->Hardware->Screen Resolution) for Fedora is set at 576x460 at 25 Hz. However, the GUI doesn't give me any other option for the screen res.

Do I just need to change the screen resolution (and if so, how)?

Thanks

IronPeter · Post by **IronPeter** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:31 am

Use videomode 13 ( from my memory, not sure ).

It is for 1280x1024. I am using that resolution on 1680x1050 capable monitor.

Peter

spiderbaby · Post by **spiderbaby** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:47 am

Thanks, I tried that but it didn't work for me. The two modes which work best (i.e. I can see the whole display) are 7 and 39, both 576p. Most other modes don't work at all or else give me a partial display.

Arwin · Post by **Arwin** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:15 am

spiderbaby wrote:Thanks, I tried that but it didn't work for me. The two modes which work best (i.e. I can see the whole display) are 7 and 39, both 576p. Most other modes don't work at all or else give me a partial display.

Does your monitor support DHCP? This could be a problem if you're using HDMI/DVI.

jimparis · Post by **jimparis** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:42 am

HDCP :)

spiderbaby · Post by **spiderbaby** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:02 pm

Arwin wrote:Does your monitor support DHCP? This could be a problem if you're using HDMI/DVI.

Yep, according to the Dell website it supports it. I forgot to mention that I'm connecting the PS3 to my monitor with a HDMI/DVI cable so thanks for picking up on that.

billb · Post by **billb** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:34 pm

spiderbaby wrote:Most other modes don't work at all or else give me a partial display.

Are you rebooting and checking out the modes, or just checking with ps3videomode from a terminal window? As long as you're not getting a blank screen when you test the mode with ps3videomode you may get good results after setting it in yaboot.conf and rebooting.

I wrote a short guide to help with this over at fedoraforum.

spiderbaby · Post by **spiderbaby** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:35 am

billb wrote:Are you rebooting and checking out the modes, or just checking with ps3videomode from a terminal window? As long as you're not getting a blank screen when you test the mode with ps3videomode you may get good results after setting it in yaboot.conf and rebooting.

I wrote a short guide to help with this over at fedoraforum.

Great! That worked :-)

I was doing exactly as you said; checking different modes in the terminal instead of rebooting.

These are the steps I took to fix the resolution (although I wouldn't recommend anyone follows these exactly since some steps broke the video settings):

1. Based on this page, I edited the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file so that my display modes were

"1920x1080" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

and I added the line

Option "ShadowFB" "false"

to the device section.
2. This broke my XWindows on reboot. However, it let me change the settings (what's the safe way to do this?).
3. I tried a few different settings here but the one which worked was choosing a 1680x1050 generic LCD driver and setting the resolution to 1280x1024.
4. On logging in to Fedora, my display was a bit corrupted - the left side was on the right and vice versa (the display was wrapped around the screen).
5. I took the advice above and changed my yaboot.conf file, setting the mode to 76 (which was the one chosen by Fedora).
6. Reboot, and voila!

Again, I'm a noob so besides the last two steps this is almost surely the wrong way to do this. The last two steps might have even sufficed.

Thanks again everyone!