I'll state the problem first, then talk about what I'm trying to do about it. The issue is that my ancient Radeon 64 DDR VIVO (this predates their 4-digit numbering system, so you know it's old!) seems to be producing sluggish response in my desktop. It's running fine on whatever the knoppmyth R5B7 defaults for it are -- I don't think it's anything special -- but my problem is that at higher resolutions, it takes a split second between a keypress and the response onscreen (e.g., arrow keys to change menu items, enter to select, whatever).

The easy solution is to quit mythfrontend, change the resolution with xrandr or ctrl-alt-kp+, then restart mythfrontend. At 1600x1200 (the default), it's sluggish; at 800x600 the response seems instantaenous. My dillema is this: do I try to update the drivers and see if it will handle the higher res better, or do I update the default res to 800x600 and leave it be? I don't care what res it is -- it looks fine in 8x6. I don't currently use the TV in or out, so it doesn't matter much if that works or not. I just want the thing to respond faster.

The request for voodoo is that I don't know how to change the default res. I think I could edit the XF86Config (is it XF86Config or XF86Config-4? Both?) and remove all references to resolutions higher than the one I want, but that seems like a hack and it would be nice to at least have the option of going higher. I can open an xshell and type "xrandr -s 5" (5 is 800x600), but I don't want to have to do that every time I reboot. Where do you set the default? Is there some place I can put the resolution-change command such that it will run every time the mythtv account logs into X, but before mythfrontend? Where is the X equivalent of the M$ Windows "startup" folder?



If I go the driver route, it would be nice to know the "preferred" way of updating -- is there an apt package I can use, and, if so, is that a bad idea? If not, do the modern packages ATI distributes work with my (very) old card? If they don't, where do I look?


If anybody can answer any of the above questions, I'd be much obliged. I know a fair amount of command-prompt stuff, but my X-fu is weak and shameful.

Edit XF86Config-4 and ensure 8x6 is first, place the higher resolutions behind it...

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

As I mentioned in the OP, there's several places in the X-4 file where resolution strings appear. I went down to the Section "Screen", and updated most of the SubSection "Display" parts (because, again, I had no idea where it was getting the default color depth to use...), and when I killed X and logged back in as mythtv, the viewable resolution looked like 800x600 but it was showing the top-left corner of an obviously 1600x1200 desktop! Mythfrontend ran "pre-scaling theme images", and eventually came out to use 1600x1200 images as well. I quit mythfrontend and ran xrandr, which told me I was in 1600x1200, the *last* listed mode. Anybody else with some advice?

cesman is referring to the "Screen" section, subsection "Display", and the resolutions listed under "Modes" in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

If you know you want to run at a particular modeline, only include that one under Modes. The name here has to correspond to the modeline name listed in the "Monitor" section.

Rather than mess with resolution switching, virtual screens, etc., I just get rid of any modelines I will never use, comment out ones I might use but don't need right now, then only include a single modeline. I should play with xrandr, though.

PS: of course, once you make these edits, you should restart X. There is a keystroke that does that... ctl-alt-backspace, I think.