[ltp] re: T60p, free driver?

[Brian D. Ropers-Huilman]

On 16 May 2007 14:45:19 -0400, Steve Newcomb <srn@coolheads.com> wrote:
> Richard Neill <rn214@hermes.cam.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> > Am I correct in assuming that the T60p driver has only two choices:
> > vesa, or fglrx?

In theory, you can use the Xorg ati (radeon and others) driver as well.

> > I find that the fglrx driver is too unstable ...

As do I. I have a Z61p (I don't have the laptop physically here with
me, so I can't provide the exact number) running Kubuntu, but actually
running fluxbox. When I use the default vesa driver for my ATI
Mobility FireGL V5200, M56GL, 71C4 graphics card the performance is
acceptable. When I try the Xorg ati (radeon) driver, I get nothing on
the display at all (Xorg.log reports "No devices found" -- again, I
don't have the exact error because the box is at home right now). When
I try the latest fglrx from AMD (ATI), it loads with DRI and all the
goodness it should, but at some random point, usually very quickly, my
system will crash with:

Message from syslogd@isohel at Wed Feb 14 13:38:39 2007 =85
isohel kernel: [17179814.032000] Critical temperature reached (128 C),
shutting down.

Broadcast message from root@isohel
(unknown) at 13:38 =85

The system is going down for power-off NOW!

None of my thermals are that high. I was running an acpi -V to a file
at the time and my processor temps just before this were a mere 45 C.

I'm _VERY_ interested in any help anyone can provide me here.

> > On the other hand, the vesa driver is unusable, since for vertical
> > scrolling within (eg firefox), the screen re-paints very slowly.

I had the same problems until I moved to Xorg v7.2 and a more recent
vesa driver (1.3.0).

> The VESA driver is working fine for me, EXCEPT:
>
> I haven't found a way to switch between the screen and an external
> monitor, such as a projector.

You won't be able to. The fglrx driver supports this, if you get it working=
.

--=20
Brian D. Ropers-Huilman, Director
Systems Administration and Technical Operations
Minnesota Supercomputing Institute                 <bropers@msi.umn.edu>
599 Walter Library                                   +1 612-626-5948 (V)
117 Pleasant Street S.E.                             +1 612-624-8861 (F)
University of Minnesota                               Twin Cities Campus
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0255                       http://www.msi.umn.edu/