[ltp] T61, nVidia, modes and modelines

[John Jason Jordan]

Thinkpad T61, nVidia Quadro NVS 140M, running Fedora 13, x86_64. I am
attempting to use a projector in a classroom with the maximum
resolution possible for a presentation on DTP software. Because of the
topic I need to squeeze pixels out of the projector until it screams.

The projector in the classroom is a Hitachi CP-SX1350. The technical
specs say its native resolution is 1400x1050 and its maximum resolution
is 1600x1200.

I normally run my Thinkpad at 1680x1050.

First, I have used the nouveau driver that came with Fedora for nearly
a year without a problem. However, it is impossible to get it
configured to see the projector. After hours of trying I have given up
and installed the proprietary nVidia driver instead (260.19.21, the
latest as of a couple days ago). The nVidia driver sees the projector
and I am able to project my screen onto the wall. However, the
resolutions are inappropriate.

Note that my T61 has a widescreen that is happiest at a 16:10 aspect
ratio. Any other aspect ratio makes people either too thin or too fat.

Because the projector's native resolution is 1400x1050, yet my
Thinkpad's screen is widescreen, it seems to me that the best solution
is to lower my laptop screen to 1400x875 during the presentation. This
will result in a black band at the bottom of the wall screen, but at
least everything will be in proper perspective.

That is where the problem resides. Using the nvidia-settings utility it
offers me:

1680 x 1050
1280 x 1024
1280 x 960
1152 x 864
1024 x 768 
and many more, only a few of which are 16:10 aspect ratio. And note the
gap between 1680 x 1050 and 1280 x 1024.

I wanted to see what the nouveau driver offered, so I booted to a Lucid
live CD, which uses nouveau by default. It offered me:

1680 x 1050
1400 x 1050
1280 x 1024
1280 x 960
1152 x 864
1024 x 768
and many more. Note that, again, many are not 16:10. Note also the
variation between the modes offered by the nouveau driver and the
nVidia driver.

Using the Ubuntu live CD I set the resolution to 1400 x 1050. Other
than the fact that it was the wrong aspect ratio, it worked fine.

So back in Fedora-land, I tried to change the available modes for the
nVidia driver. Note that the nouveau driver needs no xorg.conf file,
but installing the nVidia proprietary driver does create one. The
default it creates for the modes line is:

modes "nvidia-auto-select"

But we already know from the above that "nvidia-auto-select" is missing
a lot of possible resolutions.

So I edited the xorg.conf file using nvidia-xconfig --mode=<resolution>
and it added the resolutions I wanted to the xorg.conf file. However,
even after rebooting, the nvidia-settings utility steadfastly offered
only the same resolution options as above. In other words, the nVidia
driver is ignoring the xorg.conf file. 

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to run my laptop and the
projector at 1400 x 875?