Ubuntu kills me some time. Especially GNOME. Inspired by co-workers who have successfully put together some impressive gaming rigs, I thought I would renew my request for a half decent (low-powered) home theater PC (HTPC)
Problem: GNOME Desktop settings conflict.
First, GNOME wouldn’t start because I had some old GNOME setup files in the way. These instructions will help you remove old GNOME configurations. Then when you restart GNOME will assume it is your first login and create a new default desktop environment for you.
http://linuxfud.wordpress.com/2007/02/14/how-to-reset-ubuntugnome-settin...
Next problem: Missing Video Drivers and Display configurations.
I’m using an old VIA EPIA M1000 mini-ITX Motherboard / Mainboard. The EPIA M1000 motherboard has a built-in graphics chip that is not plug-and-play with Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick as far as I can tell. It takes a little research. This mainboard has a CLE266 video chipset requiring Unichrome drivers. I have no idea what this means.
Ubuntu documentation reveals built-in support for Unichrome chipsets but you still have to do a little work to make it functional.
(https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OpenChrome)
I had to add this to my xorg.conf file to get setup the driver.
Section "Device" Identifier "VIA CLE266" Driver "via" Option "ActiveDevice" "LCD" #Option "ActiveDevice" "CRT,TV" #Option "TVType" "NTSC" #Option "TVOutput" "Composite" Option "DisableIRQ" Option "EnableAGPDMA" "true" EndSection Section "DRI" Group 0 Mode 0666 EndSection
This section is to identify my antiquated monitor (a 15-inch flat screen circa 2002)
Section "Monitor" Identifier "ViewSonic" ModelName "ViewSonic VG150" Option "DPMS" "true" HorizSync 30 – 62 VertRefresh 50 – 75 Modeline "640×480" 25.175 640 664 760 800 480 491 493 525 #60Hz Modeline "800×600" 40.12 800 848 968 1056 600 601 605 628 #60Hz Modeline "1024×768" 75 1024 1048 1184 1328 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync Modeline "1024×768" 85 1024 1056 1152 1360 768 784 787 823
EndSection
For a deeper understanding of the xorg.conf file, this is a good resource. http://www.linux.com/archive/feed/118108
There is a “gtf” command to determine “Modeline” information above. I never knew that! (http://idolinux.blogspot.com/2010/08/perfect-video-resolution-on-hdtv.html)
$: gtf x y refresh
Some keywords I needed to find the necessary info:
VIA EPIA M1000 Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat CLE266 unichrome driver man openchrome man xorg.conf
