On Tue, 06 Mar 2007 03:00:54 +0100, ubi staggered into the Black Sun and
said:
> After changing my xorg.conf to make use of Nvidia's TwinView feature
> with my TV, which [otherwise works] fine, tty1-6 stay black. This is
> what I [have] in the Device section of my xorg.conf:
[snip very standard-looking TwinView config]

Which version of the evil binary-only nVidia modules are you using?
Which version of the kernel are you using? Which console are you using?
Straight VGA, VESA framebuffer, nv framebuffer, or something else? I've
had some problems with console switching and nvidia, but that was a long
time ago, around the 6627 build.

> Strangely, when I comment it out again, I have to do a complete reboot
> to see the consoles, restarting the X server is not enough.

The evil nVidia module does strange things to the video chipset, of
course. If you're using the nv framebuffer console, starting X with
nvidia may screw up the nv framebuffers. I haven't had any problems
with straight VGA or VESA framebuffer and a TwinView-enabled nVidia
card for the last 1.5 years.

--
Hope is gone and she confessed / When you lay your dreams to rest
You can get what's second best / But it's hard to get enough...
--David Wilcox, "Eye of the Hurricane"
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see

On Tue, 06 Mar 2007 09:35:07 -0600, Dances With Crows wrote:
> Which version of the evil binary-only nVidia modules are you using?
> Which version of the kernel are you using? Which console are you using?
> Straight VGA, VESA framebuffer, nv framebuffer, or something else? I've
> had some problems with console switching and nvidia, but that was a long
> time ago, around the 6627 build.

I'm using the vicious and wicked 8776 build with a 2.6.17-11-generic from
Ubuntu. I specified the console resolution with the kernel parameter
vga=791, that means I'm using a VESA framebuffer, right?

> The evil nVidia module does strange things to the video chipset, of
> course. If you're using the nv framebuffer console, starting X with
> nvidia may screw up the nv framebuffers. I haven't had any problems
> with straight VGA or VESA framebuffer and a TwinView-enabled nVidia card
> for the last 1.5 years.

I just tried setting vga=normal in my kernel options and the problem is
gone, but a 80x25 lines console makes no real sense on my 19" screen...
Btw, does vga=normal mean the "straight VGA" frambuffer you were talking
about?

On Tue, 06 Mar 2007 17:44:13 +0100, ubi staggered into the Black Sun and
said:
> On Tue, 06 Mar 2007 09:35:07 -0600, Dances With Crows wrote:
>> Which console are you using? Straight VGA, VESA framebuffer, nv
>> framebuffer, or something else? I've had some problems with console
>> switching and nvidia, but that was a long time ago, around the 6627
> I'm using the vicious and wicked 8776 build with a 2.6.17-11-generic
> from Ubuntu. I specified the console resolution with the kernel
> parameter vga=791, that means I'm using a VESA framebuffer, right?

Yep, vga=NNN gets you straight VGA text-only modes if NNN < 0x100 and
VESA framebuffer modes if NNN >= 0x300. Docs are in
/usr/src/linux/Documentation/fb/vesafb.txt . Build 8776 of the evil
nvidia modules works fine here, been using it ever since it was marked
stable in Gentoo.

>> I haven't had any problems with straight VGA or VESA framebuffer and
>> a TwinView-enabled nVidia card for the last 1.5 years.
> I just tried setting vga=normal in my kernel options and the problem
> is gone, but a 80x25 lines console makes no real sense on my 19"
> screen...

If X is running, virtual consoles are sorta superfluous as you can
always start another xterm/konsole/eterm. If you want something that's
faster than VESA framebuffer and more than 80x25, see what you can get
from vga=ask. HTH,

--
I think it's a beautiful day to go to the zoo and feed the ducks.
To the lions.
--Brian Kantor
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see

On Tue, 06 Mar 2007 12:33:15 -0600, Dances With Crows wrote:

> Build 8776 of the evil
> nvidia modules works fine here, been using it ever since it was marked
> stable in Gentoo.

So it must be something specific to my machine. I'm going to experiment a
bit.

> If X is running, virtual consoles are sorta superfluous as you can
> always start another xterm/konsole/eterm.

No, they're not! When the X server gets unusable, for example because of a
freezed fullscreen X app, the consoles are often the only way to get
control of the system by killing the app from there. At least I have
experienced this case often.

> If you want something that's
> faster than VESA framebuffer and more than 80x25, see what you can get
> from vga=ask. HTH,

Yes, I'm going to try that, thx! If all else fails, I might also
settle for 'normal', as it's only for rescue purposes anyway.

ubi staggered into the Black Sun and said:
> On Tue, 06 Mar 2007 12:33:15 -0600, Dances With Crows wrote:
>> Build 8776 of the evil nvidia modules works fine here, been using it
>> ever since it was marked stable in Gentoo.
> So it must be something specific to my machine.

Or the graphics card, or something in your X config.

>> If X is running, virtual consoles are sorta superfluous as you can
>> always start another xterm/konsole/eterm.
> No, they're not! When the X server gets unusable, for example because
> of a [frozen] fullscreen X app,

....then X is usually completely hosed, and unresponsive to keyboard
events like Ctrl-Alt-F?. At least that's been my experience. Alt-SysRq
might still work, but that one doesn't involve X.

> the consoles are often the only way to get control of the system by
> killing the app from there. At least I have experienced this case

Strange. IME, when X has hosed itself in that way, the easiest way to
regain control of the system without rebooting is to ssh in from another
machine on the LAN and kill -9 X. That doesn't work 100% of the time,
natch. If you're experiencing extreme X instability, it might be time
to fiddle with xorg.conf or try a different version of the evil nVidia
modules.

>> If you want something that's faster than VESA framebuffer and more
>> than 80x25, see what you can get from vga=ask. HTH,
> Yes, I'm going to try that, thx! If all else fails, I might also
> settle for 'normal', as it's only for rescue purposes anyway.

....back in the day, all we had was 80x24, black-and-white, and we liked
it! Uphill in the snow, both ways, with only 64k of address space and
8-bit registers!

--
He is a rhythmic movement of the penguins, is Tux.
--MegaHAL, trained on random gibberish
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see