9.1 How do I use the DVI on my GeForce4?

[Guest sirtaldon]

I have a nice new lcd, Samsung SyncMaster 191T. It has both DVI and Analog inputs. I tried using the dvi first, but the screen never lit up. I changed to the standard input and it worked fine. I have a nvidia GeForce4 Ti4600 with both types of output connectors on the card. I hear dvi is better, so I'd like to try it.

 

Can someone tell me how to get this working under Mandrake 9.1?

I have the current nvidia drivers up to date, so is it something to do with my XF86Config-4 file?

Is it even worth doing? Is the picture going to be that much better?

Anyone actually using the dvi connection?

[pmpatrick]

I'm curious about this one myself since I just got a 19" Viewsonic VP191s. However, my video card does not have a DVI output port so it's all moot till I get a new graphics card. However I did do a little research and found this helpful link discussing the problem:

 

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/ar...2003/08/3/81845

 

Hope this helps. Please post back your experience re any advantages, improvements with DVI. I was wondering if it was worth the hassle myself.

[Guest sirtaldon]

Thanks, pmpatrick. After reading that it seems to be saying that by changing the Driver from nvidia to vesa in one section and from svga to vesa in another in both the XF86Config and the XF86Config-4 files will make it work. There do seem to be some problems with doing this, though.

1. It stops using the nvidia driver, so kiss 3d games bye-bye.(This is a deal-breaker for me)

2. It seems it doesn't work for everyone in that post that tried it, which leads me to believe this is a poor kludge. Another posted saying he didn't do anything at all to get his dvi+lcd to work - it just did. I suspect he installed his OS with it hooked up and isn't trying to switch to one, as I am.

I will also add that I am not certain both of those files need modification. After installing the nvidia driver, it seems more logical to me that I would only need to modify the XF86Config-4 file.

 

Before I attempt something as inelegant as this, I will keep looking for info.

Thanks again.

sirtaldon

[aRTee]

On a side note, here at work people tried with a 20" Philips tft uxga, and basically if your analogue cable is not too crappy, you get the same picture quality.

 

This was tested for CAD, chip design etc, where good picture quality is very important, in terms of contrast and sharpness. Colour 'trueness' is less important, but smearing, fuzzyness would not be acceptable.

Basically, with analogue you can get the same results.