OpenBSD: Getting X right

Hardware configuration in OpenBSD is better than I thought it would be. My optimism largely stems from the fact that OpenBSD boots at all on this computer, which won't even get you to a boot prompt in NetBSD, FreeBSD, any variety of Red Hat past version 3, PCLinuxOS ... it's a long list.

Another good thing about the way OpenBSD installs is that while it begins in a minimal configuration, you do have the choice of running with or without X. I chose to install everything, which included X and the Fvwm window manger. While the 15-inch CRT monitor and video chip I have on this converted Maxspeed Maxterm thin client (with VIA C3 Samuel processor) can do 16-bit color and 1024 x 768 resolution, X autoconfigured at 800 x 600.

I tried "forcing" 1024 x768 and 16-bit color, but it kept reverting to 800 x 600. I got the same resolution on the OliveBSD live CD based on OpenBSD. I didn't necessarily need to see another version of OpenBSD, but since I had one -- Anonym.OS -- that autoconfigured at 1024 x 768 and looked great in Fluxbox, I loaded it and looked at the xorg.conf.

What it had that my OpenBSD install didn't was specified values for HorizSync and VertRefresh.

I entered those values:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
HorizSync 31.5 - 48.5
VertRefresh 50.0 - 90.0
EndSection

Then I restarted X and had 1024 x 768 resolution.

But ... after only a few minutes, X crashed. I could ctrl-alt-backspace out of it and start X again, but it kept happening.

I had already turned on "screen blanking" in the console, so I turned it off. Still X crashed.

Then I rebooted and loaded Puppy Linux 3.01. In Puppy, you generally have to choose your color depth and monitor resolution, and I did so, started the system and looked at xorg.conf.

The HorizSync values were the same, but the VertRefresh was different. I made the following modification to OpenBSD's xorg.conf, and now X has been running continuously for over 12 hours:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
HorizSync 31.5 - 48.5
VertRefresh 56.0 - 72.0
EndSection

Again, it pays to know what your monitor and video card is capable of before you start hacking into xorg.conf. It's always a good idea to copy the original and each configuration that's in any way promising so you won't lose it.