LiveCD: Does it use my video card? Potential silly question

qrthur · n00b Joined: 01 Apr 2014 Posts: 10

Hello folks,

I have a doubt about something, this might be silly but I need to be sure because I am kinda stuck!

How can I determine if when I boot from the LiveCD, it is my graphic card (ATI HD7400M) that is used or my graphic chipset of my processor (Intel® HD Graphics 3000) ?

If I am not wrong, we can be sure it is mandatory using one of them (since framebuffer looks like it is activated because of the 1920x1080p resolution of my terminal). Is this correct ?

When I run lsmod | grep -i radeon, nothing comes out of it. However during boot, the kernel probes my hardware and it sees my graphic card.

Thanks for your insights.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 5:16 pm Post subject:

qrthur,

Is this a laptop ?
If so, which one?
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

qrthur · n00b Joined: 01 Apr 2014 Posts: 10

vaxbrat · l33t Joined: 05 Oct 2005 Posts: 731 Location: DC Burbs

Check your /var/log/Xorg.0.log and you may find that the radeon driver gave up because the card is too new and that your X fell back to vesa or something else. In that case, the radeon module will no longer be loaded. Because the livedvd is based on stable ebuilds, you will find that it doesn't go native with the Hawaii or other recent series cards.

qrthur · n00b Joined: 01 Apr 2014 Posts: 10

Allright,

However my cards is in the Northern Islands/BARTS category. Is this "new" enough to be concerned with what you said ?

And on the liveCD, Xorg is not installed. If the radeon module is not loaded, can we be sure that my graphic card is not used? And that it is indeed my intel hd graphics that handles the framebuffer display?

I want to know this because when I will install my gentoo I don't want to setup my radeon card but only use the graphic chipset from my cpu (because I have no use for high graphics but I crave for power saving)

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 6:04 pm Post subject:

qrthur,

The HP Datasheet reads as if you have two complete graphics systems.
Maybe you do.

There are framebuffer drivers for both your graphics chips.
/var/log/Xory.0.log will show which graphics chip is in use. If you don't yet have Xorg, look through dmesg. Its using whichever chip has been assigned fb0

Oh, there are no silly questions, except the one you never ask.
Be on your guard for silly answers.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

qrthur · n00b Joined: 01 Apr 2014 Posts: 10

Great, I have all the needed infos !

Thanks for your help,
qrthur

Ant P. · Watchman Joined: 18 Apr 2009 Posts: 6920

For future reference, just do:

qrthur · n00b Joined: 01 Apr 2014 Posts: 10