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Ubuntu Won't Output To TV
KVW
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Recently decided to put an older computer to work as a media center. Installed a copy of Unbuntu (Hardy Heron version) I had lying around. Installs fine, do all the basics and connects to internet no problem. Pretty hassle free install. Ubuntu is the only OS installed, too.
However, when I try to hook it up to my television with an S-Video cable (it's a standard definition tv, s-vid was easiest for me), it does not display. Ive hooked Windows Vista and XP machines up to the television with the same cable with no problems. Of note, the Ubuntu computer will display the POST and other boot-up screens when I start it hooked up to the TV. When it gets to the part it should load Ubuntu/display the login screen, screen stays black.
As for my Ubuntu/*nix experience, it's rather lacking. Havnet kept up with it in years and mostly treat any Ubuntu installs like a Windows machine, rarely ever touchign the terminal. From my own seraches, I found this faq and they listed the following as ways to enable s-video.
Im not at home at the moment, so cant test any of these options, but was wondering if anyone could confirm that I just open up the terminal, type out Option B and then I should be good to go.
Would this solution be independant of the graphics card or am I looking at problems with an older card (~4-5 years old, Radeon 9800ish range if Im not mistaken).
Also, what is the difference between Option B and C? And if I enable these and it causes problems, would turning them off be as simple as changing the "1" to "0" or "TRUE" to "FALSE" and so on?
Finally, in an unrelated question, is there a way to disable login for Ubuntu? Id like to just have it boot to the desktop without the constant need to log-in at the start so I can watch random video or what have you hassle free.
However, when I try to hook it up to my television with an S-Video cable (it's a standard definition tv, s-vid was easiest for me), it does not display. Ive hooked Windows Vista and XP machines up to the television with the same cable with no problems. Of note, the Ubuntu computer will display the POST and other boot-up screens when I start it hooked up to the TV. When it gets to the part it should load Ubuntu/display the login screen, screen stays black.
As for my Ubuntu/*nix experience, it's rather lacking. Havnet kept up with it in years and mostly treat any Ubuntu installs like a Windows machine, rarely ever touchign the terminal. From my own seraches, I found this faq and they listed the following as ways to enable s-video.
Setting up S-Video
Most drivers aren't able to correctly detect when stuff is attached to the S-Video port, so to avoid problems it's shipped off by default for most cases. There's several ways to enable it:
Option A. Turn load detection back on:
Option B. To turn load detection back on permanently so it persists between reboots, add this to your xorg.conf:
Option C. Force S-Video on:
Most drivers aren't able to correctly detect when stuff is attached to the S-Video port, so to avoid problems it's shipped off by default for most cases. There's several ways to enable it:
Option A. Turn load detection back on:
xrandr --output S-video --set load_detection 1
Option B. To turn load detection back on permanently so it persists between reboots, add this to your xorg.conf:
# /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "Device"
...
Option "TVDACLoadDetect" "TRUE"
EndSection
Option C. Force S-Video on:
xrandr --addmode S-video 800x600
Im not at home at the moment, so cant test any of these options, but was wondering if anyone could confirm that I just open up the terminal, type out Option B and then I should be good to go.
Would this solution be independant of the graphics card or am I looking at problems with an older card (~4-5 years old, Radeon 9800ish range if Im not mistaken).
Also, what is the difference between Option B and C? And if I enable these and it causes problems, would turning them off be as simple as changing the "1" to "0" or "TRUE" to "FALSE" and so on?
Finally, in an unrelated question, is there a way to disable login for Ubuntu? Id like to just have it boot to the desktop without the constant need to log-in at the start so I can watch random video or what have you hassle free.
KVW on
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As for your Svid issue. I've never had that happen. I was doing something similar and it just posted to svid but I was using a specific distro made for computers that would be hooked up into tv's. If you don't get any of those options to work, you might want to look into a ubuntu distro like that.
In 9.10, it's under system>admin>users and groups. Probably something similar in 8.10. You "unlock" it and make whatever changes you need after that. Like Mo said, there's a checkbox in there that makes it not ask for your password on login. Whether or not this is an auto-login or just lets you click your name without bothering you for a password, I couldn't tell you. If it's the latter, just google your problem and you'll get ten billion hits about it.
As for the s-video thing, I recall a while ago I had a similar problem. I think I solved it by restarting with the cord plugged in. It was on my laptop, which has a Radeon 200M. And if anything, I was using an older version of Ubuntu, maybe 8.04 or 7.10. Possibly 7.04.
Push comes to shove, you can try downloading an older version and just booting it as a live CD and see how things go. Sometimes older versions of the OS are better for older hardware.
I should also mention that I never got it working 100% correctly, but then, I couldn't under XP either. It would always have a little of the screen cut off.
Hardy Heron is a pretty old release considering how fast Ubuntu improves. What display adapter is in the computer? If it's an ATI adapter there may not have been TV-Out support in it for your specific card at the time.
As for your problem, the display server actually hasn't started yet doing the POST/boot sequence. It starts right before the login screen appears, so that's a hint about where your problem might lie. It would be worth skimming /var/log/Xorg.0.log to see if anything useful is in it assuming you can access the console with it connected to your TV.