MP 1,1-5,1 Cheesegrater 3.1 vs a new 4k monitor.

[romanof]

I have a Cheesegrater pro 3.1 that I use for bench electronics because it is customizable and has a pci bus for my gpio cards. The GPU is the original Nvidia 8800GT. It has Linux and Mojave, the latter not being a security problem because it cannot see the internet.

I was given a really nice 32 inch, 4k, LG display to replace the 1080p that was on it. (specifically a 32UL500 model).

Problem. On Linux it works fine in CLI mode. Great text and sharp. But if I boot into GUI on Linux or into Mojave for MacOS, the screen blacks out into some unknown mode. Have to short press the power button to shutdown.

My assumption so far is that I need a driver, but as we know, Nvidia and Apple no longer get along and all that I have tried make no difference. Apparently, the monitor is being shifted into a mode that can't be used by the old GPU, OR the GPU is being set to a mode that the monitor doesn't recognize. In other words, a very old display card and a very modern monitor, and neither know about the other.

Since the GPU has two outputs, it makes the troubleshooting much easier. I can still use the 1080p monitor while the 4k on the other channel is black.

However, I don't really want 4k mode, just the 32 inch real estate. 1080p is fine since I am almost always down in the terminal with Mojave or don't even start a GUI session if I am in Linux. The 4k monitor has no apparent method to 'lock' a display mode, and the usual hacks in Linux and display mode changes in Mojave do nothing to help.

While I back away from the problem to allow the frustration to drain away, I might as well ask if anyone has suggestions...

???

 

[StuAff]

8800GT won't drive a 4K monitor, max 2560x1600. You'd need a newer GPU.

 

[theMarble]

8800GT won't drive a 4K monitor, max 2560x1600. You'd need a newer GPU.

Correct, no NVIDIA GPU before the 600 series in 2012 (the 8800GT was released in 2007) supports any resolution higher than 2560x1600 (max bandwidth on Dual-Link DVI), as DisplayPort 1.2 is required to run a 4K signal at 60Hz.

Even then, I don't know how fast a 600 series card could run a 4K display depending on what you are doing.

 

[romanof]

Actually, it will, kinda. I finally found an nvidia driver (from nvidia, no less) that was for about a thousand cards that are later than the 600, so very generic I assume. It loaded and I finally got a screen in XCFE. But... On boot (I boot to CLI then startx) the font was tiny, and I mean minute - absolutely unreadable. I had to build a setup-console file with 16x32 on another machine, then ship it over by Samba and then run setupcon without any visual text. That worked finally and I got decent text in CLI mode.

But... (Lots of buts here). When XFCE started, the icons were also tiny, and the text in the terminal sessions back to minute - unreadable again. There was only one resolution available, 31xx by something and the scan rate was a strange 89. And the resolution was horrible, obviously far from native for this monitor.

Playing with xrandr changed nothing. Neither did the video mode in grub, or x11. When I uninstalled the nvidia driver, it wrecked the OS. Not a big deal, since it is not a production machine as yet. I reloaded and started thinking on my next step. Like buying a 32 inch 1080p monitor.

Again, I don't want 4k. Only 1080p. The reason I am trying to use this monitor is for the 32 inch real estate.

So, it goes on.

 

[AlexMaximus]

Actually, it will, kinda. I finally found an nvidia driver (from nvidia, no less) that was for about a thousand cards that are later than the 600, so very generic I assume. It loaded and I finally got a screen in XCFE. But... On boot (I boot to CLI then startx) the font was tiny, and I mean minute - absolutely unreadable. I had to build a setup-console file with 16x32 on another machine, then ship it over by Samba and then run setupcon without any visual text. That worked finally and I got decent text in CLI mode.

But... (Lots of buts here). When XFCE started, the icons were also tiny, and the text in the terminal sessions back to minute - unreadable again. There was only one resolution available, 31xx by something and the scan rate was a strange 89. And the resolution was horrible, obviously far from native for this monitor.

Playing with xrandr changed nothing. Neither did the video mode in grub, or x11. When I uninstalled the nvidia driver, it wrecked the OS. Not a big deal, since it is not a production machine as yet. I reloaded and started thinking on my next step. Like buying a 32 inch 1080p monitor.

Again, I don't want 4k. Only 1080p. The reason I am trying to use this monitor is for the 32 inch real estate.

So, it goes on.

You may want to check out the last Mac blessed NVIDIA card, that hit the market at that time. It was Nvidia Quadro K5000 card from PNY. I believe this was the last "Mac Edition" and enjoyed some extra treatment on certain driver exceptions. According to some articles here on this forum, it was possible to keep using this card when Metal and the "AMD-ONLY" policy started. There are some MP3.1 users here, that used this card successfully with later Metal MacOS Systems. Search for K5000 and you will find plenty to read about. However, at this late time in the game, you may want to jump into AMD Solutions and skip that last NVIDIA Icon to be more future proof for your applications. If its really about 32 inch, you may want to look into Samsung's M8 display with a stronger GPU..

 

[romanof]

Thanks for the info. It isn't a critical problem, but kind of interesting to work on. Since I was given a really nice monitor gratis, I would like to use it, but it isn't a show stopper. But, even if I get it to work on Linux, Mojave won't have anything to do with this monitor.

Update. The monitor works really well with my Mac Pro Trash Can. Really well. The text and colors are at least as good as my Studio display. The only problem is that I have no use for that Pro - it has no PCI bus or upgrade capacity for use in hooking up hobby electronics - most of the ports are TB2 and useless - and while it is fairly powerful, I have a Studio Max for desktop use.

Ah... The tribulations of life.