Thanks Dave, for the fast answer.
I had a new attack of a "BWAAAH, since 5 years graphics drivers for X11 on Linux are a mess" moment. Things don't work out of the box, and if you try google-fu, then you get ton's of ancient, outdated or only halfways true information. Grrr.
That's not downplaying your work or knowledge at all, Dave. It's just an outburst of a feeling!
I installed xserver-xorg-video-modesettings (from Debian Wheezy) and also updated xserver-core, -evdev, -vesa and -fbdev. The I started X11. Seems that Debian doesn't yet contain the addition of the modesettings driver to the auto-probed drivers, Xorg.0.log didn't contain a trace of modesettings.
So I added
Section "Device" Identifier "gma" Driver "modesetting" BusID "pci:0:2:0 EndSection
But then I get
[ 4309.430] (II) modesetting: Driver for Modesetting Kernel Drivers: kms [ 4309.430] (--) using VT number 1
[ 4309.463] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for modesetting [ 4309.464] (II) UnloadModule: "modesetting" [ 4309.464] (EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration. [ 4309.464] Fatal server error: [ 4309.464] no screens found
So, I tried to add a screen, while grumbling "Since when do I need a 'Screen' section in a modern xorg.conf again?":
Section "Screen" Identifier "800x600" Device "Card0" DefaultDepth 24 EndSection
But X11 still says
[ 4440.511] (EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration. [ 4440.511] Fatal server error: [ 4440.511] no screens found
And of course, it's silent about WHAT exactly would constitute a usable configuration.
I tried 32 bits depth as well. I tried adding a subsection "Display". I tried to stay calm ... but no success so far! :-)
BTW, I upgraded to kernel 3.9.2 for this.
2013/5/13 Dave Airlie airlied@gmail.com
/var/log/Xorg.0.log doesn't contain anything differiing at all that is related to video output.
And hints on how I could pursue this issue?
Try installing xf86-video-modesetting driver or whatever your distro calls it.
Dave.