The 'vesa' driver works great! I am running all-up-to-date (via Synaptic) Ubuntu Dapper Drake, on an IBM ThinkPad R51 (circa early 2005) with an ATI Radeon R250 Lf [Radeon Mobility 9000 M9] graphics card, with two different screens supported (but not run at the same time -- this is 'single head'): laptop screen, and an external flat-panel lcd (Envison H190L). When the laptop is closed, the external monitor is used, and when the laptop is open, the laptop screen is automatically used.
'uname' Info:
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//cbalz-tp-r51-0/.../~ $ uname -a
Linux cbalz-tp-r51-0 2.6.15-51-386 #1 PREEMPT Tue Feb 12 16:52:52 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux
//cbalz-tp-r51-0/.../~ $
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Counterintuitively, the vesa driver works better (at least, on my system) than the xorg-ati one and the proprietary ATI fglrx ones. The vesa driver gives both a decent resolution (1280x1024) (xorg-ati does not) and the operating system's sleep mode works (the old proprietary ATI fglrx conflicts with the o/s sleep mode, and the new fglrx apparently does not work with my older video card).
I generated the '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' file, shown below, with 'sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg'. I selected only defaults except for the screen resolution/refresh rate. For that I selected the middle configuration option, lying between "simple" and "advanced". On that screen, I chose 1280x1024 at the only refresh rate listed (below, it came out in a range of 50-75).
'xorg.conf' Info:
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# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg
Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
# path to defoma fonts
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "bitmap"
Load "dbe"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "record"
Load "type1"
Load "v4l"
Load "vbe"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
# /dev/input/event
# for USB
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "eraser"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
# /dev/input/event
# for USB
Option "Type" "eraser"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
# /dev/input/event
# for USB
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon R250 Lf [Radeon Mobility 9000 M9]"
Driver "vesa"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 30-65
VertRefresh 50-75
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon R250 Lf [Radeon Mobility 9000 M9]"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1280x1024"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1280x1024"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1280x1024"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection
Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection
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