This is part of The Pile, a partial archive of some open source mailing lists and newsgroups.
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 12:40:34 -0800 To: svlug@svlug.org Subject: Re: [svlug] X server From: Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> begin jay quotation: > I am using a Cyrix MediaGX video card. The video card owner who poses these X-support questions is always in a unique position to provide the one crucial piece of information required to answer it: the identity of the card's video chipset. That is, you have the card right there, and we don't. So, it would have been in your interest to yank the card, right down what's written on its largest chip, and include that information in your post. Yet, you didn't. And this happens, remarkably, every single time someone asks an X-support question. Instead, you told us the name of your "video card". Which means that, in order to help you, somebody needs to research your hardware on the basis solely of your description, without access to it. But, as we'll see, the information you gave was wrong (but, ironically, more useful than if you _had_ told us about a "video card"). http://www.ugeek.com/procspec/cyrix/mediagx.htm and http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/features/cpu/cpu8.htm suggest that "Cyrix MediaGX" is _not_ a video card, but rather a combined CPU, sound, graphics, DRAM controller, and PCI bus interface chip -- which is now being used on several very-low-end motherboards. OK, that having been said, XFree86 4.x includes MediaGX video chipset support: http://www.xfree86.org/4.0/RELNOTES2.html (see "2.13 Drivers"). Also, the XFree86 3.x SVGA server has included MediaGX support since version 3.3.3 (November 1998): http://www.xfree86.org/3.3.6/cyrix1.html#1 > While installing Red Hat 6.0, I chose 'Unlisted card'. Pick the SVGA server. > My monitor is even not listed, while in windows it shows me as > 'Unknown Monitor'. Its a 14" HCL make. It's not necessary that your monitor be listed. That's just a look-up table to determine its frequency limits. Can you _find out_ your monitor's vertical and horizontal scanning frequency capabilities? Try looking on the back of the monitor, or in your manual for it, or try searching Google for the make and model. If you can't find that information, there's always the method described in: http://wwwsc13.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/varesearch/solution?11=000911-0002&130=0968704304&14=&2715=&15=&2716=&57=search&58=&2900=WbG0zLjWv6&25=6&3=optimal%20XFree86 Except, where it says to use the correct horizontal and vertical scanning frequency limit numbers for your monitor, pick deliberately very broad ranges of frequencies. Warning: Those numbers are intended as safety limits, to ensure that X cannot damage your monitor by sending it signals outside its frequency limits. Setting the frequency limits deliberately wide means you're assuming responsibility for checking each video mode attempted to see if the monitor's having trouble, and will eliminated the mode (as described) if it's not safe. Alternatively, if you install XFree86 4.x, it may auto-detect your monitor's capabilities without your help, if the monitor supports the VESA Display Data Channel (DDC) standard. (But, based on what you say about MS-Windows, probably it doesn't.) === Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 12:44:00 -0800 To: svlug@svlug.org Subject: Re: [svlug] X server From: Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> begin Brian Bilbrey quotation: > Without that data, you need to identify and use basic VGA settings for > those values. Monitor safety's for wimps. ;-> But it's not necessary to back off to plain VGA, for lack of monitor docs. What you do is pick wide frequency limits, then test X at various modes to see if your monitor can sync to them. At each one, if the monitor looks or sounds in any way distressed, kill X and comment out that mode. I explained how, in my direct response to Jay. === Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 12:47:34 -0800 Subject: Re: [svlug] X server From: Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> begin jay quotation: > I chose the card as 'Unlisted'.... This is in Red Hat Software's "Xconfigurator" utility, right? When they say "Unlisted", that's probably Red Hat mumbo-jumbo for "Use the VGA16 X server binary". Which would suck, but is intended as a least common denominator. Problem is, it's no longer true that all common video cards support fallback to VGA16 640x480 video modes. As I said, my advice would be to pick the SVGA server directly. And I personally wouldn't use Xconfigurator. See the details in my longer note. === Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 12:44:23 -0800 To: jay <charmie@caltiger.com> Subject: Re: [svlug] X server On Sun, Dec 03, 2000 at 01:19:45AM +0530, jay wrote: > I chose the card as 'Unlisted' and tried with Standard VGA settings but even > with that the Xserver won't run. Just so you know: "SVGA" doesn't stand for "Standard VGA". The 'S' actually stands for "Super", if I recall correctly. True VGA tops out at 640x480, 16bpp. "Super" VGA usually involves the use of VESA to determine which features beyond base VGA the card provides. For an unsupported card which doesn't use VESA, you may need to use the VGA16 server, rather than the SVGA server. I'm not sure that there's an equivalent to the VGA16 server in XF86-4, so you may need to get the 3.x server. (No guarantees that this will help, but at worst, you'll waste a little time, and at least then you should *know* whether the situation is hopeless or not.) ===