ATI mach64GX

Nauht · 04-22-2003, 12:09 AM

Has anyone been able to run X in 16bpp or higher using a video card with this ATI chipset? 8bpp works fine but whenever I try to start X in 16bpp (or 32bpp) mode, it complains that it doesn't support depth 16 ... My card has 4mb on it and it is able to display 16 and even 32bpp fine in Windows.

finegan · 04-23-2003, 05:16 PM

Odd, what's your XF86Config file look like?

I've got the same card in one of my old crates... however I have nothing to compare it to as that machine doesn't even have X on it. I was getting 16bpp at 800x600 and 1024x768 from some of the earlier XFree 4's about a year or so ago when the thing had GUI duty...

Cheers,

Nauht · 04-23-2003, 07:32 PM

# File generated by xf86config.

#
# Copyright (c) 1999 by The XFree86 Project, Inc.
#
#
<snip>
# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the XF86Config(4/5) man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

# **********************************************************************
# Module section -- this section is used to specify
# which dynamically loadable modules to load.
# **********************************************************************
#
Section "Module"

# This loads the DBE extension module.

Load "dbe" # Double buffer extension

# This loads the miscellaneous extensions module, and disables
# initialisation of the XFree86-DGA extension within that module.
SubSection "extmod"
Option "omit xfree86-dga" # don't initialise the DGA extension
EndSubSection

# This loads the Type1 and FreeType font modules
Load "type1"
Load "speedo"
# Load "freetype"
# Load "xtt"

# This loads the GLX module
# Load "glx"
# This loads the DRI module
# Load "dri"

EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Files section. This allows default font and rgb paths to be set
# **********************************************************************

Section "Files"

# The location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally
# no need to change the default.

RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"

# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (which are concatenated together),
# as well as specifying multiple comma-separated entries in one FontPath
# command (or a combination of both methods)
#
# If you don't have a floating point coprocessor and emacs, Mosaic or other
# programs take long to start up, try moving the Type1 and Speedo directory
# to the end of this list (or comment them out).
#

FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
# FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType/"
# FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/freefont/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"

# The module search path. The default path is shown here.

# ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"

EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Server flags section.
# **********************************************************************

Section "ServerFlags"

# Uncomment this to cause a core dump at the spot where a signal is
# received. This may leave the console in an unusable state, but may
# provide a better stack trace in the core dump to aid in debugging

# Option "NoTrapSignals"

# Uncomment this to disable the <Crtl><Alt><Fn> VT switch sequence
# (where n is 1 through 12). This allows clients to receive these key
# events.

# Option "DontVTSwitch"

# Uncomment this to disable the <Crtl><Alt><BS> server abort sequence
# This allows clients to receive this key event.

# Option "DontZap"

# Uncomment this to disable the <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> mode switching
# sequences. This allows clients to receive these key events.

# Option "Dont Zoom"

# Uncomment this to disable tuning with the xvidtune client. With
# it the client can still run and fetch card and monitor attributes,
# but it will not be allowed to change them. If it tries it will
# receive a protocol error.

# Option "DisableVidModeExtension"

# Uncomment this to enable the use of a non-local xvidtune client.

# Option "AllowNonLocalXvidtune"

# Uncomment this to disable dynamically modifying the input device
# (mouse and keyboard) settings.

# Option "DisableModInDev"

# Uncomment this to enable the use of a non-local client to
# change the keyboard or mouse settings (currently only xset).

# Option "AllowNonLocalModInDev"

EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Input devices
# **********************************************************************

# **********************************************************************
# Core keyboard's InputDevice section
# **********************************************************************

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "Keyboard"

# For most OSs the protocol can be omitted (it defaults to "Standard").
# When using XQUEUE (only for SVR3 and SVR4, but not Solaris),
# uncomment the following line.

# Option "Protocol" "Xqueue"

Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"

# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"

# Option "LeftAlt" "Meta"
# Option "RightAlt" "ModeShift"

# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"

# These are the default XKB settings for XFree86
# Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
# Option "XkbModel" "pc101"
# Option "XkbLayout" "us"
# Option "XkbVariant" ""
# Option "XkbOptions" ""

# Option "XkbDisable"

Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"

EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Core Pointer's InputDevice section
# **********************************************************************

Section "InputDevice"

# Identifier and driver

Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "Auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

# Mouse-speed setting for PS/2 mouse.

# Option "Resolution" "256"

# When using XQUEUE, comment out the above two lines, and uncomment
# the following line.

# Option "Protocol" "Xqueue"

# Baudrate and SampleRate are only for some Logitech mice. In
# almost every case these lines should be omitted.

# Option "BaudRate" "9600"
# Option "SampleRate" "150"

# Emulate3Buttons is an option for 2-button Microsoft mice
# Emulate3Timeout is the timeout in milliseconds (default is 50ms)

# Option "Emulate3Buttons"
# Option "Emulate3Timeout" "50"

# ChordMiddle is an option for some 3-button Logitech mice

# Option "ChordMiddle"

EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Other input device sections
# this is optional and is required only if you
# are using extended input devices. This is for example only. Refer
# to the XF86Config man page for a description of the options.
# **********************************************************************
#
# Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier "Mouse2"
# Driver "mouse"
# Option "Protocol" "MouseMan"
# Option "Device" "/dev/mouse2"
# EndSection
#
# Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier "spaceball"
# Driver "magellan"
# Option "Device" "/dev/cua0"
# EndSection
#
# Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier "spaceball2"
# Driver "spaceorb"
# Option "Device" "/dev/cua0"
# EndSection
#
# Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier "touchscreen0"
# Driver "microtouch"
# Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
# Option "MinX" "1412"
# Option "MaxX" "15184"
# Option "MinY" "15372"
# Option "MaxY" "1230"
# Option "ScreenNumber" "0"
# Option "ReportingMode" "Scaled"
# Option "ButtonNumber" "1"
# Option "SendCoreEvents"
# EndSection
#
# Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier "touchscreen1"
# Driver "elo2300"
# Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
# Option "MinX" "231"
# Option "MaxX" "3868"
# Option "MinY" "3858"
# Option "MaxY" "272"
# Option "ScreenNumber" "0"
# Option "ReportingMode" "Scaled"
# Option "ButtonThreshold" "17"
# Option "ButtonNumber" "1"
# Option "SendCoreEvents"
# EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Monitor section
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of monitor sections may be present

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "My Monitor"

# HorizSync is in kHz unless units are specified.
# HorizSync may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY. REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.

HorizSync 31.5 - 35.1

# HorizSync 30-64 # multisync
# HorizSync 31.5, 35.2 # multiple fixed sync frequencies
# HorizSync 15-25, 30-50 # multiple ranges of sync frequencies

# VertRefresh is in Hz unless units are specified.
# VertRefresh may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY. REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.

VertRefresh 50-90

EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Graphics device section
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of graphics device sections may be present

# Standard VGA Device:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Standard VGA"
VendorName "Unknown"
BoardName "Unknown"

# The chipset line is optional in most cases. It can be used to override
# the driver's chipset detection, and should not normally be specified.

# Chipset "generic"

# The Driver line must be present. When using run-time loadable driver
# modules, this line instructs the server to load the specified driver
# module. Even when not using loadable driver modules, this line
# indicates which driver should interpret the information in this section.

Driver "vga"
# The BusID line is used to specify which of possibly multiple devices
# this section is intended for. When this line isn't present, a device
# section can only match up with the primary video device. For PCI
# devices a line like the following could be used. This line should not
# normally be included unless there is more than one video device
# intalled.

# BusID "PCI:0:10:0"

# VideoRam 256

# Clocks 25.2 28.3

EndSection

# Device configured by xf86config:

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Graphics Pro Turbo"
Driver "ati"
VideoRam 4096
# Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Screen sections
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of screen sections may be present. Each describes
# the configuration of a single screen. A single specific screen section
# may be specified from the X server command line with the "-screen"
# option.
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "ATI Graphics Pro Turbo"
Monitor "My Monitor"
DefaultDepth 16

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# ServerLayout sections.
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of ServerLayout sections may be present. Each describes
# the way multiple screens are organised. A specific ServerLayout
# section may be specified from the X server command line with the
# "-layout" option. In the absence of this, the first section is used.
# When now ServerLayout section is present, the first Screen section
# is used alone.

Section "ServerLayout"

# The Identifier line must be present
Identifier "Simple Layout"

# Each Screen line specifies a Screen section name, and optionally
# the relative position of other screens. The four names after
# primary screen name are the screens to the top, bottom, left and right
# of the primary screen. In this example, screen 2 is located to the
# right of screen 1.

Screen "Screen 1"

# Each InputDevice line specifies an InputDevice section name and
# optionally some options to specify the way the device is to be
# used. Those options include "CorePointer", "CoreKeyboard" and
# "SendCoreEvents".

InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection

# Section "DRI"
# Mode 0666
# EndSection

Nauht · 04-23-2003, 07:46 PM

I'm also using Slackware 9.0 and XFree86 4.3. I found this on XFree86's pages:

VGAWonder series: 18800, 18800-1, 28800-2, 28800-4, 28800-5, 28800-6
Mach32 series: 68800-3, 68800-6, 68800AX, 68800LX
Mach64 series: 88800GX-C, 88800GX-D, 88800GX-E, 88800GX-F, 88800CX,
264CT, 264ET, 264VT, 264GT (3D Rage), 264VT-B, 264VT3,
264VT4, 264GT-B (3D Rage II), 3D Rage IIc, 3D Rage Pro,
3D Rage LT, 3D Rage LT Pro, 3D Rage XL, 3D Rage XC,
3D Rage Mobility (including the -M and -P variants)

"The driver also supports 32K, 64K and 16M-colour modes on the 264xT and 3D Rage series of adapters using the accelerator CRTC (but not the VGA CRTC)."

So my Mach64GX uses one of those 88800 controller chips. I don't know if the last statement there implies that if my card doesn't have a 264xT or a 3D Rage chip, then I can't run those higher depth modes...

finegan · 04-23-2003, 09:19 PM

Dude, you configured X using the old xf86config binary... Let X configure itself, it does a lot better job then xf86config these days:

X -configure

Can your monitor really only do 31-35 and 50-90... that's kinda low... You might have your monitor boxed in too tight and haven't given it a range where it can get a working 16bpp.

That's all I can think of for now...

Gimme the /sbin/lspci line off of your machine, I'll compare it to mine, but as I'm remembering it, its the same one.

Cheers,

Finegan

Nauht · 04-24-2003, 12:00 AM

Really? You mean people rarely use xf86config anymore? I didn't know that...

I'm glad something else other than xf86config exists because I'm tired of having to re-enter values into it each time I make a change!

Even after doing "X -configure" and "startx -- -depth 16" I still get the same error message.

Here's my lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 430VX - 82437VX TVX [Triton VX] (rev 02)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82371SB PIIX3 ISA [Natoma/Triton II] (rev 01)
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82371SB PIIX3 IDE [Natoma/Triton II]
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Macronix, Inc. [MXIC] MX987x5 (rev 25)
00:0b.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 210888GX [Mach64 GX] (rev 03)
00:0c.0 Multimedia video controller: 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 2 (rev 02

I lowered the monitor frequency because I didn't want to bother typing mines up so I just used whatever xf86config offered me. BTW, does X also configure the monitor itself or do I have to enter those values myself? Thanks a lot!

finegan · 04-24-2003, 01:45 PM

Yeah, with X 4.x.x its capable of configuring itself, so most of us here stopped mentioning xf86config about a year or so ago when all the distros ditched 3.3.6

The X generated file that gets stashed in /root/ is pretty usuable, its not copied over to /etc/X11/ by default though. With older monitors I still have to track down their resolutions online and hand edit them into the file. X stopped limiting ranges by default because its become a lot harder for X to blow up your monitor these days.

Wait... you have a mach 64 and a voodoo2? Are you doing dual-head? If so, you gotta have XFree 4.3.0 in order to get functionality out of the voodoo2, I was reading that yesterday: ironically enough the crate I'm typing this on is an ATI rage 128 and a Voodoo3.

Cheers,

Finegan

Nauht · 04-24-2003, 02:47 PM

Is X able to detect the settings from a newer PNP monitor?

As for having a "dual-head" configuration, do you mean connecting a VGA male-female from the ATI to the Voodoo, and my monitor connects to the Voodoo? That's how my setup is currently.

finegan · 04-24-2003, 02:49 PM

That's just weird... no, I thought you had two-cards, two monitors.

X should be able to get a pnp monitor's settings right... 'should' is always the operative word, we're still talking about X-windows, no matter how snazzy its gotten, its still manky old X.

Cheers,

Finegan

Nauht · 04-24-2003, 03:02 PM

What chip does your Mach64 use? Maybe it's different from the 88800GX I have.

I don't know why they have such an awkward setup when using a Voodoo2, but that's how it is I guess. It's like my 2D card needs to be passed into the 3D card in order for them to work together... or something like that.

finegan · 04-24-2003, 03:24 PM

I was wrong, I've got a Mach 64 GTB:

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 430TX - 82439TX MTXC (rev 01)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 01)
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 01)
00:0a.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage II+ 215GTB [Mach64 GTB] (rev 9a)
00:0b.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1370 [AudioPCI]
00:12.0 Network controller: Global Sun Technology Inc PCMCIA-to-PCI Wireless Network Bridge (rev 02)
00:14.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8029(AS)

Slightly newer card that handles its own 3D, I've never seen a card double up for one monitor, that's pretty weird... is there anything useful in the XFree86.log? We're into voodoo computing land now, guesswork.

Cheers,

Finegan

Nauht · 04-25-2003, 08:20 PM

Yeah, since your ATI is based off of the 3D Rage chips, then according to the Xfree86 4.3.0 docs, your card should be able to do 16/32bpp in X. I'll post the log file once I'm on that computer.

Just curious though, Slackware 9 has this new thing called Hotswapping and they suggest to turn it on, which I did. Do you prefer turning it on and let Slackware detect your hardware during boot up or editing the rc.modules file, which you have to do in 8.1?

finegan · 04-25-2003, 08:27 PM

I kinda like hotplugging, I've gone for Slack 9 on three machines now, my desktop fun machine, my at-work desktop and one of the 3 linux servers I've got and it hasn't really done me wrong yet. When it misses something, I just use rc.modules, which it did with only... the soundcard on my work machine's mobo, and then it'll load the wrong modules sometimes like the orinoco_plx set when I'm using the hostap_plx modules set, but rm'ing the orinocos got rid of that problem. It basically just keeps you from having to run /sbin/lspci and google when you get a new chunk of hardware, I like it... can't really see why it would run as experimental though... anything it does wrong as far as I can tell would be more of just a nuissance then a crashmonster at any rate...

Cheers,

Finegan

Nauht · 05-01-2003, 05:22 PM

I just found out I have another ATI Mach64 on one of my other machines heheheh. But this one's a CT chip, so it should definately work with 16bpp+. I'll let you know how it goes.