Old Acer laptop with SiS chipset

Magus7091 · 05-23-2021, 04:42 AM

I'm trying to revive into semi-usable state an old Acer laptop my dad has, and I'm having trouble with the chipset. Specifically that the video is locked at 1024x768 and with all the distributions I've tried except sparky linux, I get horizontal artifacting in the display, and sound doesn't work outright. In my research it's seemed that no one's really touched these chipsets for many years, but I've confirmed via documentation that his chipset is supported under the sis-630 chipset driver, and I've found this https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/late...2c-sis630.html
But I don't know what to do with it. Any help please?

syg00 · 05-23-2021, 05:16 AM

Yuck. Haven't seen one in many years - SiS was a problem child even back then. If you can get it running with sparky I'd suggest you stick with it. It's not just the module - which should load automatically - there's almost certainly no KMS and Wayland support, X-Org might be there but what config ...

business_kid · 05-23-2021, 05:30 AM

Ha ha - I remember that stuff. Please post your lspci output, as I'm going back nearly 20 years to remember this stuff. I replaced that motherboard while it still worked - the only time I ever did that. From a rusty memory, my combo was:

SiS 5513(?): This was the Southbridge (We were in the days on Northbridge/Southbridge); The normal default was 'generic pci' but this wasn't generic. A vast disk speed improvement was available by rebuilding the kernel, removing 'generic pci' and compiling in SiS 5513 driver. Don't make it a module, compile it in.

SiS 6326(?): This was the "video" card, driven from the Northbridge. You need to know that there are/were 16 video card modes present on every card for things to start up before a driver is loaded. The SiS 6326 is the sole exception - mine didn't have those. An initrd with the 6326 driver in it might help. I had to install with 'linux text' or some similar option. YMMV. If it's stuck in 4:3 mode, that just may be ok, as it's a very old card, before 16:9 monitors. There was an X driver for it, but as nobody uses that old junk anymore, most distros will have dropped it. It will run on vesa, iirc, but I think that's where the 4:3 mode comes from. There is a conversation between X and any video card about what it can do resolution-wise, and what the monitor is good for, but you can't rely on it for intelligent answers. You might have to make up a config file with a modeline in it. I was using an Analogue monitor back then, with substantial overscan & significant flyback time. The modern monitors need none of that. Get that driver.

Both SiS (& Via Hardware) sucked around in the early 2000s. They were taken over (probably for the devs) but they had ASICs in production which continued to be sold cheap (the 6326 especially) or given away in breakfast cereal packets long after the company was taken over. No later models emerged. The software was better than the hardware. The hardware let them down.

Magus7091 · 05-23-2021, 07:21 AM

I'm at work, but later today I'll get back to you with that output, thanks!

seasons · 05-23-2021, 01:06 PM

Quote:

There was an X driver for it, but as nobody uses that old junk anymore, most distros will have dropped it.

It's still available here: https://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/dr...f86-video-sis/
It built cleanly on Xubuntu 20.04. IIRC, it will allow resolutions like 1280x720, and give some modest 2D acceleration. There's no 3D acceleration for SiS on Linux, so just forget about that.

business_kid · 05-24-2021, 07:15 AM

There might even be a compiled package in slackware-14.2's 32 bit repository. I'd reckon the end won't justify the effort, but work away if you want to. Sorry to be the bearer of such bad news, btw.

Magus7091 · 05-24-2021, 03:29 PM

I will look into the video driver, but the one I'd like most to get working is the audio. Thanks for the pointers thus far. Here's my lspci output

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 760/M760 Host (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AGP Port (virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge)
00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS963 [MuTIOL Media IO] LPC Controller (rev 25)
00:02.1 SMBus: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS961/2/3 SMBus controller
00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 IDE Controller
00:02.6 Modem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AC'97 Modem Controller (rev a0)
00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS7012 AC'97 Sound Controller (rev a0)
00:03.0 USB controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.1 USB controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.2 USB controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet (rev 91)
00:06.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 02)
00:0b.0 Network controller: Broadcom Limited BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 661/741/760 PCI/AGP or 662/761Gx PCIE VGA Display Adapter

Thanks again

business_kid · 05-25-2021, 09:46 AM

On the lspci output:

Southbridge - SiS 5513 : You unlucky guy, you have one of these. You absolutely need that driver, and get a historical kernel if needs be to get one. The difference it made for me was 2-3 MB/S up to ~45MB/S, which was considerable. Use '[sudo] hdparm -tT /dev/sda' to check speeds.

Northbridge - SiS 661/740/760/or something: Great news here - you have avoided the dreaded SiS 6326. Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) suffered a global torrent of rage, disbelief,abuse & contempt from which they never recovered. AFAICT, they withdrew the 6326 as soon as stock ran low, fixed the (many) faults, and issued essentially the same card with the part number of a different generation of parts. It wouldn't do to put out the SiS 6327! They were much more responsive to customer feedback and reissued the part any time complaints got serious. The SiS 661/740 was the last SiS part I saw advertised - they were bought soon after, and the product range dropped. I think the SiS 662/761Gx may have been something issued later when PCIE came along. That was 2007, and IIRC, SiS died around then. But the new owners could have used the name. Personally, I doubt it saw the light of day.

Otherwise, their(SiS) peripherals were average - good. The SiS 900 nic was good. The SiS 963 soundcard worked (even if it was limited). Even the Broadcom 4318 was an ok if insensitive wifi 802.11 b & g, but not n, the fast one. The usb-1.1 controller worked at only 1 Meg/Sec, but the usb-2.0 was slightly faster. You could get drivers for that Broadcom wifi as late as 2015.

What's your distro? This matters because you have to warp back to about 2005 to get any kernel drivers for this stuff. You will need drivers for this SiS stuff, which are all gone from the kernel, on the basis that "Nobody uses all that old sh** anymore," which is correct. But now you've come along, wanting to squeeze life out of an SiS chipset. So you're going to need a 3.x.x kernel, ideally. It's better to use a DIY distro than one relying on set versions.

Magus7091 · 05-25-2021, 10:50 AM

I don't mind getting my hands dirty to throw together something that works, but preference-wise I'm looking at lightweight and Debian based. With the rest of the hardware that's in the system it performs really well with sparky xfce so if I can put my own prepared kernel in there that would be fantastic. Would it be possible to identify the modules I need and compile a modern kernel with those modules added in? Because I feel like that would be the "best of both worlds" solution. If not, or even if so, in fact, would you be willing to point me to a walkthrough or help me get this set up? Thanks again for your help so far, Google was really letting me down.

business_kid · 05-25-2021, 03:00 PM

OK.I would go at it with slackware.

I take it your machine is 32 bit. At this url ftp://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/ftp.slackwar...slackware-iso/ you will find historical slackware distros with source. The kernel source is provided. You can build those in the environment and use that machine in a time warp. Be brief & careful online.

You need to know that the toolchain consists of gcc, kernel headers, & glibc. Here, you get a matched set. SiS ceased to exist in 2007, but I would expect to find SiS drivers in Slackware-10.x, perhaps as late as Slackware-12.x.

rokytnji · 05-26-2021, 03:06 PM

If running a newer xorg. Best to roll with vesa video driver. I had the same problem with IBM savage video chip set. on a IBM T23 laptop.

My testing resulted in antiX linux using a vesa cheat code on boot to bypass this flaw. On outdated gear.

mrmazda · 05-27-2021, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji

If running a newer xorg. Best to roll with vesa video driver.

I recently noted on something really old, IIRC with server 1.20.11, pre-Radeon ATI or i810 or i815 probably, that the FBDEV driver could manage 1920x1080. I don't recall ever seeing VESA do as well.

rokytnji · 05-27-2021, 09:59 AM

Different video chip than the ibm lappy which had savage.

We studied up on how the sis , via, savage , chips were supported .
Found out only one dude on the planet maintains the linux drivers.

That year. He was behind and failed to submit his new firmware and drivers to the xorg developers in time. So his stuff was not included as compatible with current xorg debian was shipping out that year.

My savage chip was setup like so for the T23 IBM Laptop using vesa

Code:

 cat / etc/X11/xorg.conf
#----------------------------------------------------------------------
# xorg.conf file
#
# Generated by make-xorg-conf sometime around Fri Nov 21 06:23:58 EST 2014
#
# If you want to save customizations, delete the line above or this
# file will get automatically deleted on the next live boot.
#----------------------------------------------------------------------

Section"Monitor"
    Identifier"Monitor0"
    Option"DPMS""true"
EndSection

Section"Device"
    Identifier"Device0"
    Driver    "vesa"
EndSection

Section"Screen"
    Identifier"Screen0"
    Monitor"Monitor0"
    Device "Device0"
    SubSection"Display"
        Modes"1024x768""800x600"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Using the fb driver and firmware. Would just scramble my screen to the unreadable point. Had to use text boot and Midnight Commander file manager to fix that problem.

business_kid · 05-28-2021, 05:21 AM

There was a driver for the SiS video, and you have to go far enough back in time with your OS to find it. I don't think vesa is much use. Vesa used Vesa Local Bus, SiS used pci. Sure, vesa works on pci & pcie buses, but SiS is a disaster area.

Mike_Walsh · 05-29-2021, 07:43 PM

Jeez. SIS.....

I recall some 7 or 8 years ago, back on the Ubuntu forums. Some guy came in with an ancient lappie with an SIS video chip; wanted to use some unusual mode with it.....1360 x800, something like that. One of the regular video 'experts' stuck with him through more than 23 pages of the thread. 230 some-odd posts; they tried literally everything.....and then some.

Still had to admit defeat in the end, though. I wish you luck with this one.....

Mike.