TV-out in X
 

I have an ATI All-In-Wonder card installed in my machine running Mandrake 8.2 I CANNOT get a tv-signal from X. As soon as the machine logs on, the television goes blank. Some research (read: enough reading time on monitor to make me sterile) showed that X didn't really know what to do in this situation. I tried to edit the XF86Config file as best I could, but to no avail. I setup a new Section "Device" and "Screen" and "Monitor" and "ServerLayout", and yet X mocks me! (question: does X use XF86Config or XF86Config-4?)
I really only want to run this as a dedicated DVD/DivX/MAME machine while I'm working on my G4 Mac.
Does someone have an X-config file for the ATI All-in-wonder Pro (using RAGE 128 chipset) that is known to boot x properly that they could send me? Or, tell me exactly what needs to be done to make this work? Many many thanks in advance.
(cross posted to Newbie)

I have the same problem, except using Redhat 7.3, i've seen several references to people getting it to work with the ATI Gatos driver set, but haven't found any sound step by step guide to getting it to work.

Gatos has a link to a site that has the TV Out t for ATI cards. It only looks like a program not a module. You don't put it in the XF86Config-4 file. The README file states you need tor run the program every time you boot up or change resolutions.

I assume you know that you need to be in root to install it. To install it, the README file says to type make and then make install though there isn't a configure file. Make may stop because it can not find any configuration file that gets created after configure has run. After it finishes type ' test.sah '. That will list what output is connected to your video card. Then type ' atitvout help '. To list information on how to use the program and how to use its switches.

If you can not get TV out working, you can always get TVview from Focus Enhancments. Its a VGA to TV converter that is far better than any TV outs on video cards. Also Xbox uses Focus Enhancments chips for its TV out.

If you feel like ATI and Gatos are not doing their job fast enough and you are an expert programmer, you can always make a LINUX module for your video card. Jungo.com has tools to help the developer make drivers for any OS but it is very expensive. If you think its expensive look at Windows XP prices or even worst 3D rendering software.

In Mandrake the configuration file for your Xf86free service is XF86Config-4. XF86Config is for safe mode setup but it is still used. XF86Config-4 loads after XF86Config, so anything you put in XF86Config will not work. Put all your tweaks in XF86Config-4.

I have an ATI RADEON 64 VIVO. Yes, I will like to get the TV out working in LINUX but I don't use TV out all the time. I only use it about a few times per year. Also the system that has the ATI card is running Win98. I have another system using an NVidia card but I don't feel like setting up TV out. The system with the NVidia card has Mandrake LINUX 9 installed on it.

BTW, you can send a nice e-mail to ATI to persuade them to make LINUX modules. Its a good time to send it because ATI is in the lead.

Wow, thank you so much! I have been at the Gatos site so much, but I never saw the link before. Now, I looked for it, and found it. FYI, the 'make install' works fine, so problems. Puts everything in /usr/local/bin so its nice and usable from anywhere. The "test.sh" restunred a bunch of values, enough for me to figure out what it needed. Running the program, however, kept testing the TV, but never actually put anything out. So, I thought I may as well tweak the XF86Config-4 file, and completely screwed it up. Now I cannot get X to load at all. So it goes. I'll fic this problem first (obvously) but MANY thanks for your help. I would still like to know how to actually start the beast without a monitor attached.

I've actually used atitvout and it works fine when in console, but as soon as I try to boot into X, the tv goes blank, and even the VGA monitor which is also attached goes crazy, with flickering lines of what should be displayed, but it seems out of VSYNC/HSYNC ...

TV out safe or not?
 

I was told that your television can burn out alot faster when you are using TV-out from a computer.

Is this true and did anyone find any articles on this?

My father said that the signal isn't intended for televisions before it is designed for computer monitors wich have specific ways of showing the picture since they are smaller than television sets.

Thanks in advance to anyone and I believe this is a rather interesting question so far.

PS: if you have time on your hands plz e-mail me at do_the_dre@hotmail.com or talk to me on MSN Messenger

I have an ATI Radeon 7500 and when the TV is plugged in X will not even load.