On Sat, 13 Jan 2001, Clarence Verge wrote:
> It WAS set for VESA but the uncommented settings were for a *RANGE* of
> Horsync and VertRefresh. (31.5-37.9 and 50-90) I didn't change that.
> Am I supposed to pick specific numbers ?
It depends. You probably want to allow svgalib to drive your
monitor at the highest refresh rates possible to avoid eyestrain.
Higher resolutions also require the higher Sync rates.
Using those default numbers, you can drive your monitor at
800x600 @ 60 Hz or 640x480 @ 72 Hz. If you want higher resolutions
and/or higher refresh rates, and your monitor can support them, then
you need to look in your monitor specs and put those in there.
Otherwise, you can use the numbers in the commented lines, but
do NOT use any of those numbers if you're not sure your monitor
can support them. Overdriving your monitor can damage it.
(If you ever plan on running X, keep those monitor specs handy
because you'll want them then too.)
> I commented out all references to mouse.
As I said in another mail, I don't know if this is wise...
but I guess it can't hurt to try it both ways.
> Updated results: New test.
> ...
> I got the same Illegal Instruction message. I then commented out VESA
> chipset because it said it would auto-detect and bingo!
> It decided to use standard VGA and proceeded to give me a test screen.
>
> So it appears to have a problem with either VESA in general or Matrox
> in particular. :(
At least it sounds like you're making progress.
> The Arachne screen is a total mess - nothing recognizeable at all - and
> it doesn't reset or clear when I exit. I have to run blind. I guess my
> card registers get screwed up. :(
That happened to me the first time I tried to run svgalib
Arachne too. It was long enough ago that I don't remember what
I did to fix it, but I *think* what made the difference was
upgrading libvga. (I'm running 1.4.1 now... I don't remember
what I was running before)
> Thanks a lot everyone for all the help. I'll give the list a rest for
> a while until I find a way to tell Linux I have a good VESA card. <G>
Letting it make use of the full range of your monitor's
capabilities certainly won't hurt either.
- Steve
