[Cc'ed to linux-x11.]
On Sat May 02 1998, "Dave Mielke" wrote in the Linux-Config email list:
> I have the following:
>
> System: Red Hat Linux 5.0 (kernel 2.0.32)
> VideoCard: STB VELOCITY 128 MULTIMEDIA ACCELERATOR 4MB AGP Bus
> Monitor: DIMENSION XPS D233
>
> I am somewhat illiterate when it comes to X Server maintenance, but I
> know that I am not getting the most out of my hardware. It would appear
> that I have something called MetroX, that it only supports 16 colours,
> and that it only supports very low resolutions. I think I should be
> able to get 15-bit colour with a resolution of 1280x1024.
I just had a very frustrating weekend trying to tweak MetroX to do what I
know my own video card (Diamond 3D 2000 S3 ViRGE with 4Mb) is capable of
doing.
MetroX 4.1 does indeed support high resolutions and up to 32-bit colour
depth.
First, check that your AGP card is supported by this version of MetroX.
(I seem to recall some special mention about AGP cards somewhere... hmmm,
check www.metrolink.com). Ugh! It's not - see below.
There is a data base that gets installed onto your hard driver that the
configX program uses to set things up for your monitor and video card.
What options this config program allows you to set is highly dependent on
two things:
- the horizontal and vertical refresh rates for your monitor, and
- the capabilities of your video card.
If you have a low-end monitor (with small bandwidths, frequencies etc),
then you will be highly restricted with what resolutions you can set. If
your card is not specifically supported, then you would be restricted by
the fact that you are using a "generic" driver with limited capability.
I found that under XFree86 I could tweak the XF86Config file (***VERY***
CAREFULLY!!) for on my old 14" monitor that I use at home to get
1024x768x32bpp (!!!) [it starts to shreak if I push it to 1280x1024], and
1280x1024x32bpp on my 17" monitor here at work.
There exists a linux HOWTO about video timing modes (written for X but just
as useful for svgalib), and if anyone is going to fiddle with their mode
timings then this is absolutely essential reading.
But no such luck with MetroX... the best it would allow me to do is
something like 1280x900x24bpp (with a 15" monitor), and if I asked for
32-bit colour depth (`startx -- -bpp 32') then MetroX thew me back into an
800x600 resolution.
I even tried hacking the /etc/X11/XMetroConfig file (or whatever it's
called), without much of an improvement. The format is almost identical to
the XFree86 config file, so it was quite easy to do.
Even weirder is that the *lowest* colour depth that it would allow me to do
is 16bpp (no 8bpp).
So far, the only advantage that MetroX seems to have given me is the
ability to easily set things up with a nice gui interface. The speed and
other capabilities of the X driver seem to be on a par with XFree86. Both
seem nice and responsive.
But XFree86 can give me 1280x1024x24bpp (and pseudo-32bpp, which is all
what the 4Mb S3-ViRGE card is capable of) with no problems. I could
probably get even better than this (at lower colour depths), but I'm
getting to the point where I'll start to need a magnifying glass to read
the screen! :-)
> Do any of you know what I need to do? Is it as simple as picking up the
> right driver? If so, which one, and from where? Whenever I use configX
> to select a driver, the only one which works is "IBM VGA"; other
> selections cause linkage errors when the server starts up. None of the
> available selections make any mention of AGP.
Hmm, yes... go check the metrolink web site:
http://www.metrolink.com/products/metrox/cardlist410
<quote>
AGP bus cards are not currently supported.
Only PCI bus cards are supported at this time.
</quote>
> Thanks.
Pity, it seems that you are out of luck for the moment.
However, when the next version of metrox is done, then RedHat will put an
encrypted version of it on their ftp site. You'll need to download it, use
the original 4.1 rpm as a decrpytion "key", and use one of the redhat tools
to decrypt it (there's a readme that explains exactly what to do).
So keep on eye on www.metrolink.com for update announcements for their
server.
Meanwhile, make /etc/X11/X a symlink to the XFree86 driver that you need to
run with your card (if any), and forget about MetroX for the moment (bummer).
What does XFree86's "SuperProbe" say about your card?
Cheers
Tony .
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