Read this if you are having problems wth SiS onboard video cards, or if
you want to help correct this pseudo-howto. It�s done by Fernando
Bresslau, a 1 month linux suer and certainly lacks of important details,
so feel free to help us improve it.
First, you�ve got to have XFree86 3.3.3.1 . I think that most distros
have it nowadays. Check at http://www.xfree86.org .
I�m using a Brazilian distro of redhat 5.2.
My problem was with getting a good resolution, and it was mainly due to
the poor quality of my ancient SVGA monitor (Samtron 428).
First I ran Xconfigurator, and chose the right card (SiS 3D Pro AGP).
Note that the chipset is named in the right column.
I chose then the quantity of RAM (4MB). And saved everything to
usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config.
In the same way I chose my monitor (although it wasn�t listed there, I
found a similar one (this can be dagerou, some say, if you don�t know
your frequencies).
If you want to give more details about your hardware, you can use
xf86config . I used it instead of Xconfigurator. There you can specify
the frequencies of your monitor precisely.
If you use xf86config the method to choose the video card is a bit
different. First you select it from the list. Xf86config displays then
the name of the selected card and some extra info about it. This info is
importatnt: for example, it tells that the sis6326 shouldn�t be probed
for clock string (rate or speed, I don�t remember the exact term). Then,
(I don�t remember the order exactly, but it doesn�t matter a lot) you
have to select the video server. The option 5 selects the default server
(SVGA in my case).After that, you tell it how much memory you�ve got. In
my case I didn�t probe for clock ..., created a link (I don�t know what
link this is, but think that it links etc/X11/xf86config to
usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config). As I mentioned above, I didn�t save it to
etc/X11/XF86Config, but to usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config).
This was the easy part (if somebody sees any problem in it, please sound
the alarm bell, I�m still a newbie!!).
Some editing of the XF86Config won�t hurt anybody. In the contrary, it�s
quite simple, if you read the coments you get a lot of light in the
issue. By the way, coment lines begin with a _#_. This means that these
lines won�t be read by the program.
With what I�ve described above I only got 640x480 at 8 bits. I wanted to
achieve 1024x768 at 24 bits (sorry, I wasn�t sucessful, I only got
800x600 at 24 bits). So I tried something I�ve heard at a discussion
list list here in Brazil: there is a section in XF86Config which
configures the video timings. Each line in it is preceeded by a comment
indicating what it means. For example:
# 640x400 @ 70 Hz, 31.5 kHz hsync
This is the comment line, saying that the reolution of this mode timing
is 640x400 at 70Hz of VertRefresh and 31.5kHz of VertRefresh.
Modeline "640x400" 25.175 640 664 760 800 400 409 411 450
This is the actual video timing.
So I commented all the video timings (put a # before each line). Then I
uncommented one mode I thought would work. My HorizSync was the interval
between 31.5-48kHz and 40-75Hz of VertRefresh. So it is of no use to
test a video timing out of these ranges, say 60kHz and 100Hz. Now we
have to test each video timing: uncomment, startx. Didn�t work? Comment
again and uncomment another. Startx. And so on. I don�t have the
faintest idea why, but my configuration would only work if the two
correct mode timings were selected (go figure...).
I also heard that I should put two option lines in the "# Device
configured by xf86config" section under the chipset especification:
Option "no_bitblt"
Option "sw_cursor"
It isn�t always necessary, but it won�t hurt anything (only the
no_bitblt option disables some kind of acceleration). I really don�t
know what these lines mean, but maybe they can help.
Oh, if you want to test the different bit modes, use _startx --bppXX_
where XX is 8, 16, 24 or 32. Or you can specify the DefaultColorDepth in
the # The Colour SVGA server screen section. For example:
DefaultColorDepth 24.
I think that was it. I�m going now to reproduce the most important parts
of my XF86Config.
mode timings:
#800x600 @ 56 Hz, 35.15 kHz hsync Funciona!!!
ModeLine "800x600" 36 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625
Modeline "800x600" 40 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628
+hsync +vsync
# Device configured by xf86config:
Section "Device"
Identifier "sis6326"
VendorName "Unknown"
BoardName "Unknown"
VideoRam 4096
Chipset "sis6326"
Option "no_bitblt"
Option "sw_cursor"
# The Colour SVGA server
Section "Screen"
Driver "svga"
# Use Device "Generic VGA" for Standard VGA 320x200x256
#Device "Generic VGA"
Device "sis6326"
Monitor "sam"
DefaultColorDepth 24
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "640x480" "800x600" "1024x768" "1280x1024"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
That was it. Sorry it�s so long, but I hope I can help others with it.
By the way, the SuSe server wouldn�t work with me. I don�t know why.
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