Baslinux mailing list

[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

> 
> BTW Slackware 7.1 includes a database of Monitors with 
> suggested HorizSync and VertRefresh.  You will find it 
> in /slakware/x1/xdoc.tgz

I actually did look in here but none of our monitors were listed.

> 
> And here is something I found that might help you:
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> The last point is very important, because it is the one which 
> is easiest to get wrong, and easiest to fix. For example, the 
> following values will probably not work, or at best, allow 
> only 1 resolution:   HorizSync 31.5  VertRefresh 60
> 
> The reason is in the mathematics:
> * A HorizSync of 31.5 kHz allows 31.7 ms per horizontal scan line
> * A VertRefresh of 60 Hz allows 16667 ms per vertical frame
> * This requires exactly 525 lines per frame 
> 
> In short, by defining very rigid timing values for our monitor, 
> we have limited our possibilities to a very specific mode. The 
> above values would cause most video modes to be deleted, because 
> they are "beyond the capabilities of the monitor" (as specified). 
> If we're lucky, we might get a 640x480 mode which matches these 
> values.
> 
> What we should have specified is something like this:
>   HorizSync 30-55   VertRefresh 50-75
> 
> These values, taken at opposite extremes allow anything from 400 
> to 1100 scan lines. The best way to set these values is to open 
> the manual for your monitor, and look up the specifications. These 
> will give you the right values to put in here.  Don't go wild and 
> enter really extreme values, because you'll end up with video 
> modes that don't work. Or (rumor has it) you may damage the monitor. 
> If you're working without a manual, start with some conservative 
> values, and expand them gradually. The values shown above are 
> fairly conservative for today's monitors.
> 
> The symptoms of exceeding the hsync and vsync range of your 
> monitor are typically:
>     * a blank screen (most common)
>     * loss of horizontal sync (diagonal lines)
>     * loss of vertical sync (rolling display) 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------

We are putting together another computer.  I will try out various cards in 
that one with higher sync/refresh rates.  I thought BL2 was supposed to 
work with yesterday's monitors.  Ours are mostly circa 1991.  

With our two monitors that don't work with S3 cards we get a very dim and 
squashed picture at 1024 but one of them is okay at 800.  The only manual 
that I have is for the NCR monitor that does not work with S3 cards.  
People do not put the manual out at the curb with the monitor.

> 
> > lp0, deskjet 500 - I thought these matched your settings.
> > I will try dj500 instead of deskjet, some day.
> 
> Nope.
> 
> > it does epson lq1500 emulation.  Do I just change deskjet to epson?
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------
> lp|ps|PS|PostScript|epson:sh:mx#0:\
>         :lp=/dev/lp0:\
>         :sd=/var/spool/lpd/postscript:\
>         :if=/var/spool/lpd/postscript/epson.filter:\
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Note: /dev/lp0 works only if your printer comes up as
> /dev/lp0 when you do the insmods.
> 
> Directory /var/spool/lpd/                                      
> -------------------------------------------------------
> drwxr-xr-x  11 root  root  1024 Aug 19 10:24 ..                     
> drwxr-xr-x   2 root  root  1024 Jan  2 20:33 postscript             
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Directory /var/spool/lpd/postscript/
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> drwxrwxr-x   3 root  lp    1024 Sep  4 18:06 ..                     
> -rwxr-xr-x   1 ichi  bin     94 Jul 13 16:47 epson.filter           
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> 
> epson.filter
> ------------------------------------------------
> #!/bin/sh
> /usr/bin/gs -q -dSAFER -sDEVICE=epson -r180x180 
>             -sPAPERSIZE=letter -sOutputFile=- -
> ------------------------------------------------
> All those parameters must go on one line.  I split 
> them to avoid a random linefeed 
> 
> > "fatal server error:  open_framebuffer:  
> >     failed to open /dev/fb0 (no such device"
> > cat /dev/fb0:  No such device
> 
> Are you sure /dev/fb0 exists on your system?  If so, try
> adding the following parameter to the loadlin line of
> BOOT.BAT in your DOS partition:
> -------------
> devfs=nomount
> -------------

In /dev/ there is now an fb0 (and many other fb's).  What does
devfs=nomount do or mean?

It will be a while before we are at the stage of testing this on the next 
computer.  The parallel port appears to be dead so it is harder to 
transfer files.  The other parallel port seems okay.  (An extra came with 
the Hercules card - maybe it has been jumpered off?)

  
> Cheers,
> Steven
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