Baslinux mailing list

[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

On Sat, 20 Mar 2004, Alejandro Lieber wrote:

> Is it posible to run X in bl3 with hercules video display ?

I tried and it did not work for me.
I have a computer with both VGA and TTL/Hercules video cards and monitors.  
To be able to use the TTL/Hercules, I had to insmod mdaco.o (from 
Slackware 7.1) in rc - insmod mdacon.o with a switch to specify first and 
last consoles (mda_first_vc=1 mda_last_vc=2).  This lets me use my TTL 
monitor for consoles 1 and 2.  In BL2 I can than use console 3 in VGA, but 
in BL3 it is not usable for VGA, it is all scrambled TTL instead.

First I tested Xvesa (the X used in BL3) in VGA mode.
Xvesa -listmodes gives me a page of modes which includes 640x480x1.
The modes are only 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 (and maybe 1280x1024).
Hercules resolution is 720x350.

I had run setupX and selected 800 resolution.  But if I don't use startx 
(Steven's script) I can choose my own resolution as follows:

Xvesa -screen 640x480x1 & rxvt - this gives a mono X with a small rxvt.

Xvesa -screen 720x350x1 & rxvt -g 87x38 

gives a larger rxvt in a screen where things are taller and narrower.  
(Now I know how to use Xvesa and rxvt without a window manager or
.xinitrc, at any resolution I like!  I learned by looking at the startx
script).

So it is possible to choose a resolution not in -listmodes list.

The font is some default provided by Xvesa that is very tiny.  To choose a
larger font you can type -fn 9x17 or -fn 11x19, and you can try different
numbers after -g (geometry - columns x rows).

This resolution ought to work in Hercules mode, if anything works.

So I put the insmod line in rc to boot me into Hercules mode, and rebooted
DOS and BL3.  I have to hit F5 while booting so that DOS will not load
autoexec.bat and config.sys on this computer (not needed on three other
computers with different setups - this is the only one with MS DOS 6.22).  
I booted onto the TTL monitor (Hercules video).  I typed the above line
starting with Xvesa to start X and got a page of repeated messages:

Int 10h (0x4F09) failed.  0x4F00 (or some similar number) unknown error. 
  
Apparently Xvesa (at least what is in BL3) only works with VGA video.

The older setup with Xmono server is supposed to work with Hercules. My
Linux book (Slackware 3.2) says it will work for Monochrome VGA, also
Hercules, Hyundai HGC 1280, Sigma LaserView, Visa, and Apollo monochrome
cards.  (Are these old mono cards specific to certain paper white
monitors?)  Steven's BL2-X.tga sets you up with 16-color VGA but you can
install the other server and then, I think, modify a configuration file to
use 2-color instead of 16-color.  There is probably not enough space 
available in BL3 to install all the X packages needed for this.  

If you are on a 2-monitor computer like this, and not using mdacon, you 
will get a scrambled mess if you try to boot from the TTL screen.  Either 
changes modes to VGA first, or put a line in the boot.bat file to change 
modes before booting.

Since Xvesa won't work in TTL (mda) mode, and mdacon in BL3 won't let you
switch to VGA mode, I might set up two versions of BL3, one for use
without X, on the TTL monitor, in which mdacon sets all three consoles to
mda, and one with X on the VGA monitor, and rename fs.img for the TTL
version to fsttl.img and make a bootttl.bat file to boot it.  It would
save space to remove all the X related files from the ttl version.

It is nice to know other people are still using TTL monitors.

> Read net news (USENET) with Arachne: http://www.lieber.com.ar/nnews.zip
> Sans Serif fonts for MS-DOS at: http://www.lieber.com.ar/novafont.zip
> Configurable dialing menu for several DOS internet programs at:
> http://www.lieber.com.ar/dial_ip.zip

This looks interesting.  I will take a look at your site soon.

> 
> ---------------------
> Ing. Alejandro Lieber  
> Rosario     Argentina
> ---------------------
> 
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