Baslinux mailing list

[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

On Fri, 2 Apr 2004, James Miller wrote:

> Thanks for the info, Sindi.  Could the upshot of this post be summarized
> as follows?:
> 
> If you use svgalib for applications like Links2, zgv, seejpg etc, try
> adding the line "chipset VESA" to your libvga.config file (found in /?/? )
> for better color depth and/or higher resolution.  You may need to create
> this file if it's not already on your system.

Also not that different cards with the same chipset will behave 
differently with svgalib, and that in some cases the VESA driver will 
cause crashes rather than improvements (an older PCI S3).  Try it if 
vgatest or links2 won't give you more than 640 resolution.  S3 Trio64 and 
Virge seem to work okay without VESA, wherease Trident, Tseng, ATI, Cirrus 
and SiS have problems.


/etc/vga/libvga.config

Edit the very long file that comes with svgalib.tgz or make your own:

chipset VESA
mouse PS2

[or for a serial mouse:
mouse Microsoft
mdev /dev/ttyS0    -- on comport 1 - this line may not be needed]

If you are using the file from svgalib.tgz put # in front of any
lines about mouse_accel_type that don't have it, and remove # from
mouse_accel_type off

if your mouse does not move properly (jerky, in my case it moved from 
mid-screen to the corner and stayed there).

You can also set to higher refresh rates than the default provided, and 
play with keyboard settings.

And links2.1.14 from delilinux, which seems to include ssl, requires 
elflibs (jpeg tiff and png libraries) and svgalib, whereas the links2.1.9 
from JP is statically compiled (twice the size) and does not need the 
libraries but does need a .config file for the mouse to work.  I don't 
know if you can use the VESA driver without installing svgalib itself.
I will be using links 2.1.14 (shared) and not installing 2.1.9 or 
links-ssl (0.94) and will delete 0.93 (comes with BL2).  

In addition to links2, the VESA driver is helpful if you are using lynx 
with zgv or seejpeg as a viewer, and for using bmv to view ps files 
(instead of the much larger and slower xpdf).  The bmv compiled with 
glibc2.2.5 works on my 2.1.3 system that I tried to downgrade.  I will try 
it on a pure 2.1.3 system before offering it to other people.  Maybe 
combined with Doug Kaufman's pdftops (for converting pdf to ps) and 
pdftotext so people don't need xpdf for these.  


> Does that more or less encapsulate your main points?  The "vgatest" you
> mention is a DOS utility, right?

No, it comes with svgalib, along with many other tests and little games, 
all of which should probably be run from 80x25 (standard) text mode 
because at 132x25 I just got vertical colored strips instead of the 
expected pattern.
/usr/lib/svgalib/vgatest

> 
> James
> 
> On Fri, 2 Apr 2004, Sindi Keesan wrote:
> 
> > SVGAlib is used to provide graphics for links2 (graphical mode wihtout X),
> > zgv, seejpeg, bmv (a ghostcript viewer) and is a lot easier than setting
> > up X and also smaller and faster than even Xvesa.
> >
> > But it does not always give very high resolution and color depth.  I
> > recall at least one other user writing in about poor resolution.
> >
> > On my S3 Vision 964, which goes to 1600 res in DOS and X (s3 server and
> > probably Xvesa but I can't test on my 1280 monitor), I was unable to do
> > more than 640x480x256 colors in links2 or seejpeg or zgv.
> >
> > You can see what modes are supported by links2 if you type
> > links2 -g -mode 1 and it tells you 1 is not a valid mode and lists the
> > ones that are.
> > FOr the S3 it listed only modes up to 256 colro and 640 resolution.
> >
> > A newer SiS chip worked only at 640x480x16 max in links2, and did not do
> > seejpeg or zgv at all.  I think they require 256 colors.
> >
> > A Trident, a Tseng, and an ATI would not work with seejpeg, and only the
> > Tseng worked with zgv.  A Cirrus showed blue instead of multicolor with
> > seejpeg.  Two other Cirruses worked fine with seejpeg.
> >
> > I eventually found a doc file for svgalib that said to put the line
> > chipset VESA in libvga.config, which is a file created when you installed
> > svgalib.tgz.   Links2 will run without it, but also without a mouse.
> > You can make your own file (mouse PS2 might be enough).
> >
> > JP's version of links 2.1.9 was statically compiled and worked (mouseless)
> > without sgvalib (or the jpeg png and tiff files from elflibs).  I got one
> > from Delilinx links2.1.14 which seems to include ssl as well as javascript
> > but is not static.  I installed svgalib, was able to get the mouse working
> > by choosing the correct lines in there, and today added chipset VESA.
> >
> > The Trident, which did 1600 in DOS and claimed to do 1600 with SVGAlib
> > (run vgatest from the package) would only test out at 640 16 colors.
> > The interlaced modes all gave a black screen and Ctrl-C exited it.
> > With chipset VESA it now displays 1024 resolution at 64K colors, same as
> > Xvesa (which might also do 1280 or 1600, I did not check).
> >
> > The SiS  - vgatest said it only did up to 640x480x16, which was correct.
> > With the VESA driver it goes to 1280 at 64K.  It is a new chip with 8M RAM
> > and probably does 1600 or more in DOS or with Xvesa.
> >
> > So these cards are now usable with LInks2.
> >
> > I then checked out the S3 Vision 964 which did 256 colors in SVGAlib in
> > native mode (so worked with seejpeg and zgv, in 256 colors) and vgatest
> > now indicated that it would do 36 modes including 1024 16M (which is not
> > possible with a 2M card).  I tried that and it went black and I had to
> > reboot.  I tried 1024-64K and it looked good until I tried to exit and I
> > got a pattern of green steps and had to reboot.  I tried 640x480 (I forget
> > the color depth - 256?) and it went black and I tried to exit and a faint
> > white moving pattern appeared and I had to reboot.
> >
> > To summarize - if links2 graphical is not giving you more than 640
> > resolution, try adding chipset VESA to libvga.config, then run vgatest and
> > actually test out all the modes as they might not really work.
> > And S3 or Trident or Cirrus or Alliance cards can different among
> > themselves.  Not all cards support all VESA modes, and those that do 1600
> > in DOS may do only 1024 in SVGAlib VESA.
> >
> > I will be trying out the Tseng and ATI next, both of which worked at 800
> > but not higher resolution with SVGAlib.
> >
> > A second Trident (without VESA mode) looked like the first, mostly, same
> > date (1994) but would do 256 colors in 1024 resolution and might do better
> > in VESA mode.
> >
> > These all have VESA 1.2 and 2M RAM.  Except for the Tseng they all work
> > well with Xvesa.  The Tseng does okay at 800.
> >
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