Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Tue, 22 Mar 2005, David Moberg wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "sindi keesan" <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
>
> > Then gs would not print (in linux or in DOS - I am starting to
> > suspect the 'new' Virge, which also scrambles the VGA screen
> > hopelessly when you exit any svgalib program, need to reboot, and
> > resizecons is having lots of problems on this hardware - the other
> > three terminals stop being usable when you resize the font on one).
>
> Whoa. So it's a good idea to stay away from the Virge?

Actually I goofed as regards svgalib.  When I removed 'chipset XVESA' from 
the svgalib config file Virge worked perfectly with svgalib.

The ATI card, on the other hand, appears to be a Mach 64, because it works 
terribly (stripey effect as Mach64, displays properly with chipset VESA 
but crashes on exit, all terminals blank).

The ATI Mach64 works fine with resizecons as far as switching between 
modes, whereas the Virge repeatedly crashes (won't even reboot) when you 
switch from 80x25 to 80x30, 80x50 to 80x25, and several others.  The ATI 
does NOT work well at all in 100 or 132 column mode - it displays as 
something that resembles 40x12 spread all over the page (double-width 
characters, but 132 of them?) instead (at least on this one computer where 
all the other cards worked).

So I do not recommend EITHER the Virge or the ATI for use with different 
numbers of columns and/or rows.

The S3 worked just fine, so did the Trident and Tseng.

I have four Virge cards.  The one in the computer with just VGA works 
perfectly with resizecons.  The other two, in a computer with an MDA card, 
even without running mdacon (to display some terminals as MDA), have the 
same problem with crashing resizecons.

Once I figure out why my modem stopped working when I changed video cards 
three times, I will test out one of the crashing Virges in a computer 
without MDA, and also test the fourth card out, both with resizecons. 
Maybe the MDA card is the problem, or maybe this particular motherboard is 
incompatible with Virge.  It is unique in working with 32MB SIMMs so 
perhaps memory allocation is peculiar.

I left a Virge in the first computer so that I could use Opera at 1280 dpi 
with wide websites.  The Trio64 only does 8-bit color at 1280 and I am 
using Xvesa.  I might switch to the S3 X server instead.

> > Is there any non-X image printing program for linux?
>
> Do the netpbm tools count?
They would if I could compile them.  I may try, and yell for help on how 
to do this statically so everyone in the list can use them.


> > I can't print
> > images in X as root or get Xvesa with rxvt working as user.  You
> > should not need to view what you are printing so why X?
>
> Can't you just kill X and print?

Is there some way to print CLI with xv?

I will try gs with Trio64 instead of Virge video card when I crawl under 
the desk again to take apart the computer to plug the cable back into 
Com2. And also try it on the computer with a Virge that is working 
correctly.

In both linux and DOS gs -sDEVICE=deskjet keeps displaying to the screen 
instead of printing on my computer with two video cards where VIRGE is 
crashing with resizecons.  The gs problem might somehow be related to the 
resizecons problem.  I tried two versions of DOS gs both of which worked 
on another computer.

> > I think I am going to need to learn to compile netpbm.
>
> I'll try and compile it. Check my website tomorrow for the binaries.

It would take me a month.  Can you do it statically?
Remind us of your URL.  Perhaps James could link to it or copy your files 
to his site.

> > Should it go away when you type reset?
>
> Not necessarily. I have experienced a similar problem with programs
> that directly touch the video hardware. Often you need to change the
> video mode to reset everything. Reset merely resets your terminal
> settings, it doesn't touch the Linux console interface.

When resizecons crashes with the Virge, I cannot change the video mode 
again.  Blank screen, computer does not respond to anything I type, and
I cannot even reboot.

On other cards than Virge, sometimes resizing the console loses me the MDA 
cursor but it comes back when I resize again to 80x25.

> > Tseng and Trident seemed to both work just fine but they only go to
> > 1280, and S3 to 1600.  Just found a free 1600 dpi monitor.  I would
> > use the Trio64V but it does not provide enough colors to do Opera
> > with Xvesa at even 1280 (needs 15-bit color).

I should learn to set up the S3 X server and use it at 1280 8-bit.

> I would like to squash this color problem once and for all, by adding
> an option to Xvesa that allows you to simulate more colors to programs
> that connect to it. Probably just a dream, but maybe it is possible.

What do you mean by this?  Fool Opera and Abiword into thinking they have 
15-bit color when they have 4-bit?

Is anyone still working on XVESA, the 8-bit color problem?  Or has it been 
abandoned for fb?

> David