Baslinux mailing list

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

On Mon, 9 May 2005, David Moberg wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "sindi keesan" <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
>
> > The neighbor just brought us a computer to ask if we could delete
> > her personal files from it.  The LCD screen was nearly unreadable
> > even after turning up the contrast and brightness so I plugged in a
> > VGA monitor and gave her some floppy disks to take her own files
> > off (she never knew she could add an external monitor).
> >
> > In Windows sometimes I can read the screen for a while but it keeps
> > varying in brightness.  In DOS or linux (text mode or swm) the
> > brightness is fine.  Why?


> Does this brightness continue to vary if you switch resolutions in
> Windows? This sounds like a laptop that I used to have, a Dell
> Latitude CPi.

It is at 800/16 dpi now. The same resolution in BL3 (800x600x12, which 
proably means 15-bit) with swm did not have a brightness problem, but 
neither did Windows for a while.  Windows does not offer 15-bit.

Should I try 640 in Windows or 1024?

Also, in Windows, if I tilt the screen slowly sometimes it brightens for a 
second or two.  This suggests a power problem to me.

> > This would make a nice linux computer except that
> >
> > 1.  In text mode the characters look really bad, like they are less
> > than VGA resolution (like what you get when you enlarge a small
> > photo of text to a larger area).  zgv also displays awful looking
> > jpegs, smeared.
>
> What is the native resolution of the panel? It is likely trying to
> scale everything up to its resolution with a crude algorithm (my
> old laptop did this, too).

How would I know this?  Do you mean it is something less than 640 (320?) 
and displaying text in graphical mode with 1/4 as many pixels per 
character, but badly enlarged without smoothing?  It looks sort of like a 
bad fax.

> > 2.  Xvesa worked (800x600x12) but the resolution was again awful,
> > and on exit I got a bunch of stripes (greenish, I think vertical
> > but not sure) which invaded all the terminals.  I have not checked
> > config.sys.
>
> Again, eerily similar.
>
> > When it boots into DOS it says:
> > MagicGraph 128XD 48K SVGA   - 48K what?
> > Configuring Panel 01 16-bit
>
> This must be a NeoMagic card? 48K is a model number?

Thanks, I will look this up. ------ I read about Neomagic video chips, as 
found in Gateway and Sony Vaio.  128XD - 128-bit accelerator.  Some later 
chips have 2MB (1999) or 3MB RAM, mine probably only 1MB.  I am guessing 
it is 1998.

Xfree86 4 has a neomagic driver.  For Xfree86 3.3.6 use the svga driver. 
Good chance to try out Steven's at 800x600 and 256 colors if xfbdev works 
as well as Xvesa.

There was a question in CMOS about whether to make it full screen 
horizontal and vertical.  If I answered no I might have got a nice looking 
smaller screen at 320.


> > The video is VESA 2.0 so Xvesa should have worked.  I am going to
> > try the vesafb kernel and see if it produces better text, also
> > xfbdev, and then Steven's svga package instead of Xvesa.
>
> My laptop worked perfectly with vesafb.

Good to know.  Will try this tomorrow.  First we need to figure out why 
the 40GB drive someone else gave us won't work with DOS or Windows, some 
problem with FAT tables, at least when formatting with FreeDOS, and 
whether it will let us install linux/lilo. It works some of the time with 
DOS and Windows (even installed Win98 once but not before or after). 
Having Windows on a laptop was to try out a friend's wireless card so as 
to detect if any neighbors have DSL and ask to share it.  Easier to carry 
around the house (apart from not being able to read the LCD screen - maybe 
we can power the 9" mono VGA with a battery?) in case reception is better 
in some room.  I will check if the list discussed BL with wireless PCMCIA 
card.

> > The computer is a Gateway with the Windows logo on the cover and
> > Windows keys, obviously not designed to be run outside of graphics
> > mode.  It seems to do 1024 res at 256 colors.
> >
> > 200MHz, 48MB RAM, 2G hard drive, choice of internal floppy/external
> > CD-ROM or vice versa.  A prize if it can be made to display in
> > better resolution outside of Windows.  It seems to have come with
> > Win95, judging from the CDs and certificates given to us with it,
> > but now runs Win98 (after about 10 minutes).  No other known
> > hardware problems besides the screen.
> >
> > Has anyone else run into this model computer or video?
>
> I have run into a similar issue. My recommendation is to try vesafb
> at the highest mode the graphics combination can support.

1024 256 colors.  The screen might be 11-12".

132 columns (1024 res) should give slightly bigger characters than 320 
resolution and 80 columns in half the screen (if I answered NO in CMOS to 
fill the screen).

If that fails, perhaps Xsvga and rxvt would produce readable text.

There is a PDA to go with it once she finds it, working, with keyboard, 
stylus and documentation.


> David