Baslinux mailing list

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

On Fri, 2 Sep 2005, David Moberg wrote:

> On 9/2/05, sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org> wrote:
> > >    There is an add-on for an x-server on the BL3 sites, which replaces
> > xvesa automatically.
> > >   Try: http://www.basiclinux.com.ru/add-ons/index.htm and get
> > no-xvesa.tgz
>
> You also need an Xserver package, correct?
>
> > I have a 75MHz Compaq laptop which did not work with xvesa or no-xvesa.tgz
> > until I added a modeline suggested by David to the XF86Config file.
> > This will give you 640x480 at 256 colors, which is all my laptop can
> > handle unless you plug in an external monitor.
> > I have posted the XF86Config file for my computer at
> > keesan.freeshell.org/bl/XF86Config.....
> > (something with wd in it in /bl/ ).  You probably have a different chip.
>
> Oh! I forgot about that little adventure. It seems that both laptops have the
> same chip.

My laptop that is now working in X in color is a later Compaq 486, 75MHz 
not 25MHz.

I checked and I also posted info about a 486 25MHz Contura Compaq which I 
had set up with linux, and it was monochrome not color, and it DID work 
with svgalib (in greyscale for zgv).  12MB RAM.  This might be what we are 
talking about here.  So the video chips might be entirely different.  I 
used zgv because xvesa would not work, I think.  I gave someone else the 
computer so I cannot check now.  It was sort of slow in graphical mode but 
not impossibly so, and looked rather nice with zgv's switch for greyscale 
(-grey?).  I forget where I got zgv - and it needed a few more libraries.
I experimented and found it used much less RAM than X.  I think I posted 
about this too.  But zgv (svgalib) won't work on my newer Compaq 486 
(75MHz).  Black screen, I think it was.

> (To the original poster:) So you should only need to install the no-xvesa.tgz
> package from the BL3 website, then install the x1/xsvga.tgz package from
> Slackware 4.0. (Get it here:
> http://slackware.osuosl.org/slackware-4.0/slakware/x1/xsvga.tgz)
> To finish the installation, get Sindi's XF86Config from:
> http://keesan.freeshell.org/bl/XF86Config.wd90c24.640 and download
> that to
> /etc/XF86Config. Move it there, do _not_ create a new directory in /etc.
> You should then be able to start X.

> Or if you prefer, you can use the xvg16 package from slackware, but you will
> be limited to 16 colors (as in muLinux) and it will probably be slower. If you
> use the XF86Config from Sindi's site then you will need to adjust the color
> depth option to 4 or less (from 8) if it will even work at all.

> > Someone else suggested running xvidtune to learn more about your monitor,
> > but how can it be run if you can't even run X?
>
> It can't. Xvidtune is mainly useful if you have a mostly-working modeline, but
> the screen goes off the edge of your monitor.

I was at one point fiddling with the horizontal sync, trying to see how 
high I could set it (50.5 or 54.5 were my answers) before the screen 
blanked out.  Would xvidtune help with this?  I just kept cutting the 
difference between 50 and 60 in half, etc.  I got one monitor to 1152 with 
xsvga (which does only 1024 with Xvesa).

 >
> > For another combination of chip and monitor, I looked up the name of the
> > MONITOR and found a modeline that worked.  In this case try looking up the
> > exact model of the computer and/or the exact video chip.
>
> I think that your configuration file should work.

> > Mine is some model of wd (Western Digital Chips and Technologies)
> > that other people had posted modelines for (for the monitor).  This is
> > the video chip used on several brands of laptop computer.
>
> His is a 486 Compaq, which is similar to your laptop, right? I think that it
> does have the same display and graphics chipset as yours.
No, his is older.

> > I don't understand the relation between video chips and monitors - in one
> > case I looked up the video chip, in the other case the monitor.

> In both cases it is the monitor which affects the modeline. Since that video
> chip is tied to a particular built-in LCD screen model, you can also search
> by chipset and find the right modeline. The modeline basically specifies
> display timings which your monitor can handle.
>
> > I think the xsvga server (used by no-xvesa)
>
> I thought that you could use other servers.

I did not try any others for the Compaq with wd chip.  xsvga works for 
Sis, S3, and Matrox, and I read that it works better than W32 now.  I used 
Steven's generic XF86Config with W32 and xsvga and modified it by 
gradually increasing hsync until it blanked out, reading the info I got on 
exit, figuring out what resolutions were possible, and adding the 
modelines for them (using hsync no higher than the maximum possible) from 
the standard config file for setups with higher resolutions than 640.

Or did you mean 'use other servers' with no-xvesa.tgz?

> > gives info about the video chip when it exits (ctrl-alt-backspace).
>
> It might roll off the screen if there is a lot of information.

Shift-PageUp to scroll back usually works - won't it work here?
(I can't check - this is the computer where Xvesa crashes on exit and I 
don't have xsvga working at all.  I may need to try xvidtune under Xvesa
to find the modeline some day).

David:  Unrelated, but my young friend is planning to download and use 
your mplayer package on his school broadband connection.  He and his new 
roommate both like classical music.

> David

keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org