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baslinux - Re: [BL] SVGA X server and Tseng PCI card, was Re: Abiword in Bl2 was Re: dosemu? wp51?

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  • From: sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
  • To: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [BL] SVGA X server and Tseng PCI card, was Re: Abiword in Bl2 was Re: dosemu? wp51?
  • Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 14:13:49 +0000 (UTC)


Would some kind person (David?) compile for BL2 an xset based either on the latest code or on the same code as BL3 (SW40?). BL2 xset won't work with either Xvesa or xfbdev (which was recently compiled). Steven, where did BL3 xset come from? I recall you having problems with Abiword and BL3 and Xvesa but did not follow the details.

I have given up trying to make this Tseng video card work with SVGA X server. It works, apart from crashing on exit, with Xvesa, at up to 1280 (4-bit color) and with xfbdev.

I will first try the BL3 xset with the BL3 libX11so.6 if someone will tell me again how to point it at that instead of the BL2 library file.

Is there some other workaround not involving xset? Can Abiword for instance be told to use the same fonts that Xvesa is using in BL2 (in the wrapper script 'abiword')?

On Tue, 18 Oct 2005, sindi keesan wrote:

I found a site suggesting various ways to cure problems with SVGA server and Tseng. I tried horizsync 31.5 (fixed) and res 640x480 as the only mode (8 bit color). I tried Chipset "et6000", and Options "slow_dram", "pci_burst_off", "w32_interleave_off" and "noaccell". They suggest using a slower bus speed (33MHz - but I think I am already using that).

Another suggestion was to remove the Hercules MGA board because it can cause problems (including crashes, stray pixels, etc....)
ARGHH [TM] I am using this card BECAUSE it is supposed to work with the MGA card (it is PCI).

The full text is attached to this mail. Any other ideas what to do besides give up on this card with SVGA server?
I can switch to a plain S3 without framebuffer.

On Tue, 18 Oct 2005, sindi keesan wrote:

From August of this year (2005).

I have two computers with two PCI Tseng video cards, both VESA 2.0, which
I can use with David's framebuffer kernel to get 100 and 132 column small
text, or for xfbdev. I can also get 100 column text without framebuffer
using any Tseng card, which S3 can't do (just 132). So I am persisting in
trying to make the cards work in Linux.

BL2 xset does not work with BL2 Xvesa (from delilinux) or xfbdev (complied
by David Moberg) and therefore since Abiword requires xset to set the
fonts directory, I need to use standard X for Abiword and BL2. (BL3 xset
works properly with Xvesa). Standard X did not work correctly with rxvt
until I edited rgb.txt to correct an error (related to Black or black - I
had to add one of these, I forget which).

I can't use BL3 xset easily with BL2 because it uses a different
libX11.so.6. I think there is some way to point xset at an older version
of this library but if possible I would prefer not to get into that.

The 2.5MB Tseng video card in one computer works well with the SVGA
server because xset works with normal X (but not with Xvesa).

Both cards display with Xvesa but they crash frequently on exit from X
(making the VT unusable until I reboot). (And Abiword won't work with
Xvesa because xset won't work with it).

The second Tseng card (with 2MB RAM) won't work for me with SVGA server
and horizsync 31.5-56.4 or even lower frequencies on an IBM monitor that
worked okay with a Matrox card at 56.4 horizsync.

My other PCI video cards are not VESA 2.0 so won't do framebuffer.
My AGP video cards are VESA 2.0 but can't be used together with a Hercules
(MGA) card, which I use in order to view on two monitors at once (MGA uses
different RAM from the text part of PCI VGA). So I really want to be able
to use this PCI VESA 2.0 card with X.

When I try to run X (xinit) using SGVA X server on this second card:

Using VESA driver ..... VBE 2.0
_X11TransSocketUNIXCOnnect: Can't connect: errno = 111
(I get many repeats of this until I Ctrl-C to give up).

I set up XF86Config using xf86config (I think I also first tried Steven's
default for 256 colors, which is enough for Abiword).

BL3 works fine with Abiword and Xvesa. BL2 Xvesa won't work with BL2
xset.

So I can chroot to BL3 to run Abiword if needed, but there is still the
problem of Xvesa crashing with this Tseng card. It also sometimes freezes
up, or does other odd things (moves the screen halfway to the left and
wraps, with xpdf).

I have not tried W32 driver. It and SVGA worked equally well on the other
Tseng. Should I try it? Or attempt to make BL3 xset work in BL2 and if
so please remind me how to point it at the libc5 libX11.so.6.

I am back to this because today someone to whom I sent a text file wanted
it in WORD format. I tried VDE under dosemu, but it would not Import any
format (invalid key) and I did not want to retype the file as a WORD file.
WP5.1 does not work properly under dosemu. They were in a hurry so I did
not want to reboot into DOS, import to WP51, reformat, reboot into Linux,
and go back online to send the file. In the meantime they found someone
else to do the job in WORD.

I should have thought of using Abiword in BL3. But xpdf was also having
problems under Xvesa. And then X crashed on exit.


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




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