Baslinux mailing list

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

On Tue, 20 Feb 2007, sindi keesan wrote:

> On Tue, 20 Feb 2007, Simon Atkinson wrote:
(I am using BL3)
> > Linux up an running on my Toshiba Libretto 100CT notebook -- not bad
> > specs: 64 MB RAM, 2 GB hard disk two PCMCIA slots etc. I installed BL3
> > on a partition running openDOS 7.01, suppressed all the relevant
> > start-up files (autoexec.bat config.sys etc) and booted up the system.
> > It seems to work fine though I can't get X to work. I suspect that the
> > current X server doesn't like the Neomagic graphics chip (I changer the
> > server at some stage)!
>
> Since I have a Neomagic chip NM-2160 (same as in your Libretto) in my
> Gateway laptop I looked up the info for it:

> The chip is said to support vesa framebuffer.   You can try my
> framebuffer kernel for 2.2.16 or 2.4.31 as a test.
> http://keesan.freeshell.org/2.2.16/zimage.fsm
> http://keesan.freeshell.org/2.4.31/bzimagla.431
>
> You would specify vga=   some mode number with loadlin to use vesafb.
> 785 for 640x480, 788 for 800x600 true-color
> There are tables for other color depths.
> I don't think 8-bit color works well here either.

vesafb works poorly with matrox and riva cards (which have their own 
framebuffer drivers).

The actual X driver used with a vesafb kernel is xfbdev, compiled for 
libc5, from David Moberg. http://keesan.freeshell.org/bl/xfbdev
It is one of the TinyX (kdrive) servers.

(Like vesafb itself, this driver causes everything to crash when used with 
matrox even with matroxfb).

Xvesa used about 20% more memory than xfbdev on this computer with matrox.
Xvesa lets you specify -screen 800x600x16 etc. when you load it.  xfbdev 
does not, but I think it loads a bit faster (nearly instantly).

Many cards are Xvesa compatible (Vesa 1.2) but won't work with xfbdev 
(needs VESA 2.0 and often that is not enough).

 Slackware 4.0 xsvga.tgz ought to work.  See Steven's no-xvesa.tgz at the
 add-ons page.

Like the three blind men and the elephant, everyone is offering a 
different way to make the video work.

What do you see if you try to use Xvesa (original server)?

Sindi