From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from dc-mx09.cluster1.charter.net (dc-mx09.cluster1.charter.net [209.225.8.19]) by dsl2.external.hp.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 78D29486D for ; Fri, 23 Aug 2002 22:12:04 -0600 (MDT) Received: from [24.159.161.68] (HELO charter.net) by dc-mx09.cluster1.charter.net (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 3.5.9) with ESMTP id 63130480 for parisc-linux@lists.parisc-linux.org; Sat, 24 Aug 2002 00:11:58 -0400 Message-ID: <3D6707CC.6020408@charter.net> Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2002 00:13:00 -0400 From: "B. Douglas Hilton" MIME-Version: 1.0 To: parisc-linux@lists.parisc-linux.org Subject: Re: [parisc-linux] Voodoo2 (was: Question ...) References: <003601c24b1e$757a8120$a80251d9@PLUTO> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Sender: parisc-linux-admin@lists.parisc-linux.org Errors-To: parisc-linux-admin@lists.parisc-linux.org List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: parisc-linux developers list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: If you check back in the archives for this month Alan Cox wrote in and was talking about the V2. There is an sstfb framebuffer for the kernel, which may need some work to use with hppa. Also, XFree86 has a 2D driver for Voodoo1/2 cards which uses the glide libraries. But, yes, the V2 card is initially dead until something wakes it up, so it won't screw up the C200 firmware hardware scan. The V2 has no BIOS, so thats not an issue. Steps to get it to work: a. Compile Glide 2x on hppa (hopefully easy) b. Tweak XF86Config-4 to get it to work (shouldn't be a big deal) c. Tinker with the kernel sstfb code (probably challenging) I think that a V2 would be a nifty board for these HPPA boxen, as the documentation for the original HP cards is lost / gone, and supporting them is extremely problematic these days. And V2 cards are pretty plentiful and very inexpensive these days. Not to mention, they were real powerhouses. Most of the HP graphics cards used this top-secret "color recovery technology" which used a special dithering method to reduce graphics data to 8bpp, then the card somehow restored it to 24bpp. What this means is that for all intents and purposed all HP cards will be limited to 8bpp unless someone can reverse engineer this stuff, which is probably very unlikely to ever happen. With a V2, at least you have a good chance of 16bpp which to me is good enough. These boxes will never be big gaming rigs, but 16bpp is nice for the newer window managers and generally makes for an appealing looking display. I have a $15 V2 board winging its way to me now. I suppose I oughtta get working on compiling glide. I'll make the full debian source / binary / etc available on my little Netwinder server if it works. Tobias Giesen wrote: >>I'm going to be attempting to get a *Voodoo2* >>board working with X, so if you hang around >>I may be able to write a HOWTO-hppa-Voodoo2- >>XFree86 guide, assuming it works. > > > A very good project that is. If you can make it work I'll get one too. I > assume the Voodoo2 would be initially dead and then activated by > XFree86? Would it need a new BIOS? > > Cheers, > Tobias