Hardware specs?

Hardware specs?

[Keith O'Conor]

Hi everyone,
I'm in the position of needing to write a Radeon driver for a new system 
board being built here at our university. I figured my first steps would 
be to try and reproduce the radeonfb driver to change the resolution, 
and go from there.

Up until now I've been only developing graphics applications, so alot of 
these things are new to me - pixel clocks, horizontal timings, PLL, MTRR 
etc.etc.... it's all quite overwhelming. I've been reading as much as I 
can, but there are still big gaps in my understanding - how did everyone 
else get up to speed in this area?

My main problem is that although it's fairly easy to follow the radeonfb 
source and the fb in general, when it comes to what register does what 
I'm completely lost. Did the people who wrote the driver have technical 
specs from ATI telling them which did what? Are the specs openly 
available, only under NDA, or not at all?!

I'd really appreciate any tips anyone could give me on where I should be 
looking.
Thanks,
Keith

-- 

_____________
Keith O'Conor
Image Synthesis Group
Computer Science Department
University of Dublin, Trinity College
http://isg.cs.tcd.ie/keith



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Re: Hardware specs?

[Michel Dänzer]

On Wed, 2005-08-17 at 17:00 +0100, Keith O'Conor wrote: 
> 
> Up until now I've been only developing graphics applications, so alot of 
> these things are new to me - pixel clocks, horizontal timings, PLL, MTRR 
> etc.etc.... it's all quite overwhelming. I've been reading as much as I 
> can, but there are still big gaps in my understanding - how did everyone 
> else get up to speed in this area?

I did it basically the way you're doing it, by reading and tweaking
code. :)


> My main problem is that although it's fairly easy to follow the radeonfb 
> source and the fb in general, when it comes to what register does what 
> I'm completely lost. Did the people who wrote the driver have technical 
> specs from ATI telling them which did what? 

Some of us do, yes.

> Are the specs openly available, only under NDA, or not at all?!

Only under NDA, and I'm afraid it's hard to get them even under that
ATM. Your best way forward might be to ask specific questions about
existing code.


-- 
Earthling Michel Dänzer      |     Debian (powerpc), X and DRI developer
Libre software enthusiast    |   http://svcs.affero.net/rm.php?r=daenzer


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September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices
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Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf

Re: Hardware specs?

[Keith O'Conor]

Thanks for the reply. I've applied to the ATI Developer Relations 
program under the project I'm working on, maybe they'll see fit to give 
me some manuals - I'm only looking for details on chips circa 9200, 
nothing too recent.

Until then, I've dug up Voodoo3 and Matrox G400 datasheets - I'll go 
through the relevant code armed with these and see if I can figure 
things out that way. I'm sure I'll have a question or two to ask you on 
the way!

Thanks,
Keith

Michel Dänzer wrote:

>On Wed, 2005-08-17 at 17:00 +0100, Keith O'Conor wrote: 
>  
>
>>Up until now I've been only developing graphics applications, so alot of 
>>these things are new to me - pixel clocks, horizontal timings, PLL, MTRR 
>>etc.etc.... it's all quite overwhelming. I've been reading as much as I 
>>can, but there are still big gaps in my understanding - how did everyone 
>>else get up to speed in this area?
>>    
>>
>
>I did it basically the way you're doing it, by reading and tweaking
>code. :)
>
>
>  
>
>>My main problem is that although it's fairly easy to follow the radeonfb 
>>source and the fb in general, when it comes to what register does what 
>>I'm completely lost. Did the people who wrote the driver have technical 
>>specs from ATI telling them which did what? 
>>    
>>
>
>Some of us do, yes.
>
>  
>
>>Are the specs openly available, only under NDA, or not at all?!
>>    
>>
>
>Only under NDA, and I'm afraid it's hard to get them even under that
>ATM. Your best way forward might be to ask specific questions about
>existing code.
>
>
>  
>

_____________
Keith O'Conor
Image Synthesis Group
Computer Science Department
University of Dublin, Trinity College
http://isg.cs.tcd.ie/keith



-------------------------------------------------------
SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO
September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices
Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA
Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf