Framebuffer detection problems, 2.4.9

Framebuffer detection problems, 2.4.9

[Michael Peddemors]

I seldom dive into the graphical end of things myself, but this one has
had me stumped for the last week and a half..

I have a working ThinClient setup, that loads it's kernel via tftpd and
mknbi, with the 'vga=ask' option..
On one machine, with a Cirrus Logic card, (Cirrus Framebuffer support
compiled in) things work fine, but on all my other boxes with VESA
complaint cards, I cannot get it to use the VESA framebuffer, or
seemingly to detect the VESA devices with this kernel, although we can
on detect and pass modes using LILO on similar kernels.

I have of course read as many how-to's as possible, and the svga.txt
file seems to indicate that if I use the vga=ask option, and then run
scan it should show all VESA modes as well, (It does detect it as a VESA
VGA card), but the /fb/vesafb.txt seems to indicate that it won't show
the modes..

I see that in video.S CONFIG_VIDEO_VESA is harddefined, but I cannot
quite understand why I cannot enter a VESA mode that works..
I tried 313, 0313, and the decimal equivs 787 and 0787 but it keeps
returning that as an invalid mode..  This occurs on several machines,
all with recent video cards, that are VESA compliant, and listed as
compatible.. the motherboards all use recent BIOS's but still no joy..

I will accept help here, or can someone point me to a good mailing list
to work this out?

-- 
"Catch the Magic of Linux..."
--------------------------------------------------------
Michael Peddemors - Senior Consultant
LinuxAdministration - Internet Services
NetworkServices - Programming - Security
Wizard IT Services http://www.wizard.ca
Linux Support Specialist - http://www.linuxmagic.com
--------------------------------------------------------
(604)589-0037 Beautiful British Columbia, Canada

Re: Framebuffer detection problems, 2.4.9

[Steven Walter]

On Tue, Oct 09, 2001 at 04:38:15PM -0700, Michael Peddemors wrote:
> I seldom dive into the graphical end of things myself, but this one has
> had me stumped for the last week and a half..
> 
> I have a working ThinClient setup, that loads it's kernel via tftpd and
> mknbi, with the 'vga=ask' option..
> On one machine, with a Cirrus Logic card, (Cirrus Framebuffer support
> compiled in) things work fine, but on all my other boxes with VESA
> complaint cards, I cannot get it to use the VESA framebuffer, or
> seemingly to detect the VESA devices with this kernel, although we can
> on detect and pass modes using LILO on similar kernels.
> 
> I have of course read as many how-to's as possible, and the svga.txt
> file seems to indicate that if I use the vga=ask option, and then run
> scan it should show all VESA modes as well, (It does detect it as a VESA
> VGA card), but the /fb/vesafb.txt seems to indicate that it won't show
> the modes..

It doesn't show the modes.  You have to enter one yourself, or tell it
to LILO.  /fb/vesafb.txt has more information about the varying modes
availible.  Read the whole file if you haven't already.  Be sure to add
0x200 as documented.

> I see that in video.S CONFIG_VIDEO_VESA is harddefined, but I cannot
> quite understand why I cannot enter a VESA mode that works..
> I tried 313, 0313, and the decimal equivs 787 and 0787 but it keeps
> returning that as an invalid mode..  This occurs on several machines,
> all with recent video cards, that are VESA compliant, and listed as
> compatible.. the motherboards all use recent BIOS's but still no joy..
> 
> I will accept help here, or can someone point me to a good mailing list
> to work this out?
> 
> -- 
> "Catch the Magic of Linux..."
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Michael Peddemors - Senior Consultant
> LinuxAdministration - Internet Services
> NetworkServices - Programming - Security
> Wizard IT Services http://www.wizard.ca
> Linux Support Specialist - http://www.linuxmagic.com
> --------------------------------------------------------
> (604)589-0037 Beautiful British Columbia, Canada
> 
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/

-- 
-Steven
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
			-- George Orwell
Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. War is peace.
			-- George Orwell
Those that would give up a necessary freedom for temporary safety
deserver neither freedom nor safety.
			-- Ben Franklin

Re: Framebuffer detection problems, 2.4.9

[Steven Walter]

On Tue, Oct 09, 2001 at 05:55:26PM -0700, Michael Peddemors wrote:
> Of course I have read /fb/vesafb.txt, as it show on the line above your
> response :) But I still get unknown mode id, no matter what I seem to
> do..
> Adding the 200 should result in 0x313, which is entered at the vga ask
> prompt as 0313, which is the mode for 800x600x32k colors, which is a
> nice low default for most video card/monitor combinations..  Otherwise I
> wouldn't have posted to LKML.... Any other reasons why we would get an
> 'Unknown mode ID'? 

You seem to be doing everything correctly... perhaps drop the leading
zero?
-- 
-Steven
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
			-- George Orwell
Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. War is peace.
			-- George Orwell
Those that would give up a necessary freedom for temporary safety
deserver neither freedom nor safety.
			-- Ben Franklin