VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Sasa Ostrouska]

Hi ,

I want to ask one question about a custom resolution in the console.
I have a Sony Vaio Laptop VGN-SZ2VP/X, the screen resolution is
1280x800, now I'm using the vga=773 which is an 1024x768 but this is
ugly as I get a border of about 2-3cm on one the sides of the screen.
So is there a way that I set the 1280x800 resolution at boot time ?

If this is not for this list, please excuse me.

Rgds
Sasa Ostrouska

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Jesper Juhl]

On 17/07/07, Sasa Ostrouska <casaxa@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi ,
>
> I want to ask one question about a custom resolution in the console.
> I have a Sony Vaio Laptop VGN-SZ2VP/X, the screen resolution is
> 1280x800, now I'm using the vga=773 which is an 1024x768 but this is
> ugly as I get a border of about 2-3cm on one the sides of the screen.
> So is there a way that I set the 1280x800 resolution at boot time ?
>
See these documents:
 Documentation/fb/vesafb.txt
 Documentation/fb/fbcon.txt
 Documentation/svga.txt
 Documentation/i386/boot.txt
 Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt

Have you tried something like this?
 vga=0x360 video=vesafb:mtrr,1280x800-16@72


-- 
Jesper Juhl <jesper.juhl@gmail.com>
Don't top-post  http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/T/top-post.html
Plain text mails only, please      http://www.expita.com/nomime.html

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Renato S. Yamane]

Sasa Ostrouska escreveu:
> I want to ask one question about a custom resolution in the console.
> I have a Sony Vaio Laptop VGN-SZ2VP/X, the screen resolution is
> 1280x800, now I'm using the vga=773 which is an 1024x768 but this is
> ugly as I get a border of about 2-3cm on one the sides of the screen.
> So is there a way that I set the 1280x800 resolution at boot time ?

Use vga=866 to set 1280x800 in boot time.
In Documentation/fb/vesafb.txt is commented only 1280x1024, but in same 
man page is commented that you can read /Documentation/svga.txt and in 
this document you can find this:

** Short intro for the impatient: Just use vga=ask for the first time,
** enter `scan' on the video mode prompt, pick the mode you want to use,
** remember its mode ID (the four-digit hexadecimal number) and then
** set the vga parameter to this number (converted to decimal first).

Regards,
Renato S. Yamane

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Sasa Ostrouska]

On 7/17/07, Renato S. Yamane <renatoyamane@mandic.com.br> wrote:
> Sasa Ostrouska escreveu:
> > I want to ask one question about a custom resolution in the console.
> > I have a Sony Vaio Laptop VGN-SZ2VP/X, the screen resolution is
> > 1280x800, now I'm using the vga=773 which is an 1024x768 but this is
> > ugly as I get a border of about 2-3cm on one the sides of the screen.
> > So is there a way that I set the 1280x800 resolution at boot time ?
>
> Use vga=866 to set 1280x800 in boot time.
> In Documentation/fb/vesafb.txt is commented only 1280x1024, but in same
> man page is commented that you can read /Documentation/svga.txt and in
> this document you can find this:
>
> ** Short intro for the impatient: Just use vga=ask for the first time,
> ** enter `scan' on the video mode prompt, pick the mode you want to use,
> ** remember its mode ID (the four-digit hexadecimal number) and then
> ** set the vga parameter to this number (converted to decimal first).
>
> Regards,
> Renato S. Yamane
>

Many many thanks for your quick answers, I will try those solutions.

Rgds
Sasa

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Gerd Hoffmann]

Renato S. Yamane wrote:
> Sasa Ostrouska escreveu:
> ** Short intro for the impatient: Just use vga=ask for the first time,
> ** enter `scan' on the video mode prompt, pick the mode you want to use,
> ** remember its mode ID (the four-digit hexadecimal number) and then
> ** set the vga parameter to this number (converted to decimal first).

"scan" lists text modes only, not the graphical ones.  Now we have the
i386 boot code rewritten in C.  Should make it alot easier to add them
to the menu ...

cheers,
  Gerd

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Antonino A. Daplas]

On Tue, 2007-07-17 at 16:13 +0200, Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> Hi ,
> 
> I want to ask one question about a custom resolution in the console.
> I have a Sony Vaio Laptop VGN-SZ2VP/X, the screen resolution is
> 1280x800, now I'm using the vga=773 which is an 1024x768 but this is
> ugly as I get a border of about 2-3cm on one the sides of the screen.
> So is there a way that I set the 1280x800 resolution at boot time ?

1280x800 is not a VESA standard, so you have to find out the vendor mode
ID for it.  You can use vbetest to list all modes supported by your
card. Or if you don't have vbetest, use X plus the 'vesa' driver and
look at /var/log/X*.log.

Choose the mode ID number you want, add 0x200 and use that.

Tony

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Sasa Ostrouska]

On 7/17/07, Antonino A. Daplas <adaplas@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 2007-07-17 at 16:13 +0200, Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> > Hi ,
> >
> > I want to ask one question about a custom resolution in the console.
> > I have a Sony Vaio Laptop VGN-SZ2VP/X, the screen resolution is
> > 1280x800, now I'm using the vga=773 which is an 1024x768 but this is
> > ugly as I get a border of about 2-3cm on one the sides of the screen.
> > So is there a way that I set the 1280x800 resolution at boot time ?
>
> 1280x800 is not a VESA standard, so you have to find out the vendor mode
> ID for it.  You can use vbetest to list all modes supported by your
> card. Or if you don't have vbetest, use X plus the 'vesa' driver and
> look at /var/log/X*.log.
>
> Choose the mode ID number you want, add 0x200 and use that.
>
> Tony

Tony, thats a nice one, I will try it, as the previous 2 proposed
didnt work for me.
Thx
Sasa

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Daniel Drake]

Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> I want to ask one question about a custom resolution in the console.
> I have a Sony Vaio Laptop VGN-SZ2VP/X, the screen resolution is
> 1280x800, now I'm using the vga=773 which is an 1024x768 but this is
> ugly as I get a border of about 2-3cm on one the sides of the screen.
> So is there a way that I set the 1280x800 resolution at boot time ?

I don't think vesafb can do what you want. However, uvesafb probably can.

http://dev.gentoo.org/~spock/projects/uvesafb/

Daniel

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Sasa Ostrouska]

On 7/18/07, Daniel Drake <dsd@gentoo.org> wrote:
> Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> > I want to ask one question about a custom resolution in the console.
> > I have a Sony Vaio Laptop VGN-SZ2VP/X, the screen resolution is
> > 1280x800, now I'm using the vga=773 which is an 1024x768 but this is
> > ugly as I get a border of about 2-3cm on one the sides of the screen.
> > So is there a way that I set the 1280x800 resolution at boot time ?
>
> I don't think vesafb can do what you want. However, uvesafb probably can.
>
> http://dev.gentoo.org/~spock/projects/uvesafb/
>
> Daniel

Daniel you seem to be right, as till now, no one of those solutions
for me worked, I always end up or with a non recognised option or a
small square 640x480 pixels where I see the console. I need to try
still the vbetest thing what Mr. Daplas proposed.

In any case this laptop has an screen of 16:10 aspect ratio and I
belive would be good
to have those modes in the vesafb driver.

Rgds
Sasa

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Geert Uytterhoeven]

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> On 7/18/07, Daniel Drake <dsd@gentoo.org> wrote:
> > Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> > > I want to ask one question about a custom resolution in the console.
> > > I have a Sony Vaio Laptop VGN-SZ2VP/X, the screen resolution is
> > > 1280x800, now I'm using the vga=773 which is an 1024x768 but this is
> > > ugly as I get a border of about 2-3cm on one the sides of the screen.
> > > So is there a way that I set the 1280x800 resolution at boot time ?
> > 
> > I don't think vesafb can do what you want. However, uvesafb probably can.
> > 
> > http://dev.gentoo.org/~spock/projects/uvesafb/
> > 
> > Daniel
> 
> Daniel you seem to be right, as till now, no one of those solutions
> for me worked, I always end up or with a non recognised option or a
> small square 640x480 pixels where I see the console. I need to try
> still the vbetest thing what Mr. Daplas proposed.
> 
> In any case this laptop has an screen of 16:10 aspect ratio and I
> belive would be good
> to have those modes in the vesafb driver.

There are no modes in the vesafb driver. The vesafb driver uses the
video mode that was set by the BIOS before starting Linux.

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

						Geert

--
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@linux-m68k.org

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
							    -- Linus Torvalds

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Sasa Ostrouska]

On 7/18/07, Geert Uytterhoeven <geert@linux-m68k.org> wrote:
> On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> > On 7/18/07, Daniel Drake <dsd@gentoo.org> wrote:
> > > Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> > > > I want to ask one question about a custom resolution in the console.
> > > > I have a Sony Vaio Laptop VGN-SZ2VP/X, the screen resolution is
> > > > 1280x800, now I'm using the vga=773 which is an 1024x768 but this is
> > > > ugly as I get a border of about 2-3cm on one the sides of the screen.
> > > > So is there a way that I set the 1280x800 resolution at boot time ?
> > >
> > > I don't think vesafb can do what you want. However, uvesafb probably can.
> > >
> > > http://dev.gentoo.org/~spock/projects/uvesafb/
> > >
> > > Daniel
> >
> > Daniel you seem to be right, as till now, no one of those solutions
> > for me worked, I always end up or with a non recognised option or a
> > small square 640x480 pixels where I see the console. I need to try
> > still the vbetest thing what Mr. Daplas proposed.
> >
> > In any case this laptop has an screen of 16:10 aspect ratio and I
> > belive would be good
> > to have those modes in the vesafb driver.
>
> There are no modes in the vesafb driver. The vesafb driver uses the
> video mode that was set by the BIOS before starting Linux.
>
> Gr{oetje,eeting}s,
>
>                                                 Geert
>

Geert, in that case what should i do to use the full screen, probably
usind another driver ?
This laptop has 2 graphic cards in it. One is a Intel 915 another is
the nVidia GeForce 7400. I manly use the nvidia one when i'm on AC
adapter.
So how can I do to set the console to 1280x800 ?

Rgds
Sasa

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Geert Uytterhoeven]

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> On 7/18/07, Geert Uytterhoeven <geert@linux-m68k.org> wrote:
> > On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> > > On 7/18/07, Daniel Drake <dsd@gentoo.org> wrote:
> > > > Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> > > > > I want to ask one question about a custom resolution in the console.
> > > > > I have a Sony Vaio Laptop VGN-SZ2VP/X, the screen resolution is
> > > > > 1280x800, now I'm using the vga=773 which is an 1024x768 but this is
> > > > > ugly as I get a border of about 2-3cm on one the sides of the screen.
> > > > > So is there a way that I set the 1280x800 resolution at boot time ?
> > > >
> > > > I don't think vesafb can do what you want. However, uvesafb probably
> > can.
> > > >
> > > > http://dev.gentoo.org/~spock/projects/uvesafb/
> > > >
> > > > Daniel
> > >
> > > Daniel you seem to be right, as till now, no one of those solutions
> > > for me worked, I always end up or with a non recognised option or a
> > > small square 640x480 pixels where I see the console. I need to try
> > > still the vbetest thing what Mr. Daplas proposed.
> > >
> > > In any case this laptop has an screen of 16:10 aspect ratio and I
> > > belive would be good
> > > to have those modes in the vesafb driver.
> > 
> > There are no modes in the vesafb driver. The vesafb driver uses the
> > video mode that was set by the BIOS before starting Linux.
> > 
> Geert, in that case what should i do to use the full screen, probably
> usind another driver ?

Yes, you can use a driver for one of yours graphics adapters.

> This laptop has 2 graphic cards in it. One is a Intel 915 another is
> the nVidia GeForce 7400. I manly use the nvidia one when i'm on AC
> adapter.
> So how can I do to set the console to 1280x800 ?

Use nvidiafb and video=1280x800?

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

						Geert

--
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@linux-m68k.org

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
							    -- Linus Torvalds

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Al Boldi]

Geert Uytterhoeven wrote:
> On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> > Daniel you seem to be right, as till now, no one of those solutions
> > for me worked, I always end up or with a non recognised option or a
> > small square 640x480 pixels where I see the console. I need to try
> > still the vbetest thing what Mr. Daplas proposed.
> >
> > In any case this laptop has an screen of 16:10 aspect ratio and I
> > belive would be good
> > to have those modes in the vesafb driver.
>
> There are no modes in the vesafb driver. The vesafb driver uses the
> video mode that was set by the BIOS before starting Linux.

I have a similar problem with an onboard VIA-UniChrome chip, driven through 
an out-of-tree vendor-supplied driver just to get 85Hz refresh.  Other than 
the pain of maintaining this driver out-of-tree, I have to contend with a 
50% speed reduction compared to vesafb.

vesafb is probably the most important display driver for compatibility 
reasons, and as such should support a large range of functionality.

Is there any technical reason why vesafb shouldn't support non-BIOS modes?


Thanks!

--
Al

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Antonino A. Daplas]

On Wed, 2007-07-18 at 13:42 +0300, Al Boldi wrote:
> Geert Uytterhoeven wrote:
> > On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> Is there any technical reason why vesafb shouldn't support non-BIOS modes?
> 

vesafb can only use modes included by the vendor in the card's BIOS. The
mode table contains standard modes defined by VESA, and perhaps
vendor-defined custom modes. However, the mode ID of custom modes varies
from card to card, so you have to 'probe' the BIOS first for the list of
modes and their associated ID.  X + the 'vesa' driver does that probe,
and so does the lrmi tool vbetest.
 
So, one cannot just set any mode, unless that mode is already defined in
the BIOS mode table. In VBE 3.0, you might be able to choose an
arbitrary vertical refresh rate, but that's the best mode tuning you can
do with the video BIOS. 

Tony

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Al Boldi]

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Antonino A. Daplas wrote:
> On Wed, 2007-07-18 at 13:42 +0300, Al Boldi wrote:
> > Geert Uytterhoeven wrote:
> > > On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> >
> > Is there any technical reason why vesafb shouldn't support non-BIOS
> > modes?
>
> vesafb can only use modes included by the vendor in the card's BIOS. The
> mode table contains standard modes defined by VESA, and perhaps
> vendor-defined custom modes. However, the mode ID of custom modes varies
> from card to card, so you have to 'probe' the BIOS first for the list of
> modes and their associated ID.  X + the 'vesa' driver does that probe,
> and so does the lrmi tool vbetest.
>
> So, one cannot just set any mode, unless that mode is already defined in
> the BIOS mode table. In VBE 3.0, you might be able to choose an
> arbitrary vertical refresh rate, but that's the best mode tuning you can
> do with the video BIOS.

Thanks for a great explanation!

Looks like this chip supports VBE 3.0, but it only locks into 60Hz refresh.  
Here is an excerpt; full log attached.


Thanks!

============================
(II) Loading sub module "vbe"
(II) LoadModule: "vbe"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libvbe.a
(II) Module vbe: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
	compiled for 4.3.0, module version = 1.1.0
	ABI class: XFree86 Video Driver, version 0.6
(II) Loading sub module "int10"
(II) LoadModule: "int10"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/linux/libint10.a
(II) Module int10: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
	compiled for 4.3.0, module version = 1.0.0
	ABI class: XFree86 Video Driver, version 0.6
(II) VESA(0): initializing int10
(II) VESA(0): Primary V_BIOS segment is: 0xc000
(II) VESA(0): VESA BIOS detected
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE Version 3.0
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE Total Mem: 16384 kB
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM: VIA P4M800 PRO

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Software Rev: 1.0
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: 
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: 
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: 
(**) VESA(0): Depth 16, (--) framebuffer bpp 16
(==) VESA(0): RGB weight 565
(==) VESA(0): Default visual is TrueColor
(==) VESA(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
(II) Loading sub module "ddc"
(II) LoadModule: "ddc"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libddc.a
(II) Module ddc: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
	compiled for 4.3.0, module version = 1.0.0
	ABI class: XFree86 Video Driver, version 0.6
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE DDC supported
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE DDC Level 2
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE DDC transfer in appr. 1 sec.
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE DDC read successfully
(II) VESA(0): Manufacturer: API  Model: 9805  Serial#: 1209
(II) VESA(0): Year: 2002  Week: 8
(II) VESA(0): EDID Version: 1.3
(II) VESA(0): Analog Display Input,  Input Voltage Level: 0.700/0.300 V
(II) VESA(0): Sync:  Separate
(II) VESA(0): Max H-Image Size [cm]: horiz.: 31  vert.: 23
(II) VESA(0): Gamma: 2.90
(II) VESA(0): DPMS capabilities: StandBy Suspend Off; RGB/Color Display
(II) VESA(0): First detailed timing is preferred mode
(II) VESA(0): redX: 0.645 redY: 0.320   greenX: 0.273 greenY: 0.593
(II) VESA(0): blueX: 0.143 blueY: 0.063   whiteX: 0.282 whiteY: 0.297
(II) VESA(0): Supported VESA Video Modes:
(II) VESA(0): 720x400@70Hz
(II) VESA(0): 640x480@60Hz
(II) VESA(0): 640x480@72Hz
(II) VESA(0): 640x480@75Hz
(II) VESA(0): 800x600@56Hz
(II) VESA(0): 800x600@60Hz
(II) VESA(0): 800x600@72Hz
(II) VESA(0): 800x600@75Hz
(II) VESA(0): 1024x768@60Hz
(II) VESA(0): 1024x768@70Hz
(II) VESA(0): 1024x768@75Hz
(II) VESA(0): 1280x1024@75Hz
(II) VESA(0): Manufacturer's mask: 0
(II) VESA(0): Supported Future Video Modes:
(II) VESA(0): #0: hsize: 800  vsize 600  refresh: 85  vid: 22853
(II) VESA(0): #1: hsize: 1024  vsize 768  refresh: 85  vid: 22881
(II) VESA(0): #2: hsize: 1600  vsize 1200  refresh: 60  vid: 16553
(II) VESA(0): #3: hsize: 1600  vsize 1200  refresh: 65  vid: 17833
(II) VESA(0): Supported additional Video Mode:
(II) VESA(0): clock: 94.5 MHz   Image Size:  310 x 230 mm
(II) VESA(0): h_active: 1024  h_sync: 1072  h_sync_end 1168 h_blank_end 1376 
h_border: 0
(II) VESA(0): v_active: 768  v_sync: 769  v_sync_end 772 v_blanking: 808 
v_border: 0
(II) VESA(0): Monitor name: Acer G781
(II) VESA(0): Serial No: 01209
(II) VESA(0): Ranges: V min: 50  V max: 120 Hz, H min: 30  H max: 86 kHz, 
PixClock max 130 MHz
 :
 :
(II) VESA(0): Total Memory: 256 64KB banks (16384kB)
(II) VESA(0): monitor1: Using hsync range of 30.00-86.00 kHz
(II) VESA(0): monitor1: Using vrefresh range of 50.00-120.00 Hz
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "1600x1200" (width too large for 
virtual size)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "1280x1024" (width too large for 
virtual size)
(--) VESA(0): Virtual size is 1024x768 (pitch 1024)
(**) VESA(0): *Built-in mode "1024x768"
(**) VESA(0): *Built-in mode "800x600"
(**) VESA(0): *Built-in mode "640x480"
(--) VESA(0): Display dimensions: (310, 230) mm
(--) VESA(0): DPI set to (83, 84)
(II) VESA(0): Attempting to use 85Hz refresh for mode "1024x768" (117)
(II) VESA(0): Attempting to use 85Hz refresh for mode "800x600" (114)
(II) VESA(0): Attempting to use 85Hz refresh for mode "640x480" (111)
(**) VESA(0): Using "Shadow Framebuffer"
(II) Loading sub module "shadow"
(II) LoadModule: "shadow"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libshadow.a
(II) Module shadow: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
	compiled for 4.3.0, module version = 1.0.0
	ABI class: XFree86 ANSI C Emulation, version 0.2
(II) Loading sub module "fb"
(II) LoadModule: "fb"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libfb.a
(II) Module fb: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
	compiled for 4.3.0, module version = 1.0.0
	ABI class: XFree86 ANSI C Emulation, version 0.2
(II) do I need RAC?  No, I don't.
 :
 :
(II) LoadModule: "int10"
(II) Reloading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/linux/libint10.a
(II) VESA(0): initializing int10
(II) VESA(0): Primary V_BIOS segment is: 0xc000
(II) VESA(0): VESA BIOS detected
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE Version 3.0
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE Total Mem: 16384 kB
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM: VIA P4M800 PRO

(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Software Rev: 1.0
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: 
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: 
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: 
(==) VESA(0): Write-combining range (0xf4000000,0x1000000)
(II) VESA(0): virtual address = 0xb6d7f000,
	physical address = 0xf4000000, size = 16777216
(II) VESA(0): VBESetVBEMode failed...Tried again without customized values.

--
Al



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Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Antonino A. Daplas]

On Wed, 2007-07-18 at 16:45 +0300, Al Boldi wrote:
> Antonino A. Daplas wrote:
> > On Wed, 2007-07-18 at 13:42 +0300, Al Boldi wrote:
> > > Geert Uytterhoeven wrote:
> > > > On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> > >
> > > Is there any technical reason why vesafb shouldn't support non-BIOS
> > > modes?
> >
> > vesafb can only use modes included by the vendor in the card's BIOS. The
> > mode table contains standard modes defined by VESA, and perhaps
> > vendor-defined custom modes. However, the mode ID of custom modes varies
> > from card to card, so you have to 'probe' the BIOS first for the list of
> > modes and their associated ID.  X + the 'vesa' driver does that probe,
> > and so does the lrmi tool vbetest.
> >
> > So, one cannot just set any mode, unless that mode is already defined in
> > the BIOS mode table. In VBE 3.0, you might be able to choose an
> > arbitrary vertical refresh rate, but that's the best mode tuning you can
> > do with the video BIOS.
> 
> Thanks for a great explanation!
> 
> Looks like this chip supports VBE 3.0, but it only locks into 60Hz refresh.  
> Here is an excerpt; full log attached.
> 
> 

What you need to look at the X log is this particular part (this is the
output of my card, and for the sake of brevity, I removed the
descriptive sections):

Mode: 100 (640x400)
Mode: 101 (640x480)
Mode: 102 (800x600)
Mode: 103 (800x600)
Mode: 104 (1024x768)
Mode: 105 (1024x768)
Mode: 106 (1280x1024)
Mode: 107 (1280x1024)
*Mode: 10e (320x200)
Mode: 10f (320x200)
*Mode: 111 (640x480)
Mode: 112 (640x480)
*Mode: 114 (800x600)
Mode: 115 (800x600)
*Mode: 117 (1024x768)
Mode: 118 (1024x768)
Mode: 11a (1280x1024)
Mode: 11b (1280x1024)
Mode: 130 (320x200)
Mode: 131 (320x400)
*Mode: 132 (320x400)
Mode: 133 (320x400)
Mode: 134 (320x240)
*Mode: 135 (320x240)
Mode: 136 (320x240)
*Mode: 13d (640x400)
Mode: 13e (640x400)
Mode: 145 (1600x1200)
Mode: 146 (1600x1200)
Mode: 147 (1400x1050)
Mode: 148 (1400x1050)
Mode: 152 (2048x1536)

The list of modes include standard VESA modes and custom modes such as
2048x1536.  So, if I want to use this mode for vesafb, I will add
vga=0x352 (0x152 + 0x200) to my boot line.

Tony

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Al Boldi]

Antonino A. Daplas wrote:
> On Wed, 2007-07-18 at 16:45 +0300, Al Boldi wrote:
> > Antonino A. Daplas wrote:
> > > On Wed, 2007-07-18 at 13:42 +0300, Al Boldi wrote:
> > > > Geert Uytterhoeven wrote:
> > > > > On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Is there any technical reason why vesafb shouldn't support non-BIOS
> > > > modes?
> > >
> > > vesafb can only use modes included by the vendor in the card's BIOS.
> > > The mode table contains standard modes defined by VESA, and perhaps
> > > vendor-defined custom modes. However, the mode ID of custom modes
> > > varies from card to card, so you have to 'probe' the BIOS first for
> > > the list of modes and their associated ID.  X + the 'vesa' driver does
> > > that probe, and so does the lrmi tool vbetest.
> > >
> > > So, one cannot just set any mode, unless that mode is already defined
> > > in the BIOS mode table. In VBE 3.0, you might be able to choose an
> > > arbitrary vertical refresh rate, but that's the best mode tuning you
> > > can do with the video BIOS.
> >
> > Thanks for a great explanation!
> >
> > Looks like this chip supports VBE 3.0, but it only locks into 60Hz
> > refresh. Here is an excerpt; full log attached.
>
> What you need to look at the X log is this particular part (this is the
> output of my card, and for the sake of brevity, I removed the
> descriptive sections):

Here are mine; I tried them all, and they always lock into 60Hz refresh.

Mode: 101 (640x480)
Mode: 112 (640x480)
Mode: 103 (800x600)
Mode: 115 (800x600)
Mode: 105 (1024x768)
Mode: 118 (1024x768)
Mode: 179 (1280x768)
Mode: 17b (1280x768)
Mode: 107 (1280x1024)
Mode: 11b (1280x1024)
Mode: 120 (1600x1200)
Mode: 122 (1600x1200)
Mode: 124 (1600x1200)
Mode: 199 (1920x1440)
Mode: 19a (1920x1440)
Mode: 19b (1920x1440)
Mode: 22e (800x480)
Mode: 230 (800x480)
Mode: 108 (80x60)
Mode: 102 (800x600)


What about the VBE 3.0 arbitrary vertical refresh rate thing?


Thanks!

--
Al

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Antonino A. Daplas]

On Wed, 2007-07-18 at 17:52 +0300, Al Boldi wrote:
> Antonino A. Daplas wrote:
> > On Wed, 2007-07-18 at 16:45 +0300, Al Boldi wrote:
> > > Antonino A. Daplas wrote:
> > > > On Wed, 2007-07-18 at 13:42 +0300, Al Boldi wrote:
> > > > > Geert Uytterhoeven wrote:
> > > > > > On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Sasa Ostrouska wrote:
> > > > >

> What about the VBE 3.0 arbitrary vertical refresh rate thing?

This is not implemented by the video-vesa.c because it will require
complex calculations of mode timings (such as with GTF) to be done
before starting the kernel.  However, uvesafb probably does.

Tony

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[H. Peter Anvin]

Antonino A. Daplas wrote:
> 
>> What about the VBE 3.0 arbitrary vertical refresh rate thing?
> 
> This is not implemented by the video-vesa.c because it will require
> complex calculations of mode timings (such as with GTF) to be done
> before starting the kernel.  However, uvesafb probably does.
> 

There is no real reason video-vesa.c couldn't do those calculations, but
it would have to get the information from the command line proper and
not just from the 16-bit vga= mode number.  That is a minor
complication, but not significant (the new setup code has a proper
command line parser.)

The desirability of it is another matter, especially since it wouldn't
let any switching happen at runtime.

	-hpa

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Antonino A. Daplas]

On Wed, 2007-07-18 at 10:38 -0700, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> Antonino A. Daplas wrote:
> > 
> >> What about the VBE 3.0 arbitrary vertical refresh rate thing?
> > 
> > This is not implemented by the video-vesa.c because it will require
> > complex calculations of mode timings (such as with GTF) to be done
> > before starting the kernel.  However, uvesafb probably does.
> > 
> 
> There is no real reason video-vesa.c couldn't do those calculations, but
> it would have to get the information from the command line proper and
> not just from the 16-bit vga= mode number.  That is a minor
> complication, but not significant (the new setup code has a proper
> command line parser.)
> 
> The desirability of it is another matter, especially since it wouldn't
> let any switching happen at runtime.

Yes, it's a lot of extra code that will be used only once, I would
rather not have it in the setup code. It's more appropriate for uvesafb
to implement that functionality.

Tony

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Matan Ziv-Av]

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Antonino A. Daplas wrote:

> So, one cannot just set any mode, unless that mode is already defined in
> the BIOS mode table. In VBE 3.0, you might be able to choose an
> arbitrary vertical refresh rate, but that's the best mode tuning you can
> do with the video BIOS.

Theoretically, not correct. VBE 3.0 allows arbitrary mode setting - not 
only vertical refresh, but all mode parameters (the ones appearing in X 
modelines). This is supported by both svgalib and uvesafb. I don't know 
on how many VBE3 cards this feature really works, but it does work for 
some cards.




-- 
Matan Ziv-Av.                         matan@svgalib.org

Re: VESAFB CUSTOM RESOLUTION

[Antonino A. Daplas]

On Wed, 2007-07-18 at 19:59 +0300, Matan Ziv-Av wrote:
> On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Antonino A. Daplas wrote:
> 
> > So, one cannot just set any mode, unless that mode is already defined in
> > the BIOS mode table. In VBE 3.0, you might be able to choose an
> > arbitrary vertical refresh rate, but that's the best mode tuning you can
> > do with the video BIOS.
> 
> Theoretically, not correct. VBE 3.0 allows arbitrary mode setting - not 
> only vertical refresh, but all mode parameters (the ones appearing in X 
> modelines). This is supported by both svgalib and uvesafb. I don't know 
> on how many VBE3 cards this feature really works, but it does work for 
> some cards.

The CRTCInfoBlock structure passed for Function 0x4f02 does not include
xres and yres so the horizontal and vertical active lengths cannot be
modified arbitrarily, an appropriate mode ID must still be chosen. I
cannot set 880x244, for example, if it's not in the table. It's the
horizontal timings, the vertical timings and the pixelclock that can be
adjusted.

Tony