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From: hub...@ix.netcom.com (HUBERT BREWER)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Xconfig with trident 8900d
Date: 15 Aug 1994 05:14:00 GMT
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Anybody out there running X with a trident 8900d? Or even 8900 anything?
I understand it can be done and is not really out of the ordinary, but
I'm getting a repeated verticle black line thoughout the screen. (The black lines
are just not being drawn) Looks kind of like a jail cell!
I've configured X to run with S3 chips with no prob. Any hints what I might be
missing with the Trident chipsets. (Yes, I am using the VGA256 driver as opposed
to the ACCELL driver for the S3)
I have swaped monitors (different brands) and tried several "supported" modes
for both monitors and am getting the same prob. This is what leads me to
believe it has something to do with the chipset.
If you've got a Trident anything running with Xfree, could you mail your
Xconfig or post it?
Thank for the help,
Brian
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From: gel...@VAX1.cmr.ca (Dr. Jacques Gelinas)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Re: Xconfig with trident 8900d
Date: 15 Aug 1994 11:31:21 -0400
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Reply-To: gel...@VAX1.cmr.ca (Dr. Jacques Gelinas)
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hub...@ix.netcom.com (HUBERT BREWER) writes
| Anybody out there running X with a trident 8900d? Or even 8900 anything?
| I understand it can be done and is not really out of the ordinary, but
| I'm getting a repeated verticle black line thoughout the screen. (The black
| lines are just not being drawn) Looks kind of like a jail cell!
| If you've got a Trident anything running with Xfree, could you mail your
| Xconfig or post it?
1. In my /usr/X386/lib/X11, there is a Xconfig.Trident8900c (Slackware 2.0)
2. Here is my Xconfig (warning, for a Non Interlaced TTX 5468NI monitor)
---------------------------------------------
vga256
Virtual 1024 1024
ViewPort 0 0
Modes "800x600" "1024x768" "640x480"
Chipset "tvga8900c"
Clocks 25.2 28.3 44.8 36.1 57.2 64.9 50.3 39.9
vga2
Virtual 800 600
ViewPort 0 0
Modes "640x480"
ModeDB
# Contributor: Thomas Roell [ro...@sgcs.com]
# Last Edit Date: 3/29/92
#
# name clock horizontal timing vertical timing flags
"640x480" 25.2 640 664 760 800 480 491 493 525
"800x600" 36.1 800 860 896 1024 600 601 603 625
#"1024x768" 65 1024 1112 1176 1344 768 771 777 806
"1024x768" 64.9 1024 1088 1200 1328 768 783 789 818
#"1024x768" 62 1024 1072 1296 1328 768 773 780 806
#"1024x768" 65 1024 1032 1176 1344 768 771 777 806
#"800x600" 36 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625
# 40 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628
###############################################################################
# Monitor: CTX SVGA model CVP-546NI
# Contributor: Al Petrofsky [a...@imdvlf.acuson.com]
# Last Edit Date: 6/11/92
#
# name clock horizontal timing vertical timing flags
#"640x480" 25 640 664 760 800 480 491 493 525
#"800x600" 36 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625
# 40 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628
#"1024x768" 65 1024 1088 1200 1328 768 783 789 818
3) In my /usr/X11/etc (Slackware 2.0) I find this note
While developing the Trident driver, an interesting and perturbing hardware
phenomenon was discovered. When using the default board jumper configuration,
dot-clocks above 57Mhz would frequently lock up the machine. There appear
to be jumpers on all of the Trident boards that determine whether the
board will operate in zero-wait-state mode on the ISA bus. Disabling the
zero-wait-state mode via jumpers cured the lockups, but at the expense
of performance. Whether or not a given system will experience this problem
is likely a combination of (a) bus speed, (b) video memory speed, and (c) dot
clock speed. So be prepared for this phenomenon to occur, and have the board
documentation handy.
$XFree86: mit/server/ddx/x386/etc/README.trident,v 2.2 1994/03/08 08:11 dawes
4) That is exactly what is happening on my system. Almost every application
(xdvi, ghostview, gv) freezes my 486/33 after 30 seconds. I have tried
inserting wait states, moving the Trident card from slot to slot,
changing window managers, adding swap space ... Every time, the reset
button is the only issue. Note that XF386-SVGA starts very well, the screen
is stable, the colors nice, the speed is ok... until some mouse event seems
to freeze the card. It used to work nicely with the SLS X-Windows
(X386 1.2 ?). But now i think overheating may be the cause.
With the vga2 driver, no problems: xdvi does not freeze.
5) I don't expect too much from $55 cards! In fact trident cards are so cheap
that, if i remember, Linus Torvalds once used one on his early system. (:)
But all apps using svgalib work, which is enough for me. In the SIMTEL
archive, svat303.zip, written by some Pascal (student?) programmers will
allow you to test your trident hardware - one 512k mode does not work
on my 1 Meg card. Likewise, the svgakit shows that bank switching is
slow or defective on my 8900c card. Even MATLAB has trouble (ghosting).
6) To get more info, try veronica (gopher) with the search word "trident".
You will find the replacement drivers for Windows 3.0 and reports of
freezing with some MSDOS games for 1 Meg cards.
Hope this helps.
--
Jacques Ge'linas, Ph.D., Maths, INTERNET: gel...@cmr.ca
Colle`ge Militaire Royal de Saint-Jean,
Que'bec, Canada, J0J 1R0.