iboog G4 vga out, requirements?

[Thorsten Gunkel]

Hi *,
I would like to test the vga out of my ibook G4 (e.g. to be able to connect a
larger monitor or a beamer). If I would be able to mirror the current screen
1:1 to the vga output I would be content, but if Xinerama would be
possible I wouldn't mind too much ;-)

What do I need for this? I have installed Debian Sarge, but I got the
impression that I would need xorg for this (which is not part of Sarge
AFAIK)? Which xserver would you recommend for this? X11R7.0?

regards
Thorsten

[Anton Ertl]

Post by Thorsten Gunkel
Hi *,
I would like to test the vga out of my ibook G4 (e.g. to be able to connect a
larger monitor or a beamer). If I would be able to mirror the current screen
1:1 to the vga output I would be content, but if Xinerama would be
possible I wouldn't mind too much ;-)

You might be interested in my experiences
<***@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at>
<***@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at>.

However, you probably have different hardware from me, so you may see
different results.

Post by Thorsten Gunkel
What do I need for this? I have installed Debian Sarge, but I got the
impression that I would need xorg for this (which is not part of Sarge
AFAIK)?

Even if it is, you could try installing it from testing:

apt-get install -t testing -s xserver-xorg

If it does not pull in too much stuff you don't want, you can make it
read (run the command without the -s).

Post by Thorsten Gunkel
Which xserver would you recommend for this? X11R7.0?

My impression is that the newer ones work better for this stuff.

- anton

[Thorsten Gunkel]

Post by Anton Ertl

Post by Thorsten Gunkel
Hi *,
I would like to test the vga out of my ibook G4 (e.g. to be able to connect a
larger monitor or a beamer). If I would be able to mirror the current screen
1:1 to the vga output I would be content, but if Xinerama would be
possible I wouldn't mind too much ;-)

You might be interested in my experiences
However, you probably have different hardware from me, so you may see
different results.

I think we have very similar hardware:

,----
| # cat /proc/cpuinfo
| processor : 0
| cpu : 7447A, altivec supported
| clock : 1199MHz
| revision : 0.2 (pvr 8003 0102)
| bogomips : 1196.03
| machine : PowerBook6,5
| motherboard : PowerBook6,5 MacRISC3 Power Macintosh
| detected as : 287 (iBook G4)
| pmac flags : 0000001b
| L2 cache : 512K unified
| memory : 256MB
| pmac-generation : NewWorld
`----

,----
| 0000:00:10.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV250 5c63
| [Radeon Mobility 9200 M9+] (rev 01)
`----

Post by Anton Ertl

Post by Thorsten Gunkel
Which xserver would you recommend for this? X11R7.0?

My impression is that the newer ones work better for this stuff.
- anton

regards
Thorsten

[Anton Ertl]

In that case, if the newer X servers fail, you might try the server I
use (6.8.2.dfsg.1-8), if you can still find it (or maybe some more
recent 6.8 server).

As for 6.9 vs. 7.0, the way I remember it is that 7.0 separates the
components. Since you are interested only in the server, I would try
that (I never understood why XFree/Xorg used to package the server
with the clients and other stuff, especially since these may run on
different machines).

- anton

[Thorsten Gunkel]

Post by Thorsten Gunkel
Hi *,
I would like to test the vga out of my ibook G4

OK, I tried X11R6.9 because it seemed easier than X11R7.0 and as far as I
understood there should be no difference [1].

Then I copied xc/config/cf/xorgsite.def to xc/config/cf/host.def and added

#define ProjectRoot /usr/local/X11R69
#define NothingOutsideProjectRoot YES

Now
make World && make install
This will take some time and needs more than 600 MB space [2]

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/X11R69/lib/
/usr/local/X11R69/bin/Xorg :2 &

I tried several xorg configurations with and without the old X server
running. Everything I managed was 640x480 with 1:1 mirror. On the other hand
I had several hard crashes. So maybe even X11R69 is not enough.

regards
Thorsten

Footnotes:
[1] http://ftp.x.org/pub/X11R6.9.0/src-single/X11R6.9.0-src.tar.bz2
[2] http://ftp.x.org/pub/X11R6.9.0/doc/html/BUILD4.html

[Jack Malmostoso]

Post by Thorsten Gunkel
If I would be able to mirror the
current screen 1:1 to the vga output I would be content, but if Xinerama
would be possible I wouldn't mind too much ;-)

The VGA mirroring is easy to get with an ATi9200 (as you do have, I read
in the other post). You just need a properly configured xorg.conf.
Try reading here:

http://www.alessandroronchi.net/wiki/LinuxOnIBookG4

Post by Thorsten Gunkel
What do I need for this? I have installed Debian Sarge, but I got the
impression that I would need xorg for this (which is not part of Sarge
AFAIK)? Which xserver would you recommend for this? X11R7.0?

xorg 6.9 is enough. You can get it from testing/unstable (don't know if
it's already present as backport).

[Thorsten Gunkel]

Post by Jack Malmostoso

Post by Thorsten Gunkel
If I would be able to mirror the
current screen 1:1 to the vga output I would be content, but if Xinerama
would be possible I wouldn't mind too much ;-)

The VGA mirroring is easy to get with an ATi9200 (as you do have, I read
in the other post). You just need a properly configured xorg.conf.
http://www.alessandroronchi.net/wiki/LinuxOnIBookG4

Doesn't seem to be too easy. For example, I tried this config:

,----
| Section "Device"
| Identifier "Card0"
| Driver "ati"
| VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc"
| BoardName "M9+ 5C63 [Radeon Mobility 9200 (AGP)]"
| BusID "PCI:0:16:0"
| Option "UseFBDev"
| Option "AGPMode" "4"
| Option "EnablePageFlip" "On"
| Option "CloneMode" "1024x768"
| EndSection
`----

,----
| X Window System Version 6.9.0
| Release Date: 21 December 2005
| X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 6.9
| Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.15.1 ppc [ELF]
| Current Operating System: Linux tglaptop 2.6.15.1 #1 Tue Jan 31 04:23:24
CET 2006 ppc
| Build Date: 10 March 2006
| Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.X.Org
| to make sure that you have the latest version.
| Module Loader present
| Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
| (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
| (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
| (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.2.log", Time: Sun Mar 12 00:06:38 2006
| (==) Using config file: "/usr/local/X11R69/lib/X11/xorg.conf"
| (WW) ****INVALID IO ALLOCATION**** b: 0xf0000400 e: 0xf00004ff correcting
| (EE) end of block range 0xefffffff < begin 0xf0000000
| (EE) RADEON(0): MergedFB does not work with Option UseFBDev, MergedFB mode is disabled
`----

X works for the internal display, but on my CRT - connected to the vga-out -
there is only a white screen in 640x480.

regards
Thorsten

[Anton Ertl]

Post by Thorsten Gunkel

Post by Jack Malmostoso

Post by Thorsten Gunkel
If I would be able to mirror the
current screen 1:1 to the vga output I would be content, but if Xinerama
would be possible I wouldn't mind too much ;-)

The VGA mirroring is easy to get with an ATi9200 (as you do have, I read
in the other post). You just need a properly configured xorg.conf.
http://www.alessandroronchi.net/wiki/LinuxOnIBookG4

,----
| Section "Device"
| Identifier "Card0"
| Driver "ati"

"radeon" is the proper driver for this chip.

Post by Thorsten Gunkel
| VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc"
| BoardName "M9+ 5C63 [Radeon Mobility 9200 (AGP)]"
| BusID "PCI:0:16:0"
| Option "UseFBDev"

Try disabling this.

Post by Thorsten Gunkel
| Option "AGPMode" "4"
| Option "EnablePageFlip" "On"
| Option "CloneMode" "1024x768"
| EndSection
`----

Here are the two Device sections I use:

This one shows the clone only if the ibook recognizes an external
screen (or whatever) when the X server starts (I have worked with
projectors that the ibook did not recognize):

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies, Inc. RV250 5c63 [Radeon Mobility 9200 M9+]"
Driver "radeon"
#untested:
# Option "DesktopSetup" "0x00000100"
BusID "PCI:0:16:0"
Option "UseFBDev" "false"
EndSection

This one shows graphics errors on the iBook's panel (with Xorg 6.8.2),
but also shows a clone if the iBook does not recognize an external
device on X server start:

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies, Inc. RV250 5c63 [Radeon Mobility 9200 M9+]"
Driver "radeon"
#untested:
# Option "DesktopSetup" "0x00000100"
BusID "PCI:0:16:0"
Option "UseFBDev" "false"
Option "MonitorLayout" "LVDS,CRT"
Option "MergedFB" "true"
Option "CRT2HSync" "30-49"
Option "CRT2VRefresh" "56-72"
Option "CRT2Position" "Clone"
Option "PanelSize" "1024x768"
EndSection

- anton

[Thorsten Gunkel]

Post by Anton Ertl

Post by Thorsten Gunkel
| Driver "ati"

"radeon" is the proper driver for this chip.

Post by Thorsten Gunkel
| Option "UseFBDev"

Try disabling this.

Both didn't change anyhing. Still white screen on vga-out. Maybe
,----
| (WW) ****INVALID IO ALLOCATION**** b: 0xf0000400 e: 0xf00004ff correcting
| (EE) end of block range 0xefffffff < begin 0xf0000000
`----
indicates that the xorg Version is buggy. I'll test again with the next release.

regards
Thorsten