Gentoo Archives: gentoo-ppc-user

From: Carl Hudkins <carl@×××××××.org>
To: gentoo-ppc-user@g.o
Subject: [gentoo-ppc-user] X configuration - was [gentoo-ppc-user] No local video on PowerMac 8600 - Help?
Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2003 13:41:12
Message-Id: 200309080941.14448.carl@hudkins.org
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-ppc-user] No local video on PowerMac 8600 - Help? by Andrew McCall
1 On Monday 01 September 2003 04:23, Andrew McCall wrote:
2
3 I know I already replied to the other Andrew, but as you asked specific
4 questions about the video, and I just figured out how to get the case
5 fully open so I could find out what was in there.
6
7 > It might help if you explain a little about the hardware you are using
8 > - What system is it? Does it have on-board video or is it supplied via
9
10 Ok, as in the Subject line, it's a Power Macintosh 8600, 200MHz. It's
11 got 64MB memory and no (count 'em, zero) PCI cards. :) The video is
12 on-board, and lists in /proc/pci as "Apple Computer Inc. Control Video".
13 From other sources I've gathered I must use the "fbdev" device for
14 XFree86, and indeed if I go that way I can get something other than "No
15 screens found" when start X -- it puts the monitor into power-save mode.
16 (I assume it's trying to do something the monitor, Apple Multiple Scan
17 1705, doesn't like, so it shuts down... but it could simply be that
18 there's no video signal at that point.)
19
20 (I do have a couple of PCI video cards around here, but I haven't been
21 bold enough to try one in there. They are, after all, from the PC
22 world.)
23
24 Excerpt from XF86Config:
25
26 Section "Device"
27 Identifier "Apple Control Video via fbdev"
28 Driver "fbdev"
29 # [nwch] I don't think VideoRam is valid with fbdev
30 #VideoRam 2048
31 # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
32 Option "fbdev" "/dev/fb0"
33 # Option "shadow" "on"
34 # Option "rotate" "off"
35 EndSection
36
37 I investigated "fbset", but I can't see that it makes any difference; the
38 same thing happens whether I use it or not.
39
40 One thing I'm not clear on is whether any kernel modules need to be
41 loaded to use X via framebuffer. This new kernel has built-in support
42 for "Control", "Platinum", and "Valkyrie", and because I was using the
43 "shotgun method" I also built modules for ATI and Matrox. I can see now
44 that I don't need the ATI & Matrox modules, and I suspect that "Control"
45 is my generic Apple video. I've got two fb modules, "fbcon-vga-planes.o"
46 and "vga16fb.o" that I'm not really sure about. fbcon-vga-planes loads
47 without complaint, but vga16fb complains that it can't allocate memory.
48
49 > you using any kernel arguments wih the program you are booting with? I
50 > think you can type something like append video=0 or something to force
51 > the video to work.
52
53 Either video=0 or video=fb works, which are the only things I've tried so
54 far. Eventually I'll try without that argument, just for variety, but
55 for now that setting (fb) is saved. The utility is BootX, which is
56 necessary for "old world" Macs. Once everything is working, I may try
57 setting up Quik so I can remove MacOS 7.55 from there entirely and use
58 both drives to the fullest. (Total of 6GB storage on this guy, of which
59 2GB are formatted HFS. /usr/portage/distfiles is on the HFS side, BTW,
60 but since nothing on there can be chmod +x I can only use it for storage,
61 and not for anything that needs to be executable.)
62
63 > Hope with this extra info someone will be able to help!
64
65 I've been making progress with the ideas from here, the Gentoo forums,
66 and elsewhere. This bit of success has inspired me to work harder on the
67 rest of it! :)
68
69 --
70 // Carl Hudkins :: Jabber yther@××××××××.info :: PGP 50238D9E
71 //
72 // "German beer is chemical-free / Germany's all right with me!"
73 // --"Why Aye Man", Mark Knopfler

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-ppc-user] X configuration - was [gentoo-ppc-user] No local video on PowerMac 8600 - Help? Andrew Gaffney <agaffney@×××××××××××××××××××.net>