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1 | CyBlaFB is a framebuffer driver for the Cyberblade/i1 graphics core integrated | ||
2 | into the VIA Apollo PLE133 (aka vt8601) south bridge. It is developed and | ||
3 | tested using a VIA EPIA 5000 board. | ||
4 | |||
5 | Cyblafb - compiled into the kernel or as a module? | ||
6 | ================================================== | ||
7 | |||
8 | You might compile cyblafb either as a module or compile it permanently into the | ||
9 | kernel. | ||
10 | |||
11 | Unless you have a real reason to do so you should not compile both vesafb and | ||
12 | cyblafb permanently into the kernel. It's possible and it helps during the | ||
13 | developement cycle, but it's useless and will at least block some otherwise | ||
14 | usefull memory for ordinary users. | ||
15 | |||
16 | Selecting Modes | ||
17 | =============== | ||
18 | |||
19 | Startup Mode | ||
20 | ============ | ||
21 | |||
22 | First of all, you might use the "vga=???" boot parameter as it is | ||
23 | documented in vesafb.txt and svga.txt. Cyblafb will detect the video | ||
24 | mode selected and will use the geometry and timings found by | ||
25 | inspecting the hardware registers. | ||
26 | |||
27 | video=cyblafb vga=0x317 | ||
28 | |||
29 | Alternatively you might use a combination of the mode, ref and bpp | ||
30 | parameters. If you compiled the driver into the kernel, add something | ||
31 | like this to the kernel command line: | ||
32 | |||
33 | video=cyblafb:1280x1024,bpp=16,ref=50 ... | ||
34 | |||
35 | If you compiled the driver as a module, the same mode would be | ||
36 | selected by the following command: | ||
37 | |||
38 | modprobe cyblafb mode=1280x1024 bpp=16 ref=50 ... | ||
39 | |||
40 | None of the modes possible to select as startup modes are affected by | ||
41 | the problems described at the end of the next subsection. | ||
42 | |||
43 | Mode changes using fbset | ||
44 | ======================== | ||
45 | |||
46 | You might use fbset to change the video mode, see "man fbset". Cyblafb | ||
47 | generally does assume that you know what you are doing. But it does | ||
48 | some checks, especially those that are needed to prevent you from | ||
49 | damaging your hardware. | ||
50 | |||
51 | - only 8, 16, 24 and 32 bpp video modes are accepted | ||
52 | - interlaced video modes are not accepted | ||
53 | - double scan video modes are not accepted | ||
54 | - if a flat panel is found, cyblafb does not allow you | ||
55 | to program a resolution higher than the physical | ||
56 | resolution of the flat panel monitor | ||
57 | - cyblafb does not allow xres to differ from xres_virtual | ||
58 | - cyblafb does not allow vclk to exceed 230 MHz. As 32 bpp | ||
59 | and (currently) 24 bit modes use a doubled vclk internally, | ||
60 | the dotclock limit as seen by fbset is 115 MHz for those | ||
61 | modes and 230 MHz for 8 and 16 bpp modes. | ||
62 | |||
63 | Any request that violates the rules given above will be ignored and | ||
64 | fbset will return an error. | ||
65 | |||
66 | If you program a virtual y resolution higher than the hardware limit, | ||
67 | cyblafb will silently decrease that value to the highest possible | ||
68 | value. | ||
69 | |||
70 | Attempts to disable acceleration are ignored. | ||
71 | |||
72 | Some video modes that should work do not work as expected. If you use | ||
73 | the standard fb.modes, fbset 640x480-60 will program that mode, but | ||
74 | you will see a vertical area, about two characters wide, with only | ||
75 | much darker characters than the other characters on the screen. | ||
76 | Cyblafb does allow that mode to be set, as it does not violate the | ||
77 | official specifications. It would need a lot of code to reliably sort | ||
78 | out all invalid modes, playing around with the margin values will | ||
79 | give a valid mode quickly. And if cyblafb would detect such an invalid | ||
80 | mode, should it silently alter the requested values or should it | ||
81 | report an error? Both options have some pros and cons. As stated | ||
82 | above, none of the startup modes are affected, and if you set | ||
83 | verbosity to 1 or higher, cyblafb will print the fbset command that | ||
84 | would be needed to program that mode using fbset. | ||
85 | |||
86 | |||
87 | Other Parameters | ||
88 | ================ | ||
89 | |||
90 | |||
91 | crt don't autodetect, assume monitor connected to | ||
92 | standard VGA connector | ||
93 | |||
94 | fp don't autodetect, assume flat panel display | ||
95 | connected to flat panel monitor interface | ||
96 | |||
97 | nativex inform driver about native x resolution of | ||
98 | flat panel monitor connected to special | ||
99 | interface (should be autodetected) | ||
100 | |||
101 | stretch stretch image to adapt low resolution modes to | ||
102 | higer resolutions of flat panel monitors | ||
103 | connected to special interface | ||
104 | |||
105 | center center image to adapt low resolution modes to | ||
106 | higer resolutions of flat panel monitors | ||
107 | connected to special interface | ||
108 | |||
109 | memsize use if autodetected memsize is wrong ... | ||
110 | should never be necessary | ||
111 | |||
112 | nopcirr disable PCI read retry | ||
113 | nopciwr disable PCI write retry | ||
114 | nopcirb disable PCI read bursts | ||
115 | nopciwb disable PCI write bursts | ||
116 | |||
117 | bpp bpp for specified modes | ||
118 | valid values: 8 || 16 || 24 || 32 | ||
119 | |||
120 | ref refresh rate for specified mode | ||
121 | valid values: 50 <= ref <= 85 | ||
122 | |||
123 | mode 640x480 or 800x600 or 1024x768 or 1280x1024 | ||
124 | if not specified, the startup mode will be detected | ||
125 | and used, so you might also use the vga=??? parameter | ||
126 | described in vesafb.txt. If you do not specify a mode, | ||
127 | bpp and ref parameters are ignored. | ||
128 | |||
129 | verbosity 0 is the default, increase to at least 2 for every | ||
130 | bug report! | ||
131 | |||
132 | vesafb allows cyblafb to be loaded after vesafb has been | ||
133 | loaded. See sections "Module unloading ...". | ||
134 | |||
135 | |||
136 | Development hints | ||
137 | ================= | ||
138 | |||
139 | It's much faster do compile a module and to load the new version after | ||
140 | unloading the old module than to compile a new kernel and to reboot. So if you | ||
141 | try to work on cyblafb, it might be a good idea to use cyblafb as a module. | ||
142 | In real life, fast often means dangerous, and that's also the case here. If | ||
143 | you introduce a serious bug when cyblafb is compiled into the kernel, the | ||
144 | kernel will lock or oops with a high probability before the file system is | ||
145 | mounted, and the danger for your data is low. If you load a broken own version | ||
146 | of cyblafb on a running system, the danger for the integrity of the file | ||
147 | system is much higher as you might need a hard reset afterwards. Decide | ||
148 | yourself. | ||
149 | |||
150 | Module unloading, the vfb method | ||
151 | ================================ | ||
152 | |||
153 | If you want to unload/reload cyblafb using the virtual framebuffer, you need | ||
154 | to enable vfb support in the kernel first. After that, load the modules as | ||
155 | shown below: | ||
156 | |||
157 | modprobe vfb vfb_enable=1 | ||
158 | modprobe fbcon | ||
159 | modprobe cyblafb | ||
160 | fbset -fb /dev/fb1 1280x1024-60 -vyres 2662 | ||
161 | con2fb /dev/fb1 /dev/tty1 | ||
162 | ... | ||
163 | |||
164 | If you now made some changes to cyblafb and want to reload it, you might do it | ||
165 | as show below: | ||
166 | |||
167 | con2fb /dev/fb0 /dev/tty1 | ||
168 | ... | ||
169 | rmmod cyblafb | ||
170 | modprobe cyblafb | ||
171 | con2fb /dev/fb1 /dev/tty1 | ||
172 | ... | ||
173 | |||
174 | Of course, you might choose another mode, and most certainly you also want to | ||
175 | map some other /dev/tty* to the real framebuffer device. You might also choose | ||
176 | to compile fbcon as a kernel module or place it permanently in the kernel. | ||
177 | |||
178 | I do not know of any way to unload fbcon, and fbcon will prevent the | ||
179 | framebuffer device loaded first from unloading. [If there is a way, then | ||
180 | please add a description here!] | ||
181 | |||
182 | Module unloading, the vesafb method | ||
183 | =================================== | ||
184 | |||
185 | Configure the kernel: | ||
186 | |||
187 | <*> Support for frame buffer devices | ||
188 | [*] VESA VGA graphics support | ||
189 | <M> Cyberblade/i1 support | ||
190 | |||
191 | Add e.g. "video=vesafb:ypan vga=0x307" to the kernel parameters. The ypan | ||
192 | parameter is important, choose any vga parameter you like as long as it is | ||
193 | a graphics mode. | ||
194 | |||
195 | After booting, load cyblafb without any mode and bpp parameter and assign | ||
196 | cyblafb to individual ttys using con2fb, e.g.: | ||
197 | |||
198 | modprobe cyblafb vesafb=1 | ||
199 | con2fb /dev/fb1 /dev/tty1 | ||
200 | |||
201 | Unloading cyblafb works without problems after you assign vesafb to all | ||
202 | ttys again, e.g.: | ||
203 | |||
204 | con2fb /dev/fb0 /dev/tty1 | ||
205 | rmmod cyblafb | ||
206 | |||