Root/Documentation/fb/matroxfb.txt

1[This file is cloned from VesaFB. Thanks go to Gerd Knorr]
2
3What is matroxfb?
4=================
5
6This is a driver for a graphic framebuffer for Matrox devices on
7Alpha, Intel and PPC boxes.
8
9Advantages:
10
11 * It provides a nice large console (128 cols + 48 lines with 1024x768)
12   without using tiny, unreadable fonts.
13 * You can run XF{68,86}_FBDev or XFree86 fbdev driver on top of /dev/fb0
14 * Most important: boot logo :-)
15
16Disadvantages:
17
18 * graphic mode is slower than text mode... but you should not notice
19   if you use same resolution as you used in textmode.
20
21
22How to use it?
23==============
24
25Switching modes is done using the video=matroxfb:vesa:... boot parameter
26or using `fbset' program.
27
28If you want, for example, enable a resolution of 1280x1024x24bpp you should
29pass to the kernel this command line: "video=matroxfb:vesa:0x1BB".
30
31You should compile in both vgacon (to boot if you remove you Matrox from
32box) and matroxfb (for graphics mode). You should not compile-in vesafb
33unless you have primary display on non-Matrox VBE2.0 device (see
34Documentation/fb/vesafb.txt for details).
35
36Currently supported video modes are (through vesa:... interface, PowerMac
37has [as addon] compatibility code):
38
39
40[Graphic modes]
41
42bpp | 640x400 640x480 768x576 800x600 960x720
43----+--------------------------------------------
44  4 | 0x12 0x102
45  8 | 0x100 0x101 0x180 0x103 0x188
46 15 | 0x110 0x181 0x113 0x189
47 16 | 0x111 0x182 0x114 0x18A
48 24 | 0x1B2 0x184 0x1B5 0x18C
49 32 | 0x112 0x183 0x115 0x18B
50
51
52[Graphic modes (continued)]
53
54bpp | 1024x768 1152x864 1280x1024 1408x1056 1600x1200
55----+------------------------------------------------
56  4 | 0x104 0x106
57  8 | 0x105 0x190 0x107 0x198 0x11C
58 15 | 0x116 0x191 0x119 0x199 0x11D
59 16 | 0x117 0x192 0x11A 0x19A 0x11E
60 24 | 0x1B8 0x194 0x1BB 0x19C 0x1BF
61 32 | 0x118 0x193 0x11B 0x19B
62
63
64[Text modes]
65
66text | 640x400 640x480 1056x344 1056x400 1056x480
67-----+------------------------------------------------
68 8x8 | 0x1C0 0x108 0x10A 0x10B 0x10C
698x16 | 2, 3, 7 0x109
70
71You can enter these number either hexadecimal (leading `0x') or decimal
72(0x100 = 256). You can also use value + 512 to achieve compatibility
73with your old number passed to vesafb.
74
75Non-listed number can be achieved by more complicated command-line, for
76example 1600x1200x32bpp can be specified by `video=matroxfb:vesa:0x11C,depth:32'.
77
78
79X11
80===
81
82XF{68,86}_FBDev should work just fine, but it is non-accelerated. On non-intel
83architectures there are some glitches for 24bpp videomodes. 8, 16 and 32bpp
84works fine.
85
86Running another (accelerated) X-Server like XF86_SVGA works too. But (at least)
87XFree servers have big troubles in multihead configurations (even on first
88head, not even talking about second). Running XFree86 4.x accelerated mga
89driver is possible, but you must not enable DRI - if you do, resolution and
90color depth of your X desktop must match resolution and color depths of your
91virtual consoles, otherwise X will corrupt accelerator settings.
92
93
94SVGALib
95=======
96
97Driver contains SVGALib compatibility code. It is turned on by choosing textual
98mode for console. You can do it at boot time by using videomode
992,3,7,0x108-0x10C or 0x1C0. At runtime, `fbset -depth 0' does this work.
100Unfortunately, after SVGALib application exits, screen contents is corrupted.
101Switching to another console and back fixes it. I hope that it is SVGALib's
102problem and not mine, but I'm not sure.
103
104
105Configuration
106=============
107
108You can pass kernel command line options to matroxfb with
109`video=matroxfb:option1,option2:value2,option3' (multiple options should be
110separated by comma, values are separated from options by `:').
111Accepted options:
112
113mem:X - size of memory (X can be in megabytes, kilobytes or bytes)
114           You can only decrease value determined by driver because of
115       it always probe for memory. Default is to use whole detected
116       memory usable for on-screen display (i.e. max. 8 MB).
117disabled - do not load driver; you can use also `off', but `disabled'
118           is here too.
119enabled - load driver, if you have `video=matroxfb:disabled' in LILO
120           configuration, you can override it by this (you cannot override
121       `off'). It is default.
122noaccel - do not use acceleration engine. It does not work on Alphas.
123accel - use acceleration engine. It is default.
124nopan - create initial consoles with vyres = yres, thus disabling virtual
125           scrolling.
126pan - create initial consoles as tall as possible (vyres = memory/vxres).
127           It is default.
128nopciretry - disable PCI retries. It is needed for some broken chipsets,
129           it is autodetected for intel's 82437. In this case device does
130       not comply to PCI 2.1 specs (it will not guarantee that every
131       transaction terminate with success or retry in 32 PCLK).
132pciretry - enable PCI retries. It is default, except for intel's 82437.
133novga - disables VGA I/O ports. It is default if BIOS did not enable device.
134           You should not use this option, some boards then do not restart
135       without power off.
136vga - preserve state of VGA I/O ports. It is default. Driver does not
137           enable VGA I/O if BIOS did not it (it is not safe to enable it in
138       most cases).
139nobios - disables BIOS ROM. It is default if BIOS did not enable BIOS itself.
140           You should not use this option, some boards then do not restart
141       without power off.
142bios - preserve state of BIOS ROM. It is default. Driver does not enable
143           BIOS if BIOS was not enabled before.
144noinit - tells driver, that devices were already initialized. You should use
145           it if you have G100 and/or if driver cannot detect memory, you see
146       strange pattern on screen and so on. Devices not enabled by BIOS
147       are still initialized. It is default.
148init - driver initializes every device it knows about.
149memtype - specifies memory type, implies 'init'. This is valid only for G200
150           and G400 and has following meaning:
151             G200: 0 -> 2x128Kx32 chips, 2MB onboard, probably sgram
152                   1 -> 2x128Kx32 chips, 4MB onboard, probably sgram
153                   2 -> 2x256Kx32 chips, 4MB onboard, probably sgram
154                   3 -> 2x256Kx32 chips, 8MB onboard, probably sgram
155                   4 -> 2x512Kx16 chips, 8/16MB onboard, probably sdram only
156                   5 -> same as above
157                   6 -> 4x128Kx32 chips, 4MB onboard, probably sgram
158                   7 -> 4x128Kx32 chips, 8MB onboard, probably sgram
159             G400: 0 -> 2x512Kx16 SDRAM, 16/32MB
160                        2x512Kx32 SGRAM, 16/32MB
161                   1 -> 2x256Kx32 SGRAM, 8/16MB
162                   2 -> 4x128Kx32 SGRAM, 8/16MB
163                   3 -> 4x512Kx32 SDRAM, 32MB
164                   4 -> 4x256Kx32 SGRAM, 16/32MB
165                   5 -> 2x1Mx32 SDRAM, 32MB
166                   6 -> reserved
167                   7 -> reserved
168           You should use sdram or sgram parameter in addition to memtype
169           parameter.
170nomtrr - disables write combining on frame buffer. This slows down driver but
171           there is reported minor incompatibility between GUS DMA and XFree
172       under high loads if write combining is enabled (sound dropouts).
173mtrr - enables write combining on frame buffer. It speeds up video accesses
174           much. It is default. You must have MTRR support enabled in kernel
175       and your CPU must have MTRR (f.e. Pentium II have them).
176sgram - tells to driver that you have Gxx0 with SGRAM memory. It has no
177           effect without `init'.
178sdram - tells to driver that you have Gxx0 with SDRAM memory.
179           It is a default.
180inv24 - change timings parameters for 24bpp modes on Millenium and
181           Millenium II. Specify this if you see strange color shadows around
182       characters.
183noinv24 - use standard timings. It is the default.
184inverse - invert colors on screen (for LCD displays)
185noinverse - show true colors on screen. It is default.
186dev:X - bind driver to device X. Driver numbers device from 0 up to N,
187           where device 0 is first `known' device found, 1 second and so on.
188       lspci lists devices in this order.
189       Default is `every' known device.
190nohwcursor - disables hardware cursor (use software cursor instead).
191hwcursor - enables hardware cursor. It is default. If you are using
192           non-accelerated mode (`noaccel' or `fbset -accel false'), software
193       cursor is used (except for text mode).
194noblink - disables cursor blinking. Cursor in text mode always blinks (hw
195           limitation).
196blink - enables cursor blinking. It is default.
197nofastfont - disables fastfont feature. It is default.
198fastfont:X - enables fastfont feature. X specifies size of memory reserved for
199             font data, it must be >= (fontwidth*fontheight*chars_in_font)/8.
200         It is faster on Gx00 series, but slower on older cards.
201grayscale - enable grayscale summing. It works in PSEUDOCOLOR modes (text,
202            4bpp, 8bpp). In DIRECTCOLOR modes it is limited to characters
203        displayed through putc/putcs. Direct accesses to framebuffer
204        can paint colors.
205nograyscale - disable grayscale summing. It is default.
206cross4MB - enables that pixel line can cross 4MB boundary. It is default for
207           non-Millenium.
208nocross4MB - pixel line must not cross 4MB boundary. It is default for
209             Millenium I or II, because of these devices have hardware
210         limitations which do not allow this. But this option is
211         incompatible with some (if not all yet released) versions of
212         XF86_FBDev.
213dfp - enables digital flat panel interface. This option is incompatible with
214           secondary (TV) output - if DFP is active, TV output must be
215       inactive and vice versa. DFP always uses same timing as primary
216       (monitor) output.
217dfp:X - use settings X for digital flat panel interface. X is number from
218           0 to 0xFF, and meaning of each individual bit is described in
219       G400 manual, in description of DAC register 0x1F. For normal operation
220       you should set all bits to zero, except lowest bit. This lowest bit
221       selects who is source of display clocks, whether G400, or panel.
222       Default value is now read back from hardware - so you should specify
223       this value only if you are also using `init' parameter.
224outputs:XYZ - set mapping between CRTC and outputs. Each letter can have value
225           of 0 (for no CRTC), 1 (CRTC1) or 2 (CRTC2), and first letter corresponds
226       to primary analog output, second letter to the secondary analog output
227       and third letter to the DVI output. Default setting is 100 for
228       cards below G400 or G400 without DFP, 101 for G400 with DFP, and
229       111 for G450 and G550. You can set mapping only on first card,
230       use matroxset for setting up other devices.
231vesa:X - selects startup videomode. X is number from 0 to 0x1FF, see table
232           above for detailed explanation. Default is 640x480x8bpp if driver
233       has 8bpp support. Otherwise first available of 640x350x4bpp,
234       640x480x15bpp, 640x480x24bpp, 640x480x32bpp or 80x25 text
235       (80x25 text is always available).
236
237If you are not satisfied with videomode selected by `vesa' option, you
238can modify it with these options:
239
240xres:X - horizontal resolution, in pixels. Default is derived from `vesa'
241           option.
242yres:X - vertical resolution, in pixel lines. Default is derived from `vesa'
243           option.
244upper:X - top boundary: lines between end of VSYNC pulse and start of first
245           pixel line of picture. Default is derived from `vesa' option.
246lower:X - bottom boundary: lines between end of picture and start of VSYNC
247           pulse. Default is derived from `vesa' option.
248vslen:X - length of VSYNC pulse, in lines. Default is derived from `vesa'
249           option.
250left:X - left boundary: pixels between end of HSYNC pulse and first pixel.
251           Default is derived from `vesa' option.
252right:X - right boundary: pixels between end of picture and start of HSYNC
253           pulse. Default is derived from `vesa' option.
254hslen:X - length of HSYNC pulse, in pixels. Default is derived from `vesa'
255           option.
256pixclock:X - dotclocks, in ps (picoseconds). Default is derived from `vesa'
257             option and from `fh' and `fv' options.
258sync:X - sync. pulse - bit 0 inverts HSYNC polarity, bit 1 VSYNC polarity.
259           If bit 3 (value 0x08) is set, composite sync instead of HSYNC is
260       generated. If bit 5 (value 0x20) is set, sync on green is turned on.
261       Do not forget that if you want sync on green, you also probably
262       want composite sync.
263       Default depends on `vesa'.
264depth:X - Bits per pixel: 0=text, 4,8,15,16,24 or 32. Default depends on
265           `vesa'.
266
267If you know capabilities of your monitor, you can specify some (or all) of
268`maxclk', `fh' and `fv'. In this case, `pixclock' is computed so that
269pixclock <= maxclk, real_fh <= fh and real_fv <= fv.
270
271maxclk:X - maximum dotclock. X can be specified in MHz, kHz or Hz. Default is
272           `don't care'.
273fh:X - maximum horizontal synchronization frequency. X can be specified
274           in kHz or Hz. Default is `don't care'.
275fv:X - maximum vertical frequency. X must be specified in Hz. Default is
276           70 for modes derived from `vesa' with yres <= 400, 60Hz for
277       yres > 400.
278
279
280Limitations
281===========
282
283There are known and unknown bugs, features and misfeatures.
284Currently there are following known bugs:
285 + SVGALib does not restore screen on exit
286 + generic fbcon-cfbX procedures do not work on Alphas. Due to this,
287   `noaccel' (and cfb4 accel) driver does not work on Alpha. So everyone
288   with access to /dev/fb* on Alpha can hang machine (you should restrict
289   access to /dev/fb* - everyone with access to this device can destroy
290   your monitor, believe me...).
291 + 24bpp does not support correctly XF-FBDev on big-endian architectures.
292 + interlaced text mode is not supported; it looks like hardware limitation,
293   but I'm not sure.
294 + Gxx0 SGRAM/SDRAM is not autodetected.
295 + If you are using more than one framebuffer device, you must boot kernel
296   with 'video=scrollback:0'.
297 + maybe more...
298And following misfeatures:
299 + SVGALib does not restore screen on exit.
300 + pixclock for text modes is limited by hardware to
301    83 MHz on G200
302    66 MHz on Millennium I
303    60 MHz on Millennium II
304   Because I have no access to other devices, I do not know specific
305   frequencies for them. So driver does not check this and allows you to
306   set frequency higher that this. It causes sparks, black holes and other
307   pretty effects on screen. Device was not destroyed during tests. :-)
308 + my Millennium G200 oscillator has frequency range from 35 MHz to 380 MHz
309   (and it works with 8bpp on about 320 MHz dotclocks (and changed mclk)).
310   But Matrox says on product sheet that VCO limit is 50-250 MHz, so I believe
311   them (maybe that chip overheats, but it has a very big cooler (G100 has
312   none), so it should work).
313 + special mixed video/graphics videomodes of Mystique and Gx00 - 2G8V16 and
314   G16V16 are not supported
315 + color keying is not supported
316 + feature connector of Mystique and Gx00 is set to VGA mode (it is disabled
317   by BIOS)
318 + DDC (monitor detection) is supported through dualhead driver
319 + some check for input values are not so strict how it should be (you can
320   specify vslen=4000 and so on).
321 + maybe more...
322And following features:
323 + 4bpp is available only on Millennium I and Millennium II. It is hardware
324   limitation.
325 + selection between 1:5:5:5 and 5:6:5 16bpp videomode is done by -rgba
326   option of fbset: "fbset -depth 16 -rgba 5,5,5" selects 1:5:5:5, anything
327   else selects 5:6:5 mode.
328 + text mode uses 6 bit VGA palette instead of 8 bit (one of 262144 colors
329   instead of one of 16M colors). It is due to hardware limitation of
330   Millennium I/II and SVGALib compatibility.
331
332
333Benchmarks
334==========
335It is time to redraw whole screen 1000 times in 1024x768, 60Hz. It is
336time for draw 6144000 characters on screen through /dev/vcsa
337(for 32bpp it is about 3GB of data (exactly 3000 MB); for 8x16 font in
33816 seconds, i.e. 187 MBps).
339Times were obtained from one older version of driver, now they are about 3%
340faster, it is kernel-space only time on P-II/350 MHz, Millennium I in 33 MHz
341PCI slot, G200 in AGP 2x slot. I did not test vgacon.
342
343NOACCEL
344        8x16 12x22
345        Millennium I G200 Millennium I G200
3468bpp 16.42 9.54 12.33 9.13
34716bpp 21.00 15.70 19.11 15.02
34824bpp 36.66 36.66 35.00 35.00
34932bpp 35.00 30.00 33.85 28.66
350
351ACCEL, nofastfont
352        8x16 12x22 6x11
353    Millennium I G200 Millennium I G200 Millennium I G200
3548bpp 7.79 7.24 13.55 7.78 30.00 21.01
35516bpp 9.13 7.78 16.16 7.78 30.00 21.01
35624bpp 14.17 10.72 18.69 10.24 34.99 21.01
35732bpp 16.15 16.16 18.73 13.09 34.99 21.01
358
359ACCEL, fastfont
360        8x16 12x22 6x11
361    Millennium I G200 Millennium I G200 Millennium I G200
3628bpp 8.41 6.01 6.54 4.37 16.00 10.51
36316bpp 9.54 9.12 8.76 6.17 17.52 14.01
36424bpp 15.00 12.36 11.67 10.00 22.01 18.32
36532bpp 16.18 18.29* 12.71 12.74 24.44 21.00
366
367TEXT
368        8x16
369    Millennium I G200
370TEXT 3.29 1.50
371
372* Yes, it is slower than Millennium I.
373
374
375Dualhead G400
376=============
377Driver supports dualhead G400 with some limitations:
378 + secondary head shares videomemory with primary head. It is not problem
379   if you have 32MB of videoram, but if you have only 16MB, you may have
380   to think twice before choosing videomode (for example twice 1880x1440x32bpp
381   is not possible).
382 + due to hardware limitation, secondary head can use only 16 and 32bpp
383   videomodes.
384 + secondary head is not accelerated. There were bad problems with accelerated
385   XFree when secondary head used to use acceleration.
386 + secondary head always powerups in 640x480@60-32 videomode. You have to use
387   fbset to change this mode.
388 + secondary head always powerups in monitor mode. You have to use fbmatroxset
389   to change it to TV mode. Also, you must select at least 525 lines for
390   NTSC output and 625 lines for PAL output.
391 + kernel is not fully multihead ready. So some things are impossible to do.
392 + if you compiled it as module, you must insert i2c-matroxfb, matroxfb_maven
393   and matroxfb_crtc2 into kernel.
394
395
396Dualhead G450
397=============
398Driver supports dualhead G450 with some limitations:
399 + secondary head shares videomemory with primary head. It is not problem
400   if you have 32MB of videoram, but if you have only 16MB, you may have
401   to think twice before choosing videomode.
402 + due to hardware limitation, secondary head can use only 16 and 32bpp
403   videomodes.
404 + secondary head is not accelerated.
405 + secondary head always powerups in 640x480@60-32 videomode. You have to use
406   fbset to change this mode.
407 + TV output is not supported
408 + kernel is not fully multihead ready, so some things are impossible to do.
409 + if you compiled it as module, you must insert matroxfb_g450 and matroxfb_crtc2
410   into kernel.
411    
412--
413Petr Vandrovec <vandrove@vc.cvut.cz>
414

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