SPONSORED LINKS
Elvin wrote: > Just a simple question. Can Xfree86 go up to 16bpp and above on > the 701C ? WIndows works fine with >8bit (Thought 24 bpp, not much diff.) > And one big question, how do I set XFree86 to go 16bpp and 32bpp ??? Here's my answer a month ago: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 6 Jun 1996 11:10:48 -0400 (EDT) From: "John H. Kim" <jokim@MIT.EDU> To: Bjoern Stabell <bjoerns@stabell.priv.no> Cc: thinkpad@cs.utk.edu Subject: Re: display and graphics chip set of 701s On Thu, 6 Jun 1996, Bjoern Stabell wrote: > Does anyone know how many bits of each RGB component the display and > graphics chip set can handle [on the TP701]? The 701 uses the C&T 65545 video chipset. It isn't originally designed for 24-bit color, but IBM tweaked something to get 24-bit color to work under DOS-VESA, Windows, and OS/2. It seems to work except it requires a strange synch frequencies many monitors can't handle. On the LCD I get a wavy white line along the right side. Not that 24-bit color is useful on an LCD - I tested it and it's indistinguishable from 16-bit color on my TFT, other than being slower and the white line. The 16-bit (64k and 32k color) modes are standard, and fully supported under DOS, Windows, and OS/2. > I'm using Linux, and the SVGA X server I use doesn't seem to understand > anything beyond 640x480 in 256 colors with a resolution of 6 bits in each > of the three color dimensions (RGB). Anyone know of a better server or if > better support is planned for the ct65545 chipset? There XFree server offers minimal support for the CT65545. It'll only do 8-bit video (256 colors, or 8 bits from a palette of 18-bits, which is where Bjoern gets the "6 bits in each..." figure). It doesn't even use the video acceleration or programmable clock. You can buy the AcceleratedX server for $99. It is also limited to 8-bit color, but it does use the acceleration and programmable clock. http://www.xinside.com There's also been some pre-release work to enable the XFree server to use acceleration and 16-bit and 24-bit color. I've tried several of these "alpha" drivers without success. They put the video in an unusable mode. 5% of the time it is unrecoverable, requiring I reboot. The other 95% of the time, I can get it back to a usable mode by hitting Fn+F1. I suspect there's something simple I'm missing here, but I don't have the time or knowledge to look into it further. http://www.cygnus.com/~raeburn/ct5xx.html http://www.castle.net/X-notebook/index_linux.html > Tragic. I would so much have liked to run 640x480 in 16bit on the TFT > and 1024x768 in 256 colors on an external CRT. :( Is that doable with, > lets say, Windows 95? 1024x768 in 256 colors on an external CRT should be doable. I don't have a monitor so I haven't tried. I know the AcceleratedX drivers are capable of doing it. Tell me if you can get any of the 16-bit Linux drivers working. I use Win95 right when I need to work in 16-bit mode while still preserving Unix long-filenames. Win95 sucks up far too much disk space and RAM for the marginal improvements it gives me over Win3.1. I'd love to dump it if I could do my 16-bit color work in Linux. -- John H. Kim There are only two industries that call their jokim@mit.edu customers 'users,' and one of them is illegal. ---------- End Forwarded message ---------- Since then, Bjoern reports he's gotten the latest XFree86 alpha driver to work in 16-bit and 24-bit modes. The 16-bit is displaced by about 40 pixels on the LCD, and the 24-bit mode flickers, but they work for him. I have not been able to get it to work. It comes up, doesn't lock up the graphics like it used to, but I get a blank screen. If I switch to a terminal session and back, I can see the X desktop for an instant before it goes black again. So it's working, it's just not displaying properly. I haven't had time to figure out what the problem is, and all my mail to Bjoern has bounced. If you get it to work, I'd love a copy of your XF86Config file. -- John H. Kim "I stop for red traffic lights" -- bumper sticker jokim@mit.edu commissioned by the City of Boston as part of a MIT Sea Grant campaign to shed its reputation for bad drivers.