[UPDATE] Getting higher refresh rates using vesafb driver

Angrybob · Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Posts: 575

just compiled the gentoo-sources-r6 kernel with both patches but still only get 60Hz !! maybe the geforceFX 5900 doesnt support VBE 3 ?! please say it aint so!!!!

LinuxDolt · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 05 May 2003 Posts: 104

i have no clue... i myself run the gss sources for my kernel...

neenee · Veteran Joined: 20 Jul 2003 Posts: 1786

i just wanted to add my short story of success with this
patch to this thread.

though it took me a while to find out what to include in
the kernel, i now have my 2.6.0test3-mm3 kernel with a
nice high-resolution console.

now i can think about adding a bootplash and some
other eyecandy.

*update* kernel 2.6.0test4-mm1 works fine too w/ this.

chrisyu · Apprentice Joined: 10 Apr 2003 Posts: 207 Location: China

Any one make it work on an ATI card?
I have a 8500LE card, and also follow this document.

Kernel is 2.4.20-gentoo-r6 with bootsplash.
I set vga=0x51A (1280x1024) in grub.conf, bootsplash still works but stays at 60Hz.

vesafb_modes.h

tom.barbeau · Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2003 1:40 am Post subject:

I can't make it work either with my GeForce4 MX440.

I wonder if this has to do with gentoo-sources-2.4.20-r6.
Anybody successful with that kernel?

Vidar · Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2003 5:22 am Post subject:

For some positive feedback. I applied it without a hitch. Works perfectly. My info:

2.6.0-test4-mm1
Geforce FX 5200
Nvidia Kernel 4496-r1
CTL 910TF Monitor (basically relabeled Samsung 955DF, iirc)
Running at 1024x768 @ 96Hz (it's probably 100Hz. my monitor is probably screwy at reporting it)

edit: Aparently I put the bandwidth in wrong. Now it really is 100Hz. Only thing is everything is shifted up just about one line so the top line is not visable. I suppose I can live with it, but is there anything I can do? My xvidtune output:

tom.barbeau · Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2003 6:46 pm Post subject:

spock_ · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2003 9:59 pm Post subject:

Hmm.. I was away for a while and it seems we have quite a few problem to solve here. Let's deal with them in the chronological order

aLEczapKA: you could try doing it the xvidtune way, as explained in the README and earlier in this thread.

FileZilla: there probably will not be VBE 2.0 support. The thing is - only in VBE 3.0 there is a function that allows one to change the refresh rate. VBE 2.0 doesn't support this. It is of course possible to write some kind of extension (which would work like old DOS UNIVBE worked for VBE 1.2 cards). However, it would be necessary to write a special extension for all VBE 2.0 we would like to support. It seems to me that a more efficient solution would be writing special framebuffer drivers for all these cards (this way we could use some adapter-specific features that aren't accessible via the VESA interface).

tom.barberau: does 0x317 work for you? have you tried applying the second patch (the one that shows you VBE version)

AngryBob: the second patch shows VBE version only if it's lower than 3.0 (it will stop the bootup and you to press a key). No info is recorded in dmesg as all these refresh rate and video mode change operations in vesafb are performed before the kernel is actually loaded. If you tried the second patch, what was the result?

Ulukay: did you mean that you can't get higher than 60Hz when you said it didn't work? Have you tried the second patch?

chrisyu: most likely your ATI card is not VBE3.0 compliant. Check the second patch to be sure.

Vidar: you could use this:

tom.barbeau · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2003 11:55 pm Post subject:

spock_,

I tried the second patch and it seems my card is VBE3.0 compatible (I have a GeForce4 Mx440). Included is the relevant dmesg section:

minimizebeefgoo · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2003 11:56 pm Post subject:

It worked for me with 2.6.0-test4-mm1, but I had to manually put the results of xvidtune into the header file. My monitor didn't seem to like a weird refresh rate like 80.6 Hz (85 was fine).

The weird thing about this is that the specs I got off the web indicate that my monitor can't do 1280x1024 at 85 Hz. I don't know where my manual went :), but I do know that 1280x1024 at 85 Hz is one of the pre-programmed settings. Does anyone with a Viewsonic A90 know more about this?

tom.barbeau · Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2003 3:35 am Post subject:

spock_,

As for the question - which I didn't answer :oops:

, I can't get 0x317, which is 1024x768. The best I can get is 0x314. But whether 0x314 or 0x514, I don't get more than 60Hz. My monitor can handle 1024x768 at 100MHz on windows, I can set at at that rate and it works, as displayed on the OSD of the monitor. On Linux, I can't get X to set that refresh rate, though. It seems that it's not a progammed setting of the monitor, or something like that.

Angrybob · Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Posts: 575

spock_ · Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2003 7:41 pm Post subject:

tom.barbeau: most monitors should support any mode that is within their display capabilities (and 1024x768 certainly is if it works with Windows). I'm temporarily out of ideas here - your card seems to be VBE 3.0 compliant yet it looks like as if the function for changing refresh rate simply didn't exist. I guess you'll have to wait until the next version of the patch (a few weeks at most) which should bring a few more ways to test things in this case.

Angrybob: your situation seems to be the same as tom.barbeau's. So I'm sorry - but I can't help (yet). As for the grub-install, perhaps you should some info about it to gentoo-dev / try to talk with someone on IRC / use another way of attracting people's attention. The bug was fixed by grub devs some 6 months ago. It's high time someone fix it in Portage

_________________
"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."

tom.barbeau · Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:59 pm Post subject:

Just to make things clear - not sure my post was,

X works at 1024x768 with 16M colors at 85MHz but no more, although I can get 100MHz under Windows. But the framebuffer doesn't like more than 800x600 with 65K colors and only at 60Hz.

rtwick · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2003 3:28 pm Post subject:

Just to say another happy user

2.4.22 ac-sources

DELL P991 monitor
PIII 600MHz
NVidia RIVA TNT2 32Mb

No problem installing the patch ... now running at 1280x1024@85Hz
_________________
-This Is A Signature

Angrybob · Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Posts: 575

rtwick · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2003 4:56 pm Post subject:

here's a link to the dell documentation on this monitor http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/monitors/p991/en/spec.htm
and here's my vesafb_modes.h file

kriz · Apprentice Joined: 22 Jan 2003 Posts: 231

wow! really nice! great work!
1024x768@119Hz

wft is xfree

mfg

phlashback · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 10:06 am Post subject:

All I can say is.... VVoVV

just took the plunge and am happy to report that under 2.6.0-test5 I have
a revived console running at 1280x1024@80. Ahh two happy penguins

at boot, and mplayer never looked so good :twisted:

Thanks

tom.barbeau · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 12:53 pm Post subject:

Some people are still unable to run the fb at more than 60Hz. I wonder if this is related to the kernel version. I want to do a quick poll to see what is the best kernel version to use for that.

We have some guys that have been successful with the 2.6 kernel series. I personally was *not* successful with gentoo-sources-2.4.20-r6.

Any other examples of successful as well as unsuccessful kernels?

Thanks

tom.barbeau · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 12:54 pm Post subject:

Some people are still unable to run the fb at more than 60Hz. I wonder if this is related to the kernel version. I want to do a quick poll to see what is the best kernel version to use for that.

We have some guys that have been successful with the 2.6 kernel series. I personally was *not* successful with gentoo-sources-2.4.20-r6.

Any other examples of successful as well as unsuccessful kernels?

Thanks

Angrybob · Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Posts: 575

I've tried unsuccessfully with

2.4.22_pre2-gss
2.4.20-gentoo-r6
2.6.0-test4-mm

I think its more likely a motherboard / gfx card problem

lurid · Guru Joined: 12 Mar 2003 Posts: 595 Location: Florida

I've had this working since 2.6.0-test2-mm1. I'm currently on 2.6.0-test5-love1. Thats been at least 3 kernels (probably more since the -mm series is updated quickly. i can't keep track of them all). What problems exactly are you having? All I do is:

chrisyu · Apprentice Joined: 10 Apr 2003 Posts: 207 Location: China

Applied the second patch and it told me ATI8500 was a VBE2.0 card... :cry:

Anyone make this work on an ATI card??

Cicero · Apprentice Joined: 21 Jul 2003 Posts: 220

You don't need to use the vesa framebuffer driver for ATI cards. Use radeonfb instead. It takes an argument for the refresh rate.