This is the README for the XFree86 ATI SVGA driver.

Last Revised: Mon May 10 15:17:57 1993 by faith@cs.unc.edu



Q. What's new?

For XFree86 version 1.2 (and later versions), there are two changes to the
extregPlusXLAndOrMasks table:

1) ER_B0 was changed from 0x28 to 0x31.  (In the Linux world, this was
distributed as a binary patch long ago.)

2) ER_BE was changed from 0x08, but only for cards EARLIER than the
28800-5.

Both of these changes allow more 28800-4 cards to work, although either one
may be sufficient for any one card.  You can find these changes in the
driver by searching for the Feb 3 timestamps.



Q. What is the ATI SVGA driver?

The ATI SVGA driver is a 256 color driver for the XFree86 server.  The
driver was written for the ATI WONDER series of graphics adapters.  In
general, the following modes are supported for cards with 512kb of memory:

640x480x256
600x800x256

The following modes are supported for cards with 1024kb of memory:

1024x768x256



Q. What is the ATI SVGA driver *NOT*?

The ATI SVGA driver is *NOT* a black and white (2 bit) driver.  Therefore,
it will *NOT* work with the XFree86 monoserver.

The ATI SVGA driver is *NOT* a 16 color driver.  Even though your manual
says that your graphics adapter has a 1024x768x16 mode, the ATI SVGA driver
will *NOT* use this mode.  If you want to use 1024x768, you *MUST* have 1MB
of memory on your board and use the 1024x768x256 mode.

The ATI SVGA driver will *NOT* support more than 8 bits of pixel depth.
Therefore, even though your manual says that your graphics adapter supports
modes using more than 256 colors, the ATI SVGA driver will *NOT* use these
modes.

The ATI SVGA driver is *NOT* an accelerated driver.  If you have an ATI
GRAPHICS ULTRA series card, the ATI SVGA driver will *NOT* use the
accelerated hardware.  It will only use the SVGA hardware.  This will
probably not be any faster than a VGA WONDER card, unless the card is on a
local bus (and then, it won't be faster than a VGA WONDER card on a local
bus, if a card of this type existed).



Q. What cards will the driver work with?

This is a difficult question, because there are many different ATI video
cards, and it is sometimes difficult to tell them apart.  The best way is
to look on the card itself for the ATI chip numbers.  Here is a partial
list of ATI VGA WONDER cards.  The MOST IMPORTANT number is the CHIP
VERSION.

Adapter version     Dot clock       Chip version

VGA WONDER V3                       ATI18800        NOT SUPPORTED
VGA WONDER V4                       ATI18800-1      NOT SUPPORTED
VGA WONDER V5       ATI18810        ATI18800-1      NOT SUPPORTED
VGA WONDER + (V6)   ATI18810        ATI28800-2      ? MAY WORK ?
VGA WONDER (1 MB)   ATI18810        ATI28800-4      SUPPORTED
VGA WONDER (1 MB)   ATI18810        ATI28800-5      SUPPORTED
VGA WONDER XL       ATI18810        ATI28800-5      SUPPORTED

Note that the ATI SVGA driver code has hooks and some support for all of
the cards listed.  However, with the earlier cards, there are serious
differences in the programmer's interface.  The only people who have ever
worked on the code have had 28800-4 and 28800-5 chips, so these chips are
the only ones that are actually known to work.

The ATI GRAPHICS ULTRA chips seem to have SVGA support which is equivalent
to the 28800-4, 28800-5, and 28800-a, although I can find no documentation
on this in the technical manuals provided by ATI.  The ULTRA PLUS and ULTRA
PRO boards have been tested to some extent, and seem to work fine, but the
original ULTRA may have some problems at greater than 640x480 resolution.



Q. What should I put in my Xconfig file?

THE MOST IMPORTANT LINE IS THE CLOCKS LINE:

  Clocks        18 22 25 28 36 44 50 56
                30 32 37 39 40 0  75 65

The first row of clocks is usable on all VGA Wonder cards.  The second row
is usable only on V5, PLUS, and XL cards (28800-2, 28800-4, and 28800-5).
However, you should include *BOTH* rows for *ALL* cards.

The specification is different from the specification used with the ET-4000
cards.  Programs with claim to detect the clocks usually work only with
ET-4000 based cards.  No such program exists for the ATI cards, since it
isn't needed.  THE CLOCKS LINE SHOULD NEVER BE CHANGED.  The order of
numbers in the clocks line *is* significant.

The actual frequencies, which can be used to calculate the ModeDB lines,
are as follows:

18 = 18.000
22 = 22.450
25 = 25.175
28 = 28.320
36 = 36.000
44 = 44.900
50 = 50.350
56 = 56.640

30 = 30.240
32 = 32.000
37 = 37.500
39 = 39.000
40 = 40.000
 0 = 56.640
75 = 75.000
65 = 65.000

The Chipset will be automatically detected.  The chipset name for this
driver is "ati".

Here is a sample Xconfig (which I use):

RGBPath		"/usr/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/,/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"

Keyboard
  AutoRepeat 500 5
  ServerNumLock

#Microsoft	"/dev/mouse"
#MouseSystems	"/dev/mouse"
#MMSeries	"/dev/mouse"
#Logitech	"/dev/mouse"
#MouseMan	"/dev/mouse"
Busmouse	"/dev/mouse"
#  BaudRate	1200
  SampleRate	150
#  Emulate3Buttons


vga256
  ViewPort      0 0
  #Modes	 "1024x768v" "800x600v"
  Modes	        "800x600v"
  Clocks        18 22 25 28 36 44 50 56
                30 32 37 39 40 0  75 65
  Displaysize   260 184

ModeDB

# From NEC MultiSync 3FGx manual (copied by faith@cs.unc.edu)
# active_area front_porch pulse_width back_porch for horiz and vert
# VESA 640x480 at 72Hz (37.860kHz)
# 20.317us 0.762us 1.270us 4.603us; 12.678ms 0.238ms 0.079ms 0.740ms
# (I couldn't find a good clock rate for this one)
# VESA 800x600 at 72Hz (48.077kHz)
# 16.000us 1.120us 2.400us 1.280us; 12.480ms 0.770ms 0.125ms 0.478ms
"800x600v"   50      800  856  976 1040    600  637  643  693
# VESA 1024x768 at 60Hz (48.363kHz)
# 15.754us 0.369us 2.092us 2.462us; 15.880ms 0.062ms 0.124ms 0.600ms
"1024x768v"  65    1024 1048 1184 1344    768  771  777  806



Q. What is the history of the driver?

The complete history of the driver is cloudy.  I have tried to reconstruct
the history from several email messages from a few of the people involved.
The history is probably incomplete and inaccurate.

Apparently, Per Lindqvist (pgd@compuram.bbt.se) first got an ATI driver
working with an early ATI card under X386 1.1a.  (This original driver may
have actually been based on an non-functional ATI driver written by Roell.)
Then Doug Evans (dje@cygnus.com) ported the driver to the ATI XL, trying in
the process to make the driver work with all other ATI cards.

I (Rik Faith) obtained the X11R4 driver from Doug Evans in the summer of
1992, and ported the code to the X386 part of X11R5.  This subsequently
became part of XFree86.  Per and Doug did the majority of work, making the
port somewhat trivial.  I am grateful for their contribution.

The port to X11R5 required writing the ATIProbe and ATIEnterLeave routines,
and re-organizing the ATISave and ATIRestore routines.  Someone else added
the operating system specific code, but I don't know who.

The major reference that I used was manual from ATI:

"VGA WONDER Programmer's Reference"
ATI Technologies, 1991.
Release 1.2 -- Reference #PRG28800
(Part No. 10709B0412)

However, Chapter 11 (ATI 18800 ATI VGAWONDER) of George Sutty and Steve
Blair's "Advanced Programmer's Guide to SuperVGAs" (Brady/Simon & Schuster,
1990) was also useful.  Further, someone e-mailed be a random document from
the ATI BBS which was dated 3Jul91 and which may have been named
PROGINFO.DOC.



Q. What is the future of the driver?

I no longer use an ATI Wonder card and have no interest in this driver.
Since I have received no bug reports or patches for the driver during the
past 3 months, I think it is about as stable as it is going to get.  (I
suspect that support for the 28800-2, 28800-4, and 28800-5 chips can be
made more robust, but I doubt that the other chips will ever be fully
supported.)

I have absolutely *NO* intention of porting the code to the mono or 16
color servers.  If *you* want ATI support in the mono or 16 color servers,
they *you* should do the port.  (Since I no longer use my ATI Wonder card,
please feel free to take over the current driver as well.)


$XFree86: mit/server/ddx/x386/etc/README.ati,v 1.4 1993/05/13 15:27:39 dawes Exp $
