


SuperProbe(1)					    SuperProbe(1)


NAME
       SuperProbe  - probe for and identify installed video hard-
       ware.

SYNOPSIS
       SuperProbe [-verbose] [-no16] [-excl list] [-mask10]
	    [-order list] [-noprobe list] [-bios base]
	    [-no_bios] [-no_dac] [-no_mem] [-info]

DESCRIPTION
       SuperProbe is a a program that will attempt  to	determine
       the  type  of video hardware installed in an EISA/ISA/VLB-
       bus system by checking for known registers in various com-
       binations  at  various  locations  (MicroChannel	 and  PCI
       machines may not be fully supported; many  work	with  the
       use  of the -no_bios option).  This is an error-prone pro-
       cess, especially on Unix (which usually	has  a	lot  more
       esoteric	 hardware  installed  than  MS-DOS system do), so
       SuperProbe may likely need help from the user.

       SuperProbe     runs     on     SVR3,	SVR4,	   Linux,
       386BSD/FreeBSD/NetBSD,  Minix-386, and Mach.  It should be
       trivial to extend it to work on any other Unix-like  oper-
       ating system, and even non-Unix operating systems.  All of
       the OS dependencies are isolated to a single file for each
       OS.

       At  this time, SuperProbe can identify MDA, Hercules, CGA,
       MCGA, EGA, VGA, and an entire horde of SVGA chipsets  (see
       the  -info  option,  below).  It can also identify several
       HiColor/True-color RAMDACs in use on SVGA boards, and  the
       amount  of video memory installed (for many chipsets).  It
       can identify 8514/A and some derivatives, but not XGA,  or
       PGC  (although  the  author intends to add those capabili-
       ties).  Nor can it identify other esoteric video	 hardware
       (like Targa, TIGA, or Microfield boards).

OPTIONS
       -verbose
	       SuperProbe  will	 be  verbose  and provide lots of
	       information as it does its work.

       -no16   SuperProbe will not attempt to use any ports  that
	       require 16-bit I/O address decoding.  The original
	       ISA bus only specified that I/O ports  be  decoded
	       to  10  bits.  Therefore some old cards (including
	       many 8-bit cards) will  mis-decode  references  to
	       ports  that use the upper 6 bits, and may get into
	       funny states because  they  think  that	they  are
	       being  addressed	 when they are not.  It is recom-
	       mended that this option be used initially  if  any
	       8-bit cards are present in the system.





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SuperProbe(1)					    SuperProbe(1)


       -excl list
	       SuperProbe  will	 not  attempt  to  access any I/O
	       ports on the specified exclusion list.  Some video
	       cards  use  rather non-standard I/O ports that may
	       conflict with other cards installed in  your  sys-
	       tem.   By specifying to SuperProbe a list of ports
	       already in use, it will know that there cannot  be
	       any  video  cards  that use those ports, and hence
	       will not probe them (which could otherwise confuse
	       your  hardware).	  The exclusion list is specified
	       as a comma-separated list of  I/O  ports	 or  port
	       ranges.	 A  range is specified as "low-high", and
	       is inclusive.  The ports can be specified in deci-
	       mal,  in	 octal	(numbers begin with '0'), or hex-
	       adecimal (numbers begin with '0x').

       -mask10 This option is used in combination with -excl.  It
	       tells  SuperProbe  that when comparing an I/O port
	       under test against the exclusion	 list,	the  port
	       address	should	be  masked  to	10 bits.  This is
	       important with older 8-bit cards that only  do  10
	       bit  decoding,  and for some cheap 16-bit cards as
	       well.  This option is simply a  less-drastic  form
	       of the -no16 option.

       -order list
	       This  option  specifies	which chipsets SuperProbe
	       should test, and in which order.	 The list parame-
	       ter  is	a  comma-separated list of chipset names.
	       This list overrides the built-in	 default  testing
	       order.	To find the list of acceptable names, use
	       the -info option described below.  Note that items
	       displayed  as  "Standard	 video	hardware" are not
	       usable with the -order option.

       -noprobe list
	       This options specifies which  chipsets  SuperProbe
	       should not test.	 The order of testing will either
	       be the default order, or that specified	with  the
	       -order option described above.  The list parameter
	       is a comma-separated list of  chipset  names.   To
	       find  the  list of acceptable names, use the -info
	       option described below.	Note that items displayed
	       as  "Standard  video hardware" are not usable with
	       the -noprobe option.

       -bios base
	       This option specifies the  base	address	 for  the
	       graphics-hardware  BIOS.	  By  default, SuperProbe
	       will attempt to locate the BIOS base  on	 its  own
	       (the  normal  address is 0xC0000).  If it fails to
	       correctly locate the BIOS (an error  message  will
	       be  printed  if this occurs), the -bios option can
	       be used to specify the base.



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SuperProbe(1)					    SuperProbe(1)


       -no_bios
	       Disallow reading of the video BIOS and assume that
	       an  EGA	or  later (VGA, SVGA) board is present as
	       the primary video hardware.

       -no_dac Skip probing for the RAMDAC type when an (S)VGA is
	       identified.

       -no_mem Skip  probing  for  the	amount of installed video
	       memory.

       -info   SuperProbe will print out a  listing  of	 all  the
	       video hardware that it knows how to identify.

EXAMPLES
       To  run	SuperProbe  in its most basic and automated form,
       simply enter:

			       SuperProbe

       Note - you may want to redirect stdout to a file when  you
       run  SuperProbe	(especially  if	 your OS does not support
       Virtual Terminals on the console).

       However, if you have any 8-bit cards installed, you should
       initially run SuperProbe as:

		       SuperProbe -verbose -no16

       (the  -verbose  option  is  included  so	 you can see what
       SuperProbe is skipping).

       Finer granularity can be obtained with an exclusion  list,
       for example:

	   SuperProbe -verbose -excl 0x200,0x220-0x230,0x250

       which  will  not	 test for any device that use port 0x200,
       ports 0x220 through 0x230, inclusive, or port  0x250.   If
       you have any 8-bit cards installed, you should add -mask10
       to the list of options.

       To restrict the search to Western Digital, Tseng, and Cir-
       rus chipset, run SuperProbe as follows:

		   SuperProbe -order WD,Tseng,Cirrus

BUGS
       Probably	 a  lot at this point.	Please report any bugs or
       incorrect identifications to the author.

       It is possible that SuperProbe can lock up  your	 machine.
       Be  sure	 to  narrow the search by using the -no16, -excl,
       and -mask10  options  provided  to  keep	 SuperProbe  from



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SuperProbe(1)					    SuperProbe(1)


       conflicting with other installed hardware.

SEE ALSO
       The  vgadoc3.zip documentation package by Finn Thoegersen,
       available in the MS-DOS archives of many FTP repositories.

       Programmer's  Guide  to	the EGA and VGA Cards, 2nd Ed, by
       Richard Ferraro.

AUTHOR
       David E. Wexelblat <dwex@xfree86.org>
       with help from David  Dawes  <dawes@xfree86.org>	 and  the
       XFree86 development team.












































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