*BSD News Article 8303


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From: hasty@netcom.com (Amancio Hasty Jr)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386,comp.unix.bsd,comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: I need 8514/ATI Graphics Ultra support for ISC UNIX SVR3.2 & X11R4
Message-ID: <1992Nov24.163737.3336@netcom.com>
Date: 24 Nov 92 16:37:37 GMT
References: <1992Nov16.213215.4701@netcom.com> <1992Nov23.073800.6592@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE> <1eshe9INNeum@agate.berkeley.edu>
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)
Lines: 61

In article <1eshe9INNeum@agate.berkeley.edu> curtis@cs.berkeley.edu (Curtis Yarvin) writes:
>In article <1992Nov23.073800.6592@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE> roell@informatik.tu-muenchen.de (Thomas Roell) writes:
>>>   >We are using the Metrolink X11R4 software with Motif 1.1.3 on ISC 3.0.
>>>   >They support the ATI ultra very well. For information call
>>>   >
>>>   >(305) 970-7353
>>>   >
>>>   >They also have X11R5 with Motif 1.1.4 available.
>>>   >
>>>   It is trivial to port XBSD8514 to ISC.
>>>   XBSD8514 is known to work with the ATI Ultra and has been clocked
>>>   at 60k xstones.
>>
>>Well, the issue here is that MetroLink (and SGCS) have access to the
>>full documents about the Mach8/Mach32 chipsets.
>
>Mach8 documentation is now publicly available.
>
>>Since you can get them only under a NDA, a free X-server would never give
>>you the same power as a commercial version, which can make use of these
>>details.
>
>The Mach8 extensions are minor, and will not be noticed under most
>applications; I suspect the SGCS 85k versus free 60k xstones is more
>a result of extensive tweaking and optimization than this.
>
Could you tell us where to get Mach8 documentation?

>There are very few uses of X under which you will notice the difference
>between 85k and 60k xstones.
I am finding this to be true with S3's 911 and the S3 801 which is %50
faster than the 911. However, the 801 has added functionality like 
64k colors at a 1024x768 with 2MB.

The distributed XBSD8514 server was compiled with gcc-1.38;additionally,
it was not compiled with all the optimizations. I intent to release a
server compiled and optimized with gcc-2.3.1. We should get a %20 
improvement.

>
>>Furthermore, you have to use DOS to setup a 1024x768 NI mode.
>
>This is not, technically, a lie; but it is intentionally misleading.
>You do, indeed, have to use DOS to set up a 1024x768 mode.
>That mode is the 1024x768x60hz mode.  If your monitor can handle 70hz -
>and most can, these days - you will have no problem.  The Ultra
>boots in 1024x768x70hz mode by default.
>
>Roell has, in the past, claimed that SysV use of X8514 requires kernel
>mods; this is also false.  SVR3 has a call to enable user-level port
>access, and I believe SVR4 has it too.
>
svr4 requires modifications to access the 8514/a register such as
9ae8. The stock svr4 is incapable of accessing registers beyond
x3ff without modifications. There is a patch with the latest 
release of XFree86 to allow you to access the 8514/a registers
as well as, the S3 registers.

>c

Amancio Hasty