TECHNICAL INFORMATION DOCUMENT

TITLE:              PTF2051 - #9GXE64 PCI Video Support
DOCUMENT ID:        TID300220
DOCUMENT REVISION:  A
DATE:               26MAY95
ALERT STATUS:       Yellow
INFORMATION TYPE:   Symptom Solution
README FOR:         tf2051    

PRODUCT and VERSION:
UnixWare 2.0

ABSTRACT:

S3 Trio 64, S3 801/805/928, and S3 864/964 Video Chipsets Supported.

SYMPTOM

Increase #9GXE64 Video Support on UnixWare 2.01.

SOLUTION

Apply the tf2051 file.

Installation Instructions:  

DATATYPE: datastream

1.  Download the tf2051.Z and tf2051.txt files to the /tmp directory
    on your machine.

2.  Read the release notes contained in this file and follow the
    instuctions to add the packages to your system.

3.  Now become root, uncompress the file and add the package to your 
    system using the following commands:

        $ su
        # uncompress /tmp/tf2051.Z
        # pkgadd -d /tmp/tf2051

Solution Specifics

Title
-----

PTF2051 - #9GXE64 PCI Video Support

Product And Version
-------------------

UnixWare 2.01

General Description.
-------------------

PTF2051 delivers support and improvements for the following video cards:

    o S3 801/805/928, 864/964, Trio 32/64
     - Actix Graphics Engine Ultra Pro (928) ISA
     - Actix Graphics Engine 32 Plus (801) ISA
     - Diamond Stealth Pro (928) ISA VLB
        - Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM Vision864 PCI
        - Diamond Stealth 64 Vision964 PCI/VLB
     - Elsa WINNER 1000 (928) ISA EISA
     - Focus TrueSpeed (801) ISA
     - Metheus Premier 801 ISA
     - Metheus Premier (928)  ISA
     - Nth S3 Advantage (801) ISA
     - Number Nine #9GXE (928) ISA VLB PCI
     - Orchid Farenheit (801) ISA
     - Orchid Farenheit VA (805) ISA
     - STB X-24 (801) ISA
        - Trio64/Trio32 VLB/PCI

New Features.
------------

See general description.

Software Notes and Recommendations.
----------------------------------

This PTF can be installed ONLY on UnixWare 2.01 with the Graphics
Display Support package, display, installed.

For S3 chipsets, the user can try different runtime options to increase
performance.  The default options for these drivers are the ones that
work in most cases.  Read the files /usr/X/lib/display/README.S3 and
/usr/X/lib/display/README.s364 before you try any user-defined options.

Disabling and Enabling Graphical Login:

   Before experimenting with video modes ALWAYS turn off graphical
   login by running the command:

     /usr/X/bin/disable_glogin

   With graphical login disabled, if you accidently save a 
   bad video mode, a system reboot will bring the console up 
   in text mode.  This will allow you to log in and restore
   the previous video entry.  To restart graphical login, run:

     /usr/X/bin/enable_glogin

Testing of the modified software contained in this package has been
conducted only to the extent necessary to confirm that it resolves the
problem(s) stated above ("Symptom").  Such testing consists of
recreating the problem conditions and verifying that the problem 
no longer occurs.  No other testing of this software has been done.

Hardware Notes and Recommendations.
----------------------------------

RAMDAC's:
   If you want to run 1280x1024 modes at greater than 60Hz frequencies,
   you will need to define an option in either LIBS3_OPTIONS or
   LIBMACH_OPTIONS file. These files reside in "/usr/X/lib/display"
   directory. For more information on user-defined options, read
   the corresponding README file (ie: README.mach or README.S3)

   Bandwidths for various modes:

     1280x1024 at 60Hz needs 110MHz
     1280x1024 at 70Hz needs 126MHz
     1280x1024 at 72Hz needs 130MHz
     1280x1024 at 74Hz needs 135MHz

   Some RAMDAC's come in two flavours: 110MHZ or 135MHZ maximum
   bandwidths. To make sure that we don't damage video hardware due to
   user's mistakes, we take the 'least risky approach' - so we
   limit the maximum frequency to 110MHz on ATI-68875-xxx and Bt485-xxx
   RAMDAC's. To go to higher frequencies, you need to specifically
   define it in the options file. For example, if you have a S3928 card
   that has a Bt485-135 RAMDAC, I can go up to 1280x1024@74Hz modes by 
   defining:

     dac-max-frequency=135000
     
   or if you have a ATI Ultra PRO with ATI-68875-cfn RAMDAC:

     dac-name=ati-68875-cfn


S3 928/801 - fine tuning performance:

   MMIO operations sort of work on the 928 cards. Almost all cards work
   faster with mmio-write-pixtrans enabled. Some cards seem to have 
   problems, if mmio-write-enhanced-regs is enabled and some don't. 
   S3 has published that this feature reliably works with the E-Step
   and later 928 chips.

   The consequence of MMIO not working are serious (ex: system panic),
   so we turned off this feature. If you have a 928 with E or later 
   stepping number, you can try uncommenting the following line in
   "/usr/X/lib/display/LIBS3_OPTIONS" file:


     #memory-and-register-access-mode=mmio-write-pixtrans,mmio-write-enhanced-r
egs

   By uncommenting the above line, we noticed that there is an
   approximately 10% performance improvement.

   Similarly, if you have 801 cards, there are other options, read the
   LIBS3_OPTIONS and also README.S3 

   This version of the driver supports *ONLY* 801 'B-step' or earlier
   stepping numbers.