| 1 | Intel 810/815 Framebuffer driver |
| 2 | Tony Daplas <adaplas@pol.net> |
| 3 | http://i810fb.sourceforge.net |
| 4 | |
| 5 | March 17, 2002 |
| 6 | |
| 7 | First Released: July 2001 |
| 8 | Last Update: September 12, 2005 |
| 9 | ================================================================ |
| 10 | |
| 11 | A. Introduction |
| 12 | |
| 13 | This is a framebuffer driver for various Intel 810/815 compatible |
| 14 | graphics devices. These include: |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Intel 810 |
| 17 | Intel 810E |
| 18 | Intel 810-DC100 |
| 19 | Intel 815 Internal graphics only, 100Mhz FSB |
| 20 | Intel 815 Internal graphics only |
| 21 | Intel 815 Internal graphics and AGP |
| 22 | |
| 23 | B. Features |
| 24 | |
| 25 | - Choice of using Discrete Video Timings, VESA Generalized Timing |
| 26 | Formula, or a framebuffer specific database to set the video mode |
| 27 | |
| 28 | - Supports a variable range of horizontal and vertical resolution and |
| 29 | vertical refresh rates if the VESA Generalized Timing Formula is |
| 30 | enabled. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | - Supports color depths of 8, 16, 24 and 32 bits per pixel |
| 33 | |
| 34 | - Supports pseudocolor, directcolor, or truecolor visuals |
| 35 | |
| 36 | - Full and optimized hardware acceleration at 8, 16 and 24 bpp |
| 37 | |
| 38 | - Robust video state save and restore |
| 39 | |
| 40 | - MTRR support |
| 41 | |
| 42 | - Utilizes user-entered monitor specifications to automatically |
| 43 | calculate required video mode parameters. |
| 44 | |
| 45 | - Can concurrently run with xfree86 running with native i810 drivers |
| 46 | |
| 47 | - Hardware Cursor Support |
| 48 | |
| 49 | - Supports EDID probing either by DDC/I2C or through the BIOS |
| 50 | |
| 51 | C. List of available options |
| 52 | |
| 53 | a. "video=i810fb" |
| 54 | enables the i810 driver |
| 55 | |
| 56 | Recommendation: required |
| 57 | |
| 58 | b. "xres:<value>" |
| 59 | select horizontal resolution in pixels. (This parameter will be |
| 60 | ignored if 'mode_option' is specified. See 'o' below). |
| 61 | |
| 62 | Recommendation: user preference |
| 63 | (default = 640) |
| 64 | |
| 65 | c. "yres:<value>" |
| 66 | select vertical resolution in scanlines. If Discrete Video Timings |
| 67 | is enabled, this will be ignored and computed as 3*xres/4. (This |
| 68 | parameter will be ignored if 'mode_option' is specified. See 'o' |
| 69 | below) |
| 70 | |
| 71 | Recommendation: user preference |
| 72 | (default = 480) |
| 73 | |
| 74 | d. "vyres:<value>" |
| 75 | select virtual vertical resolution in scanlines. If (0) or none |
| 76 | is specified, this will be computed against maximum available memory. |
| 77 | |
| 78 | Recommendation: do not set |
| 79 | (default = 480) |
| 80 | |
| 81 | e. "vram:<value>" |
| 82 | select amount of system RAM in MB to allocate for the video memory |
| 83 | |
| 84 | Recommendation: 1 - 4 MB. |
| 85 | (default = 4) |
| 86 | |
| 87 | f. "bpp:<value>" |
| 88 | select desired pixel depth |
| 89 | |
| 90 | Recommendation: 8 |
| 91 | (default = 8) |
| 92 | |
| 93 | g. "hsync1/hsync2:<value>" |
| 94 | select the minimum and maximum Horizontal Sync Frequency of the |
| 95 | monitor in kHz. If using a fixed frequency monitor, hsync1 must |
| 96 | be equal to hsync2. If EDID probing is successful, these will be |
| 97 | ignored and values will be taken from the EDID block. |
| 98 | |
| 99 | Recommendation: check monitor manual for correct values |
| 100 | (default = 29/30) |
| 101 | |
| 102 | h. "vsync1/vsync2:<value>" |
| 103 | select the minimum and maximum Vertical Sync Frequency of the monitor |
| 104 | in Hz. You can also use this option to lock your monitor's refresh |
| 105 | rate. If EDID probing is successful, these will be ignored and values |
| 106 | will be taken from the EDID block. |
| 107 | |
| 108 | Recommendation: check monitor manual for correct values |
| 109 | (default = 60/60) |
| 110 | |
| 111 | IMPORTANT: If you need to clamp your timings, try to give some |
| 112 | leeway for computational errors (over/underflows). Example: if |
| 113 | using vsync1/vsync2 = 60/60, make sure hsync1/hsync2 has at least |
| 114 | a 1 unit difference, and vice versa. |
| 115 | |
| 116 | i. "voffset:<value>" |
| 117 | select at what offset in MB of the logical memory to allocate the |
| 118 | framebuffer memory. The intent is to avoid the memory blocks |
| 119 | used by standard graphics applications (XFree86). The default |
| 120 | offset (16 MB for a 64 MB aperture, 8 MB for a 32 MB aperture) will |
| 121 | avoid XFree86's usage and allows up to 7 MB/15 MB of framebuffer |
| 122 | memory. Depending on your usage, adjust the value up or down |
| 123 | (0 for maximum usage, 31/63 MB for the least amount). Note, an |
| 124 | arbitrary setting may conflict with XFree86. |
| 125 | |
| 126 | Recommendation: do not set |
| 127 | (default = 8 or 16 MB) |
| 128 | |
| 129 | j. "accel" |
| 130 | enable text acceleration. This can be enabled/reenabled anytime |
| 131 | by using 'fbset -accel true/false'. |
| 132 | |
| 133 | Recommendation: enable |
| 134 | (default = not set) |
| 135 | |
| 136 | k. "mtrr" |
| 137 | enable MTRR. This allows data transfers to the framebuffer memory |
| 138 | to occur in bursts which can significantly increase performance. |
| 139 | Not very helpful with the i810/i815 because of 'shared memory'. |
| 140 | |
| 141 | Recommendation: do not set |
| 142 | (default = not set) |
| 143 | |
| 144 | l. "extvga" |
| 145 | if specified, secondary/external VGA output will always be enabled. |
| 146 | Useful if the BIOS turns off the VGA port when no monitor is attached. |
| 147 | The external VGA monitor can then be attached without rebooting. |
| 148 | |
| 149 | Recommendation: do not set |
| 150 | (default = not set) |
| 151 | |
| 152 | m. "sync" |
| 153 | Forces the hardware engine to do a "sync" or wait for the hardware |
| 154 | to finish before starting another instruction. This will produce a |
| 155 | more stable setup, but will be slower. |
| 156 | |
| 157 | Recommendation: do not set |
| 158 | (default = not set) |
| 159 | |
| 160 | n. "dcolor" |
| 161 | Use directcolor visual instead of truecolor for pixel depths greater |
| 162 | than 8 bpp. Useful for color tuning, such as gamma control. |
| 163 | |
| 164 | Recommendation: do not set |
| 165 | (default = not set) |
| 166 | |
| 167 | o. <xres>x<yres>[-<bpp>][@<refresh>] |
| 168 | The driver will now accept specification of boot mode option. If this |
| 169 | is specified, the options 'xres' and 'yres' will be ignored. See |
| 170 | Documentation/fb/modedb.txt for usage. |
| 171 | |
| 172 | D. Kernel booting |
| 173 | |
| 174 | Separate each option/option-pair by commas (,) and the option from its value |
| 175 | with a colon (:) as in the following: |
| 176 | |
| 177 | video=i810fb:option1,option2:value2 |
| 178 | |
| 179 | Sample Usage |
| 180 | ------------ |
| 181 | |
| 182 | In /etc/lilo.conf, add the line: |
| 183 | |
| 184 | append="video=i810fb:vram:2,xres:1024,yres:768,bpp:8,hsync1:30,hsync2:55, \ |
| 185 | vsync1:50,vsync2:85,accel,mtrr" |
| 186 | |
| 187 | This will initialize the framebuffer to 1024x768 at 8bpp. The framebuffer |
| 188 | will use 2 MB of System RAM. MTRR support will be enabled. The refresh rate |
| 189 | will be computed based on the hsync1/hsync2 and vsync1/vsync2 values. |
| 190 | |
| 191 | IMPORTANT: |
| 192 | You must include hsync1, hsync2, vsync1 and vsync2 to enable video modes |
| 193 | better than 640x480 at 60Hz. HOWEVER, if your chipset/display combination |
| 194 | supports I2C and has an EDID block, you can safely exclude hsync1, hsync2, |
| 195 | vsync1 and vsync2 parameters. These parameters will be taken from the EDID |
| 196 | block. |
| 197 | |
| 198 | E. Module options |
| 199 | |
| 200 | The module parameters are essentially similar to the kernel |
| 201 | parameters. The main difference is that you need to include a Boolean value |
| 202 | (1 for TRUE, and 0 for FALSE) for those options which don't need a value. |
| 203 | |
| 204 | Example, to enable MTRR, include "mtrr=1". |
| 205 | |
| 206 | Sample Usage |
| 207 | ------------ |
| 208 | |
| 209 | Using the same setup as described above, load the module like this: |
| 210 | |
| 211 | modprobe i810fb vram=2 xres=1024 bpp=8 hsync1=30 hsync2=55 vsync1=50 \ |
| 212 | vsync2=85 accel=1 mtrr=1 |
| 213 | |
| 214 | Or just add the following to a configuration file in /etc/modprobe.d/ |
| 215 | |
| 216 | options i810fb vram=2 xres=1024 bpp=16 hsync1=30 hsync2=55 vsync1=50 \ |
| 217 | vsync2=85 accel=1 mtrr=1 |
| 218 | |
| 219 | and just do a |
| 220 | |
| 221 | modprobe i810fb |
| 222 | |
| 223 | |
| 224 | F. Setup |
| 225 | |
| 226 | a. Do your usual method of configuring the kernel. |
| 227 | |
| 228 | make menuconfig/xconfig/config |
| 229 | |
| 230 | b. Under "Code maturity level options" enable "Prompt for development |
| 231 | and/or incomplete code/drivers". |
| 232 | |
| 233 | c. Enable agpgart support for the Intel 810/815 on-board graphics. |
| 234 | This is required. The option is under "Character Devices". |
| 235 | |
| 236 | d. Under "Graphics Support", select "Intel 810/815" either statically |
| 237 | or as a module. Choose "use VESA Generalized Timing Formula" if |
| 238 | you need to maximize the capability of your display. To be on the |
| 239 | safe side, you can leave this unselected. |
| 240 | |
| 241 | e. If you want support for DDC/I2C probing (Plug and Play Displays), |
| 242 | set 'Enable DDC Support' to 'y'. To make this option appear, set |
| 243 | 'use VESA Generalized Timing Formula' to 'y'. |
| 244 | |
| 245 | f. If you want a framebuffer console, enable it under "Console |
| 246 | Drivers". |
| 247 | |
| 248 | g. Compile your kernel. |
| 249 | |
| 250 | h. Load the driver as described in sections D and E. |
| 251 | |
| 252 | i. Try the DirectFB (http://www.directfb.org) + the i810 gfxdriver |
| 253 | patch to see the chipset in action (or inaction :-). |
| 254 | |
| 255 | G. Acknowledgment: |
| 256 | |
| 257 | 1. Geert Uytterhoeven - his excellent howto and the virtual |
| 258 | framebuffer driver code made this possible. |
| 259 | |
| 260 | 2. Jeff Hartmann for his agpgart code. |
| 261 | |
| 262 | 3. The X developers. Insights were provided just by reading the |
| 263 | XFree86 source code. |
| 264 | |
| 265 | 4. Intel(c). For this value-oriented chipset driver and for |
| 266 | providing documentation. |
| 267 | |
| 268 | 5. Matt Sottek. His inputs and ideas helped in making some |
| 269 | optimizations possible. |
| 270 | |
| 271 | H. Home Page: |
| 272 | |
| 273 | A more complete, and probably updated information is provided at |
| 274 | http://i810fb.sourceforge.net. |
| 275 | |
| 276 | ########################### |
| 277 | Tony |
| 278 | |