Jim Cornette wrote:
Xorg does not work properly on my Sony Picturebook C1VFK. XFree86 did work properly under FC-1. Is there any way of downgrading to the older version of XFree86?
What video card does this Sony model use? Is the below correct?
Processor type Transmeta Crusoe TM5600
Processor speed 667 MHz
RAM installed 128 MB
Dimensions (WxDxH) 24.8 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm
System weight 1 kg
Travel weight (with AC adapter and external peripherals) 1.25 kg
Display size 8.95 in.
Graphics chipset ATi 3D Rage Mobility-M1
Dear Jim,
Thanks very much for your useful info. The details above are correct, except that the graphics chipset seems to be ATI Rage Mobility P/M . I've never understood what this P/M means , as it never seems to be given on lists of ATI cards.
What is slightly frustrating is that no error is reported if one sets Default Depth to 16 (or 15) - X appears to be running, but the screen is completely blank.
Incidentally, there is - or was - quite an active Picturebook + Linux community,
though activity is gradually dying out
as the machines or their users perish.
But no-one as far as I know has ever succeeded
in getting Xorg running properly at more than 8bpp.
(I have an 800x375x16bpp setting,
but it is unsatisfactory in various ways.
Under FC-1 X ran at 1024x480x16bpp perfectly.)
I guess the other question I would have - apart from downgrading the whole X system -
is whether it would be possible to downgrade just the ATI server?
I tried running the old server with Xorg
but this threw up lots of errors.
I've never looked into the source of X - although I am fairly proficient at coding - because of its apparent size and complexity.
I've wondered whether it is possible to find exactly what bytes are being sent to the screen by running X in some debug mode? If that were possible I could compare the output of Xorg and the previous XFree86.
As ever, any suggestions or advice - eg pointers to any relevant documentation - gratefully received,
/usr/X11R6/lib/Server/drivers/ati contains some headers and source code for the ati driver.
I only know that because of having trouble with the cvs version killing the intel 815 card.
I looked at the debug rpms on one of the mirrors and saw nothing related to xorg-x11.
I haven't coded for years and then only simple "hello world" arena programs. I couldn't advise you on coding much.
Running the query file option for rpm shows that xorg-x11-sdk is responsible for that directory.
rpm -qf /usr/X11R6/lib/Server/drivers/ati xorg-x11-sdk-6.7.0-6
This is probably the extent of what I feel can help you out. You might have luck with the CVS version of X that is available in the development directories on the mirrors.
Good luck,
Jim
