Matrox G100/G200/G400/G450/G550 driver for (open)BeOS
Installation:
This is the first beta release of the (open)BeOS Matrox display driver: V0.13 beta1.
NOTE PLEASE:
You use this software at your own risk! Although I don't expect it to damage your PC, videocard or Monitor, I cannot guarantee this!
If you encounter bugs, please checkout the driver's website to see if it's already on the todo list. You can also checkout the UPDATE file included with this driver to see if it should have been fixed. If you think it's prudent, or if you are unsure, then please fill out the bugreport on the site or send me an Email. Make sure you are as precise as possible because that will make things easier to trackdown and fix...
OK, now that's all said let's get to it ;-)
In contrary to what I have said before you don't need to de-install official Be drivers for this driver to work correctly. This driver will install in the user part of the BeOS, so not in the system part where the official drivers are.
BeOS first checks (during boot) if there are 'user-addons' that should be loaded for a device. If not, it loads it's own drivers (if any). You can select which driver should be loaded by hitting the spacebar as soon as the BeOS 'icons' screen appears. If you select disable user addons the system will load it's own drivers. If you don't do anything, the system will load the (open)BeOS Matrox MGA driver.
Since BeOS only supports all Matrox cards upto and including G400 you will end up in VGA grayscale videomode if you have a G450 or G550. Otherwise, you will have a normal colorfull Desktop. Only BeOS will be using it's own official drivers in this case...
Note: This might turn out to be handy if you run into trouble upon testing the driver, or if you are 'tweaking' the mga.settings file...
actual INSTALLATION:
In a terminal switch to the openBeOS_Matrox_V0.13beta1 folder and type:
make install
You have to reboot in order to load the driver. Make sure you read the Settings information below before you do that...
Settings:
Please read this information carefully *before* installing and using the (open)BeOS Matrox MGA driver. It might spare you some trouble afterwards..
The driver uses a file named mga.settings to determine how to use your card. After installation this file will be located at ~/config/settings/kernel/drivers/. How you should setup this file depends on what you want to do with the driver. While it has a 'failsave' default configuration, you might be able to do better than that... Anyway, read the nifty details below.
Note: The driver only reads this file during it's initialisation. This means that you have to reboot in order to let changes take effect.
mga.settings driver configuration:
- usebios:
The name of this item is somewhat misleading, it will be changed in the future. It actually tells the driver if it should coldstart the card or not. The driver will rely on the VGA BIOS to have coldstarted the card before BeOS booted if you specify 'true'.
To make things look even more complex the driver actually uses the BIOS to determine your cards specifications on *both* possible settings.
- false:
If you specify usebios false the driver will coldstart the card, which is the preferred way of doing it because of the better tuned setup if all is right. Unfortunately, your card might not work correctly with it. If you have a G100, G200 or G400 then please inform me, because it should be working reliably on these cards! This setting enables you to use your Matrox card as a secondary card in your system. Be advised though that BeOS officially does not (yet) support multiple VGA cards, so you need special software in order to be able to actually use it (a video consumer node for instance).
- true: (default setting for now)
If you have a G450 or G550 specify usebios true (If you don't your screen will probably go dark when you restart BeOS). If you have trouble on other cards with the coldstart use this setting also. If this setting gives you trouble, then also please let me know.
Note: on V0.13alpha2 and before usebios had no effect on G400 cards. These cards are always coldstarted.
- memory: (disabled by default)
This option enables you to override the 'memory amount autodetection' of the driver. While you did need it on all driverversions for most cards upto now, you don't need it anymore starting with V0.13beta1. There is only *one* exception: If the V0.13beta1 (and up) driver reports not being able to process the Pins BIOS info, it will default to a failsafe RAM amount. This might be too low a value, so you might want to tune that then. Specify the RAM amount in Mb (use only 'whole' numbers!).
This option is disabled by default (preceded by a '#').
- hardcursor:
The hardcursor capabilities of the MGA cards are limited to one head only.
- false:
If you want to use dualhead and also want a visible cursor on both heads, select hardcursor false.
- true: (default setting)
A software cursor 'flickers' a bit sometimes because it has to be redrawn constantly. So for use in singlehead mode hardcursor true is the preferred setting.
Note: Starting with V0.13beta1 the hardcursor also works on G100 cards.
- logmask: (set to minimal by default)
The logmask option is very handy to track down trouble in the driver. You should only enable this if you are doing so, otherwise keep it turned off because it slows down your system. (All lines have a '#' preceding 'logmask' by default.) Logging creates a logfile called mga.accelerant.log in hour ~ (home) folder.
Note: You may only enable *one* logmask-line. The value you place after it (hexadecimal 32bit) determines what will be logged. The first 7 digits determine the part of the driver that will be logging, the last single digit determines the level of logging (like 'all messages', or only 'error messages').
- dumprom:
Dumprom is another 'tool' for bug-tracking purposes.
- false: (default setting)
Keep it set to dumprom false, unless you want the driver to dump the contents of your VGA BIOS ROM in a file.
- true:
dumprom true lets the driver dump a copy of your VGA BIOS in a file called mga.rom in your ~ (home) folder.
Note: If you want to use TVout or dualhead modes, you need dualheadSetup. You can download this application from BeBits.
Rudolf Cornelissen.
(Page last updated on October 11, 2002)