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Linux XFree-to-Xinside mini-HOWTO
by Marco Melgazzi, marco@techie.com
version 1.2 / 1997 May
How to convert an XFree86 modeline into an XInside/XiGraphics one
1. Introduction
During the spring of 1996 I've seen a lot of posts in comp.os.linux.x
asking how to convert video modes between XFree86 and one of its
commercial alternatives: XInside ( now named XiGraphics, note anyway
that in this document I'll use the old product name, since I will
mainly refer to that version )
I had evaluated before the product and had this evaluation version
still floating on my hard disk: since I like problem solving, I've
decided to give it a try and, after a couple of hours of fiddling and
calculating, I came up with a supposedly informative article that was
promptly posted.
The discussions about how to convert suddendly vanished and I received
1 (one) mail thanking me for the article so, since maybe somebody else
could need this information in the future, I decided to transform that
post in the mini-HOWTO you are reading.
Let me state something first: I do NOT work for XInside and I only had
access to the evaluation 1.2 version for Linux. I know that nowadays (
May 97 ) AccelX has reached revision 3.1, but I do think that the
information included in this document, if not verbatim, is still
applicable.
Due to the fact that this HOWTO has been written with the help of a
pretty old Xinside version, it may well happen that some of the
information contained here is not completely accurate: as you will
read later, thanks to the birth of XFree 3.2, I haven't bought this
commercial server, so if you have, and if you notice any incorrect
information here please take the time to email me.
Notice anyway that fiddling with monitor timings can be hazardous and,
for this reason, I absolutely make no guarantees. If it works for you
, fine, if you blow up your computer I shall not be held responsible
for it.
As you may have noticed from may name, I'm not a native speaker of
English so you will probably find some errors here and there, I
apologize for them and I ask you to please avoid flooding my mailbox
with language-related flames. Thanks !
2. Why should I need it ?
I think that the Xinside policy of not giving you an utility to tweak
your video modes ( like xvidtune ) and/or to import your existing
XFree ones in the evaluation ( and AFAIK commercial ) version is
incomprehensible. I've spent about three hours putting this together
( hint: I've compared the VESA 1024x768@70Hz entry in the two formats
( and I'm nearly an electronic engineer ;-)) while an Xinside
programmer could have written a comparable article in a fraction of
this time...
I haven't downloaded any evaluation version from 1.3 onwards and I
really hope they have fixed this. Well, if they have, this mini-HOWTO
could be considered useless but, alas, if you read it you will learn
something more about how everything works...
3. Let's go
Let's suppose that you have your oh-so-tweaked XFree86 mode and you
want to evaluate Xinside in the same conditions: follow the steps
described below and you should be able to do it; we will use my
default video mode as a real-life example and I will explain what you
will have to do to convert it.
An Xfree86 entry looks like this:
Modeline "blahblah" DOTCLK A B C D a b c d
Every one of the A-B and 1-4 numbers has a meaning: if you want you
can search for it in the 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to X386/XFree86 Video
Timing' ( /usr/lib/X11/doc/VideoModes.doc ) but you don't need to know
the theory behind all this to perform a succesful conversion...
My modeline in /usr/lib/X11/XF86Config is:
Modeline "1168x876" 105 1168 1256 1544 1640 876 877 891 900
| | | | | | | | |
DOT_CLK A B C D a b c d
In Xinside, you have to add an entry in the Xtimings file, which
should be located in etc/ ( from now on we suppose you are in the top
Xaccel directory that should be something like
/usr/X11/lib/X11/AcceleratedX )
! Somewhere in the file, put here the name you want
[PREADJUSTED_TIMING]
PreadjustedTimingName = "1168x876 @ 72Hz";
!
! These four are obvious
!
HorPixel = 1168; // pixels
VerPixel = 876; // lines
PixelWidthRatio = 4;
PixelHeightRatio = 3;
!
! hsync: DOT_CLK / D * 1000 [KHz]
!
! hsync = 105 / 1640 * 1000 = 64.024 KHz
!
! vsync: ( 1 / (( D / DOT_CLK ) * d) ) * 1,000,000 [Hz]
!
! vsync: ( 1 / (( 1640 / 105 ) * 900) ) * 1,000,000
! ( 1 / 14057.1428571 ) * 1,000,000 = 71.138 Hz
!
HorFrequency = 64.180; // kHz
VerFrequency = 71.138; // Hz
! Obvious
ScanType = NONINTERLACED;
!
! Put here the +/-hsync +/-vsync XFree86 options
!
HorSyncPolarity = POSITIVE;
VerSyncPolarity = POSITIVE;
! Shouldn't change
CharacterWidth = 8; // pixels
! DOT_CLK here
PixelClock = 105.000; // MHz
!
!
! horizontal timings section: [usec]
!
HorTotalTime = D / DOT_CLK = 15.619;
HorAddrTime = A / DOT_CLK = 11.124;
HorBlankStart = A / DOT_CLK = 11.124;
HorBlankTime = HorTotalTime - HorBlankStart = 4.495;
HorSyncStart = B / DOT_CLK = 11.962;
HorSyncTime = C / DOT_CLK - HorSyncStart = 2.743;
!
! vertical timings section: [msec]
!
VerTotalTime = ( HorTotalTime * d ) / 1000 = 14.057;
VerAddrTime = ( HorTotalTime * a ) / 1000 = 13.682;
VerBlankStart = ( HorTotalTime * a ) / 1000 = 13.682;
VerBlankTime = VerTotalTime - VerBlankStart = 0.375;
VerSyncStart = ( HorTotalTime * b ) / 1000 = 13.698;
VerSyncTime = ( HorTotalTime * ( c - b ) ) / 1000
= 0.219
! Finished !
Now you have to put this newly created mode in the files shown below
in the appropriate place.
4. Fixing up things
In the excerpts shown below the -> sign tells you what was modified:
do NOT include it in your files!
Monitor entry ( mine is monitors/mfreq/mfreq64.vda)
[ESTABLISHED_TIMINGS]
"640x480 @ 60Hz",
"640x480 @ 72Hz",
"640x480 @ 75Hz",
"800x600 @ 56Hz",
"800x600 @ 60Hz",
"800x600 @ 72Hz",
"800x600 @ 75Hz",
"1024x768 Interlaced",
"1024x768 @ 60Hz",
"1024x768 @ 70Hz",
"1024x768 @ 75Hz",
"1152x900 Interlaced",
"1152x900 @ 60Hz",
"1152x900 @ 67Hz",
-> "1168x876 @ 72Hz",
"1280x1024 Interlaced",
"1280x1024 @ 60Hz",
"1600x1200 Interlaced";
Board info file ( mine is boards/s3/764-2.xqa , I wonder why they have
nearly all the Hercules boards but not MINE: Terminator 64/Dram )
[VISUAL]
BitsPerPixel = 8;
MemoryModel = Packed;
ColorModel = Indexed;
BitsRGB = 6;
NumberOfColors = 256;
[RESOLUTIONS]
640x480,
800x600,
1024x768,
-> 1168x876,
1152x900,
1280x1024
[DESKTOPS]
640x480,
800x600,
1024x768,
1152x900,
-> 1168x876,
1280x1024,
1600x1200
If the dot clock is low enough ( NOT in this case for my board ) you
can put the entry even in the 16bpp and 32bpp sec- tions.
The /etc/Xaccel.ini will look something like this
--------------------------------------------------------------
Board = "s3/764-2.xqa";
Monitor = "mfreq/mfreq64.vda";
Depth = 8;
-> Desktop = 1168x876;
[RESOLUTIONS]
-> 1168x876,
1024x768;
The actual Xinside mode entry in etc/Xtimings
--------------------------------------------------