Re: [9front] trident cyber 9525 graphics glitches

[lyndsay <lyndsay@vivaldi.net>]

oh my god, i can't believe i didn't think of simply trying a lower 
resolution. i'm an idiot sometimes. the graphics DO in fact work fine, 
and it accepts 24-bit color, using a 640x480 resolution! i would 
definitely be interested in trying to debug and fix the issue at the 
source if you/others on the list are interested in helping with that, 
but i know that's a tall task and probably not a priority for most 
people, so just downscaling looks like it will work as a quick 
superficial fix.

thank you!!

On 9/5/21 4:52 PM, qwx wrote:
> Hi lyndsay,
>
>> first of all, the vanilla /lib/vgadb does not have an entry with the right
>> BIOS identifier for this device, so it wasn't giving me any graphical
>> output regardless of the settings i chose at first. i was able to revise
>> the cyber938x entry in /lib/vgadb to add the appropriate line (diff) and
>> inject that into the install ISO, and it now does produce some output with
>> `aux/vga -m xga -l 1024x768x16`. (it does not work with -m vesa.) this gpu
>> technically supports 24-bit color modes, but vga dies telling me there's
>> not enough memory if i try to use one, which is also a known problem on
>> solaris that they say to fix by using a 16-bit mode.
> The device's pci did may be missing from /lib/vgadb simply because no one
> has tested that particular device, but since you can at least get a picture,
> it can be added, especially if modesetting with vesa doesn't work.
>
>
>> the issue now is that although i can get the display to load, the screen
>> output is garbled. it properly renders the cursor, including its movement,
>> and responds to my keyboard too, but everything else is totally broken. it
>> IS clear where the things displayed on the screen are coming from, so it's
>> not like it's just dumping nonsense from memory. i'll link two pictures
>> showing what this looks like - the first is the initial screen the
>> installer drops to where it asks for mouse type, the second is the default
>> rio layout after hitting enter on that screen:
> I think this is a bug either in vga(8) or elsewhere and it's not limited to
> this driver.  My 380d with a neomagic gpu behaves similarly (sysinfo: [1]).
> 24bit modes cannot be enabled, though you could try the same command 2-3
> times in a row, this sometimes works on these drivers despite the memory
> errors, though probably without useful results.  I also had a garbled
> picture, but only on the bottom of the screen, again indicating similar
> memory issues.  Using a *lower resolution* works.  An even lower resolution
> with 24bit color may have worked too, I don't remember.  The cursor is ok
> probably because it's the hardware cursor, which is handled elsewhere
> (someone please correct me if I'm wrong).
>
> Hardware issue or bugs, there are no two ways of fixing it.  These drivers
> are very old and no one has touched them since forever, mostly because no
> one has really used 9front on hardware this old, and those who have haven't
> arsed to fix them (sorry).  I could try to look at my 380d at some point if
> it still even boots and the stupid pcmcia dongle works, but these are empty
> promises.  If you'd like to try debugging this, we'll help however we can.
>
> Hope this clears it up somewhat,
>
> qwx
>
> [1] http://plan9.stanleylieber.com/hardware/thinkpad/380d/2635-3au/sysinfo