4 This is a frame buffer device driver for 3dfx' Voodoo Graphics
5 (aka voodoo 1, aka sst1) and Voodoo² (aka Voodoo 2, aka CVG) based
6 video boards. It's highly experimental code, but is guaranteed to work
7 on my computer, with my "Maxi Gamer 3D" and "Maxi Gamer 3d²" boards,
8 and with me "between chair and keyboard". Some people tested other
9 combinations and it seems that it works.
10 The main page is located at <http://sstfb.sourceforge.net>, and if
11 you want the latest version, check out the CVS, as the driver is a work
12 in progress, I feel uncomfortable with releasing tarballs of something
13 not completely working...Don't worry, it's still more than useable
14 (I eat my own dog food)
16 Please read the Bug section, and report any success or failure to me
17 (Ghozlane Toumi <gtoumi@laposte.net>).
18 BTW, If you have only one monitor , and you don't feel like playing
19 with the vga passthrou cable, I can only suggest borrowing a screen
25 This driver (should) work on ix86, with "late" 2.2.x kernel (tested
26 with x = 19) and "recent" 2.4.x kernel, as a module or compiled in.
27 It has been included in mainstream kernel since the infamous 2.4.10.
28 You can apply the patches found in sstfb/kernel/*-2.{2|4}.x.patch,
29 and copy sstfb.c to linux/drivers/video/, or apply a single patch,
30 sstfb/patch-2.{2|4}.x-sstfb-yymmdd to your linux source tree.
32 Then configure your kernel as usual: choose "m" or "y" to 3Dfx Voodoo
33 Graphics in section "console". Compile, install, have fun... and please
40 # You should read completely this section before issuing any command.
41 # If you have only one monitor to play with, once you insmod the
42 module, the 3dfx takes control of the output, so you'll have to
43 plug the monitor to the "normal" video board in order to issue
44 the commands, or you can blindly use sst_dbg_vgapass
45 in the tools directory (See Tools). The latest solution is pass the
46 parameter vgapass=1 when insmodding the driver. (See Kernel/Modules
51 you should see some strange output frome the board:
52 a big blue square, a green and a red small squares and a vertical
53 white rectangle. why ? the function's name is self explanatory :
55 (if you don't have a second monitor, you'll have to plug your monitor
56 directely to the 2D videocard to see what you're typing)
57 # con2fb /dev/fbx /dev/ttyx
58 bind a tty to the new frame buffer. if you already have a frame
59 buffer driver, the voodoo fb will likely be /dev/fb1. if not,
60 the device will be /dev/fb0. You can check this by doing a
61 cat /proc/fb. You can find a copy of con2fb in tools/ directory.
62 if you don't have another fb device, this step is superfluous,
63 as the console subsystem automagicaly binds ttys to the fb.
64 # switch to the virtual console you just mapped. "tadaaa" ...
67 # con2fb /dev/fbx /dev/ttyx
68 bind the tty to the old frame buffer so the module can be removed.
69 (how does it work with vgacon ? short answer : it doesn't work)
73 Kernel/Modules Options
75 You can pass some otions to sstfb module, and via the kernel command
76 line when the driver is compiled in :
77 for module : insmod sstfb.o option1=value1 option2=value2 ...
78 in kernel : video=sstfb:option1,option2:value2,option3 ...
80 sstfb supports the folowing options :
82 Module Kernel Description
84 vgapass=0 vganopass Enable or disable VGA passthrou cable.
85 vgapass=1 vgapass When enabled, the monitor will get the signal
86 from the VGA board and not from the voodoo.
89 mem=x mem:x Force frame buffer memory in MiB
90 allowed values: 0, 1, 2, 4.
91 Default: 0 (= autodetect)
93 inverse=1 inverse Supposed to enable inverse console.
96 clipping=1 clipping Enable or disable clipping.
97 clipping=0 noclipping With clipping enabled, all offscreen
98 reads and writes are disgarded.
99 Default: enable clipping.
101 gfxclk=x gfxclk:x Force graphic clock frequency (in MHz).
102 Be carefull with this option, it may be
108 slowpci=1 fastpci Enable or disable fast PCI read/writes.
109 slowpci=1 slowpci Default : fastpci
111 dev=x dev:x Attach the driver to device number x.
112 0 is the first compatible board (in
117 These tools are mostly for debugging purposes, but you can
118 find some of these interesting :
119 - con2fb , maps a tty to a fbramebuffer .
120 con2fb /dev/fb1 /dev/tty5
121 - sst_dbg_vgapass , changes vga passthrou. You have to recompile the
122 driver with SST_DEBUG and SST_DEBUG_IOCTL set to 1
123 sst_dbg_vgapass /dev/fb1 1 (enables vga cable)
124 sst_dbg_vgapass /dev/fb1 0 (disables vga cable)
125 - glide_reset , resets the voodoo using glide
126 use this after rmmoding sstfb, if the module refuses to
131 - DO NOT use glide while the sstfb module is in, you'll most likely
133 - If you see some artefacts (pixels not cleaning and stuff like that),
134 try turning off clipping (clipping=0), and/or using slowpci
135 - the driver don't detect the 4Mb frame buffer voodoos, it seems that
136 the 2 last Mbs wrap around. looking into that .
137 - The driver is 16 bpp only, 24/32 won't work.
138 - The driver is not your_favorite_toy-safe. this includes SMP...
139 [Actually from inspection it seems to be safe - Alan]
140 - when using XFree86 FBdev (X over fbdev) you may see strange color
141 patterns at the border of your windows (the pixels lose the lowest
142 byte -> basicaly the blue component nd some of the green) . I'm unable
143 to reproduce this with XFree86-3.3, but one of the testers has this
144 problem with XFree86-4. apparently recent Xfree86-4.x solve this
146 - I didn't really test changing the palette, so you may find some weird
147 things when playing with that.
148 - Sometimes the driver will not recognise the DAC , and the
149 initialisation will fail. this is specificaly true for
150 voodoo 2 boards , but it should be solved in recent versions. please
152 - the 24/32 is not likely to work anytime soon , knowing that the
153 hardware does ... unusual thigs in 24/32 bpp
154 - When used with anther video board, current limitations of linux
155 console subsystem can cause some troubles, specificaly, you should
156 disable software scrollback , as it can oops badly ...
160 - Get rid of the previous paragraph.
162 - test/port to other arch.
163 - try to add panning using tweeks with front and back buffer .
164 - try to implement accel on voodoo2 , this board can actualy do a
165 lot in 2D even if it was sold as a 3D only board ...
170 Ghozlane Toumi <gtoumi@laposte.net>
173 $Date: 2002/05/09 20:11:45 $
174 http://sstfb.sourceforge.net/README