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s3virge(4)





NAME

       s3virge - S3 ViRGE video driver


SYNOPSIS

       Section "Device"
         Identifier "devname"
         Driver "s3virge"
         ...
         [ Option "optionname" ["optionvalue"]]
       EndSection


DESCRIPTION

       s3virge  is  an  Xorg  driver  for S3 based video cards.  The driver is
       fully accelerated, and provides support for the  following  framebuffer
       depths: 8, 15, 16, and 24.  All visual types are supported for depth 8,
       and TrueColor visuals are supported for the other depths.  XVideo hard-
       ware up scaling is supported in depth 16 and 24 on the DX, GX, GX2, MX,
       MX+, and Trio3D/2X.  Doublescan modes are supported and tested in depth
       8 and 16 on DX, but disable XVideo.  Doublescan modes on other chipsets
       are untested.


SUPPORTED HARDWARE

       The s3virge driver supports PCI and AGP video cards based on  the  fol-
       lowing S3 chips:

       ViRGE       86C325

       ViRGE VX    86C988

       ViRGE DX    86C375

       ViRGE GX    86C385

       ViRGE GX2   86C357

       ViRGE MX    86C260

       ViRGE MX+   86C280

       Trio 3D     86C365

       Trio 3D/2X  86C362, 86C368


CONFIGURATION DETAILS

       Please  refer  to xorg.conf(5) for general configuration details.  This
       section only covers configuration details specific to this driver.  All
       options  names  are case and white space insensitive when parsed by the
       server, for example,  "virge vx" and "VIRGEvx" are equivalent.

       The driver auto-detects the chipset type,  but  the  following  ChipSet
       names  may  optionally  be specified in the config file ""Device"" sec-
       tion, and will override the auto-detection:

           "virge", "86c325", "virge  vx",  "86c988",  "virge  dx",  "86c375",
           "virge  gx", "86c385", "virge gx2", "86c357", "virge mx", "86c260",
           "virge mx+", "86c280", "trio 3d", "86c365", "trio 3d/2x", "86c362",
           "86c368".

       The following Cursor Options are supported:

       Option "HWCursor" ["boolean"]
              Enable or disable the HW cursor.  Default: on.

       Option "SWCursor" ["boolean"]
              Inverse of "HWCursor".  Default: off.

       The following display Options are supported:

       Option "ShadowFB" ["boolean"]
              Use  shadow  framebuffer.   Disables  HW acceleration.  Default:
              off.

       Option "Rotate" "cw | ccw"
              Rotate the screen CW - clockwise or  CCW  -  counter  clockwise.
              Disables HW Acceleration and HW Cursor, uses ShadowFB.  Default:
              no rotation.

       Option "XVideo" ["boolean"]
              Disable XVideo support by using the off  option.   This  changes
              FIFO  settings  which  prevent  screen noise for high-res modes.
              Default: on

       The following video memory Options are supported:

       Option "slow_edodram"
              Switch the standard ViRGE to 2-cycle edo mode. Try this  if  you
              encounter  pixel corruption on the ViRGE. Using this option will
              cause a large decrease in performance.  Default: off.

       Option "fpm_vram"
              Switch the ViRGE/VX to fast page mode vram mode.  Default:  off.

       Option "slow_dram | fast_dram"
              Change  Trio  3D  and  3D/2X  memory options.  Default: Use BIOS
              defaults.

       Option "early_ras_precharge | late_ras_precharge"
              adjust memory parameters.  One of these will us  the  same  set-
              tings as your video card defaults, and using neither in the con-
              fig file does the same.  Default: none.

       Option "set_mclk" "integer"
              sets the memory clock, where integer is in kHz, and  integer  <=
              100000.   Default:  probe  the memory clock value, and use it at
              server start.

       Option "set_refclk" "integer"
              sets the ref clock for  ViRGE  MX,  where  integer  is  in  kHz.
              Default:  probe  the  memory  clock  value, and use it at server
              start.

       The following acceleration and graphics engine Options are supported:

       Option "NoAccel"
              Disable acceleration.  Very useful for determining if the driver
              has  problems  with  drawing and acceleration routines.  This is
              the first option to try if your server runs but you see  graphic
              corruption on the screen.  Using it decreases performance, as it
              uses software emulation for drawing operations the video  driver
              can accelerate with hardware.  Default: acceleration is enabled.

       Option "UseFB"
              There are two framebuffer rendering methods.  fb and cfb.   Both
              are  available  in  the  driver.   fb  is  the newer and default
              method.  To switch back to cfb use this option with no,  off  or
              other negative parameter.  Default: on.

       Option "fifo_aggressive | fifo_moderate | fifo_conservative"
              alter  the  settings  for  the threshold at which the pixel FIFO
              takes over the internal memory bus to refill itself. The smaller
              this  threshold,  the better the acceleration performance of the
              card. You may try the fastest setting (fifo_aggressive) and move
              down  if  you  encounter  pixel corruption.  The optimal setting
              will probably depend on dot-clock and on color depth. Note  that
              specifying  any  of  these  options will also alter other memory
              settings which may increase performance, so trying  fifo_conser-
              vative  will  in  most  cases be a slight benefit (this uses the
              chip defaults).  If pixel corruption or transient  streaking  is
              observed  during  drawing  operations  then  removing  any  fifo
              options is recommended.  Default: none.

       The following PCI bus Options are supported:

       Option "pci_burst" ["boolean"]
              will enable PCI burst mode. This should work on all  but  a  few
              broken  PCI  chipsets,  and will increase performance.  Default:
              off.

       Option "pci_retry" ["boolean"]
              will allow the driver to rely on PCI Retry to program the  ViRGE
              registers.   pci_burst  must  be enabled for this to work.  This
              will increase performance,  especially  for  small  fills/blits,
              because  the driver does not have to poll the ViRGE before send-
              ing it commands to make sure it is ready. It should work on most
              recent PCI chipsets.  Default: off.

       The following ViRGE MX LCD Options are supported:

       Option "lcd_center"

       Option "set_lcdclk" "integer"
              allows setting the clock for a ViRGE MX LCD display.  integer is
              in Hz.  Default: use probed value.

       The following additional Options are supported:

       Option "ShowCache" ["boolean"]
              Enable or disable viewing offscreen cache memory.  A development
              debug option.  Default: off.

       Option "mx_cr3a_fix" ["boolean"]
              Enable or disable a cr3a fix added for ViRGE MX.  Default: on.


SEE ALSO

       Xorg(1), xorg.conf(5), xorgconfig(1), Xserver(1), X(7)


KNOWN BUGS

       The  VideoRam  generic  driver  parameter  is  presently ignored by the
       s3virge driver.  On PPC this is  reported  to  cause  problems  for  2M
       cards, because they may autodetect as 4M.


SUPPORT

       For assistance with this driver, or Xorg in general, check the web site
       at http://www.x.org.  If you find a problem with Xorg or have  a  ques-
       tion  not  answered in the FAQ please use our bug report form available
       on the web site.  When reporting problems with the driver send as  much
       detail  as  possible,  including chipset type, a server output log, and
       operating system specifics.


AUTHORS

       Kevin Brosius, Matt Grossman, Harald Koenig, Sebastien  Marineau,  Mark
       Vojkovich.

X Version 11               xf86-video-s3virge 1.9.1                 s3virge(4)

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