<!DOCTYPE linuxdoc PUBLIC "-//Xorg//DTD linuxdoc//EN"[<!ENTITY % defs SYSTEM "defs.ent"> %defs;]><article><!-- Title information --><title>ATI Adapters README file<author>Marc Aurele La France<date>2002 February 12<ident>$Id$ Based on XFree86: xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc/sgml/ati.sgml,v 3.42 2003/01/20 03:43:07 dawes Exp </ident><abstract>This is the README for the XAA ATI driver included in this release.</abstract><!-- Table of contents --><toc><!-- Begin the document --><sect>Statement of intent<p>Generally speaking, the driver is intended for all ATI video adaptersbased on the Mach64 series or older chipsets,providing maximum video function within hardware limitations.The driver is also intended to optionally provide the same level of support forgeneric VGA or 8514/A adapters.The newer Rage 128 and Radeon chips are not yet supported by this driver.Rage 128's and Radeon's are, however, supported by separate drivers, andowners of such adapters should consult the documentation provided with thesedrivers.This driver will also invoke the appropriate driver if it finds Rage 128 and/orRadeon adapter(s) in the system.This driver is still being actively developed, meaning that it currently doesnot yet fully meet these goals.<p>The driver will provide<itemize><item>accelerated support if an ATI accelerator is detected <it>and</it> theuser has not requested that this support be disabled;  otherwise<item>accelerated support if a non-ATI 8514/A-capable adapter is detected<it>and</it> the user has requested such support;  otherwise<item>unaccelerated SuperVGA support if an ATI VGA-capable adapter is detected;otherwise<item>generic VGA support if a non-ATI VGA-capable adapter is detected<it>and</it> the user has requested such support.</itemize>Thus, the level of support provided not only depends on what the driver detectsin the system, but also, on what the user specifies in the xorg.conf file.See the <bf>``xorg.conf specifications''</bf> section below for details.<p>If none of the above conditions are met, the ATI driver will essentiallydisable itself to allow other drivers to examine the system.<p><!-- Note that I am currently considering removing the driver's support for genericVGA.If you have any concerns about this, please contact me at<email>tsi@xfree86.org</email>.--><sect>A note on acceleration<p>The meaning of ``acceleration'', as used in this document, needs to beclarified.Two of the many components in an accelerator are the CRT controller (CRTC) andthe Draw Engine.This is in addition to another CRTC that, generally, is also present in thesystem (often in the same chip) and typically provides EGA, VGA or SuperVGAfunctionality.<p>A CRTC is the component of a graphics controller that is responsible forreading video memory for output to the screen.A Draw Engine is an accelerator component that can be programmed to manipulatevideo memory contents, thus freeing the CPU for other tasks.<p>When the VGA CRTC is used, all drawing operations into video memory are theresponsibility of the system's CPU, i.e. no Draw Engine can be used.On the other hand, if the accelerator's CRTC is chosen to drive the screen,the Draw Engine can also be used for drawing operations, although the CPU canstill be used for this purpose if it can access the accelerator's videomemory.<p>Video acceleration refers to the programming of an accelerator's Draw Engine tooffload drawing operations from the CPU, and thus also implies the use of theaccelerator's CRTC.<p><sect>Current implementation for ATI adapters<p>The driver currently supports the SuperVGA capabilities of all ATI adaptersexcept some early Mach8 and Mach32 adapters that do not provide the requiredfunctionality.This support works for monochrome, 16-colour and 256-colour video modes, if oneof the following ATI graphics controller chips is present:<verb>VGAWonder series:  18800, 18800-1, 28800-2, 28800-4, 28800-5, 28800-6   Mach32 series:  68800-3, 68800-6, 68800AX, 68800LX   Mach64 series:  88800GX-C, 88800GX-D, 88800GX-E, 88800GX-F, 88800CX,                   264CT, 264ET, 264VT, 264GT (3D Rage), 264VT-B, 264VT3,                   264VT4, 264GT-B (3D Rage II), 3D Rage IIc, 3D Rage Pro,                   3D Rage LT, 3D Rage LT Pro, 3D Rage XL, 3D Rage XC,                   3D Rage Mobility (including the -M and -P variants)</verb>The driver also supports 32K, 64K and 16M-colour modes on the 264xT and 3D Rageseries of adapters using the accelerator CRTC (but not the VGA CRTC).<p>The newer Rage 128 and Radeon chips are not yet supported by this driver.Rage 128's and Radeon's are, however, supported by separate drivers, andowners of such adapters should consult the documentation provided with thesedrivers.This driver will also invoke the appropriate driver if it finds Rage 128 and/orRadeon adapter(s) in the system.<p>Adapters based on the above chips have been marketed under a rather largenumber of names over the years.Among them are:<verb>VGAWonder series:  VGAWonder V3, VGAWonder V4, VGAWonder V5, VGAWonder+,                   VGAWonder XL, VGAWonder XL24, VGAWonder VLB, VGA Basic,                   VGA Basic 16, VGA Edge, VGA Edge 16, VGA Integra,                   VGA Charger, VGAStereo F/X, VGA 640, VGA 800, VGA 1024,                   VGA 1024D, VGA 1024 XL, VGA 1024 DXL, VGA 1024 VLB    Mach8 series:  Graphics Ultra, Graphics Vantage, VGAWonder GT                   (None of the 8514/Ultra and 8514 Vantage series is                    supported at this time)   Mach32 series:  Graphics Ultra+, Graphics Ultra Pro, Graphics Wonder,                   Graphics Ultra XLR, Graphics Ultra AXO, VLB mach32-D,                   PCI mach32-D, ISA mach32   Mach64 series:  Graphics Xpression, Graphics Pro Turbo, WinBoost,                   WinTurbo, Graphics Pro Turbo 1600, Video Xpression,                   3D Xpression, Video Xpression+, 3D Xpression+,                   3D Charger, Video Charger, WinCharger, All-In-Wonder,                   All-In-Wonder PRO, 3D Pro Turbo, XPERT@Play,                   XPERT@Play 98, XPERT@Work, XPERT 98, XPERT LCD,                   XPERT XL</verb>Also, a number of mainboards, laptops and notebooks harbour a Mach32 or Mach64controller.<p>VGAWonder, Mach8 and Mach32 ISA adapters are available with or without amouse.<p>These adapters are available with a variety of clock generators and RAMDACs.The 264xT and 3D Rage series of chips are integrated controllers, meaning thatthey include a programmable clock generator and a RAMDAC.<p>For all but Mach64 adapters, this driver still does not provide support foraccelerated drawing to the screen.This means that all drawing is done by the CPU, rather than by any acceleratorpresent in the system.This can make opaque moves, for example, quite ``jerky''.Also, given that IBM 8514/A and ATI Mach8 do not allow CPU access to theirframe buffer, the driver will currently ignore these accelerators.Most Mach32 adapters provide both accelerated function and SuperVGAfunctionality, but the driver currently only uses the VGA.<p>The driver <it>does</it> however support the accelerator CRTC present in allATI Mach64 adapters.For 256-colour, and higher depth modes, this support will be used by default,although an xorg.conf option can be specified to use the SuperVGA CRTCinstead.A linear video memory aperture is also available in 256-colour and higher depthmodes and enabled by default if a 264xT or 3D Rage controller is detected or,on 88800 controllers, if the accelerator CRTC is used.xorg.conf options are available to disable this aperture, or (for non-PCIadapters) enable it or move it to some other address.<p>By default, the driver provides some acceleration for Mach64 if the acceleratorCRTC is used, and modes whose colour depth greater than or equal to 8 are to beused.This support is as yet incomplete and can be disabled entirely with anxorg.conf option.<p>On non-Intel platforms, the driver can, currently, only support PCI Mach64adapters.<p><sect>Current implementation of generic VGA support for non-ATI adapters<p>Support for generic VGA with non-ATI adapters is also implemented, but hasundergone only limited testing.The driver will intentionally disallow the use of this support with ATIadapters.This support must be explicitly requested through an xorg.conf ChipSetspecification.This prevents the current VGA generic driver from being disabled.<p>This driver's generic VGA support is intended as an extension of that providedby the current generic driver.Specifically, within the architectural bounds defined by IBM's VGA standard,this driver will allow the use of any 256-colour mode, and any dot clockfrequencies both of which allow for many more mode possibilities.<p>The driver will enforce the following limitations derived from IBM's originalVGA implementation:<itemize><item>There can only be a set of four (non-programmable) clocks to choose from.<item>Video memory is limited to 256kB in monochrome and 16-colour modes.<item>Video memory is limited to 64kB in 256-colour modes.<item>Interlaced modes are not available.<item>Colour depths higher than 8 are not available.</itemize><sect>xorg.conf specifications<p>The driver recognises a number of xorg.conf options.In general, all such options should be specified in a ``Device'' section, andaffect only that ``Device'' section.<p>Those options that affect how the driver associates adapters with ``Device''sections are described first.The driver will ignore (with a message) a ``Device'' section if the sectioncannot be associated with exactly one adapter in the system.Similarly, the driver will ignore, or disable, (with a message) any adapterthat cannot be associated with exactly one ``Device'' section.Thus, these options will be required in those uncommon cases where such uniqueassociations cannot automatically be made by the driver.<p>Other options affect the driver's operation once an adapter has been assignedto the ``Device'' section which contains them.<p><sect1>Driver ``ati''<p>The use of this specification is highly recommended if the ``Device'' sectionis to be recognised by the driver.In fact, it is almost (but not quite) mandatory, particularly when using theloader server as it indicates what driver is to be loaded and associated withthe ``Device'' section.<p><sect1>ChipSet ``name''<p>The default ChipSet name for this driver is ``<it>ati</it>''.In this case, any ATI adapter can be associated with the ``Device'' section.If an ATI accelerator is detected and the driver supports it, the accelerator'sCRTC will be used to drive the screen.Otherwise, the driver will programme the adapter's SuperVGA CRTC.<p>If ``<it>ativga</it>'' is specified instead, the driver will ignore any ATIaccelerator it detects, but otherwise operate as if ``<it>ati</it>'' had beenspecified.This specification ensures the VGA CRTC is used.<p>A ChipSet name of ``<it>ibmvga</it>'' causes any VGA-capable adapter in the