  XFree86 3.1.1 P9000 Server Release Notes
  Erik Nygren (nygren@mit.edu)
  1995 January 15

  1.  Change Log


     1995.01.15:

        o  Fixed problem with line capping in accelerated line drawing.
           (Chris Mason)

        o  Fixed p9000QuadAluGXset to be  0 rather than 1.  (Erik
           Nygren)

     1995.01.14:

        o  Clocks line is no longer used in XF86Config file.  Operation
           should now be consistent with the operation of the other
           servers which use programmable clocks. (Erik Nygren)

        o  Users with 1MB cards can now explicitly specify videoRam in
           the XF86Config file when autoprobing fails.  The new vram_128
           option may also be used to force the detection of 128Kx8
           SIMM's. (Erik Nygren)

        o  Added p9000line.c and p9000seg.c for accelerated line drawing
           code using the p9000 quad/clipping engine.  Blazingly fast
           for 1 clipping rectangle, could be made faster for multiple
           clipping regions by using software clipping. There is still a
           bug which causes xtest to report Cap style incorrect for thin
           line and CapNotLast for the XDrawLines tests but not for the
           XDrawLine or XDrawSegments tests fixed in 1995.01.15 patch.
           (Chris Mason)

        o  Changed p9000blt.c, and p9000win.c to wait for the quad/blit
           engine to be free.  Before a quad/blit, check SR_ISSUE_QBN,
           then blit, then when all blits are done, do a p9000QBNotBusy.
           (Chris Mason)

        o  Changed p9000init.c to clear the screen using the quad meta
           coord drawing mode.  Appears the rect mode does not update
           the CINDEX register correctly.  Changed the color to 1
           (black) from 0. (Chris)

        o  Added p9000QuadAlu.  When drawing a quad, the p9000
           equivalent to X's source  is the foreground mask.  When
           bliting/pixel8ing/pixel1ing, it is the p9000 source mask and
           the p9000alu lookup table should be used. (Chris Mason)

        o  Added some more registers to p9000reg.h. (Chris Mason)

     1994.09.20:

        o  Fixed problem which prevented 16 bpp modes from working (Erik
           Nygren)

     1994.09.16:

        o  Added screen blanking support for 16 bpp and 32 bpp modes.
           Screen blanking now powers down the RAMDAC rather than just
           changing the planemask. (Chris Mason, Erik Nygren)

        o  Fixed more problems caused by switch to XF86Config (Erik
           Nygren)

        o  Possible fix to maxclock for Orchid P9000 (Harry
           Langenbacher, Erik Nygren)

     1994.09.15:

        o  Now almost always works with XF86Config changes (Erik Nygren)

        o  Cursor code looks at VTSema before writing to RAMDAC.  This
           had been causing the x11perf server crash (Erik Nygren)

     1994.09.08:

        o  Fixed problem with xdm and restarting the server (Erik
           Nygren)

        o  Fixed and enabled ImageRead in CopyArea (Chris Mason)

        o  Made informational comments conform to standard :-) (Erik
           Nygren)

     1994.09.05:

        o  Fixed BIOS probe for Viper PCI (Bob Hollinger)

        o  Fixes to Orchid P9000 support (Harry Langenbacher)

        o  Changing of datatypes in clock code (Harry Langenbacher)

        o  Fixed clock and misc reg restoration so now works fine with
           svgalib (Chris Mason, Harry, Erik)

     1994.08.29:

        o  Increased number of memory regions in xf86_OSlib.h from 2 to
           3 as needed by the Viper PCI (Erik Nygren)

        o  Changed method of short pauses in p9000vga.c to outb(0x80,0)
           (Erik)

        o  Rewrote routines to determine sysconfig from horizontal
           resolution.  Also added check for valid hres to probe. (Erik
           Nygren)

        o  Added MoveWindow acceleration for all depths.  Opaque move
           even looks nice at 32bpp now!  (Chris Mason)

        o  Minor fixes to acceleration.  Acceleration is now enabled by
           default (Chris Mason)

        o  Added "noaccel" option (Erik Nygren)

        o  Added some fixes for Viper PCI (Matt Thomas)

     1994.07.21:

        o  Preliminary Viper PCI support - totally untested so disabled
           (Erik Nygren)

        o  Preliminary Orchid P9000 support - incomplete and totally
           untested so disabled (Erik Nygren)

        o  Preliminary accelerated support - incomplete and not fully
           tested so disabled (Erik Nygren and Chris Mason)

     1994.07.08:

        o  16 and 32 bpp TrueColor support (Erik Nygren)

        o  Color restoration hopefully fixed (Erik Nygren)

        o  Changes to how "Modes" line in Xconfig is processed

        o  Removed banking support   :-(

  I've started adding in support for other cards and for acceleration.
  Due to its untested nature, it is disabled.  A define at the top of
  p9000.h controls all of these features.  The Viper PCI code is
  untested and probably won't work the first time!  The Orchid P9000
  code is incomplete and is waiting for a few mods by Harry to change
  the way it deals with the clock.  The acceleration code has been
  started on but probably won't work.  It's provided more to give our
  developers a common base to start from.  Notice the new global
  variable p9000BytesPerPixel, BTW.  Before working on any acceleration,
  please contact nygren@mit.edu so we don't duplicate efforts.  The code
  in p9000blt.c should work, but the stuff in p9000im.c probably won't.

  For Diamond Viper PCI owners, you'll need to get the PCIDUMP.EXE
  program from the Unixware P9000 server for now.  Run it under DOS and
  use the values to fill in MemBase and IOBase in the Device section of
  XF86Config.  These values will change whenever you move cards around
  or add cards.

  I've started adding in support for other cards and for acceleration.
  Due to its untested nature, much of it is disabled.  A define at the
  top of p9000.h controls all of these features.


  2.  Supported Cards




  2.1.  Diamond Viper VLB

  All Viper VLB's should work with this server, hopefully...  :-) Due to
  Diamond's putting the same BIOS in some Viper VLB's as are used in
  Viper PCI's, the probe may detect you have a Viper PCI when you really
  have a Viper VLB.  If this happens, put chipset "vipervlb" into your
  XF86Config file.


  2.2.  Diamond Viper PCI

  This should now work, thanks to help from Bob Hollinger and Matt
  Thomas.  You may to specify the chipset "viperpci" in your XF86Config
  file.  You'll also need to specify an IOBase and a MemBase.  You can
  obtain these values with PCIDUMP.EXE.  This program may be obtained by
  sending email to xserver@summit.novell.com with the two lines:
  send
  *p9k

  You should run this program and change these values after you add more
  PCI cards or move existing cards to different slots.  According to
  David DeWolfe (SXDJD@orca.alaska.edu), you need to run PCIDUMP.EXE
  after a clean boot to DOS (with no AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS).  This
  may be accomplished by holding down the SHIFT key while DOS is boot-
  ing.

  Eventually we would like to autodetect the IOBase and memBase, but
  this doesn't yet work.


  3.  Orchid P9000 and random clones

  The Orchid P9000 and other cards based on the Weitek board design
  (such as the STAR 2000) should now work.  Talk to
  harry@brain.jpl.nasa.gov if you have problems with this.  Specify the
  chipset "orchidp9000" in the Device section of XF86Config


  4.  Viper Pro and other P9100 and P9130 cards (UNSUPPORTED!!!)

  These are NOT supported yet.  We don't have the hardware to write and
  or test drivers for them on.  The docs I have says the P9100 has a
  different interface than the P9000.  As a result, they may need an
  entirely new server.  If you need support for one of these cards, you
  should look into XInside's AcceleratedX.  It's a commercial product
  that costs about $99.  Send email to info@xinside.com for more
  information.  Their P9000 server is also much faster than ours at
  present (but then this server is free :-)


  5.  Acceleration

  Some of the acceleration code is working, but there are probably still
  bugs.  Only a very small number of accelerated features have been
  implemented.  Before working on any acceleration, please contact
  nygren@mit.edu so we don't duplicate efforts.  Acceleration may be
  turned off with the "noaccel" option.  The following things are now
  accelerated:

     o  Hardware cursor (8/16/32bpp)

     o  MoveWindow (8/16/32bpp)

     o  CopyArea (8bpp)


  6.  High Color and TrueColor

  Support for 16 and 24 bit truecolor is now supported.  Note that 24
  bit color is really 32 bits per pixel.  Use the -bpp option when
  starting the server.  Examples:
          startx -- -bpp 32
          startx -- -bpp 16
          startx -- -bpp 16 -weight 555
          startx -- -bpp 16 -weight 565

  Note that many programs do not yet work properly with these modes.
  Don't tell me.  Tell the authors unless they've already fixed it.
  It's their fault...  :-)

  Example problems:

     xv 3.00
        Works fine in 32 bpp and in 16 bpp with 24 bit images.  Has
        problems with colors in 8 bit images in 8 bpp mode.

     Mosaic 2.1
        Has problems with colormap in both 16 bpp and 32 bpp.  Newer
        versions of Mosaic such as 2.4 do work.

     mpeg_play
        Doesn't work at all in 16 bpp mode.  Works fine 24 bpp mode when
        compiled with -DRS6000 and when run with ``-dither color''

     xpaint 2.1
        Works great in both modes but has a bug in the color requester
        for the selection tool.  I think later versions may have fixed
        this.


  7.  Random Notes

  Text restoration should now be fixed.  Color restoration should also
  be fixed.  You can now even run the server at the same time as svgalib
  programs!!!

  Diamond has actually been fairly open and helpful.  No NDA's were
  signed by anyone who wrote code and Diamond claims that none of the
  information they provided is proprietary.

  One unresolved issue is the maximum clock speed.  It is currently set
  to 135 MHz with a warning printed over 110 MHz.  Diamond claims that
  this is the max in their docs, but examination has shown some Viper's
  to contain 110 MHz bt485's.  Without 135 MHz, it is not possible for
  people to with large monitors to run at 1280x1024.  Diamond claims
  that all Vipers have 135MHz bt485's or compatibles.  If you have
  something slower, call their tech support and they will send you a RMA
  to get the board replaced.


  8.  Operating System Notes

  Any operating system that can memory map linear regions in really high
  memory should work.  This should include Linux, FreeBSD, SVR4, and
  more.


  8.1.  NetBSD

  If you have NetBSD, you will need to install the aperture driver.
  Extract the file apNetBSD.shar (in
  xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/etc/apNetBSD.shar) and read the README
  contained therein.


  9.  XF86Config

  The modes line in the XF86Config file is now handled differently.  The
  virtual line is now ignored entirely.  Each mode on the mode line is
  looked at and the first usable mode is selected (ie the first one
  which works with available memory, etc).  Any other modes which are
  valid and have the same dimensions are also used.  And other modes are
  ignored.

  The current supported keywords in the Device section of the XF86Config
  file are:

     VideoRAM
        1024 or 2048  (use 2048 for ``3MB'' Orchid P9000's)

     ChipSet
        "vipervlb" or "viperpci" or "orchidp9000"

     MemBase

        Viper VLB:
           0xA0000000 or 0x20000000 or 0x80000000 (0x80000000 is default
           if none spec'd)

        Orchid P9000:
           0xC0000000 or 0xD0000000 or 0xE0000000 (this MUST be set to
           correspond to the jumpers)
        Viper PCI:
           any value corresponding to the output of PCIDUMP.EXE

     IOBase

        Viper PCI:
           any value corresponding to the output of PCIDUMP.EXE

        Others:
           unused

     Clocks
        any values between 25 and 135 corresponding to the clocks for
        the mode entries being used.  This line may now be omitted and
        clocks will be matched automatically.

     Option

        "sw_cursor"
           use software cursor

        "vram_128"
           use if you have 1024K VRAM in 128Kx8 SIMMS

        "sync_on_green"
           generate sync pulses on the green signal.  Most (all?) P9000
           based boards don't support this.

        "noaccel"
           do not do hardware acceleration if it's causing problems for
           you

     Modes
        almost any valid mode (there are constraints on the horiz res so
        not all values are possible)


  The current supported keywords in the Display section of the
  XF86Config file are:

     Depth

        8: use 8 bits per pixel for 256 colors (default)

        15 or 16:
           use 16 bits per pixel for up to 65K colors

        24 or 32:
           use 32 bits per pixel (sparse 24 bpp) for up to 16 million
           colors

     Weight
        555 or 565 if Depth is 15 or 16.  Otherwise this is ignored.
        These are the Red, Green, and Blue bits per pixel (default=565)

  Here's a portion of a sample XF86Config file for the Viper VLB:










  Section "Device"
      Identifier "ViperVLB"
      VendorName "Diamond"
      BoardName "Viper VLB"
      Videoram 2048                        # This is mandatory
      Membase 0x80000000                   # This is mandatory on non-ViperVLB's
      IOBase  0xe000                       # Use this ONLY on ViperPCI's
  EndSection

  Section "Screen"
      Driver "accel"
      Device "ViperVLB"
      Monitor "NEC4FGe"
      Subsection "Display"
          Depth 8   # This line is optional
          Modes "1024x768" "800x600"
      EndSubsection
  EndSection



  10.  Known Bugs

  There are currently problems with the server when used in conjunction
  with xdm, olvwm, and VT switching under Linux.

  If the cursor changes while you're in a VT, the cursor won't look
  right when you return from the VT until it is moved between windows
  (and changes color and shape).

  Autoprobing doesn't always properly detect cards with 1024K of VRAM.
  If you have a problem with this, try putting VideoRAM 1024 into the
  Device section of your XF86Config file.  If this still doesn't help,
  try adding Option "vram_128".


  11.  Credits

  Major contributors to P9000 code:

     o  Erik Nygren (nygren@mit.edu)

     o  Harry Langenbacher (harry@brain.jpl.nasa.gov)

     o  Chris Mason (mason@mail.csh.rit.edu)

  Thanks to Matt Thomas (thomas@lkg.dec.com) and Bob Hollinger
  (bob@interaccess.com) for helping to get the Viper PCI server working.

  Special thanks to David Moews (dmoews@xraysgi.ims.uconn.edu) whose
  banking patch could unfortunately not be included.

  Special thanks to Henrik Harmsen (d9hh@dtek.chalmers.se) whose 16bpp
  and 32bpp accelerated blit code won't be included until the next
  XFree86 release.

  Thanks to Andy, David, Dave, Michael, Bob, all the XFree86 core team
  people, and everyone else!

  During the course of the next few months, people will be working on
  acceleration, etc.  Please send any patches to me (nygren@mit.edu).

  Generated from XFree86: xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc/sgml/P9000.sgml,v 3.7 1995/01/25 11:08:51 dawes Exp $




$XFree86: xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc/README.P9000,v 3.15 1995/01/25 11:15:45 dawes Exp $
$XConsortium: README.P9000,v 1.7 95/01/27 15:58:13 kaleb Exp $
