[mythtv] Matrox G200 TV out works! HOWTO!
Robert Dege
mythtv-dev@snowman.net
Tue, 17 Dec 2002 19:53:08 -0500 (EST)
Thanks for the info... I have a G200 myself & plan on trying this out.
I'll let you know how the step-by-step goes
-Rob
> Since I've just spent a hair-pulling time getting this lot going, I figured
> I'd share the joy and perhaps help others work out how to get this beast
> set up. Perhaps it'll even be useful for those using a G400 with TV-out on
> the second head.
>
> This is kinda long...
>
> WARNINGS:
> ** keep a rescue floppy/CD!
> ** don't blame me if you fry your hardware/TV/monitor trying this. Tweaking
> video card settings at the register level can cause signals which may drive
> display hardware beyond their design specs. You can kill hardware like
> this.
> ** no warranty expressed or implied, contents under pressure, not suitable
> for children, not a floatation device, sell-by date on bottom of package.
>
> So, here we go:
>
> Step 1: Upgrade the G200 BIOS
>
> Step 1.1: Download the latest BIOS for the card from
> http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/drivers/bios/home2.cfm
>
> Step 1.2: You'll need to use DOS to flash the BIOS -- I used the FreeDOS
> install floppy (available from
> http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/beta8/instdisk/1.44/)
> as a temporary boot disk. dd the image to a floppy, then mount it. Delete
> most of the contents, except for the command.com and kernel.sys. Copy in
> all the .bin files from the bios .ZIP, plus ubiosdos.exe, dos4gw.exe,
> english.mmf, and progbios.exe.
> Leave the disk writeable.
>
> Step 1.3: boot the machine from the FreeDOS floppy, and execute:
>
> ubiosdos
>
> I didn't make a backup disk, just pressed enter and let it flash
> (note: if things screw up, this could be your undoing)
>
> Step 1.4: force the G200 BIOS to turn on the TV out at boot time:
>
> progbios -maven ntsc (use pal for PAL, and off for, um, off)
>
> Step 1.5: reboot. At this point, I already had my TV connected to the
> external breakout box, and was delighted to see the Award BIOS boot
> messages. I was able to alter PC BIOS settings, and all. This could be
> important... :)
>
> Step 2: Build an appropriate kernel
>
> Step 2.1: I built the following into the kernel (not built as modules):
> Character devices -> I2C support -> I2C support
> Character devices -> I2C support -> I2C bit-banging interfaces
> Character devices -> I2C support -> I2C device interface
> Character devices -> I2C support -> I2C /proc interface
> Console drivers -> Frame-buffer support -> Matrox acceleration
> Console drivers -> Frame-buffer support -> G100/G200/ ...
> Console drivers -> Frame-buffer support -> Matrox I2C support
> Console drivers -> Frame-buffer support -> G400 second head support
> Console drivers -> Frame-buffer support -> Matrox /proc interface
>
> NOTE: you need the G400 second head support even if you have a G200. It
> builds the driver for the MAVEN chip, which actually does the TV-out
> conversion.
>
> Step 2.2: make dep, make bzImage, make modules, make modules_install. Copy
> bzImage to the boot wherever and lilo it. Read
> /usr/src/linux/Documentation/fb/matroxfb.txt for options you can pass to
> the Matrox framebuffer driver through lilo
>
> You could boot the new kernel at this point if you liked, but make sure
> you've kept your monitor attached to the PC, because the MGA console driver
> switches to a VESA mode that my TV couldn't display.
>
> Step 3: Set up XFree86
>
> Step 3.1: In your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4, put something like this:
>
> ---- Begin snippet ----
>
> Section "Monitor"
> Identifier "TV"
> VendorName "Unknown"
> ModelName "Unknown"
> HorizSync 31-50
> VertRefresh 60 # This is for NTSC. PAL should use 50
> EndSection
>
> Section "Device"
> Identifier "My Video Card"
> Driver "mga"
> BoardName "Unknown"
> Option "UseFBDev" "on"
> Option "HWCursor" "off"
> EndSection
>
> Section "Device"
> Identifier "Linux Frame Buffer"
> Driver "fbdev"
> BoardName "Unknown"
> EndSection
>
> Section "Screen"
> Identifier "Screen0"
> Device "My Video Card"
> Monitor "TV"
> DefaultDepth 16
> Subsection "Display"
> Depth 16
> Modes "800x600"
> EndSubSection
> EndSection
>
> ---- End snippet ----
>
> Step 3.2: restart X (ctrl-alt-backspace) to make sure it's using the fb
> device. Check /var/log/XFree86.0.log to make sure.
>
> Step 3.3: Get matroxset from the MPlayer distribution
> (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/), build and install it (it's in the
> TVout subdirectory of the source). Also build and install fbset from the
> same distribution.
>
> Get maven-prog from http://platan.vc.cvut.cz/~vana/matroxfb.html -- build
> it (it'll end up being called "matrox", but you can rename it) and install
> it.
>
> Step 3.4: Mirror the framebuffer onto the TV out with matroxset:
>
> matroxset -f /dev/fb/0 -m 3 # use -m 1 for monitor-only, -m 2 for TV only
> matroxset -f /dev/fb/0 -o 1 2 # set output 1 to NTSC. Use -o 1 1 for PAL
>
> Step 3.5: Tweak the display
>
> This is where you may end up typing blind. See
> http://davedina.apestaart.org/download/doc/Matrox-TVOUT-HOWTO-0.1.txt for a
> great explanation
>
> When you have the size and location of the screen set to your liking, use
> "maven-prog" (or "matrox", if you didn't rename it) from above to set the
> black level, white level, saturation, hue, antialiasing, and whatnot. My
> settings are:
>
> matrox 0x0e 0x3f # sets the black level
> matrox 0x1e 0xcf # sets the white level
> matrox 0x22 0x76 # sets the hue
>
> See http://platan.vc.cvut.cz/~vana/maven/mavenreg.html for a description of
> the MAVEN chip registers.
>
> I put the resulting fbset and matrox commands in my mythtv user's
> .xsession.
>
> Step 3.6: To put the text console back on the TV after the boot process
> turns it off, I put the following lines in /etc/rc.sysinit, right after
> devfsd is launched:
>
> /sbin/matroxset -f /dev/fb/0 -m 3 # both monitor and TV
> /sbin/matroxset -f /dev/fb/0 -o 1 2 # set TV to NTSC
>
> Step 4: Beer (or tea, coffee, wine, spring water, or whatever)
>
> That's it. I only wish it had been as quick and easy to figure out as it was
> to type this up :)
>
> Notes:
> ** if you built ALSA drivers for a previous kernel, you'll probably have to
> build and install them again.
> ** The G200 (and, presumably, the G400) will display up to 1024x768 through
> the miracle of scan conversion, but 800x600 works well for MythTV for me.
> ** don't be concerned if it seems like X is taking a long time to start up
> in a mode that the TV can sync to. My TV also flashes like crazy for about
> 5 seconds while this is going on. Eventually, it gets there.
> ** My Shuttle SV24 locks up sometimes with this card. It's reproducible, so
> must be a driver problem. It happens when running "make xconfig" from the
> linux kernel tree, and sometimes when dragging the scrollbar up or down in
> Mozilla. Turning off various acceleration features may resolve this, but I
> haven't tried that yet.
> ** I have run mplayer with the normal Xvideo output in this mode, and it's
> just fine. You could also build it with the mga driver and have it use the
> hardware acceleration, but I haven't got there yet.
>
>
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>
Dege
So Many Things in Life Would Be Really Funny
.... If They Weren't Happening To Me