[mythtv] Matrox G200 TV out works! HOWTO!

Michael D. Cencula mythtv-dev@snowman.net
Wed, 18 Dec 2002 02:22:21 -0500


Excellent HOWTO, Colin!  These instructions worked flawlessly on my dual head 
G400 with one (small) exception.  I had to type:

matroxset -f /dev/fb1 -m 0

before typing:

matroxset -f /dev/fb0 -m 3
matroxset -f /dev/fb0 -o 1 2

It currently looks like my fbset command line will be something like:

fbset -fb /dev/fb0 -left 18 -right -98 -upper 47 -lower 6

This fills up the window of my capture card on another computer.  I have yet 
to try it on an actual TV, however.

Note that the difference in device naming is probably a distro issue.  I'm 
running RH8.0.

Thanks again,
Mike Cencula

On Tuesday 17 December 2002 19:17, Colin Panisset wrote:
> 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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