[232] in linux-announce channel archive
New version 0.4 of SVGATextMode
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lars Wirzenius)
Sat Feb 25 11:42:27 1995
Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 17:15:38 +0200
From: Lars Wirzenius <wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi>
To: linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi, linux-announce@vger.rutgers.edu
X-Mn-Key: announce
From: kmg@barco.be
Subject: New version 0.4 of SVGATextMode
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Organization: ?
Keywords: SVGA console text screen monitor
Approved: linux-announce@tc.cornell.edu (Lars Wirzenius)
Followup-to: comp.os.linux.misc
Hi there,
Once again, there is a new version out! Here are some details.
LSM file:
Begin3
Title: SVGA textmode manipulation/enhancement
Version: 0.4
Entered-date: 19FEB95
Description: Uses extra features found in all SVGA video cards to enhance
Linux text modes independently of what the BIOS can do. It is
configured with an XF86Config-like file, and allows setting of
pixel clock, H/V timings, font size, etc. Now you can use your
video card AND your monitor to the MAX! In textmode, as you
used to do in XWindows. Current support includes S3, ET4000,
Cirrus Logic, Trident, Western Digital and ATI cards. It can
also use an external clock program.
Keywords: SVGA console text screen monitor
Author: kmg@barco.be (Koen Gadeyne)
Maintained-by: kmg@barco.be (Koen Gadeyne)
Primary-site: sunsite.unc.edu pub/Linux/utils/console (or "incoming")
140k SVGATextMode-0.4.tar.gz
Alternate-site: tsx-11.mit.edu pub/linux/sources/sbin (or "incoming")
Original-site:
Platform: Linux PC with one of the supported VGA cards, kernel 1.1.54 or newer.
Copying-policy: Freely Redistributable
End
The changes with respect to the previous version (0.3):
Most important are: the clock probe, automatic terminal resizing
("stty..."), VT_RESIZE "bug" fixed.
In more detail: (extracted from HISTORY file)
This time, lots of user feedback resulted in most of the new features.
- Increased sync widths in many default TextConfig modes, after TONS of
complaints about many modes just not working. This should fix most
problems (but not all...)
- added a clock probing program "clockprobe". Usefull for debugging on "remote"
video cards (i.e. those YOU have, but I don't). Used some fancy stuff in there.
Check the documentation!
- short docs for getpalette, setpalette, getVGAreg, setVGAreg, and
clockprobe added.
- added some more user-contributed text modes. If this goes on, the
TextConfig file will be a MegaByte within a few years...
- added (user contributed) Video 7 mercury external clock program.
- fixed bug in setpalette code (getpalette was wrong).
- now SVGATextMode uses the last matching textmode line, instead of the first
(suggested by Kenneth Albanowski. Thanks). This gives YOUR patched lines
precedence over the original ones, if your lines are at the end of the TextConfig file.
- changed external clock program calling to comply with XFREE3.1 method
- made option parsing more generic, so now adding options for all cards is easier.
- added option "ET4000_AltClockSel" for those ET4000 which won't work with the normal
clock selection code.
- "swap_hibit" option for WDC cards added (as in XFREE). This actuall swaps bit 2 (not 3),
so the name is rather misleading...
- added automatic sync polarity selection. Deleted most sync polarities from default
text modes in TextConfig (auto polarity should get most right).
- first attempt at using some XFREE code. This has been suggested by myself
and many others. It's a good idea, but probably not that simple. Let's
see...
Nothing works yet, but it'll come, one day.
- Put VT_RESIZE before VGA programming code instead of after, and added
malloc() to get some more free memory (avoiding "out of memory" error).
- !!! Now does terminal resizing automatically, using the terminals defined in a
"Terminals" line in the TextConfig file. All these terminals get the
equivalent of an "stty rows ... cols ..." sent to them when SVGATextMode
is run. All programs that support the SIGWINCH signal (more/less, joe,
emacs, ...) redraw their screen automatically into the new size. This is
a really nice feature!
- and finally: SVGATexMode now checks for the kernel version, and if it's
older than 1.1.54, it will not allow screen resizing. This seemed to be a
major problem for some people.
This will also make SVGATextMode MUCH less dangerous to use.
--
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