Re: I'm want to improve hwsetup and hwdata-knoppix
Hi again,
On Fri, Sep 17, 2004 at 02:13:11PM +0200, Klaus Knopper wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 17, 2004 at 11:10:28AM +0300, AKL. Mantas Kriauciunas wrote:
> > - why pcitable from hwdata-knoppix doesn't use standart Redhat hwdata
> > pcitable format and are there any plans to improve hwsetup to use standart
> > pcitable format ?
>
> Ahem... Could you specify in what way you assume the formats would differ?
> IMHO, they don't. In fact, I'm just using RedHat's original pcitable and add
> additional lines, and exchange some that are known to be incorrect by the
> correct ones.
As I told in my letter - main difference is in pcitable - third column
"Card: Video_Card_Model" in lots (but not in all) of cases is replaced with
"Server:XFree86(x)"
> > - are there any plans to use latest hwdata package from Redhat/Fedora or to
> > merge it with current hwdata-knoppix (current redhat version is 0.130 and
> > contains lots of updates comparing with latest knoppix version, for
> > example more than 50 new graphic cards in pcitable) ?
>
> As soon as the Debian maintainer of hwdata puts a new package in
> Debian/unstable.
In Debian unstable (and also in Sarge) newer versions (0.117, 0.118, 0.123)
are long time ago :)
There are several differences between latest hwdata-knoppix and hwdata
from Redhat/Fedora or Debian, for example in 0.123 version from Debian
there is this line:
0x1002 0x5159 "Card:ATI Radeon 7000" "ATI|Radeon RV100 QY [Radeon
7000/VE]"
while in hwdata-knoppix info about same device is incorrect:
0x1002 0x5159 "Server:XFree86(vesa)" "ATI|Radeon QY"
> > There are also other problems in hwdata-knoppix, for example there are
> > lots of identifical lines (like "0x102b 0x0525" or "0x1002 0x5148") in
> > pcitable.
>
> Usually, the first one is taken in this case. Which other "lots" do you mean?
> Can you just send a diff -u, please?
I can send diff, but I think there will be more benefit if you start use
pcitable info from Redhat/Fedora/Debian hwdata package, especially where
in hwdate-knoppix is used vesa or unknown driver.
I noticed, that in some lines there is 2 pciids in one line (in original
hwdata pcitable, for example for pciid 0x102b 0x0525). In header of
pcitable is this info:
# The format is ("%d\t%d\t%s\t"%s"\n", vendid, devid, moduleName)
# or ("%d\t%d\t%d\t%d\t%s\t"%s"\n", vendid, devid, subvendid, subdevid,
# moduleName)
I don't know what is subvendid and subdevid, I think we should ask
redhat/fedora developers if noone from debian-knoppix mailing list knows.
> > This tool uses modified hwdata package (hwdata-knoppix) instead of standart
> > hwdata from redhat (main difference is in pcitable - third column
> > "Card: Video_Card_Model" in lots (but not in all) of cases is replaced with
> > "Server:XFree86(x)"), so lots of hardware data info are outdated in
> > hwdata-knoppix package and vesa is used instead of correct drivers.
>
> This is apparently not true, if you just have a look at the database.
> Could you send me the definite lines that cause problems for your hardware,
> with a patch to use the _definitely correct_ lines instead?
I've looked at the database lots of times. As I already told (see above) -
there are several lines, where in original pcitable correct driver is
specified, but un hwdata-knoppix there is vesa :(
> Please keep in mind that RedHat's original pcitable may contain entries that
> require proprietary drivers which are not present in Knoppix, or have been
> superseded by other lines that have been sent in by users who had problems
> with the original setup.
AFAIK fedora is true open source project, so pcitable from fedora
shouldn't containt entries, that require proprietary drivers. Also if
some users had problems with the original setup, then this should be
documented somewhere, because from me experience original setup was
correct in more cases, than hwdata-knoppix.
> There are no "drivers". hwsetup only identifies the correct XFree86 module for
> changing /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 appropriately.
I know this ;)
> > I'm not experienced C programer, but I can help if more experenced have
> > no time to improve hwsetup.
>
> In which way would you change hwsetup? I may be misunderstanding your mail,
> but nothing I have read so far would require a change to hwsetup.
>
> hwsetup also parses the "Cards" database, if no "Xserver()" entry is present,
> and takes the matching XF86Config-4 entries from there.
I didn't notice, that hwsetup also parses the "Cards" database, now
things are more clear - it seems hwsetup takes the matching XF86Config-4
entries from "Cards" database only if there are matching drivers in
/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/ directory. In my knoppix-based
distribution this directory doesn't exist at detection time, so only
entries with "Xserver()" were used correctly. Solution is to add run
time option for this. My friend Alex commented out driver files
detection (for changes look at
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/morphix/hwsetup-morphix/hwsetup.c?r1=1.1&r2=1.2 ) and now hwsetup takes the matching XF86Config-4 "Cards" database :)
If you accept I can write patch to add option "test for available XFree
drivers" to hwsetup.
--
Good luck,
Mantas Kriaučiūnas <mantas@akl.lt> Jabber ID: mantas@akl.lt
Public organization "Open Source for Lithuania" - www.akl.lt
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