Re: ATI Radeon Mobility
On Tue, 12 Aug 2003, list@firman.us wrote:
>> I have an IBM A31 with a Mobility 7500 chip; currently running
>> testing. It works well with X4.2; but without 3D hardware
>> acceleration. From what I am told, if you use X4.3, hardware
>> acceleration should work.
>
> I am just setting up my new A31 with this exact chip and and using
> Testing like you but I have some questions if you don't mind.
>
> 1. What is the difference between the Radeon and Vesa drivers?
> I have tried them both and I see no difference.
The Radeon driver has hardware acceleration, the Vesa driver does not.
So, using the Vesa driver, your performance will suck. :)
> 2. Every time I do dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86 and say "yes"
> to use kernel framebuffer interface, X is just blank when
> I restart the X server. I have radeonfb in /etc/modules.
> What am I missing?
I never got the Radeon driver and the Radeonfb driver to play nice
together, so I can only say "same here."
> 3. Is it necessary to put in the amount of video RAM?
> I always leave it blank when doing the configuration.
No, it should be detected correctly.
> 4. Whenever I configure for the following display's:
> 1600x1200 1280x1024 1280x960
> they all look the same to me. Which one should I use?
1600x1200, probably, but you should use the one that is the native
resolution of the panel. Anything else will be either scaled or with
borders.
> 5. My BIGGEST problem is the display is blurry with either the vesa or
> radeon drivers.
...something smaller than native resolution being scaled up...
> I have found that when I press Fn-F7 once, the screen goes black. When
> I press it a second time, the display comes back PERFECTLY crystal
> clear and brilliant! The problem is that it is not using my whole
> display. I have 1/2 inch on the left and right as black and unused
> with 1/4 inch top and bottom as well.
...and now, show at native size, with borders.
> 6. Which depth should I use? 16 or 24?
Benchmark, since it depends a bit on your applications, but the
performance difference is pretty small these days. Occasionally, like
for 3D stuff, you may find 16 is actually slower than 24, but I don't
know for this specific hardware.
Daniel
--
Now that mountains of meaningless words and oceans divide us
And we each have our own set of stars to comfort and guide us
-- Nick Cave, _Come Into My Sleep_
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