Re: Permedia3 console & 2.4.x kernel
On Mon, Feb 17, 2003 at 10:20:22PM -0400, Michael Hackett wrote:
> I recently upgraded from the 2.2.20-pmac kernel to the 2.4.18-powerpc
> version, in order to get usb-storage support for my SmartMedia reader,
> and in doing so, I lost my console display. X still runs fine, and
> that's mostly what I use, but it would still be nice to have console
> working as well.
The permedia3 X driver is not fbdev aware, so it does all the
initialization and stuff itself. So it is not surprising it works for
you. The permedia3 fbdev driver was written by Romain Dolbeau explicitly
for his powermac, and i tested it on my i386 box, so there should be no
reason it does not work. I have been toying with porting his work to the
2.5.x kernels, but have not had time for it.
Notice that the pm3fb driver is something different from the offb driver
you apparently where using previously.
> Previously, I just used the Open Firmware driver (checking the "No video
> driver" box in BootX), which worked fine with my Formac Proformance 3
> card. And since I didn't use it a lot, I didn't mind that it was a bit
> slow. But after the kernel upgrade, that no longer worked (the Mac OS
> screen stays up until the X login manager takes over, and trying to
> switch to a console later results in garbage).
This is symptom of not working fbdev driver.
> Next I dug up the info on the permedia3 console driver. Apparently, this
> is included with the 2.4.19 kernel, so I upgraded to that, but all my
> attempts at getting the kernel parameter right (e.g.
> video=pm3fb:pciid:0:0:15:0,mode:640x480-75) have resulted in no change.
> I used to get the following during startup:
Just a quick question. You did rebuild and reconfigure the kernel
yourself, right, and you did enable the pm3 framebuffer. I think it is
not enabled by default, and that is why you don't see a thing.
> MacOS display is /bandit/formacGA12
> Using unsupported 1280x960 formacGA12 at 84001400, depth=32, pitch=5120
> Console: switching to ...
> fb0: Open Firmware frame buffer device on /bandit/formacGA12
Like said, your message should be of the kind :
pm3fb: ...
> Now, I can see no messages at all relating to displays or frame buffers.
>
> Any ideas on what might be happening or what to try? The only thing I've
> noticed that seems a little curious is a line:
>
> PCI: Switching off ROM at 00:0f.0
If the pm3fb driver is not built in, the card is not reserved by the
kernel or whatever, and it is switched off as nobody uses it, or
something such. This strongly hints that you have not enabled the pm3
fbdev in your kernel.
> which I believe is the slot of the video card. But X continues to work
> with the glint driver, so why not the console driver? And why did I lose
Like said, the glint driver doesn't know anything about the fbdev, it
simply saves the video mode information that was used previously, and
then set it up on his own. It is the exact same code that will be used
for other oses, or other architecture, apart from the few bigendian
changes.
> the Open Firmware console driver that used to work when I upgraded to
> the 2.4.x kernel?
This one i don't know.
> I hope that's enough info to go on, but if there's anything else that
> would help, just let me know and I'll supply what I can. Thanks in
> advance!
Like said, i believe pm3fb is not built in in your kernel. A copy of the
following stuff would be nice :
o the dmesg output.
o the /proc/pci content.
o the kernel .config file (or if you use kernel-package, the
/boot/config-2.4.19 file).
o the /var/log/XFree86.0.log.
Friendly,
Sven Luther
Reply to: