New Kernel Old Radeon 9200

[raydude]

I have an RV280 and a new install.

That means I have kernel 2.6.22 or 23 (currently 23).

I have Xorg 7.2 and Xorg-server-1.3.

And I want to run TV-OUT S-Video, specifically on bootup.

I can't get it to work.

The binary driver simply doesn't support the new xorg, and getting the old 7.1 (on gentoo) is a pain in the toucas. And it doesn't support the kernel anyway (although there's a way around that).

The open source driver (I'm using latest and it should support TVout) won't initialize svideo unless I have a VGA monitory connected and then doesn't give me a synchronized signal, the monitor rolls horizontally as if the timing were wrong.

So my question is: how can I get this to work?

My only option to date that I know will work is to buy a Geforce 6200 or a newer radeon so I can use their binary drivers.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Raydude

[Svartalf]

So my question is: how can I get this to work?

The odds aren't very good. The technical information is not likely to be made available anytime soon (per discussions with AMD's official rep hanging out here in the forums...); they've signed deals with media companies and the media protection companies to not enable that output edge without having Macrovision turned on in a way that can't be disabled. My advice to you is if you want to output from the 9200, you probably want to get a VGA to Composite/S-Video converter box for $60-120 and just forget the integrated version that's deliberately crippled on the card.

[Kano]

Most easy way would be using fbdev/vesa.

[bridgman]

In this particular case it sounds like the tv output is sometimes being enabled but the timing isn't right. I believe the radeon driver may already have the tv output working in which case this is just a case of getting the display detection and timing right. You might want to subscribe to xorg or xorg-ati mailing lists and ask there.

Svartalf is right about the legal concerns though. Our current thinking is that we're OK enabling the output without Macrovision as long as (a) we continue to hide the mechanisms for turning MV on and off, and (b) we never get in a situation where there is a standard API for informing a player app that the outputs are protected and the OSS driver says "sure, that output is protected, you betcha" while continuing to send out unprotected video.

Anyways, ping one of the xorg lists, see what they say, and let us know. We're not planning on making any changes in the way open source drivers are supported as a result of Alex or others joining AMD -- what we *are* trying to do is significantly improve the level of support we give to open source developers in general.

[agd5f]

I have an RV280 and a new install.

That means I have kernel 2.6.22 or 23 (currently 23).

I have Xorg 7.2 and Xorg-server-1.3.

And I want to run TV-OUT S-Video, specifically on bootup.

I can't get it to work.

The open source driver (I'm using latest and it should support TVout) won't initialize svideo unless I have a VGA monitory connected and then doesn't give me a synchronized signal, the monitor rolls horizontally as if the timing were wrong.

So my question is: how can I get this to work?

Raydude

The open source driver supports tv-out, however, only NTSC seems to work reliably so far. Also, the only way to detect that a tv is attached is via load detection, which at the moment does not work reliably on the tvdac so it is disabled by default. You can enable load detection by setting Option "TVDACLoadDetect" "true" in the device section of your config. YMMV. I suppose I should add a driver option at some point to force tv-out on.

[raydude]

I got it to work. Note this is the versions I'm running (all under gentoo):

equery list xorg
[ Searching for package 'xorg' in all categories among: ]
 * installed packages
[I--] [  ] app-doc/xorg-docs-1.4-r1 (0)
[I--] [  ] x11-base/xorg-server-1.3.0.0-r2 (0)
[I--] [  ] x11-base/xorg-x11-7.2 (0)

equery list ati
[ Searching for package 'ati' in all categories among: ]
 * installed packages
[I--] [ ~] x11-drivers/xf86-video-ati-6.7.196-r1 (0)

equery list xrandr
[ Searching for package 'xrandr' in all categories among: ]
 * installed packages
[I--] [  ] x11-apps/xrandr-1.2.2 (0)

The trick is to force the VGA output on, even when the VGA monitor isn't connected. You also have to force the modeline for 800x600 as it won't be auto detected correctly unless a VGA monitor is connected.

I got the modeline by grabbing it out of /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

Section "Module"
    Load        "dbe"   # Double buffer extension
    SubSection  "extmod"
       Option      "omit xfree86-dga"   # don't initialise the DGA extension
    EndSubSection
    Load        "freetype"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Keyboard1"
    Driver      "kbd"
    Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
    Option "XkbRules"   "xorg"
    Option "XkbModel"   "pc104"
    Option "XkbLayout"  "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Mouse1"
    Driver      "mouse"
    Option "Protocol"    "Auto" # Auto detect
    Option "Device"      "/dev/input/mice"
    Option "ZAxisMapping"   "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Radeon 9200"
        Boardname       "ATI Radeon"
        Busid           "PCI:3:0:0"
        Driver          "radeon"
        Vendorname      "ATI"
        Option          "Monitor-VGA-0"         "VGA Monitor"
        Option          "Monitor-S-video"       "S-Video Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "VGA Monitor"
        Vendorname      "LG"
        Modelname       "CRT 1280x1024"
        Option          "DPMS"
        Option          "PreferredMode" "800x600"
        Option          "Enable" "true" # force vga on, this is necessary.
        HorizSync       30-96
        VertRefresh     50-160
       #force VGA to the same resolution as S-Video
        Modeline "800x600" 40.00 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "S-Video Monitor"
        Vendorname      "Unknown"
        Modelname       "TV or Beamer"
        Option          "DPMS"
        Option          "Enable" "true" # Force S-Video on, it is not detected correctly
       # Force the 800x600 modeline. THIS IS THE ONLY MODE FOUND TO WORK.
        Modeline "800x600" 40.00 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Device          "Radeon 9200"
        Defaultdepth    24
        Monitor         "S-Video Monitor"
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth   24
                Modes           "800x600"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "Default Layout"
        Screen          "Default Screen"
        InputDevice     "Keyboard1"
        InputDevice     "Mouse1"
#       Option          "AIGLX" "true"
EndSection

# Section "DRI"
#    Mode 0666
# EndSection

I hope someone else finds it useful.

Raydude

[agd5f]

FWIW, I just added an option to the driver (ati git master) to force tv-out to always be detected as attached. I also added an option to force the default tv-standard if you want something besides the bios default.

Option "ForceTVOut" "true"

Option "TVStandard" "ntsc"

See the radeon man page for more info.

[bridgman]

Wow, that was fast

[raydude]

That was fast! Thanks much!

Raydude

[Svartalf]

Wow, that was fast

Heh... Alacrity is one of those things you need to keep in mind with us crazies.