term% cat index.txt VGADB(6) Games Manual VGADB(6)
NAME
vgadb - VGA controller and monitor database
DESCRIPTION
The VGA database, /lib/vgadb, consists of two parts, the first describ‐
ing how to identify and program a VGA controller and the second de‐
scribing the timing parameters for known monitors to be loaded into a
VGA controller to give a particular resolution and refresh rate. Con‐
ventionally, at system boot, the program aux/vga (see vga(8)) uses the
monitor type in /env/monitor, the display resolution in /env/vgasize,
and the VGA controller information in the database to find a matching
monitor entry and initialize the VGA controller accordingly.
The file comprises multi-line entries made up of attribute/value pairs
of the form attr=value or sometimes just attr. Each line starting
without white space starts a new entry. Lines starting with # are com‐
ments.
The first part of the database, the VGA controller identification and
programming information, consists of a number of entries with attribute
ctlr and no value. Within one of these entries the following at‐
tributes are meaningful:
nnnnn an offset into the VGA BIOS area. The value is a string ex‐
pected to be found there that will identify the controller. For
example, 0xC0068="#9GXE64 Pro" would identify a #9GXEpro VGA
controller if the string #9GXE64 Pro was found in the BIOS at
address 0xC0068. There may be more than one identifier attri‐
bute per controller. If a match cannot be found, the first few
bytes of the BIOS are printed to help identify the card and cre‐
ate a controller entry.
ctlr VGA controller chip type. This must match one of the VGA con‐
troller types known to /dev/vgactl (see vga(3)) and internally
to aux/vga. Currently, clgd542x, et4000, mach32, mach64, s3801,
s3805, s3928, vision864, and vision964 are recognized.
ramdac RAMDAC controller type. This must match one of the types known
internally to aux/vga. Currently att20c491, att20c492,
att21c498, bt485, sc15025, stg1702, tvp3020, and tvp3025 are
recognized.
clock clock generator type. This must match one of the types known
internally to aux/vga. Currently icd2061a, ics2494, ics2494a,
s3clock, and tvp3025clock are recognized.
hwgc hardware graphics cursor type. This must match one of the types
known to /dev/vgactl and internally to aux/vga. Currently
bt485hwgc, s3hwgc, et4000hwgc, and tvp3020hwgc are recognized.
link This must match one of the types known internally to aux/vga.
Currently vga and ibm8514 are recognized. The type vga handles
generic VGA functions and should almost always be included. The
type Ibm8514 handles basic graphics accelerator initialization
on controllers such as the S3 family of GUI chips.
The clock, ctlr, link, and ramdac values can all take an extension fol‐
lowing a '-' that can be used as a speed-grade or subtype; matching is
done without the extension. For example, ramdac=stg1702-135 indicates
the STG1702 RAMDAC has a maximum clock frequency of 135MHz, and
clock=ics2494a-324 indicates that the frequency table numbered 324
should be used for the ICS2494A clock generator.
The functions internal to aux/vga corresponding to the clock, ctlr,
link, and ramdac values will be called in the order given for initial‐
ization. Sometimes the clock should be set before the RAMDAC is ini‐
tialized, for example, depending on the components used. In general,
link=vga will always be first and, if appropriate, link=ibm8514 will be
last.
The entries in the second part of /lib/vgadb have as attribute the name
of a monitor type and the value is conventionally a resolution in the
form XxYxZ, where X, Y, and Z are numbers representing width, height,
and depth in pixels. The monitor type (i.e. entry) include has special
properties, described below and shown in the examples. The remainder
of the entry contains timing information for the desired resolution.
Within one of these entries the following attributes are meaningful:
clock the video dot-clock frequency in MHz required for this resolu‐
tion. The value 25.175 is known internally to vga(8) as the
baseline VGA clock rate.
shb start horizontal blanking, in character clocks.
ehb end horizontal blanking, in character clocks.
ht horizontal total, in character clocks.
vrs vertical refresh start, in character clocks.
vre vertical refresh end, in character clocks.
vt vertical total, in character clocks.
hsync horizontal sync polarity. Value must be '+' or '−'.
vsync vertical sync polarity. Value must be + or -.
interlace
interlaced mode. Only value v is recognized.
alias continue, replacing the alias line by the contents of the entry
whose attribute is given as value.
include
continue, replacing this include line by the contents of the
previously defined include monitor type with matching value.
(See the examples.) Any non-zero attributes already set will
not be overwritten. This is used to save duplication of timing
information. Note that value is not parsed, it is only used as
a string to identify the previous include=value monitor type en‐
try.
The values given for shb, ehb, ht, vrs, vre, vt, hsync, and vsync are
beyond the scope of this manual page. See the book by Ferraro for de‐
tails.
EXAMPLES
Basic ctlr entry for a laptop which is only capable of a 640x480x1 res‐
olution:
ctlr # AT&T Safari NSX20
0xE0030="PhoenixVIEW(tm) VGA-Compatible BIOS Version"
ctlr=vga
A more complex entry. Note the extensions on the clock, ctlr, and ram‐
dac attributes. The order here is important: the RAMDAC clock input
must be initialized before the RAMDAC itself. The clock frequency is
selected by the ET4000 chip.
ctlr # Hercules Dynamite Power
0xC0076="Tseng Laboratories, Inc. 03/04/94 V8.00N"
link=vga
clock=ics2494a-324
ctlr=et4000-w32p
ramdac=stg1702-135
Monitor entry for type vga (the default monitor type used by vga(8))
and resolution 640x480x[18].
include = 640x480@60Hz # 60Hz, 31.5KHz
clock=25.175
shb=664 ehb=760 ht=800
vrs=491 vre=493 vt=525
vga = 640x480x1 # 60Hz, 31.5KHz
include=640x480@60Hz
vga = 640x480x8 # 60Hz, 31.5KHz
include=640x480@60Hz
Entries for multisync monitors with video bandwidth up to 65MHz.
#
# Multisync monitors with video bandwidth up to 65MHz.
#
multisync65 = 1024x768x1 # 60Hz, 48.4KHz
include=1024x768@60Hz
multisync65 = 1024x768x8 # 60Hz, 48.4KHz
include=1024x768@60Hz
multisync65 = 1024x768x1i # 87Hz, 35.5KHz (interlaced)
include=1024x768i@87Hz
multisync65 = 1024x768x8i # 87Hz, 35.5KHz (interlaced)
include=1024x768i@87Hz
multisync65
alias=vga
Note how this builds on the existing vga entries.
FILES
/lib/vgadb
SEE ALSO
ndb(2), vga(3), ndb(6), b.com(8), vga(8)
Richard E. Ferraro, Programming Guide to the EGA, VGA and Super VGA
Cards, Third Edition
BUGS
The mach32 and mach64 controllers are programmed only in VGA mode, not
accelerated mode, so are limited to a maximum resolution of 1024Ã768Ã8.
ADDING A NEW MONITOR
Adding a new monitor is usually fairly straightforward, as most modern
monitors are multisync and the only interesting parameter is the maxi‐
mum video bandwidth. Once the timing parameters are worked out for a
particular maximum video bandwidth as in the example above, an entry
for a new monitor with that limit is simply
#
# Sony CPD-1304
# Horizontal timing:
# Allowable frequency range: 28-50KHz
# Vertical timing:
# Allowable frequency range: 50-87Hz
#
cpd-1304
alias=multisync65
Even this is not necessary, as the monitor type could simply be given
as multisync65.
ADDING A NEW VGA CONTROLLER
While the use of this database formalizes the steps needed to program a
VGA controller, unless you are very lucky and all the important compo‐
nents on a new VGA controller card are interconnected in the same way
as an existing entry, adding a new entry requires adding new internal
types to vga(8).
At a minimum you will need the data sheets for the VGA controller chip,
the RAMDAC and the clock generator. You will also need to know how
these components interact. For example, a common combination is an S3
86C928 VGA chip with an ICD2061A clock generator. The ICD2061A is usu‐
ally loaded by clocking a serial bit-stream out of one of the 86C928
registers. Similarly, the RAMDAC may have an internal clock-doubler
and/or pixel-multiplexing modes, in which case both the clock generator
and VGA chip must be programmed accordingly.
VGADB(6)