$XConsortium: X386.man,v 1.3 91/08/26 15:31:19 gildea Exp $
XF86_Mach8 [:displaynumber] [ option ] ...
XF86_Mach32 [:displaynumber] [ option ] ...
XF86_8514 [:displaynumber] [ option ] ...
XF86_S3 is an 8-bit PseudoColor server for S3 graphic accelerator boards.
XF86_Mach8 is an 8-bit PseudoColor server for ATI Mach8 graphic accelerator boards.
XF86_Mach32 is an 8-bit PseudoColor server for ATI Mach32 graphic accelerator boards.
XF86_8514 is an 8-bit PseudoColor server for 8514/A graphic accelerator boards.
These are derived from the X386 server provided with X11R5, and from the X8514 server developed by Kevin Martin <martin@cs.unc.edu>.
The XFree86 servers support all MIT-supplied extensions except the X Input Extension. PEX is supported, but does not function well on the class of hardware supported.
The servers support the following chipsets in 256 color mode.
13 XF86_S3: 86C911, 86C924, 86C801, 86C805, 86C928
13 XF86_Mach8: ATI Mach8, ATI Mach32
13 XF86_Mach32: ATI Mach32
13 XF86_8514: IBM 8514/A and true clones
For S3 virtual resolutions up to (approximately) 1152x800 are supported, using (up to) 1Mb of display memory (the S3 uses an internal width of 1280, hence 1Mb can't support 1152x900). Physical resolutions up to 1280x1024 are possible using 2Mb or more of display memory (virtual resolution is dependent solely on the amount of memory installed). Similar resolutions are supported on the Mach32. For the Mach32, the maximum virtual width is 1536, and the maximum virtual height is 1280. For Mach8, the maximum virtual width is 1024, and for 8514 the maximum resolution is 1024x768.
8 chipset "name" specifies a chipset so the correct driver can be used. Possible chipsets are: XF86_S3:
12 generic_s3 (for a standard IO driven server)
12 mmio_928 (for a memory mapped IO driven server on 86C928 boards)
XF86_Mach8:
12 mach8 (to force the Mach8 server to run on Mach32 boards)
XF86_Mach32:
mach32
XF86_8514:
ibm8514
8 clocks clock ... specifies the dotclocks that are on your graphics board. The clocks are in MHz, and may be specified as a floating point number. The value is stored internally to the nearest kHz. The ordering of the clocks is important. It must match the order in which they are selected on the graphics board. Multiple clocks lines may be specified. For programmable clock chips the name of the clockchip is given. Possible values include "icd2061a" and "icd2061a_slow". These are currently only supported by the S3 server.
8 option "optionstring" allows the user to select certain options provided by the drivers. Currently the following strings are recognized: nomemaccess - (S3) disable direct access to video memory. This is the default for localbus cards when linear mapping is not possible. memaccess - (S3) prevent direct video memory access being disabled for localbus cards when linear mapping is not possible. nolinear - (S3 and Mach32) disable use of a linear-mapped framebuffer. bt485 - (S3) Card has a BrookTree Bt485 RAMDAC. This option is required if the server fails to detect the Bt485. no_bt485 - (S3) Card does not have a BrookTree Bt485 RAMDAC. This option is only required if the server detects a Bt485 when none is present. bt485_curs - (S3) Enables the Bt485's internal HW cursor. sw_cursor - (Mach32) Disable the hardware cursor.
Note that XFree86 has some internal capabilities to determine what hardware it is running on. Thus normally the keywords chipset, clocks, and videoram don't have to be specified. But there may be occasions when this autodetection mechanism fails, (for example, too high of load on the machine when you start the server). For cases like this, one should first run the server on an unloaded machine, look at the results of the autodetection (that are printed out during server startup) and then explicitly specify these parameters in the configuration file. It is recommended that all parameters, especially Clock values, be specified in the Xconfig file.
Note: the Mach32 server will not auto-detect the clocks.
The last section is the TABLE OF VIDEO MODES which starts with the keyword modedb. This is covered in the Xconfig(4/5) manpage. For details on how to build your own video modes please refer to the tutorial written by Eric Raymond.
30 /usr/X386/bin/XF86_S3 The 8-bit color X server for S3
30 /usr/X386/bin/XF86_Mach8 The 8-bit color X server for Mach8
30 /usr/X386/bin/XF86_Mach32 The 8-bit color X server for Mach32
30 /usr/X386/bin/XF86_8514 The 8-bit color X server for IBM 8514 and true compatibles
30 /usr/X386/lib/X11/Xconfig Server configuration file
In addition to the authors of XFree86 the following people contributed major work to this server:
Kevin Martin, martin@cs.unc.edu Jon Tombs, jon@gtex02.us.es Rik Faith, faith@cs.unc.edu
Did the overall work on the base accelerated servers.
David Dawes, dawes@physics.su.oz.au Dirk Hohndel, hohndel@informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de David Wexelblat, dwex@goblin.org, dwex@aib.com
Merged their work into XFree86.
Jon Tombs, jon@gtex02.us.es David Wexelblat, dwex@goblin.org, dwex@aib.com David Dawes, dawes@physics.su.oz.au Amancio Hasty, hasty@netcom.com
Development and improvement of the S3 specific code.
Kevin Martin, martin@cs.unc.edu Rik Faith, faith@cs.unc.edu Tiago Gons, tiago@comosjn.hobby.nl Hans Nasten, nasten@everyware.se Scott Laird, lair@midway.uchicago.edu
Development and improvement of the Mach8 and 8514/A specific code.
Kevin Martin, martin@cs.unc.edu Rik Faith, faith@cs.unc.edu Mike Bernson, mike@mbsun.mlb.org Mark Weaver, Mark_Weaver@brown.edu
Development and improvement of the Mach32 specific code.
See also the XFree86(1) manual page.
S3 cards with Bt485 ramdacs and ATI cards are currently restricted to dot-clocks less than 85MHz. This restriction is because the servers don't yet support operating the ramdacs in multiplexed mode.