Ubuntu
xserver-xorg-video-s3 package

cannot configure X for graphics card with 1MB ram

Bug #17904 reported by Michal Suchanek
18
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
xserver-xorg-video-s3 (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

I tried installing Hoary on a system with S3 Trio64V+. During package
installation I was asked about desired screen resolutions but not screen depth.

Since the card has only 1MB of memory and the default color depth is 24 (but
32bpp) no sensible mode could be set. X started but nothing could be seen on the
screen (possibly bug in doublescan support on the card). Changing the default
depth to 16 made X work.

I am not sure how this condition can be detected (except perhaps scanning
Xorg.log for the memory size). But it may be that this limitation should just be
mentioned on a hardeware requirements page which should be easy to find on the
Ubuntu site.

Revision history for this message
Daniel Stone (daniels) wrote :

Eeyow. I have to say I didn't really plan for people installing with 1MB (!)
video cards. Will look into it.

Daniel Stone (daniels)
Changed in xorg:
assignee: daniels → nobody
Revision history for this message
Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton) wrote :

We should patch the driver to use 16bit by default. Shouldn't be too hard.

Revision history for this message
Michal Suchanek (hramrach) wrote : Re: [Bug 17904] Re: cannot configure X for graphics card with 1MB ram

That's not needed for 2MB cards and above. Note that the same driver
is used for Trio3D/2X which probably has 4MB, and there are versions
of this card that have 2MB.

I am not sure this is still present in Gutsy, the PSU in the computer has died.

The problem was not so much in the chosen resolution as it was in the
driver displaying the resolution incorrectly which might be fixed now.
The resulting mode in 32bpp would be some 640x400 or 512xsomething
which is not exactly standard these days (although EGA modes included
something like 640x400 iirc).

Perhaps setting it to 24bit color depth and 24bpp by default would
give the best results. That should suffice for 640x480 on the 1mb card
and larger modes on the cards whith more (but still limited) memory.

Revision history for this message
Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton) wrote :

The driver knows how much memory it has, so it shouldn't be too hard to set the default bitdepth based on that.

Revision history for this message
rusivi2 (rusivi2-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

Thank you for posting this bug.

Does this occur in Lucid?

Changed in xserver-xorg-video-s3 (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Michal Suchanek (hramrach) wrote :

On 14 September 2010 21:28, rusivi1 <email address hidden> wrote:
> Thank you for posting this bug.
>
> Does this occur in Lucid?
>

I cannot tell, the PSU for the system broke and I don't have a replacement.

Revision history for this message
Thomas Hotz (thotz-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

Have you got this graphics card. Is it still a problem for you?

Revision history for this message
Thomas Hotz (thotz-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

Closing because of broken hardware. Please reopen bug if someone else has a hardware to test. Thank you very much!

Changed in xserver-xorg-video-s3 (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Invalid
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