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³ README file for
³
³ ELSA WINNER ELSA WINNER 1000/2000 Driver for NEXTSTEP,
³ ver 1.25
³
³ WINNER 1000
³ WINNER 1000PRO
³ WINNER 1000AVI
³
³ WINNER 2000
³ WINNER 2000PRO
³ WINNER 1000PRO/X
³
³ Copyright (c) 1994-95 ELSA GmbH, Aachen (Germany)
³
³ Subsidary:
³ ELSA GmbH ELSA Inc.
³ Sonnenweg 11 2041 Mission College Blvd.
³ D-52070 Aachen Suite 165
³ Germany Santa Clara, CA 95054
³ USA
³
³ Tel.: +49/0-241-9177-0 Phone: +1-408-565-9669
³ Fax : +49/0-241-9177-600 Phone: 1-800-272-ELSA
³ BBS : +49/0-241-9177-981 Fax : +1-408-565-9650
³ ISDN: +49/0-241-9177-7800 BBS : +1-408-565-9630
³ CIS : GO ELSA CIS : GO ELSA
³
³ April 12th 1995, tr
Table of Contents:
1. Overview
2. Disk contents
3. Installation and Configuration
4. Notes
5. Known Problems
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Overview
This disk contains the ELSA WINNER 1000/2000 driver for NEXTSTEP
and a conversion tool.
The ELSA WINNER 1000/2000 supports NEXTSTEP(R) for Intel(R)
Processors, Release 3.2 and higher, a product of NeXT computer,
Inc.
This file contains an explanation of the installation process
in chapter 3, as well as instructions for converting video modes
which have been created using DOS based ELSA Tools. If your
system is based on the ISA bus, reading of Chapter 6 is re-
commended.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Disk contents
The software described here is located in directory
"NEXT\STANDARD".
That directory contains these files:
WINNEXT.TAR ELSA driver as unix tar file.
VM2TIM.EXE DOS based tool for conversion of video
modes of a graphics board to a file format con-
forming to the NEXTSTEP software
LIESMICH.TXT german version of this file
README.TXT this file
File versions are coded using the timestamp of a file. If e.g. a
file is dated 04-22-94 1:10am, it is version 1.10.
Hint: opposed to DOS, file names and disk labels are all lower
case in the NEXTSTEP software environment.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Installation and Configuration
3.1 Installation
Hint: Help on handling the workspace manager, diskettes, files
and icons is found in the "User's Guide" (see
"Literature", below).
You can also use Workspace Manager's Online Help (in the
menu, go "Info->Help... ?").
3.1.1 Short instructions
Copy the file WINNEXT.TAR to a local working directory and
extract the tar file using workplace manager's archive inspector
(double click->inspector->extract). Start Configure by a double
click on the extracted "ELSA_install". Go on with "Configura-
tion".
Hint: If your local working directory contains an old version of
the ELSA software, remove it before beginning to install
the new version.
3.1.2 Detailed instructions
Insert the disk containing the driver into the drive. In the
menu, choose "Disk->Check for Disks". A new icon showing a disk
comes up in file viewer's shelf. Click it once, then double click
on "NEXT" and "STANADARD" to change in the directory
"NEXT\STANDARD".
Then select "winnext.tar". Move the icon named "winnext.tar"
over your working directory's icon in the shelf.
When two squares show up, release the button. This copies the
file to your working directory. The working directory might e.g.
be your home directory. Now click the working directory in the
shelf, thus changing to that directory. Double-click the copy of
"winnext.tar". An inspector shows up; extract the file, close
the inspector. Two more files are there now: "ELSA_install" and
"WINNER.config.tgz". A double click on "ELSA_install" will then
start the Configure Application. If you are not logged in as
root, you will be asked for the superuser password. In case an
old version of the driver has been installed already, you will
be asked for verification. Now go on with the Configuration
process (see chapter "Configuration").
Hint: ELSA recommends to remove the files "winnext.tar",
"ELSA_install" and "WINNER.config.tgz", in your working
directory after installation, since they are not used any
more then. To remove a file, select it and drag it over
the recycler icon.
In any case these files must be deleted before updating to
a new version of the driver.
3.2 Configuration
Hint: Handling of the Configure application is explained in
"Installing and Configuring NEXTSTEP Release 3.2 for
Intel(R) Processors" (see "literature", below)
If no display adapter had been installed before, a selection box
shows up. Choose "ELSA WINNER 1000/2000 Display Adapter".
3.2.1 Short instructions
The "Select..." button starts the "display mode selection"
window. Here you have to declare which board of the WINNER
1000/2000 series is installed in the system. Relevant here is
the product name and the memory configuration. Following that
step, a resolution and colorspace can be selected from a list of
modes. In a third step, a the refresh rate to the current mode
can be selected from a list.
The box "technical information" shows hints; after resolution
and refresh rate have been selected, the resulting line
frequency and pixel frequency are showed here.
Attention: You must assure, that the monitor in use with the
system is appropriate to operate with the line and
pixel frequency shown in the information box. An in-
appropriate monitor may be damaged, when used with
such a line or pixel frequency. The maximum line and
pixel frequencies for a monitor are given in the
monitor manual.
3.2.2 Detailed instructions
The window "Display Devices" shows two address range selection
boxes; the box "display mode selection" containing the button
"Select..." and an icon "ELSA".
Clicking the button "Select..." shows the "Card Selection
Window". Please specify which one of the ELSA WINNER 1000/2000
board series is installed in the system. Relevant are the
product name and the memory configuration, i.e. how many mega-
bytes of VRAM are on the board.
Click on the button initially named "none". A popup list of
boards shows up. Move the cursor up and down to the right
specification.
If your board's product name is not given precisely, the more
general name is valid. For a WINNER 1000PCI with 2MB VRAM e.g.
choose "WINNER 1000-2MB".
Example: A WINNER 2000PRO with 4 megabyte VRAM is installed in
the system. You choose "WINNER 2000PRO-4MB".
Attention: In case of a WINNER 2000VL with 2 megabyte VRAM you
must choose "WINNER 2000VL-2MB", NOT "WINNER 2000-2".
Be careful: Only the correct board selection assures, that the
display modes you can select further on are realizable on the
installed board.
When the board selection is done, you can specify a resolution
and color space. This driver supports the following of the
NEXTSTEP Windowserver's color spaces: "BW:8", which is 256 step
grayscale, "RGB:555/16", which is 32768 colors (hicolor), and
"RGB:888/32", which is 16.7 million colors (truecolor).
Hint: The decision about color space has implications on the
memory demands the Windowserver will show. Since the
Windowserver holds all the Windows in memory, keep in mind
that one pixel costs you one byte in BW:8, two bytes in
RGB:555/16, and four bytes in RGB:888/32. If you need
color, RGB:555/16 will be good enough for most applica-
tions.
For every resolution a refresh rate can be chosen. The box
"Technical Information" shows the requirements to the used
monitor, especially the line and pixel frequency must be lower
than the maximum line and maximum pixel frequency specified for
your monitor.
Attention: You must assure, that the monitor in use with the
system is appropriate to operate with the line and
pixel frequency shown in the information box.
An inappropriate monitor may be damaged when used
with such a line or pixel frequency.
The maximum line and pixel frequencies for a monitor
are given in the monitor manual.
The window "Card Selection Window" can be left by pressing the
"OK" button thereby accepting the selections made so far, or by
pressing the "Cancel" button, reestablishing the state that was
valid before entering the window.
If the WINNER card specification was changed or specified for
the first time, framebuffer mapping will be changed according to
the card chosen. An attention panel occurs.
The box "Mapped Memory" shows the beginning and length of the
area in address space where the board's video memory will be
mapped into. Numbers are in hexadezimal notation. Usually, the
value that was set when the board was chosen, will be ok.
The specifications in the "Port Address" Box cannot be changed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Notes
4.1 Release Notes
Version 1.0 of 22.04.94 was the initial version
Version 1.10:
Supplies the WINNER 2000PRO-H and the high refresh truecolor
modes on WINNER 2000PRO-4 boards.
Bug fixes: In version 1.0, only the first dynamic mode was read
in, if mode names were delimited by a literal '\n'.
The "Dynamic Modes" entry is read in correctly now.
In version 1.0, problems could occur on some 50MHz VL
bus systems. Therefore VL-Bus handling was changed
slightly.
Version 1.20:
Supports RGB:444/16 modes on WINNER 2000PRO-2/ -4/ -H, supports
RGB:256/8 modes on NEXTSTEP 3.3, handles the default memory
address more user friendly, the original Cube's resolution of
1120 x 832 was added.
Bug fixes: Gamma correction is handled correctly now.
Version 1.21:
Supports the B release boards of the WINNER 2000PRO/X-PCI-8.
Version 1.25:
Supports WINNER 2000PRO/X-PCI-2/-4/-8 and WINNER 1000AVI.
4.2 Literature
The handling of the Workspace Manager is explained in the
"NEXTSTEP User's Guide" as well as in the online help. To get
the online help, choose "Help... ?", which is a submenu of the
"Info" item in the main menu.
The Configure application has no online help, but is explained
in "Installing and Configuring NEXTSTEP Release ... for Intel(R)
Processors".
The manuals mentioned are part of the NEXTSTEP product.
4.3 More graphics modes / conversion of graphics modes defined under
DOS
If you have created video modes under the DOS or Windows
environment and want to used them as display modes in the
NEXTSTEP environment, ELSA supplies a tool to do the conversion
of EEROM data on the board to a format readable by ELSA's
NEXTSTEP driver.
Hint: This sections requires a certain amount of knowledge and
experience of the NEXTSTEP software environment. You will
need superuser rights to be able to execute the steps that
follow.
The DOS based conversion tool VM2TIM.EXE, which is part of this
package, prints out the video mode information in a ASCII text
format that can be directly appended to the Instance0.table in
the directory /usr/Devices/WINNER.config. After changing the
"Display Mode" entry in that file to the required display mode,
that mode will be used after the system has been rebooted.
Proceed as follows:
Create your monitor timings and store them into EEROM using the
ELSA installation software.
Then, still in the DOS environment, enter:
"vm2tim -unix -o dmodes"
A file "dmodes" is created which must be imported into the
NEXTSTEP software environment, e.g. on a disk.
In the NEXTSTEP environment:
Log in as root and change to the directory
/usr/Devices/WINNER.config. Copy the file dmodes to some place
like e.g. /tmp/dmodes and enter
"cat /tmp/dmodes >>Instance0.table"
Then modify the file Instance0.table using an editor of your
choice. Change the line beginning with "Display Mode" to the
display mode you want to use.
Example: You want to use a mode with a resolution of 1216x940
at 75Hz, 256 grayscale. After appending dmodes as
explained, you find an entry in Instance0.table
"1216x940_75Hz_BW:8_ni" = "1216 940 8 (...)";
Using the editor, now enter the line:
"Display Mode" = "Height: 940 Width: 1216
Refresh: 75Hz bitsPerPixel: BW:8"
If you have more than one of those modes and want to manage them
just like the predefined ones, edit the file (boardname).modelist
and insert a new line for each mode you want to add. Here is an
explaining example:
Example: Supposed you have made the changes given in the last
example and now want to enter it into the modelist so
that it appears in the Card Selection Window. Suppose
you use a WINNER 2000 with 4 megabyte VRAM.
Edit the file WINNER2000-4.modelist in the directory
/usr/Devices/WINNER2000-4.modelist.
#
# Width Height ColorSpace Refresh Flag (always 0)
...
1152 864 RGB:555/16 91 0
1280 1024 BW:8 75 0
...
Just inserting the line
1216 940 BW:8 75 0
you get
1152 864 RGB:555/16 91 0
1216 940 BW:8 75 0
1280 1024 BW:8 75 0
and next time Configure is started, the Card Selection
Window shows a new mode "1216x940 BW:8" between
"1152x864 RGB:555/16" and "1280x1024 BW:8" and refresh
rate of 75 Hz can be selected for that mode.
The last number in the line must be a "1" for interlaced
modes.
4.4 444 gun depth
When using 16 bits per pixel, the number of bits used to
represent the red, green and blue color values respectively
("gun depth"), can be chosen differently as indicated by the
"444" or "555" values in the colorspace name that is common in
the NEXTSTEP environment. In an "RGB:555/16" color space, 16
bits are used to represent one pixel. 5 bits are used to repre-
sent the current of the red, green and blue electron gun of the
cathode ray tube, respectively. The remaining bit is unused.
Accordingly, in RGB:444/16 representation 4 bits are to code
each color gun's signal values.
On the WINNER 2000PRO-2,-4 and -H, the driver supports
RGB:555/16 AND RGB:444/16 modes. Using RGB:444/16 colorspace
results in driver speed advantage compared to RGB:555/16 modes.
The reason is that the WindowServer internally uses a 444-gun
depth when working in 16 bit mode. So this native format can
just be put into the framebuffer, while using RGB:555/16 means
data always has to be converted, before it can be sent to
display memory.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Known Problems
5.1 SoftPC
In case SoftPC by Insignia will not work properly, try the
following modifications:
1. This modification is not necessary, if youo are using NETSTEP
version 3.3 and higher.
In file /usr/Devices/Instance0.table change the line
"Memory Maps"="0xMMMMMMMM-0xNNNNNNNN";
to
"Memory Maps"="0xMMMMMMMM-0xNNNNNNNN 0xa0000-0xbffff
0xc0000-0xcffff";
(The Ms and Ns stand for any value you find here).
2. In file .../SoftPC.app/video_types append these line:
"WINNER" = "TextInterleaved";
5.2 Supported Bus systems
The ELSA WINNER 1000/2000 driver for NEXTSTEP supports PCI, VL
and EISA based boards. The usability of ISA based boards can not
be granted. Problems may occur on systems which are equipped with
more than 8 megabyte main memory. The technical background is
discussed now:
The ISA bus knows of 24 address bits spanning an address space of
16 megabytes size and corresponding to addresses
0x000000-0xFFFFFF.
The 80386 and later processors can access a 32 bit wide address #
space, i.e. 4 gigabyte corresponding to addresses
0x00000000-0xFFFFFFFF.
The display memory is mapped into CPU address space using segment
8 megabyte in size. You can specify the start address of that
segment using Configure (see "Configuration"). As far as a system
is equipped with more than 8 megabyte of main memory, this start
address must be moved to beyond the 16 megabyte boundary of the
ISA bus.
For the graphics board to be accessible here, the system must
do accesses to the ISA bus even for addresses which are beyond
that boundary. It is a property of the system which may vary from
one system to another. The systems' behaviour is unspecified here.
If such an access is done, only 24 of the CPU's 32 address bits
are decoded. The state of the remaining 8 bits is oblivious.
As a result, the graphics board seems to appear at multiple
places in the address space, each occurance corresponding to one
of the 256 state of the oblivious bits. On the other hand,
conflicts with memory will not happen since the main memory
serves CPU memory accesses before the ISA bus will initiate an
access.
Example: An ISA bus based system is equipped with 24 megabytes of
main memory and a WINNER 2000-4, so main memory serves
addresses 0x00000000-0x017FFFFF. The WINNER is
configured so that the display memory is mapped to
0x03800000-0x04FFFFFF.
The CPU now accesses 0x03800000. Main memory does not
serve that address, so an ISA bus access is initiated.
Here on the bus, the address reads as 0x800000, since
there are only 24 address bits. The graphics card reacts
to the address and serves it.
Now the CPU accesses 0x00800000. The main memory serves
the address, an ISA bus access is not even initiated.
The ISA bus thus is not involved.
This scheme works alright, as long as the system puts memory
accesses beyond 16 megabyte that are not answered on the local
bus e.g. by main memory on the ISA bus. Since this is a
property of the system that is not prescribed by specification,
it may vary from system to system.
On those ISA systems that do not comply to that scheme, display
memory must fit into the first 16 megabyte. Since its mapped
memory segment is 8 megabyte wide, only 8 megabyte remain for
the systems main memory.
Experience was made so far on a Compaq 66m (an EISA machine) and
a no name VESA Local bus (VL) machine.
In those systems, the ISA boards worked well.
A test in a PCI based system was negative.
Response on that issue is welcome. You may use the ELSA
Bulletin Board System, the phone number is in your WINNER
board's manual.
These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Netfuture.ch.