On Thu, Nov 01, 2001 at 05:59:07PM -0500, Rafael E. Herrera wrote:
I have encountered this problem before and here is how I understand its:
1. It affects Matrox cards such as G400 and G450
2. Occurs when you configure lilo to boot the kernel with a framebuffer (graphical) console.
A framebuffer driver gets loaded on a stock SuSE compiled kernel if you configure the "vga" parameter in lilo.conf to other values than "normal" (not exactly true but close enough for this description).
3. Switching from X to the text console produces a blank screen.
I have a G450 card, and to solve this problem, I have this entry in my lilo.conf:
vga=normal
I made sure that there is no "append="vga=771"" or similar.
I have used supported 2.4.7 and most of Hubert Mantel's kernel binaries up to 2.4.13 and have had no problem.
All of the above applies only if you are using the binary images from the SuSE RPMs. If you built the kernel with your own options, then that may be a problem.
Shouldn't be. I do this all the time.
Also, can you to post your lilo.conf to verify your configuration?
Rafael
P.S. I even have a trick in which I can still use a framebuffer. If the resolution of the X server and the framebuffer coincide, then I don't have problems switching. For example I use 1280x1024 on X, so I set
vga=794 # 1280x1024x16 framebuffer
and I have a ~60x132 character console.
Yes, I have accidentally stumbled across this trick as well. (I have G450 AGP card. What follows below should apply to other matrox cards as well). However, there is another way of getting framebuffer support which I finally cracked yesterday - I say cracked, I actually read the documentation under the Documentation directory (in /usr/src/linux...) concerning Matrox frame buffer support. And it works if you follow the instructions there exactly. The most significant point is that you must *not* have Vesa modes compiled in as an option, and you must have the Matrox options selected in the kernel, even the ones marked "Highly Experimental". Also you must deselect the "Splash screen" option (this is not documented, but it makes sense since this is a Vesa thingies). With this you cannot use the "vga=" options but you can none the less set a FB resolution (again, read the instructions) *and* you can change it at will when running the system, *and* you can have different settings on different virtual consoles. There is one small "gotcha" which I have not solved yet, and that is DRI is disabled when you start X11 up. This only really affects 3 D performance as far as I can see .. but it may also be something else in my setup (I seem not to have all the 3D modules..but that is something I am looking at, you may not have this problem). This does not worry me greatly personally, since my main interest in FB is to give my eyesight a favour, and I use 3d very little :) One small tip, when you change the resolution with the "fbset" program you may also need to do a "rcgpm restart" before the mouse cursor is aware of the new screen territory you have. This is undocumented, well it is now. On this topic I note that SuSE *still* disable GPM in run-level 5, GPM/X11 were a problem long ago when both running, but I have GPM running with X together without any problem. Good luck. -- Regards Cliff