Xorg & Matrox on IBM pSeries powerpc64

Ian Romanick idr at us.ibm.com
Mon Feb 19 08:04:23 PST 2007


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Valerio wrote:
> Hi, I'm from Italy.
> I'm trying to get X-window working on a IBM pSeries 650 POWER4+ (powerpc64).
>   
> I'm using Debian Etch ppc64 distro.
>  
> My graphics adapter is a GXT135P (i.e. Matrox G450), with a mga g400 chipset
>  I read about some problems between Xorg and Matrox, though  :S
>  
> As a matter of facts, I always get "(EE) No devices detected" when starting
> X
> Could I try something when starting kernel ? (let's say video=matrox:...
> something)

For the time being, you have to use the fbdev driver in X.org.  You'll
also want to make sure that the kernel is using the matroxfb driver.
Otherwise you'll be stuck with 8-bit color at 640x480. :(

If you're super adventurous, this is 99% working the the pci-rework
branch.  There are two main problems, both of which are fixed in the branch:

1. X.org doesn't know how to deal with PCI domains on pSeries.  Your
card is in a domain 2 slot.

2. X.org is built as a 32-bit binary.  All PCI devices on pSeries
(POWER4 and later) are physically above the 32-bit boundary, and X.org
doesn't know how to deal with that.

These two things ruin any hope of getting stock X.org working with
accelerated drivers on pSeries.  In fact, this is the reason I started
working on the pci-rework branch in the first place. :)

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