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This older notebook PC has limited resources but works quite well with
a basic installation and on a network with a more powerfull server.
At the time the XWindows driver for the NeoMagic chip was not part of
the XFree86 distribution (it has been since version 3.3.3). This Dell
Latitude XPi P133ST has a NeoMagic NM2070 chipset. The machine has
24MB of memory and a 1.2 GB hard disk, using a PCMCIA modem card with
PPP.
The 1.2GB hard disk was partitioned into two equal partitions, the
first for Windows95, the second for Linux. Windows95 offers less
functionality, is slower, has more bugs, and consumes considerably
more disk space than the Linux installation which includes X, TeX, and
much more!
Originally installed Debian GNU/Linux 1.1 with individual package
updates as needed.
Checking NeoMagic's web pages at the time found that ``NeoMagic does
not support Unix drivers, and cannot provide device/programming
information to end-users,'' protecting their intellectual property
rights. So for the NeoMagic chipset there was no SVGA driver
(800x600x8bpp 256 colors) in XFree86 prior to version 3.3.3--only the
simple VGA16 driver (800x600x4bpp 16 colours) could be used. There
was a RedHat rpm with a driver for this chip with XFree86 versions
prior to 3.3.3 available and a commercial (approximately US$250) X11
server from Xi Graphics with a NeoMagic driver for Linux, with many
positive reports.
Running an older version of XFree86 and of the kernel, you will find
that the VGA16 server from XFree86 version 3.1 works with the NM2070,
giving just 16 colours. A ``trick'' is required to get the server to
use the whole screen (800x600) rather than the 640x480 default or the
split screen effect. This requires putting the monitor into 800x600
mode on bootup. A consequence of this is that the normal console is
turned off, and you will need to go directly into XWindows, via xdm.
This is not usually a problem.
Note that using the Neomagic 2070 xserver provided with XFree86
version 4 works fine with both 8bit and 16bit on 640x480 and 800x600
but causes a corrupted screen (vanishing window content etc.) in all
x-applications if used with default settings. To fix the problem
append both Xaa-options in the screen-section of the x86config:
Option "XaaNoPixmapCache"
Option "XaaNoScreenToScreenCopy"
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No further hacks or tricks were required on the from SuSE-Linux
distribution 7.2 on a Dell Latitude xps p133st Bios rev. 11.
The simplest way to turn on the 800x600 mode is to use LILO and to
change ``vga=normal'' to ``vga=770'' in /etc/lilo.conf (or to
add it there if not present as in Red Hat Linux). You can also create
alternative lilo startups so that you can choose to go with xdm or not
with an "append=4" or "append=5" (an init 4 or 5 will start xdm
depending on your setup--Red Hat uses init 5 for xdm).
A kernel patch could also be used to switch to 800x600 mode (notice
that 770 is the decimal equivalent of 0x0302). The modification is to
the file /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/video.S in the Linux
kernel.
From:
mode_set:
mov bx,ax
cmp ah,#0xff
jz setalias
To:
mode_set:
mov ax,#0x0302 <- Insert this line
mov bx,ax
cmp ah,#0xff
jz setalias
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The Compaq Presario 1020 notebook (which also uses a NeoMagic NM2070
chip) requires no LILO switches nor kernel patches. Similarly the NEC
Versa 4200 also uses the NeoMagic and no hacks are required to get it
to run in 800x600x4bpp mode.
Subsections
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