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diff --git a/afb/Xdaniver.doc b/afb/Xdaniver.doc new file mode 100644 index 000000000..1c8ad5ad4 --- /dev/null +++ b/afb/Xdaniver.doc @@ -0,0 +1,218 @@ + +What is it? +----------- + +Xdaniver is a fast, colour X11R6 server for the Amiga's custom chip set +under NetBSD 1.0 and NetBSD-current, supporting all the Amiga's display +depths from 1 to 4 (upto 16 colours) on ECS machines and 1 to 8 (upto 256 +colours) on AGA machines (though, not all resolutions are available, see +General Information below). + +Xdaniver is designed to be a drop-in replacement for the Xmono server provided +with the X11R6 binary distribution supplied by Bernd Ernesti available from +ftp.uni-regensburg.de or one of its mirrors. + +Unlike previous colour X servers for the Amiga that emulate a chunky pixel +screen in fast RAM, use the standard frame buffer drivers provided with the +X11R6 source code to draw and then use a chunky to planar conversion routine +to write the results to the screen (all very slow), Xdaniver uses a heavily +modified mono frame buffer driver to draw directly using the Amiga's planar +format. The net result is much faster drawing and support for all the Amiga's +custom display depths but, as usual, the fewer planes used, the faster the +drawing operations of the X server. Even so, on my A1200 with a 33Mhz 68030, +I'm getting reasonable performance when using 8 bit planes in Dbl NTSC mode. + +Installation +------------ + +You will need to have first obtained and installed the X11R6 binary +distribution available from ftp.uni-regensburg.de in +/pub/NetBSD-Amiga/contrib/X11 or one of its mirrors. Xdaniver has been +compiled to expect font and configuration files sitting under +/usr/local/X11R6, if your setup is different you will need to provide a +symbolic link from /usr/local/X11R6 to where your tree resides or supply +several command line flags to the server. + +To get Xdaniver running as the default X server, copy the uncompressed binary +into /usr/local/X11R6/bin, remove the current X file from that directory +(which is a symbolic link to Xmono) and replace it with a link to Xdaniver: + + gzip -d < X11R6.Xdaniver.1.01.tar.gz | tar xvf - + mv Xdaniver /usr/local/X11R6/bin + cd /usr/local/X11R6/bin + rm X + ln -s Xdaniver X + +Note that on some setups, the devices /dev/kbd, /dev/mouse and /dev/view?? +have been created to be accessable only by superuser; Xdaniver needs to open +these devices. To workaround this problem, log on as superuser and then +either make Xdaniver setuid root: + + chown root Xdaniver + chmod 4755 Xdaniver + +or give everyone access the devices: + + chmod 666 /dev/kbd /dev/mouse /dev/view?? + +the latter option is a possible cause of a security hole if your machine is +ever used multi-user. + +General Information +------------------- + +The default resolution of the server is 700x430 and the default depth 4. AGA +users might what to increase the display depth by editing the startx script +and providing a -depth <depth> argument to Xdaniver on the xinit line of the +script. As always, the lower the depth, the faster the drawing and window +manipulation of the server. + +The resolution can be altered similarly by suppling -width <width> and +-height <height> arguments to the server. + +The NetBSD kernel selects actual screen modes by picking a mode who's +natural, non-overscanned size best-fits the requested resolution. +Unfortunately, for AGA users, the 1.0 kernel only has support for the +Dbl-NTSC AGA display mode and only this mode has support for depths greater +than 4. The NetBSD-current (work-in-progress) kernel also has support for +Dbl-PAL but still no support for the Super72 or other super-hires modes +(perhaps some kind, kernel-hacker could add support for them ?). + +If you have a 2 button mouse (like me) you might want to try and use the 3 +button mouse emulation. On other systems, it is usual for the left and right +buttons to be provided and emulate the middle button by pressing both +buttons together, however, the middle button is tends to be used more than +the right button so I have provided two options: + +-emulateright (or -3), the two physical mouse buttons act as left and middle +and pressing them both together emulates the right button. + +-emulatemiddle (or -2), the two physical mouse buttons act as left and right +and pressing them both together emulated the middle button. + +When using screen depths of less than 6 (4 is the maximum for ECS machines) +the lack of possible colours on screen at once causes problems for many X +applications. Specifying -cc 2 as a command line argument to Xdaniver +causes the server to switch the default visual type from PsuedoColor to +StaticColor; to put it simply, the server prefills the colormap with a +selection of 16 colours (depth 4) and when an application asks for a +particular colour, its gets allocated one that is closest to one from the +selection of 16. This removes the 'WARNING: Cannot allocate colormap entry +for "XXX"' errors but at the expense of applications not being able to get +the precise colour they wanted. Also, some badly written X applications fail +altogether when presented with a StaticColor visual. + +Bugs/Limitations +---------------- + +The limited choice of display resolutions for AGA/ECS machines is a real +pain - requires a kernel change to fix. Worse still, the kernel specifies +the maximum overscan resolution on the Dbl-NTSC to be 724x482 but selecting +anything more than 702x430 on my machine causes the screen either sheer +diagonally (as if the bytes per row calculation in Xdaniver or the kernel is +wrong) or completely loose sync (suggesting a custom chip register sync +calculation bug). As other, non-aga modes aren't affected when selection +overscan both problems seem to point to a kernel driver bug. Also, depths +greater than 4 for AGA users are only supported by the kernel in the Dbl-NTSC +mode (and Dbl-PAL with the current-NetBSD kernel). + +I know of one bug so-far (there will be more), The PutImage request of an XY +format image expects the bitplane order to be the reverse of that specified +in the X protocol but since virtually all applications use the Z (chunky) +format, you are unlikely to come across this problem. + +The PutImage request of Z format images is a little slow - when I have time +I'll try and add one of the fast assembly chunky-to-planar routines developed +for doom style games/demos. Unfortunately, the current crop all require a +picture size that is a multiple of 32 pixels and so cannot be used out-of-the- +box. + +Some extra performance could easily be squeezed out of the terminal font +drawing code (used by xterm) - when I have time I'll add the code. + +The Amiga's blitter and sprites are totally unused and will remain so +until/if someone else adds support to the kernel. The blitter would help +speed up screen scrolling and window manipulation and sprite support could +be used for the X pointer shape (if small enough) which would speed up all +drawing operations (no need to remove the software based pointer shape +first, draw, then replace the pointer shape). + +I removed the X image extension (XIE) from the X server as it increased the +size of the binary by some 400k. I haven't come across any applications that +need it yet (I haven't been looking!) so if you need the extension for some +reason send me e-mail and I'll build a server with the extension included. + +The 3 button mouse emulation is very simple - to emulate the 3rd button you +have to press both button precisely at the same moment - I've got quite good +at it now. When I have some spare time I'll add a timer so you will have a +few milli-seconds between one button being pressed and the next and it still +being registered as the emulated button. + +AGA users don't forget to provide the -A flag to loadbsd to enable the one +AGA mode in the 1.0 kernel but only if you have a VGA, multisync or dual-scan +monitor, of course ! + +Xdaniver has been tested on: + +A1200, 33Mhz 68030, 8Mb RAM and NetBSD 1.0 by myself. +A4000/40, 12Mb RAM and NetBSD 1.0 by Andreas Holzhammer. +A3000, 12Mb RAM and NetBSD 1.0 by Charlie Root, Stuart Park and others. +A3000, 25Mhz 68040, 18Mb RAM and NetBSD-current by Michael K. Sanders. +A2000, 8Mb RAM and NetBSD (version unknown) by Hubert Feyrer. + +Release and Bug Fix History +--------------------------- + +1.0 - First release + +1.01 Bugs fixed: + - Narrow (<32 pixels) Z format GetImage requests corrupted the stack + and could cause the server to core dump. (Xpaint caused this problem) + - Drawing dots (PolyPoint request) into a clipped window caused a + c pointer to go out of range, causing a core dump (xv showed this + problem). + + New features: + - Simple 3 button mouse emulation using a 2 button mouse; specify + -emulate_middle (or -2) or -emulate_right (or -3) on the server's + command line and press both mouse buttons together emulate the 'missing' + button. + - Basic beep sound support added by sending bell characters to the + console. + - Source code released. + +Disclaimer and Copyright Notices +-------------------------------- + +Multi-depth planar frame buffer code: +Copyright (c) 1995 by Daniver Limited. + +Large portions: +Copyright (c) 1994 by Eduardo Horvath. +Copyright (c) 1987-1995 by the Regents of the University of California. +Copyright (c) 1987 by Sun Microsystems, Inc. Mountain View, CA. +Copyright (c) 1987-1995 by X Consortium. +Copyright (c) 1987, 1989 by Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, Massachusetts. +Copyright (c) 1989 Network Computing Devices, Inc., Mountain View, California. + +Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its +documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided +that the above copyright notice appear in all copies. The Daniver Limited, +the above companies and individuals makes no representations about the +suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without +express or implied warranty. + +Credits +------- + +Thanks to Bernd Ernesti for making the operating system server source code +available for others to use and Eduardo Horvath and Andy Heffernan, who (I +think) did the original Xmono server port. + +Also, many thanks to the first brave users who tested Xdaniver for me on other +Amiga setups and found a few bugs in the process. + +Gary Henderson. + +Daytime: garyh@wet.sbi.com +Home: gary@daniver.demon.co.uk |