Subversion Repositories planix.SVN

Rev

Rev 2 | Details | Compare with Previous | Last modification | View Log | RSS feed

Rev Author Line No. Line
2 - 1 
.TH VGA 8
2 
.SH NAME
3 
vga \- configure a VGA card
4 
.SH SYNOPSIS
5 
.B aux/vga
6 
[
7 
.B -BcdilpvV
8 
]
9 
[
10 
.B -b
11 
.I bios-string
12 
]
13 
[
14 
.B -m
15 
.I monitor
16 
]
17 
[
18 
.B -x
19 
.I file
20 
]
21 
[
22 
.I mode
23 
[
24 
.I size
25 
]
26 
]
27 
.SH DESCRIPTION
28 
.I Vga
29 
configures a VGA controller for various display sizes and depths.
30 
Using the monitor type specified in
31 
.B /env/monitor
32 
(default
33 
.BR vga )
34 
and the
35 
.I mode
36 
given as argument
37 
(default
38 
.BR 640x480x1 ),
39 
.I vga
40 
uses the database of known VGA controllers and monitors in
41 
.B /lib/vgadb
42 
(see
43 
.IR vgadb (6))
44 
to configure
45 
the display via the devices provided by
46 
.IR vga (3).
47 
The options are:
48 
.TP
49 
.BI -b " bios-string"
50 
use the VGA database entry corresponding to
51 
.I bios-string
52 
(e.g.
53 
\fL0xC0045="Stealth 64 DRAM Vers. 2.02"\fR)
54 
rather than looking for identifying strings in the BIOS
55 
memory.
56 
.TP
57 
.B -B
58 
dump the BIOS memory (in hex) to standard output and exit.
59 
.TP
60 
.B -c
61 
disable the use of the hardware graphics cursor.
62 
.TP
63 
.B -d
64 
include the color palette in whatever actions are performed,
65 
usually printing the contents.
66 
.TP
67 
.B -i
68 
when used with
69 
.B -p
70 
display the register values that will be loaded.
71 
.TP
72 
.B -l
73 
load the desired mode.
74 
.TP
75 
.BI -m " monitor"
76 
override the
77 
.B /env/monitor
78 
value.
79 
.B /env/monitor
80 
is usually set by including it in the
81 
.B plan9.ini
82 
file read by the PC boot program
83 
.IR 9boot (8).
84 
.TP
85 
.B -p
86 
print the current or expected register values at appropriate points depending on
87 
other options.
88 
.TP
89 
.B -v
90 
print a trace of the functions called.
91 
.TP
92 
.B -V
93 
print a verbose trace of the functions called.
94 
.TP
95 
.BI -x " file"
96 
use
97 
.I file
98 
as the VGA database rather than
99 
.BR /lib/vgadb .
100 
.PP
101 
.I Mode
102 
is of the form
103 
.IB X x Y x Z
104 
, where
105 
.IR X ,
106 
.IR Y ,
107 
and
108 
.I Z
109 
are numbers specifying the display height, width, and depth respectively.
110 
The mode must appear in
111 
.B /lib/vgadb
112 
as a value for one of the monitor entries.
113 
The usual modes are
114 
.BR 640x480x[18] ,
115 
.BR 800x600x[18] ,
116 
.BR 1024x768x[18][i] ,
117 
.BR 1280x1024x[18][i] ,
118 
.BR 1376x1024x8 ,
119 
and
120 
.BR 1600x1200x8 .
121 
A trailing
122 
.L i
123 
indicates interlaced operation.
124 
The default mode is
125 
.BR 640x480x8 .
126 
.I Size
127 
is of the form
128 
.I X x Y
129 
and configures the display to have a virtual
130 
screen of the given size.
131 
The physical screen will pan to follow the mouse.
132 
This is useful on displays with small screens,
133 
such as laptops, but can be confusing.
134 
.PP
135 
Using the monitor name
136 
.B vesa
137 
instructs
138 
.I vga
139 
to use VESA BIOS calls to configure the display.
140 
Also, if our VGA controller can't be found in
141 
.IR vgadb ,
142 
.I vga
143 
will try the VESA calls.
144 
There are no entries for the
145 
.B vesa
146 
monitor in
147 
.IR vgadb .
148 
For a list of available VESA modes, use
149 
.IP
150 
.EX
151 
aux/vga -m vesa -p
152 
.EE
153 
.PP
154 
Loading the special mode
155 
.BR text :
156 
.IP
157 
.EX
158 
aux/vga -l text
159 
.EE
160 
.PP
161 
switches out of graphics mode back into text mode.
162 
It uses the VESA BIOS.
163 
.SH EXAMPLES
164 
Change the display resolution:
165 
.IP
166 
.EX
167 
aux/vga -l 1600x1200x8
168 
.EE
169 
.PP
170 
Print the current VGA controller registers.
171 
It is usually best to redirect the output of a
172 
.B -p
173 
command to a file to prevent confusion caused by using the VGA
174 
controller while trying to dump its state:
175 
.IP
176 
.EX
177 
aux/vga -p >/tmp/x
178 
.EE
179 
.PP
180 
Force the VGA controller to a known state:
181 
.IP
182 
.EX
183 
aux/vga -m vga -l
184 
.EE
185 
.PP
186 
Print the current VGA controller state and what would be loaded
187 
into it for a new resolution, but don't do the load:
188 
.IP
189 
.EX
190 
aux/vga -ip 1376x1024x8 >/tmp/x
191 
.EE
192 
.PP
193 
.SH FILES
194 
.TF /env/monitor
195 
.TP
196 
.B /env/monitor
197 
display type (default
198 
.IR vga ).
199 
.TP
200 
.B /lib/vgadb
201 
VGA configuration file.
202 
.SH SOURCE
203 
.B /sys/src/cmd/aux/vga
204 
.SH SEE ALSO
205 
.IR vga (3),
206 
.IR vgadb (6),
207 
.IR 9boot (8)
208 
.SH BUGS
209 
.B Aux/vga
210 
makes every effort possible to verify that the mode it is about
211 
to load is valid and will bail out with an error message
212 
before setting any registers if it encounters a problem.
213 
However, things can go wrong, especially when playing with a
214 
new VGA controller or monitor setting.
215 
It is useful in such cases to have
216 
the above command for setting the controller to a known state
217 
at your fingertips.