iBook x config

[Stephen Harker]

Hi Nicole,

On Mon, Aug 02, 2004 at 01:34:35AM -0400, nicole wrote:
> If he finds something that works, please post about it.  I had the 
> 2.6.6 kernel and have the "torn" affect you describe... compiling CVS 
> helped enough that my display is mostly useable. I have tried the 
> chipset id variable with no success.  Currently my display is useable 
> for about 5 - 10 minutes before headaches ensue from the "scrolling 
> line" effect.  I am trying to get this to work though at this point I 
> am ready to try another distribution.  I got my iBook in 11/03 so I 
> suspect I do not have the older Radeon chipset this works on.

As an interim report, yesterday we downloaded the source for the
kernel 2.6.7, made and installed it on Stewart's machine.  Doing a
`strings /boot/vmlinux-2.6.7 | grep -i radeon' showed, amongst others,
a string something like `5c63 Radeon Mobility M9+' (it is not quite
8:00 am as I write this and Stewart won't be in till later).  After
booting into this kernel `cat /proc/pci' showed the video card
correctly identified, though `lspci' still showed it as unidentified.

This still left the X11 problem.  The latest version of XFree form YDL
3.0/3.0.1 (4.3.0-2.1e) does not list the Mobillity M9+ only the
Mobility M9 and clearly the `torn' effect shows that there is
sufficient difference between them for the driver not to work.  There
seem to be three possible solutions to this by upgrading the X11
server: 

1)      Upgrade to the XFree 4.3.0-55 available as a src.rpm from
        Fedora upgrades.  According to Google searches RedHat lists
        this as having support for the 5c63 M9+ Radeon, which sounds
        good. 

2)      Upgrade to the latest XFree release (version 4.4 something or
        other) from the XFree website or mirrors.

3)      Upgrade to the latest Xorg X11 server.

I think Stewart intended to try the XFree86 4.4 server.  I will let
you, and the list, know what the result was once I hear from him.  I
don't know if he had time to try it last night, but he was downloading
source when I left last evening.

-- 
Stephen Harker                           Stephen.Harker@spme.monash.edu.au
School of Physics & Materials Engineering
Monash University                       http://www.ph.adfa.edu.au/s-harker/
                                 Baloney Baffles brains: Eric Frank Russell