1SIS(4) Kernel Interfaces Manual SIS(4)
2
6 sis - SiS and XGI video driver
7
9 Section "Device"
10 Identifier "devname"
11 Driver "sis"
12 ...
13 EndSection
14
16 sis is an Xorg driver for SiS (Silicon Integrated Systems) and XGI
17 video chips. The driver is accelerated and provides support for col‐
18 ordepths of 8, 16 and 24 bpp. XVideo, Render and other extensions are
19 supported as well.
20
22 The sis driver supports PCI, AGP and PCIe video cards based on the fol‐
23 lowing chipsets:
24 SiS5597/5598 SiS530/620 SiS6326/AGP/DVD SiS300/305 SiS540 SiS630/730
26 SiS315/E/H/PRO SiS550/551/552 SiS650/651/661/741 SiS330 (Xabre)
27 SiS760/761 XGI Volari V3/V5/V8 XGI Volari Z7
28 In the following text, the following terms are used:
30 old series for SiS5597/5598, 530/620 and 6326/AGP/DVD
32 300 series for SiS300/305, 540 and 630/730
34 315/330/340 series for SiS315, 55x, 330, 661/741/76x (plus M, FX, MX,
36 GX variants thereof), 340 and all XGI chips.
37
39 Please refer to xorg.conf(5) for general configuration details. This
40 section only covers configuration details specific to this driver.
41 Detailed information on all supported options can be obtained at
43 http://www.winischhofer.at/linuxsisvga.shtml
44 This manpage only covers a subset of the supported options.
46 1. For all supported chipsets
48 The following driver options are supported on all chipsets:
50 Option "NoAccel" "boolean"
52 Disable or enable 2D acceleration. Default: acceleration is
53 enabled.
54 Option "HWCursor" "boolean"
56 Enable or disable the HW cursor. Default: HWCursor is on.
57 Option "SWCursor" "boolean"
59 The opposite of HWCursor. Default: SWCursor is off.
60 Option "Rotate" "string"
62 Rotate the display clockwise ("CW") or counter-clockwise
63 ("CCW"). This mode is unaccelerated. Using this option disables
64 XVideo and the Resize and Rotate extension (RandR). Rotation and
65 reflection (see below) are mutually exclusive. Default: no
66 rotation.
67 Option "Reflect" "string"
69 Reflect (mirror) the display horizontally ("X"), vertically
70 ("Y") or both ("XY"). This mode is unaccelerated. Using this
71 option disables XVideo and the Resize and Rotate extension
72 (RandR). Rotation (see above) and reflection are mutually exclu‐
73 sive. Default: no reflection.
74 Option "CRT1Gamma" "boolean"
76 Enable or disable gamma correction. (On the 300 and 315/330/340
77 series, this option only affects CRT1 output). Default: Gamma
78 correction is enabled.
79 2. Old series specific information
81 The driver will auto-detect the amount of video memory present for all
83 these chips, but in the case of the 6326, it will limit the memory size
84 to 4MB. This is because the 6326's 2D engine can only address 4MB. The
85 remaining memory seems to be intended for 3D texture data, since only
86 the 3D engine can address RAM above 4MB. However, you can override this
87 limitation using the "VideoRAM" option in the Device section if your
88 board has more than 4MB and you need to use it. However, 2D accelera‐
89 tion, XVideo and the HWCursor will be disabled in this case.
90 For the 6326, the driver has two built-in modes for high resolutions
92 which you should use instead of the default ones. These are named
93 "SIS1280x1024-75" and "SIS1600x1200-60" and they will be added to the
94 list of default modes. To use these modes, just place them in your
95 Screen section. Example:
96 Modes "SIS1600x1200-60" "SIS1280x1024x75" "1024x768" ...
98 Of these modes, 1280x1024 is only available at 8, 15 and 16bpp.
100 1600x1200 is available at 8bpp only.
101 TV support for the 6326
103 TV output is supported for the 6326. The driver will auto detect a con‐
105 nected TV and in this case add the following display modes to the list
106 of available display modes: "PAL800x600", "PAL800x600U", "PAL720x540",
107 "PAL640x480", "NTSC640x480", "NTSC640x480U" and "NTSC640x400". Use
108 these modes like the hi-res modes described above.
109 The following driver Options are supported on the old series:
111 Option "TurboQueue" "boolean"
113 Enable or disable TurboQueue mode. Default: off for SIS530/620,
114 on for the others
115 Option "FastVram" "boolean"
117 Enable or disable FastVram mode. Enabling this sets the video
118 RAM timing to one cycle per read operation instead of two
119 cycles. Disabling this will set two cycles for read and write
120 operations. Leaving this option out uses the default, which
121 varies depending on the chipset.
122 Option "NoHostBus" "boolean"
124 (SiS5597/5598 only). Disable CPU-to-VGA host bus support. This
125 speeds up CPU to video RAM transfers. Default: Host bus is
126 enabled.
127 Option "NoXVideo" "boolean"
129 Disable XV (XVideo) extension support. Default: XVideo is on.
130 Option "NoYV12" "boolean"
132 Disable YV12 Xv support. This might me required due to hardware
133 bugs in some chipsets. Disabling YV12 support forces Xv-aware
134 applications to use YUV2 or XShm for video output. Default:
135 YV12 support is on.
136 Option "TVStandard" "string"
138 (6326 only) Valid parameters are PAL or NTSC. The default is
139 set by a jumper on the card.
140 Option "TVXPosOffset" "integer"
142 (6326 only) This option allows tuning the horizontal position of
143 the image for TV output. The range is from -16 to 16. Default: 0
144 Option "TVYPosOffset" "integer"
146 (6326 only) This option allows tuning the vertical position of
147 the image for TV output. The range is from -16 to 16. Default: 0
148 Option "SIS6326TVEnableYFilter" "boolean"
150 (6326 only) This option allows enabling/disabling the Y (chroma)
151 filter for TV output.
152 Option "SIS6326TVAntiFlicker" "string"
154 (6326 only) This option allow enabling/disabling the anti
155 flicker facility for TV output. Possible parameters are OFF,
156 LOW, MED, HIGH or ADAPTIVE. By experience, ADAPTIVE yields the
157 best results, hence it is the default.
158 2. 300 and 315/330/340 series specific information
160 The 300 and 315/330/340 series, except the XGI Z7, feature two CRT con‐
162 trollers and very often come with a video bridge for controlling LCD
163 and TV output. Hereinafter, the term CRT1 refers to the VGA output of
164 the chip, and CRT2 refers to either LCD, TV or secondary VGA. Due to
165 timing reasons, only one CRT2 output can be active at the same time.
166 But this limitation does not apply to using CRT1 and CRT2 at the same
167 time which makes it possible to run the driver in dual head mode.
168 The driver supports the following video bridges:
170 SiS301 SiS301B(-DH) SiS301C SiS301LV SiS302(E)LV
172 Instead of a video bridge, some machines have a third party LVDS trans‐
174 mitter to control LCD panels, and/or a Chrontel 7005 or 7019 for TV
175 output. All these are supported as well.
176 About TV output
178 The driver fully supports standard (PAL, NTSC, PAL-N, PAL-M) S-video or
180 composite output as well as high definition TV (HDTV) output via YPbPr
181 plugs. For more information on HDTV, please consult the author's web‐
182 site.
183 As regards S-video and CVBS output, the SiS301 and the Chrontel 7005
185 only support resolutions up to 800x600. All others support resolutions
186 up to 1024x768. However, due to a hardware bug, Xvideo might be dis‐
187 torted on SiS video bridges if running NTSC or PAL-M at 1024x768.
188 About XVideo support
190 XVideo is supported on all chipsets of both families (except the XGI
192 Volari Z7 which lacks hardware support for video overlays). However,
193 there are some differences in hardware features which cause limita‐
194 tions. The 300 series as well as the SiS55x, M650, 651, 661FX, M661FX,
195 M661MX, 741, 741GX, M741, 76x, M76x support two video overlays. The
196 SiS315/H/PRO, 650/740, 330, 340 and the XGI Volari V3, V5 and V8 chips
197 support only one such overlay. On chips with two overlays, one overlay
198 is used for CRT1, the other for CRT2. On the other chipsets, the option
199 "XvOnCRT2" can be used to select the desired output device (CRT1 or
200 CRT2).
201 About Merged Framebuffer support
203 Merged framebuffer mode is similar to dual head/Xinerama mode (for
205 using two output devices of one card at the same time), but has a few
206 advantages which make me recommend it strongly over Xinerama. Please
207 see http://www.winischhofer.at/linuxsisvga.shtml for detailed informa‐
208 tion.
209 About dual-head support
211 Dual head mode with or without Xinerama is fully supported, be it with
213 one card driving two outputs, be it two cards. Note that colordepth 8
214 is not supported in dual head mode if run on one card with two outputs.
215 The following driver Options are supported on the 300 and 315/330/340
217 series:
218 Option "NoXVideo" "boolean"
220 Disable XV (XVideo) extension support. Default: XVideo is on.
221 Option "XvOnCRT2" "boolean"
223 On chipsets with only one video overlay, this option can used to
224 bind the overlay to CRT1 ( if a monitor is detected and if this
225 option is either unset or set to false ) or CRT2 ( if a CRT2
226 device is detected or forced, and if this option is set to true
227 ). If either only CRT1 or CRT2 is detected, the driver decides
228 automatically. In Merged Framebuffer mode, this option is
229 ignored. Default: overlay is used on CRT1
230 Option "ForceCRT1" "boolean"
232 Force CRT1 to be on of off. If a monitor is connected, it will
233 be detected during server start. However, some old monitors are
234 not detected correctly. In such cases, you may set this option
235 to on in order to make the driver initialize CRT1 anyway. If
236 this option is set to off , the driver will switch off CRT1.
237 Default: auto-detect
238 Option "ForceCRT2Type" "string"
240 Force display type to one of: NONE , TV , SVIDEO , COMPOSITE ,
241 SVIDEO+COMPOSITE , SCART , LCD , VGA ; NONE will disable CRT2.
242 The SVIDEO, COMPOSITE, SVIDEO+COMPOSITE and SCART parameters are
243 for SiS video bridges only and can be used to force the driver
244 to use a specific TV output connector (if present). For further
245 parameters, see the author's website. Default: auto detect.
246 Option "CRT2Gamma" "boolean"
248 Enable or disable gamma correction for CRT2. Only supported for
249 SiS video bridges. Default: Gamma correction for CRT2 is on.
250 Option "TVStandard" "string"
252 Force the TV standard to either PAL or NTSC. On some machines
253 with 630, 730 and the 315/330/340 series, PALM , PALN and NTSCJ
254 are supported as well. Default: BIOS setting.
255 Option "TVXPosOffset" "integer"
257 This option allows tuning the horizontal position of the image
258 for TV output. The range is from -32 to 32. Not supported on the
259 Chrontel 7019. Default: 0
260 Option "TVYPosOffset" "integer"
262 This option allows tuning the vertical position of the image for
263 TV output. The range is from -32 to 32. Not supported on the
264 Chrontel 7019. Default: 0
265 Option "SISTVXScale" "integer"
267 This option selects the horizontal zooming level for TV output.
268 The range is from -16 to 16. Only supported on SiS video
269 bridges. Default: 0
270 Option "SISTVYScale" "integer"
272 This option selects the vertical zooming level for TV output in
273 the following modes: 640x480, 800x600. On the 315/330/340
274 series, also 720x480, 720x576 and 768x576. The range is from -4
275 to 3. Only supported on SiS video bridges. Default: 0
276 Option "CHTVOverscan" "boolean"
278 On machines with a Chrontel TV encoder, this can be used to
279 force the TV mode to overscan or underscan. on means overscan,
280 off means underscan. Default: BIOS setting.
281 Option "CHTVSuperOverscan" "boolean"
283 On machines with a Chrontel 7005 TV encoder, this option enables
284 a super-overscan mode. This is only supported if the TV standard
285 is PAL. Super overscan will produce an image on the TV which is
286 larger than the viewable area.
287 The driver supports many more options. Please see http://www.winis‐
289 chhofer.at/linuxsisvga.shtml for more information.
290 3. 300 series specific information
292 DRI is supported on the 300 series only. On Linux, prior to kernel
294 2.6.3, DRI requires the kernel's SiS framebuffer driver ( sisfb ). The
295 SiS DRM kernel driver as well as the SiS DRI client driver are required
296 in any case.
297 Sisfb, if installed and running, takes care of memory management for
299 texture data. In order to prevent the X Server and sisfb from overwrit‐
300 ing each other's data, sisfb reserves an amount of video memory for the
301 X driver. This amount can either be selected using sisfb's mem parame‐
302 ter, or auto-selected depending on the amount of total video RAM avail‐
303 able.
304 Sisfb can be used for memory management only, or as a complete frame‐
306 buffer driver. If you start sisfb with a valid mode (ie you gain a
307 graphical console), the X driver can communicate with sisfb and doesn't
308 require any manual configuration for finding out about the video memory
309 it is allowed to use.
310 However, if you are running a 2.4 series Linux kernel and use sisfb for
312 video memory management only, ie you started sisfb with mode=none and
313 still have a text mode console, there is no communication between sisfb
314 and the X driver. For this purpose, the
315 Option "MaxXFBMem" "integer"
317 exists. This option must be set to the same value as given to sisfb
319 through its "mem" parameter, ie the amount of memory to use for X in
320 kilobytes.
321 If you started sisfb without the mem argument, sisfb will reserve
323 12288KB if more than 16MB of total video RAM is available,
325 8192KB if between 12 and 16MB of video RAM is available,
327 4096KB in all other cases.
329 If you intend to use DRI on an integrated chipset (540, 630, 730), I
331 recommend setting the total video memory in the BIOS setup utility to
332 64MB.
333 PLEASE NOTE: As of Linux 2.6.3 and under *BSD, sisfb is not required
335 for memory management. Hence, this option is mandatory on such systems
336 not running sisfb to decide how much memory X should reserve for DRI.
337 If the option is omitted, DRI will have no memory assigned, and all DRI
338 applications will quit with errors like "failed to allocate Z-buffer"
339 or the like.
340 Option "DRI" "boolean"
342 This option allows enabling or disabling DRI. By default, DRI is
343 on.
344 Option "AGPSize" "integer"
346 This option allows selecting the amount of AGP memory to be used
347 for DRI. The amount is to be specified in megabyte, the default
348 is 8.
349
351 none.
352
354 Xorg(1), xorg.conf(5), xorgconfig(1), Xserver(1), X(7)
355 http://www.winischhofer.at/linuxsisvga.shtml for more information and
360 updates
361
363 Author: Thomas Winischhofer. Formerly based on code by Alan Hourihane,
364 Mike Chapman, Juanjo Santamarta, Mitani Hiroshi, David Thomas, Sung-
365 Ching Lin, Ademar Reis.
366X Version 11 xf86-video-sis 0.9.3 SIS(4)