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Frame Buffers
http://forums.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4898		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  mjl [ Sun Jun 12, 2005 11:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Frame Buffers
First post and so would like to take a moment to thank all the people involved in making KnoppMyth possible.. It is a really great effort for a home entertainment tool. It would probably be a safe guess to say there are hundreds who deserve a thank you.

That said, the question I have is how do you control the assignment of the frame buffers? I have found that if I can have fb0 be assigned to the PVR-350 card then I can have full display on the tv out. For some unknown reason fb1 will become assigned which will only allow me to output tv and no menus.

I have been "lurking" for a while trying to figure out the tricks for the "out of the box" experience and have come quite close. The fb0 is a wrinkle for me.

Hardware wise, I have tested on several machines, Dell GX1, GX260-270, IBM ~700mhz, and other odds and ends. A slow machine tended to cause rf noise in the recordings:( but it works:) The best success is an e-Machine,.. Mine is a Celeron +1600 (1300mhz) 384meg Walmart on sale a while ago. However, it only takes ~ 20 minutes to have a running machine from first boot of the cd..

Any hints or quidence? The discovery of the frame buffer was my test drive (16gig) set up and have it full tv functional using fb0. Repeated .the process on a second drive, and the fb1 issue appeared. This is with either install or an upgrade..

I'm not a noob however it does take this "old dog" a little longer to learn new tricks:) I suspect Cecil is the mature gent on the monitor...
Thanks

Hardware:
e-Machine Celeron +1600
384 ram
CD & DVD
Floppy
PVR-350
main drive 120 gig, testing 8,16 &80 gig
on board nework
on board sound
VIA chip set has been no issue
Author:  Xsecrets [ Sun Jun 12, 2005 11:58 pm ]
Post subject: 
did you try the pvr350 script? I don't know what it's called and I don't use a 350, but I saw it on this forum, so you can find it with a search. It's supposed to setup all that stuff for you.
Author:  cecil [ Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Frame Buffers
mjl wrote:
I suspect Cecil is the mature gent on the monitor...
LOL...
Author:  Dale [ Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Frame Buffers
mjl wrote:
Quote:
I suspect Cecil is the mature gent on the monitor...


No! That "old fart" is me. rdt alias dale
Author:  mjl [ Wed Jun 15, 2005 8:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Found answer to fb0
Hi,
I get to answer my own question... anyway, some where on the web, I found a pointer that explained that if lilo isn't set to normal, it grabs fb0 for the console. I set vga=normal in /etc/lilo.conf and ran lilo -v. Reboot and sure enough the fb0 is available for the 350 card to use.

Also as a side benifit, it allows the screen to run x accross the network for a remote display. Great way, (a little slow) to remotely help a friend that is accross town /country. You do have to enable in /etc/ssh/sshd_config by setting' X11Forwarding yes ' for this to work.

Hope this is benifical to others.

I didn't notice any "old fart", saw a little 'snow on the roof' but that doesn't mean the furnace don't work :) In my case, 9 kids caused some snow on my roof too.

Got to say it again, just an awsome package! I for one, really appreciate you guys sharing your talents.

Using R5A16, also noticed the audio now mixes, ie, while enjoying the music collection, 'saytime' will anounce the time for me properly. In the R4V5 it would stack up in a que until I stopped the music. For those who may not know, saytime is a voice announce of the time. I have mine set in the crontab to help keep things flowing to get the kids off to school. It is an old program however it can be found on the web some where. Experiment, try apt-get also.

Next step is to get the phone to fuction. With R5A15.1 the phone would talk to my Asterisk box and talk back to me. R5A16 isn't as co-oppertive altho it does register. I'll have to re-read that part of the manual again:)

Thanks and have a good day.
Author:  mjl [ Wed Jun 15, 2005 8:52 pm ]
Post subject:  pvr350 script
Xsecrets,
you mentioned a script, I am going to assume the perl script from I believe SnapperDragon? I did try that and was not successful, however in all fairness, it may have been related to the framebuffer assignment. Took me awhile to pick up on the fb0 issue.

I appreciate the suggestion and will take another look at it.

Thanks for the help!
Author:  flatchmo [ Wed Jul 13, 2005 1:06 am ]
Post subject: 
After months of trying you have finally given me the answer to my problem.

I HAVE TV-OUT!

thanks
Author:  cesman [ Wed Jul 13, 2005 7:21 pm ]
Post subject: 
Perhaps you can write up what you did so others may benefit...
Author:  mjl [ Wed Jul 13, 2005 11:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Quick summary
Hi,
Basicly, when I upgraded to R5A16, I was unable to get tv out of the pvr350 nor do a remote x, may be the wrong terminology, however I could not ssh in and run any x app. xedit, mozilla, mozilla-thunderbird, mythtv-setup or the mythfrontend to mention a few.


"I set vga=normal in /etc/lilo.conf and ran lilo -v. Reboot and sure enough the fb0 is available for the 350 card to use."
After I found the lilo fix as noted earlier, then I was able to set up /etc/XF86Config-4 to startx. (I do all from a remote shell, faster results)

Please note, I said 'available' you still have to go through and set your config file. Also, I have discovered (don't know why yet) not all setups render me the same results for the remote x, using the same computer, two upgrades, one is all the x features, the other I have no remote x:(

On a different machine miles away, new install to a Dell, the lilo fix gave me remote x, while trying to get tv out I lost the remote x, tv part is fine, the remote x is my issue currently.

Hopefully this helps clear things a little. Big thing is when you are trouble shooting your XF86Config-4 settings, read the results, it tells your where the problems is, not how to fix it. If you can ssh or putty into your myth box, you can work on it with out seeing the screen.

all as root
do # ps ax (look for a crash, you will know it's bad news)
I do # killall gdm
nano your /etc/XF86Config-4 and make your changes
do # startx
it will start spitting out information, if it complains about fonts and then seems to hang, xserver is running:)
if it dumps back to a prompt, the read the errors carefully and fix each one in step untill it looks like it is hung. Linux rarely crashes, have some faith! just do a control c to stop the xserver:) If you got to this point, do # gdm and your desktop should appear. I run the following script for clues. do a copy & paste to make your own:)

nano info
#<code>

#!/bin/bash
#
#This is borrowed, I forget where but some where on the forum. The author needs the credits

tac /var/log/messages |
sed -n '/=\ \ END INIT IVTV\ \ =/,/= START INIT IVTV =/p;
/= START INIT IVTV =/q' |
tac

echo "dmesg iTVC15 TV out"
dmesg | grep "iTVC15 TV out"

echo "xserver drivers loaded"
less /var/log/XFree86.0.log |grep drv.o
sleep 10
dmesg|grep ivtv |less
echo "x running"
#<end code>
ctrl x to save it

Hope it helps
Mike
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