-----------------------------------------
original question:
> I have several SPARC's connected to a monitor switch, using a Sun
> entry-level color monitor. All have cgsix frame buffer video cards. All run
> OpenWindows, though some are Solaris 2.5.1, and others are Solaris 1.1.2.
> I would like to display 1152x900 resolution on all of them, but it looks
> like I'm only getting 1024x768 in OpenWin.
>
> I searched newsgroup archives and this list for related info and tried
> making the following change to the boot prom:
> setenv output-device screen:1152x900x94
>
> This appears to truly set the resolution to 1152x900 while I'm looking at
> the console screen, because the type looks a little smaller and 'more'ing a
> file pauses the display about 3/4 of the way down the screen. But when I
> start OpenWin, I only see 1024x768.
>
> How do I get OpenWindows to go to 1152x900?
>
> In the /usr/adm/messages file, the boot messages for the cgsix look like:
> cgsix0: screen 1024-768, single buffered, 1M mappable, rev 11
>
> Does that mean that the cgsix doesn't have the VRAM to display 1152x900 in
> color, so it forces me down to 1024x768?
---------------------------------------
Thanks to the following people for the quick answers:
frode@venus (Frode Stromsvag)
Wis Macomson <wis@sequent.com>
"Matthew Stier" <mstier@hotmail.com>
"David H. Brierley" <dhb@ssd.ray.com>
and any of the others that I haven't received yet!
The consensus was that I was close to having it, but my command had two
errors. There needs to be an "r" before the resolution, and my refresh rate
was wrong. The cgsix card is capable of that resolution, 1MB VRAM is enough
(guess it must be 8-bit color).
I had used the command directly lifted from a summary from this list that
is about a year old. That summary had left the r out in one place, of
course that's the one that I coppied. This summary also indicated that the
refresh rate of 94, while absurd, worked and that 66 didn't. That was false.
Here's what I have now:
setenv output-device screen:r1152x900x66
This works perfectly!
I did however make a stupid mistake. The reply from Wis Macomson provided a
chart of resolutions/refresh rates supported by different video cards. It
indicated that I could run at 1152x900x76. I found out the hard way that
the Entry-Level Color monitor doesn't support that refresh rate. Bye bye
video. I had to reset the boot prom back to factory defaults and start
over. Wasn't easy without a monitor, and I didn't have a dumb terminal
handy.
For your convenience, here's the chart (thanks Wis):
Resolution ZX GT GS GX GX+ TGX TGX+ CG14 A24
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1600x1280@66 | | | | | | | yes | yes | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1280x1024@76 | yes | yes | | | | | yes | | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1280x1024@67 | yes | yes | | | yes | | yes | | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1280x1024@66 | | | | | | | | yes | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1152x900@76 | yes | | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1152x900@66 | yes | | | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1024x800@84 | | | | | | | | yes | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1024x768@77 | | | | | | yes | yes | | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1024x768@76 | yes | | | | | | | | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1024x768@70 | | | | | | | | yes | yes |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1024x768@66 | | | | | | | | yes | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1024x768@60 | yes | | | | | yes | yes | yes | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Stereo
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
960x680@108 | yes | | | | | | | | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
960x680@112 | yes | | | | | | | | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
960x680@120 | | yes | | | | | | | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
PAL
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
770x575@50 | yes | | | | | | | | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
NTSC
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
640x480@59.94 | yes | yes | | | | | | | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
A Note about the 13W3 connector and Sun Framebuffers
----------------------------------------------------
Besides the red, green, blue and sync connections, the Sun monitor
connector (called 13W3) has several sense pins which allow the
monitor to tell the framebuffer what resolutions and frequencies
it can handle. The sense pins are pins 3 (S2), 8 (S1) and 9 (S0).
These are used in combination with pin 4 (GND) to communicate the
resolutions to the framebuffer. The table below is a list of how
the pins are interpreted. Many of the framebuffers will not allow
user to put them in a mode that the monitor says it does not
support. If trying to put the framebuffer in a particular
resolution but it won't go, check to see if the monitor supports
the resolution.
Scan Rate Code S2 S1 S0
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1152x900 66hz | 7 | | | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1152x900 76hz | 6 | | | GND |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1024x768 60hz | 5 | | GND | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1152x900 76hz | 4 | | GND | GND |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1152x900 66hz | 3 | GND | | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1280x1024 76hz | 2 | GND | | GND |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1600x1280 76hz | 1 | GND | GND | |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
1024x768 77hz | 0 | GND | GND | GND |
---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Thanks again for all of your help!
Karl