11 - C H A P T E R -

C H A P T E R 11

Sun XVR-1000 Graphics Accelerator

The Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator is an UltraSPARC^TM port architecture (UPA) bus high-resolution, high-performance graphics frame buffer that provides 30-bit color and 3D acceleration. The graphics board has full hardware support for 2D and 3D texture mapping, as well as dynamic multisample antialiasing and an S-video port.

This chapter lists the screen resolutions and video formats for the Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator, in addition to man page and other related software information.

Changing the Monitor Screen Resolution

For most installations, the Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator device automatically configures itself to the proper screen resolution and refresh rate for your monitor. If it is not a Sun monitor, however, that is connected to the Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator device, the monitor might have the wrong screen resolution. To change the screen resolution, use the fbconfig utilities.

Man Pages

The Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator man pages describe how you can query and set frame buffer attributes such as screen resolutions and visual configurations.

Use the fbconfig(1M) man page for configuring all Sun graphics accelerators.
SUNWgfb_config(1M) contains Sun XVR-1000 device-specific configuration information. fbconfig is included in the Solaris 8 and Solaris 9 operating environments. SUNWgfb_config is included in the Solaris 9 operating environment. For operating environments prior to the Solaris 9 operating environment, refer to the postscript file SUNWgfb_config.ps on the Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator CD.

Use the help option to display the attributes and parameters information of the
man page.

To access the fbconfig man page, type:

# man fbconfig

To access the SUNWgfb_config man page, type:

# man SUNWgfb_config

Important Note for JumpStart Users

If you are adding the Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator Solaris 8 operating environment packages to a JumpStart^TM server, you must first add the following patches (located on the installation kit CD-ROM in
XVR-1000/Solaris_8/Patches) in the following order:

1. 112334-01

2. 108528-13

3. 109888-16

If you are adding these packages to a Solaris 8 2/02 operating environment JumpStart image, only patch 109888-16 is required. No patches are required for the Solaris 9 operating environment. After you have applied the required patches, install the Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator packages in the following order:

1. SUNWgfb.u

2. SUNWgfbx.u

3. SUNWgfbw

4. SUNWgfbr

5. SUNWgfbcf

Screen Resolutions

Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator supports full 30-bit 3D (double/z-buffered) graphics at all supported resolutions. TABLE 11-1 lists the supported screen resolutions for the Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator. To get a list of available resolutions for your display device, type fbconfig -dev /dev/fbs/gfb0 -res \?
at the command line.


Display resolution	Refresh rate (Hz)	Standard	Aspect format
1920 × 1200	60d	Sun	16:10
1920 × 1200	70, 75	Sun	16:10
1920 × 1080	60d	Sun	16:9
1920 × 1080	72	Sun	16:9
1792 × 1344	60, 75	VESA	4:3
1600 × 1280	76	Sun	5:4
1600 × 1200	60d	Sun	4:3
1600 × 1200	60, 75	VESA	4:3
1600 × 1024	60	Sun	16:10
1600 × 1000	66, 76	Sun	16:10
1440 × 900	76	Sun	16:10
1280 × 1024	96s, 112s	Sun stereo	5:4
1280 × 1024	108s (digital only)	Sun stereo	5:4
1280 × 1024	60, 75, 85	VESA	5:4
1280 × 1024	67, 76	Sun	5:4
1280 × 800	112s	Sun stereo	16:10
1280 × 800	76	Sun	16:10
1280 × 768	56	Sun	5:3
1152 × 900	120s	Sun stereo	5:4
1152 × 900	66, 76	Sun	5:4
1024 × 800	84	Sun	4:3
1024 × 768	77	Sun	4:3
1024 × 768	60, 70, 75	VESA	4:3
960 × 680	108s, 112s	Sun stereo	14:10
800 × 600	75	VESA	4:3
768 × 575	50i	PAL (RGB)	4:3
640 × 480	180fsc	Sun	4:3
640 × 480	60, 72, 75	VESA	4:3
640 × 480	60i	NTSC (RGB)	4:3
640 × 480	60i	NTSC (Comp)	4:3
640 × 480	50i	PAL (Comp)	4:3

Note - Resolutions with refresh rates marked "d" are only suitable for LCDs and other digital devices. These refresh rates have reduced blanking times which are unsuitable for CRTs and other analog devices.

Resolutions with refresh rates marked "fsc" are only used for special "field sequential color" displays.

Note - The Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator supports two streams of video information.

Configuring Multiple Frame Buffers

To run more than one frame buffer, you must modify your
/etc/dt/config/Xservers file. The Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator device is identified as gfbx (for example, gfb0 and gfb1 for two Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator devices). To do this:

1. Become superuser and open the /etc/dt/config/Xservers file.

# cd /etc/dt/config

# vi Xservers

If the /etc/dt/config/Xservers file does not exist, create the /etc/dt/config directory and copy the Xservers file from /usr/dt/config/Xservers to /etc/dt/config.

# mkdir -p /etc/dt/config

# cp /usr/dt/config/Xservers /etc/dt/config

# cd /etc/dt/config

# vi Xservers

2. Modify the file by adding the device locations for the applicable frame buffers being used. See the following examples:

This example shows the Xservers configuration file modified for one
Sun Creator board and one Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator:

:0 Local local_uid@console root /usr/openwin/bin/Xsun -dev /dev/fbs/ffb0 -dev /dev/fbs/gfb0

This example shows how to remove two Creator3D boards and add one
Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator in the Xservers configuration file.

Old Xservers configuration file with two Creator3D boards:

:0 Local local_uid@console root /usr/openwin/bin/X -dev /dev/fb0 defdepth 24 -dev /dev/fb1 defdepth 24

New Xservers configuration file with one Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator:

:0 Local local_uid@console root /usr/openwin/bin/X -dev /dev/fb

Note that the defdepth 24 was removed from the Xservers file so that the
X server does not take performance away from applications.

3. Install the Sun XVR-1000 graphics accelerator hardware (see the "Sun XVR-1000 Graphics Accelerator Installation and User's Guide").

4. Boot your system at the ok prompt:

Halt (Stop-A) your system for the ok prompt.

ok boot -r