10 - C H A P T E R -

C H A P T E R 10

Sun XVR-500 Graphics Accelerator

The Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator is a high-resolution, high-performance graphics frame buffer that provides hardware texture mapping.

This chapter lists the screen resolutions and video formats for the Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator, in addition to other related software information.

Changing the Monitor Screen Resolution

For most installations, the Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator automatically configures itself to the proper screen resolution and refresh rate for your monitor. If a Sun monitor, however, is not connected to the Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator, the monitor may have the wrong screen resolution. To change the screen resolution, use the fbconfig utility.

Man Pages

The Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator man pages describe how you can query and set frame buffer attributes such as screen resolutions and visual configurations. The man pages are included in the Solaris SUNWman packages bundled with the Solaris operating environment.

Use the fbconfig(1M) man page for configuring Sun graphics accelerators.
SUNWifb_config contains Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator device-specific configuration information. fbconfig and SUNWifb_config is included in the Solaris 8 and Solaris 9 operating environments.

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 SUNWifb_config man page, type:

# man SUNWifb_config

Important Note for JumpStart Users

If you are adding the Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator Solaris 8 operating environment software to a JumpStart^TMserver, add the following patches (located on the installation kit CD-ROM in XVR-500/Solaris_8/Patches) in the following order:

111310-01
112334-02
111293-01
108528-13
110460-07
109888-16
108576-30

If you are adding these patches to a Solaris 8 2/02 operating environment JumpStart image, only patches 109888-16 and 108576-30 are required. No patches are required for the Solaris 9 operating environment.

Screen Resolutions

TABLE 10-1 lists the monitor screen resolutions and video formats supported by the Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator:


Display Resolution	Vertical Refresh Rate	Sync Standard	Aspect Ratio Format
1920 x 1080	72 Hz	Sun	16:9
1600 x 1280	76 Hz	Sun	5:4
1600 x 1200	75 Hz	VESA	4:3
1600 x 1000	66, 76 Hz	Sun	16:10
1440 x 900	76 Hz	Sun	16:10
1280 x 800	112Hz	Sun-stereo	16:10
1280 x 800	76 Hz	Sun	16:10
1280 x 1024	60, 75, 85 Hz	VESA	5:4
1280 x 1024	67, 76 Hz	Sun	5:4
1152 x 900	112, 120 Hz	Sun-stereo	5:4
1152 x 900	66, 76 Hz	Sun	5:4
1024 x 800	84 Hz	Sun	5:4
1024 x 768	75 Hz	VESA	4:3
1024 x 768	60, 70, 77 Hz	Sun	4:3
960 x 680	108, 112 Hz	Sun-stereo	Sun-Stereo
768 x 575	50i Hz	PAL	PAL
640 x 480	60 Hz	VESA	4:3
640 x 480	60i Hz	NTSC	NTSC

Note - The 640 x 480 resolutions support Sun OpenGL for Solaris multisampling capable of two samples per pixel. You can find configuration details with
fbconfig -help, /usr/lib/fbconfig/SUNWifb_config -help, or in the SUNWifb_config man page.

Configuring Multiple Frame Buffers

To run more than one frame buffer, you must modify your /etc/dt/config/Xservers file. The Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator device is identified as ifbx (for example, ifb0 and ifb1 for two Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator devices). To modify the file:

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.

The following example shows the Xservers configuration file modified for one
Sun Creator board and two Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerators:

:0 Local local_uid@console root /usr/openwin/bin/Xsun -dev /dev/fbs/ffb0 -dev /dev/fbs/ifb1 -dev /dev/fbs/ifb0

Setting the Default Console Display for the Sun Blade 1000 and 2000 Systems

These instructions describe how to set the Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator as the default monitor console display for Sun Blade 1000 and Sun Blade 2000 systems only.

1. At the ok prompt, type:

ok show-displays

Information similar to the text below will be displayed:

a) /pci@1f,0/SUNW,m64B@13

b) /pci@1f,0/pci@5/SUNW,XVR-500@1

q) NO SELECTION

Enter Selection, q to quit: b

/pci@1f,0/pci@5/SUNW,XVR-500@1 has been selected.

Type ^Y ( Control-Y ) to insert it in the command line.

e.g. ok nvalias mydev ^Y

    for creating devalias mydev for

/pci@1f,0/pci@5/SUNW,XVR-500@1

ok nvalias mydev /pci@1f,0/pci@5/SUNW,XVR-500@1

ok setenv output-device mydev

output-device = mydev

2. Select the graphics board you want to be the default console display.

In the above example, you type b for the Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator.

3. Create an alias name for the Sun XVR-500 device:

This step is optional for all other systems. Creating the alias, however, will simplify future OpenBoot^TM PROM commands.

a. Select the Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator device from the show-displays menu.

b. Name the Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator device.

i. Use nvalias to name the device.

This example shows mydev as the device.

ok nvalias mydev

ii. Press Control-Y on your keyboard and then Enter.

c. Verify the alias.

ok devalias

The selected alias is then displayed.

You can now refer to mydev for the Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator device. For example,

ok setenv output-device mydev

4. Reset the output-device environment:

ok reset-all

5. Connect your monitor cable to the Sun XVR-500 graphics accelerator on your system back panel.