ffbconfig(1M)
NAME
ffbconfig, SUNWffb_config - configure the FFB Graphics
Accelerator
SYNOPSIS
/usr/sbin/ffbconfig [-dev device-filename] [ -res video-mode
[now | try]
[noconfirm | nocheck] ] [-file | machine | system] [-
deflinear | true | false] [-defoverlay | true | false] [-
linearorder | first | last] [-overlayorder | first | last]
[-expvis | enable | disable] [-sov | enable | disable] [-
maxwids n] [-extovl | enable | disable] [-g gamma-
correction-value] [-gfile gamma-correction-file] [-propt]
[-prconf] [-defaults]
/usr/sbin/ffbconfig [-propt ] [-prconf]
/usr/sbin/ffbconfig [-help] [ -res ?]
DESCRIPTION
ffbconfig configures the FFB Graphics Accelerator and some
of the X11 window system defaults for FFB.
The first form of ffbconfig stores the specified options in
the OWconfig file. These options will be used to initialize
the FFB device the next time the window system is run on
that device. Updating options in the OWconfig file provides
persistence of these options across window system sessions
and system reboots.
The second and third forms of ffbconfig, which invoke only
the -prconf, -propt, -help, and -res ? options do not update
the OWconfig file. Additionally, for the third form all
other options are ignored.
Options may be specified for only one FFB device at a time.
Specifying options for multiple FFB devices requires multi-
ple invocations of ffbconfig.
Only FFB-specific options can be specified through ffbcon-
fig. The normal window system options for specifying default
depth, default visual class and so forth are still specified
as device modifiers on the openwin command line. See the
OpenWindows Desktop Reference Manual for details.
The user can also specify the OWconfig file that is to be
updated. By default, the machine-specific file in the
/etc/openwin directory tree is updated. The -file option
can be used to specify an alternate file to use. For exam-
ple, the system-global OWconfig file in the /usr/openwin
directory tree can be updated instead.
Both of these standard OWconfig files can only be written by
root. Consequently, the ffbconfig program, which is owned by
the root user, always runs with setuid root permission.
OPTIONS
-dev device-filename
Specifies the FFB special file. The default is
/dev/fbs/ffb0.
-file machine |system
Specifies which OWconfig file to update. If machine,
the machine-specific OWconfig file in the
/etc/openwin directory tree is used. If system, the
global OWconfig file in the /usr/openwin directory
tree is used. If the file does not exist, it is
created.
-res video-mode [now | try [noconfirm | nocheck]]
Specifies the video mode used to drive the monitor
connected to the specified FFB device.
video-mode has the format of widthxheightxrate where
width is the screen width in pixels, height is the
screen height in pixels, and rate is the vertical fre-
quency of the screen refresh.
The s suffix, as in 960x680x112s and 960x680x108s,
indicates stereo video modes. The i suffix, as in
640x480x60i and 768x575x50i, indicates interlaced
video timing. If absent, non-interlaced timing will be
used.
-res (the third form in the SYNOPSIS) also accepts
formats with @ (at sign) in front of the refresh rate
instead of x. 1280x1024@76 is an example of this for-
mat.
Some video-modes are supported only on certain revi-
sions of FFB. Also, some video-modes, supported by
FFB, may not be supported by the monitor. The list of
video-modes supported by the FFB device and the moni-
tor can be obtained by running ffbconfig with the
-res ? option.
The following table lists all possible video modes
supported on FFB:
Name Description
1024x768x60
1024x768x70
1024x768x75
1024x768x77
1024x800x84
1152x900x66
1152x900x76
1280x800x76
1280x1024x60
1280x1024x67
1280x1024x76
960x680x112s (stereo)
960x680x108s (stereo)
640x480x60
640x480x60i (interlaced)
768x575x50i (interlaced)
1440x900x76 (hi-res)
1600x1000x66 (hi-res)
1600x1000x76i (hi-res)
1600x1280x76 (hi-res)
1920x1080x72 (hi-res)
1920x1200x70 (hi-res)
Symbolic names
For convenience, some video modes have symbolic names
defined for them. Instead of the form widthxheightx-
rate, one of these names may be supplied as the argu-
ment to -res. The meaning of the symbolic name none
is that when the window system is run the screen reso-
lution will be the video mode that is currently pro-
grammed in the device.
____________________________________________________________
| Name Corresponding Video Mode |
| svga 1024x768x60 |
| 1152 1152x900x76 |
| 1280 1280x1024x76 |
| stereo 960x680x112s |
| ntsc 640x480x60i |
| pal 768x575x50i |
| none (video mode currently pro-|
| grammed in device) |
|___________________________________________________________|
The -res option also accepts additional, optional
arguments immediately following the video mode specif-
ication. Any or all of these may be present.
now Specifies that the FFB device will be immediately
programmed to display this video mode, in addition to
updating the video mode in the OWconfig file. This
option is useful for changing the video mode before
starting the window system.
It is inadvisable to use this suboption with ffbconfig
while the configured device is being used (for exam-
ple, while running the window system); unpredictable
results may occur. To run ffbconfig with the now
suboption, first bring the window system down. If the
now suboption is used within a window system session,
the video mode will be changed immediately, but the
width and height of the affected screen won't change
until the window system is exited and re-entered. In
addition, the system may not recognize changes in
stereo mode. Consequently, this usage is strongly
discouraged.
noconfirm
Instructs ffbconfig to bypass confirmation and and
warning messages and to program the requested video
mode anyway.
Using the -res option, the user could potentially put
the system into an unusable state, a state where there
is no video output. This can happen if there is ambi-
guity in the monitor sense codes for the particular
code read. To reduce the chance of this, the default
behavior of ffbconfig is to print a warning message to
this effect and to prompt the user to find out if it
is okay to continue. This option is useful when
ffbconfig is being run from a shell script.
nocheck
Suspends normal error checking based on the monitor
sense code. The video mode specified by the user will
be accepted regardless of whether it is appropriate
for the currently attached monitor. This option is
useful if a different monitor is to be connected to
the FFB device. Note: Use of this option implies
noconfirm as well.
try Programs the specified video mode on a trial basis.
The user will be asked to confirm the video mode by
typing y within 10 seconds. The user may also ter-
minate the trial before 10 seconds are up by typing
any character. Any character other than y or RETURN
is considered a no and the previous video mode will
be restored and ffbconfig will not change the video
mode in the OWconfig file and other options specified
will still take effect. If a RETURN is pressed, the
user is prompted for a yes or no answer on whether to
keep the new video mode. This option implies the now
suboption (see the warning note on the now suboption).
-deflinear true | false
FFB possesses two types of visuals: linear and
nonlinear. Linear visuals are gamma corrected and non-
linear visuals are not. There are two visuals that
have both linear and nonlinear versions: 24-bit
TrueColor and 8-bit StaticGray.
-deflinear true sets the default visual to the linear
visual that satisfies other specified default visual
selection options. Specifically, the default visual
selection options are those set by the Xsun (1) def-
depth and defclass options. See OpenWindows Desktop
Reference Manual for details.
-deflinear false (or if there is no linear visual that
satisfies the other default visual selection options)
sets the default visual to t the non-linear visual as
the default.
This option cannot be used when the -defoverlay
option is present, because FFB does not possess a
linear overlay visual.
-defoverlay true | false
FFB provides an 8-bit PseudoColor visual whose pixels
are disjoint from the rest of the FFB visuals. This is
called the overlay visual. Windows created in this
visual will not damage windows created in other visu-
als. The converse, however, is not true. Windows
created in other visuals will damage overlay windows.
This visual has 256 maxwids of opaque color values.
See -maxwids in OPTIONS.
If -defoverlay is true, the overlay visual will be
made the default visual. If -defoverlay is false,
the nonoverlay visual that satisfies the other default
visual selection options, such as defdepth and
defclass, will be chosen as the default visual. See
the OpenWindows Desktop Reference Manual for details.
Whenever -defoverlay true is used, the default depth
and class chosen on the openwin command line must be
8-bit PseudoColor. If not, a warning message will be
printed and the -defoverlay option will be treated
as false. This option cannot be used when the -
deflinear option is present, because FFB doesn't pos-
sess a linear overlay visual.
-linearorder first | last
If first, linear visuals will come before their non-
linear counterparts on the X11 screen visual list for
the FFB screen. If last, the nonlinear visuals will
come before the linear ones.
-overlayorder first | last
If true, the depth 8 PseudoColor Overlay visual will
come before the non-overlay visual on the X11 screen
visual list for the FFB screen. If false, the non-
overlay visual will come before the overlay one.
-expvis enable | disable
If enabled, OpenGL Visual Expansion will be activated.
Multiple instances of selected visual groups (8-bit
PseudoColor, 24-bit TrueColor and so forth) can be
found in the screen visual list.
-sov enable | disable
Advertises the root window's SERVER_OVERLAY_VISUALS
property. SOV visuals will be exported and their tran-
sparent types, values and layers can be retrieved
through this property. If -sov disable is specified,
the SERVER_OVERLAY_VISUALS property will not be
defined. SOV visuals will not be exported.
-maxwids n
Specifies the maximum number of FFB X channel pixel
values that are reserved for use as window sIDs
(WIDs). The remainder of the pixel values in overlay
colormaps are used for normal X11 opaque color pixels.
The reserved WIDs are allocated on a first-come
first-serve basis by 3D graphics windows (such as
XGL), MBX windows, and windows that have a non-default
visual. The X channel codes 0 to (255-n) will be
opaque color pixels. The X channel codes (255-n+1) to
255 will be reserved for use as WIDs. Legal values
on FFB, FFB2 are: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32. Legal
values on FFB2+ are: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64.
-extovl enable | disable
This option is available only on FFB2+. If enabled,
extended overlay is available. The overlay visuals
will have 256 opaque colors. The SOV visuals will
have 255 opaque colors and 1 transparent color. This
option enables hardware supported transparency which
provides better performance for windows using the SOV
visuals.
-g gamma-correction value
This option is available only on FFB2+. This option
allows changing the gamma correction value. All linear
visuals provide gamma correction. By default the gamma
correction value is 2.22. Any value less than zero is
illegal. The gamma correction value is applied to the
linear visual, which then has an effective gamma value
of 1.0, which is the value returned by XSolarisGet-
VisualGamma(3). See XSolarisGetVisualGamma(3) for a
description of that function.
This option can be used while the window system is
running. Changing the gamma correction value will
affect all the windows being displayed using the
linear visuals.
-gfile gamma-correction file
This option is available only on FFB2+. This option
loads gamma correction table from the specified file.
This file should be formatted to provide the gamma
correction values for R, G and B channels on each
line. This file should provide 256 triplet values,
each in hexadecimal format and separated by at least
1 space. Following is an example of this file:
0x00 0x00 0x00
0x01 0x01 0x01
0x02 0x02 0x02
...
...
0xff 0xff 0xff
Using this option, the gamma correction table can be
loaded while the window system is running. The new
gamma correction will affect all the windows being
displayed using the linear visuals. Note, when gamma
correction is being done using user specified table,
the gamma correction value is undefined. By default,
the window system assumes a gamma correction value of
2.22 and loads the gamma table it creates correspond-
ing to this value.
-defaults
Resets all option values to their default values.
-propt
Prints the current values of all FFB options in the
OWconfig file specified by the -file option for the
device specified by the -dev option. Prints the
values of options as they will be in the OWconfig file
after the call to ffbconfig completes. The following
is a typical display using the -propt option:
--- OpenWindows Configuration for /dev/fbs/ffb0 ---
OWconfig: machine
Video Mode: NONE
Default Visual: Non-Linear Normal Visual
Visual Ordering: Linear Visuals are last
Overlay Visuals are last
OpenGL Visuals: disabled
SOV: disabled
Allocated WIDs: 32
-prconf
Prints the FFB hardware configuration. The following
is a typical display using the -prconf option:
--- Hardware Configuration for /dev/fbs/ffb0 ---
Type: double-buffered FFB2 with Z-buffer
Board: rev x
PROM Information: @(#)ffb2.fth x.x xx/xx/xx
FBC: version x
DAC: Brooktree 9068, version x
3DRAM: Mitsubishi 1309, version x
EDID Data: Available - EDID version 1 revision x
Monitor Sense ID: 4 (Sun 37x29cm RGB color monitor)
Monitor possible resolutions: 1024x768x60, 1024x768x70,
1024x768x75, 1152x900x66, 1152x900x76,
1280x1024x67, 1280x1024x76, 960x680x112s,
640x480x60
Current resolution setting: 1280x1024x76
-help Prints a list of the ffbconfig command line options,
along with a brief explanation of each.
DEFAULTS
For a given invocation of ffbconfig command line if an
option does not appear on the command line, the correspond-
ing OWconfig option is not updated; it retains its previous
value.
When the window system is run, if an FFB option has never
been specified via ffbconfig, a default value is used. The
option defaults are listed in the following table:
____________________________________________________________
| Option Default |
| -dev /dev/fbs/ffb0 |
| -file machine |
| -res none |
| -deflinear false |
| -defoverlay false |
| -linearorder last |
| -overlayorder last |
| -expvis enabled |
| -sov enabled |
| -maxwids 32 |
|___________________________________________________________|
The default for the -res option of none means that when the
window system is run the screen resolution will be the video
mode that is currently programmed in the device.
This provides compatibility for users who are used to speci-
fying the device resolution through the PROM. On some dev-
ices (for example, GX) this is the only way of specifying
the video mode. This means that the PROM ultimately deter-
mines the default FFB video mode.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Changing The Monitor Type
The following example switches the monitor type to the reso-
lution of 1280 1024 at 76 Hz:
example% /usr/sbin/ffbconfig -res 1280x1024x76
FILES
/dev/fbs/ffb0
device special file
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWffbcf |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
mmap(2), attributes(5), fbio(7I), ffb(7D)
OpenWindows Desktop Reference Manual
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