G400 driver - beta test version

Introduction

This is a G400 driver for R4.5. BeOS R4.5.2 is preferred, but it should now work on 4.5.0 as well. If you find any problems please send me a bug report. I get very few reports of problems now, so intend to work on improving the code struture, error handling and general improvements. The next improvement to be expected is support for the second head. I am busy ATM though, so do not know how long this will take!

BeOS R5 is due out soon:-) This will have an official driver, but I plan to continue working on this. My motivation for programming it was to learn about (and play with!) the hardware.

Please send comments to: MarkWatson@bcs.org.uk

New releases are announced on my website (also on BeBits): foft.matroxusers.com

Requirements

• G400 with SGRAM or SDRAM
• X86 system running BeOS R4.5.0+, preferably R4.5.2

Installation

• Run a terminal (from the Be menu in applications)
• Change to the directory with the archive in (cd /boot/home/Desktop if it is on the desktop)
• Extract the archive (tar -zxpvf g400_driver_0.06.tar.gz)
• cd g400_driver_0.06
• Compile and install (make install)

Custom monitor timing support

I have added some code to make custom monitor timing possible. For further details see accelerants/valid_mode_list. You should not need to touch this, but if your monitor fails to sync then a custom line may help. Not recommended unless you know what you are doing. This has only been needed in one case so far (flatscreen monitor). If you are interested in monitor timing then I suggest you take a look at the linux HOWTOs on it.