Computer Related

Getting the PC-Chips 756LMRT Motherboard to work with Linux 2.4.* and Xfree86 4.0.*

I purchased this setup from Fry's Electronics in Phoenix, AZ in January of 2001. Little did I know that there was not much documentation on how to set this thing up with Linux right out of the box. So, here's my attempt to help anyone out that is trying to get their's to work.
I'm a dedicated Debian user... so there might be some discrepencies with the flavor of linux that you are using.

This version of the kernel supports:
  • on-board ethernet card (SIS900)
  • on-board sound card (CMPCI 8738, although the kernel setup calls it the CMPCI 8378). ... probably more... but not that I'm concerned about.
    Both of these can be found in the kernel setup with ease. I also enabled the generic SiS AGP Support (although the driver SIS5591/5592 is said to be not supported at this time).
    Here's a /sbin/lspci output:

    00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 630 Host (rev 20)
    00:00.1 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (rev d0)
    00:01.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 85C503/5513
    00:01.1 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 10/100 Ethernet (rev 81)
    00:01.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 7001 (rev 07)
    00:01.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 7001 (rev 07)
    00:02.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5591/5592 AGP
    00:0f.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 (rev 10)
    00:0f.1 Communication controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 (rev 10)
    01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS630 GUI Accelerator+3D (rev 20)

    I managed to be able to boot with the first try with this configuration (whew... always have an old working kernel in your lilo.conf just in case).
    I've done several google searches looking for information on possible future support for the AGP adapter. But this turned up /dev/null.
    Side note: I've recently upgraded to Linux 2.4.8, and have noticed a significant increase in efficiency of the audio controller. Before, I was getting messages in kern.log:

    kernel: cmpci: dma timed out??
    kernel: cmpci: write: chip lockup? dmasz 65536 fragsz 1024 count 65536 hwptr 42004 swptr 42004

    These messages have since disappeared, since my upgrade.

    This was a bit trickier. Using the SiS driver with this package only allowed me to get a 16 color depth (16 bpp). Which is all right for some. But I tend to like my backgrounds to be less digitized looking. A google search popped up another fella that was having some sort of trouble with his notebook computer that had the same chip ( http://uwsg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0104.1/0482.html)
    Replacing the driver

    /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/sis_drv.o

    with this one (sis_drv.o), enables you to use the 24 color depth (32 bpp). You may want to add the line "DefaultDepth 24" to the Section "Screen" of the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4. Here's a copy of mine (XF86Config-4)

    The newest sis driver (included in Xfree86 package) for this chip works fine (the xfree86 web page warns that this driver is still in development). I'm still using the same XF86Config file.

  • References:

    • || PC-Chips || Silicon Integrated Systems || Xfree86 Project || Linux Kernel Archives || Resource for notebooks with SiS630 chipset ||

    Fix the frozen screen with Voodoo2

    I noticed that if the Xserver attempted the blank the screen while a 3D screensaver was running that the screen would freeze on that particular screensaver... making it so that you could not see anything else on the screen (even if you tried to switch to another virtual terminal).
    My theory (which could be entirely wrong) is that the Voodoo2 card was intercepting the messages from the Xserver to the monitor. So... disabling screen blanking will fix this problem. This can be done by using xscreensaver-demo and setting the "Standby After" and "Suspend After" to 0:00:00. The "Off After" setting can be set to whatever you want. ALSO, disabling screen blanking using xset was used (put these commands into whatever directory/file that is autostarted when the Xsession is begun):

  • xset s noblank
  • xset s noexpose
    Haven't had any screen freezes during any 3D screensavers since. Some of the stuff mentioned here might be overkill... but it works!
    BTW: I've never seen anything about the 3d capabilities of the videocard built into the motherboard. If you have.. please let me know!

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