new drivers today on linux.via.com.tw

[valinuxx]

hahaha, of course I said I tried all the options you can imagine, when I put only CRT it's the same, and with only LCD the external monitor doesn't work

[fifafrazer]

I have the same laptop, and I also got a black screen. My distro is Debian testing. I would like to know if anyone made this driver work on their box?

[valinuxx]

I have sent an email to via linux support complaining for the problem; let's see how they'll react !!!!

[whoisthemachine]

i tried this on my everex va1500 (VN896 + VT8237) and i got a really bright screen... almost as if the refresh rate is messed up or something.

[fifafrazer]

I figured out I was running xorg 7.2, but after upgrading to 7.3, i get the "fatal error: no screens found."

EDIT: I have tried to reinstall the via drivers, and now I got it working with a CRT screen, but still only black screen on my laptop's lcd. Glxgears is running, but with a very weird result. The info tells it is running 680 fps, but the animation on the screen looks like it is running at about 3 fps. How can the info differ so much from the animation itself?
My Geforce 6800 AGP card is running at 350 fps.

And just a side-note: It is very nice to see some progress on the drivers via! I've been looking forward to this for a year

[valinuxx]

In my humble opinion and after a lot lot lot of attempts, it seems that the LVDS interface (for internal laptop screen) is not working for VN896, maybe because this driver is for CN896, and according to via specifications

CN896 : supports LVDS transmitter VT1632A/VT1636
VN896 : supports LVDS transmitter VT1637

Where are the sources VIA, and the documentation ?????

[whoisthemachine]

I believe the result is because your eyes only see at ~60 fps, so your eyes are only seeing the ~ 1/11 of the animation. It's a common visual trick, for example, try blinking a strobe light in a dark room behind a fan once every revolution of the fan. It will look like the fan is standing still!

[fifafrazer]

But the speed of the animation should be indepedent of the framerate. The gears are always spinning at the same rotational speed, so a lower framerate just means, that you will miss some of the steps in the animation.

[avaddon]

Originally Posted by valinuxx

I have sent an email to via linux support complaining for the problem; let's see how they'll react !!!!

I've sent it too. But I don't like the answer:

From: BruceChang@via.com.tw
Subject: Re: Chrome9.83.40558 on Fujitsu-Siemens AMILO Pro M3515 problems

Hello Alex:
Giving that there are too many type of LCD screen on various laptop and is not under VIA's control, VIA is able to provide the driver supporting CRT for download in VIA website with warning message of "Users seeking driver downloads should first check with their Linux distribution vendor or system manufacturer for driver package availability". It's my suggestion to contact with your Hardware manufacture to see if they are able to provide the driver for your laptop.

Thanks and Best Regards

[valinuxx]

lol, It seems that mister Bruce was nicer to me

-------------------
Thank you for your inquiry. You are correct, the LVDS interface and the spec of the internal laptop screen is the key. However, the general driver source code and documentation of CN896/VN896 is still under processing. It takes time to re-organize the code / removing some remarks such as modifier, document review for wording, sync between the spec. Sorry for this.
Regards
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I think if via releases a full documented sources it should be possible for all to use it, improve it and customize it, isn't that the spirit of linux