ATI Xpert 2000 and XFree86
This page describes how I got the ATI Xpert 2000 video card up and running in X-Windows. It seems to be a relatively common card, yet it is not fully supported, so I hope this page is useful.To my knowledge, there are two ways to get this card running under XFree86: the first (which will be described here) is rather simple and will get you up and running quickly; the second is arguably more elegant, but involves modifying source and recompiling X. I assume you are trying to use XFree86 version 4.x, and have failed at the usual methods of configuring X.
Method 1: Trick X
The ATI Xpert 128 uses an ATI Rage 128 chipset, which is supposed to be supported by XFree86. Unfortunately, it turns out that there are several flavors of Rage 128, and the Xpert 2000 contains one that's not yet officially supported. A clue to what's going on can be had by typing `/sbin/lspci | grep VGA' into a console; I get the following line:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage 128 SM
That `SM' part is the kicker... if you check the logs from your unsuccessful attempts at running X, you'll find a section that lists all of the flavors of Rage 128 that are supported by the r128 driver. Of course, `SM' isn't in there, so the driver fails to recognize the card as a device that it can deal with, and you get a "No screens found" error. The way around this is basically to tell X, "No, you're really dealing with an ATI Rage 128 RF" or some other supported chipset. This seems like a major cop-out, but believe it or not, it works! Here's the relevant section of my XF86Config-4 file:
Section "Device" Identifier "ATI Xpert2000" VendorName "ATI" BoardName "ATI Xpert2000" Chipset "ATI Rage 128 RF (AGP)" Driver "r128" Option "AGPMode" "2" Option "UseCCEFor2D" "true" VideoRam 32768 EndSection
It's really that simple. The driver stops choking on the SM chipset, thinks it sees an RF, and proceeds on its merry way.
Note: 2D performance may be a little choppy with these settings. You might also try changing the line that reads:
Option "UseCCEFor2D" "true"to read
Option "UseCCEFor2D" "false"
Acknowledgements
I learned of this solution from Arunchandar Vasan, who got it from Mark Ericksen. Nils Holland (no relation, as far as we know) pointed out to me that performance can be improved by setting UseCCEFor2D to false.More later...
This page is incomplete, but since it contains enough information to be somewhat useful, I'm putting it up as is. Hopefully I'll get back to it soon, and add some information on getting 3D acceleration working, as well as a hint about the second method of getting the Xpert 2000 working. If you find this page useful, please link to it if you have a website; the more links there are, the more likely it will be Google'd, and the easier it will be for people to find this information.Here's my XF86Config-4 file for reference only; do not copy it verbatim, as this may cause damage to your monitor.
Copyright © 1997-2001 Matt Holland.
This page last modified 11/09/01.
Made with Emacs.