Haig, and others - G400 Win9x driver information needed!

[Tronic]

I really hate that "resolution manager" which comes with G400's drivers. I decided to make an util that would allows adding/removing modes, and change refreshrates freely, and easily. Just a simple task that original drivers should have done.

So, I need information...

What should I modify, and where, to add new modes, or to change refreshrates?

Do I need to set "advanced properties" (like hsync/vsync, sync polarity, and so on; or is just vsync enough for the driver)?

I have tried a couple of things and it looks like that adding a mode into driver's registry-key, under MODES-key, has no effect. So, how about Settings/VideoParameters? Lots of HEX, but it doesn't make sense to me...

Is it really needed to select Windows Monitor; or would it be possible to set refreshrates with "no monitor selected"?

That Windows Monitor -thing is actually a big joke... Most monitors are not listed, and many of those which are, use low refreshrates like 75Hz, when the monitor could support something over 100Hz...

[Hunsow]

Guess what? There is already such a utility, it's called powerdesk resolution manager and you can download it from the MURC. But you can't change the refresh rates, you still would have to do that with the built in resolution manager. Monitor manufacturers do not recommend using refresh rates above 85Hz, in the factory everything is tuned for that frequency. I like the built in resolution manager, it takes some time, but when you're finished, everything is looking great with moire effects minimized to the max.

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[Haig]

Next version of MTSTUtil will also have this. It will support win98, ME, and Win2k.

All our utility will allow you to do is to add any mode you want and then we set it to the minimum parameters. You then go into our monitor tab and customize it any way you want.

Haig

[Tronic]

One very important thing; allow merging different color-depths. CRT-monitors don't have any idea about the color-depth, so I would like to use the same frequency for all modes.

And about that resolution setting thing.. Should allow entering new resolution from keyboard, without automatically testing new refresrate every time something is changed...

In Millennium II drivers this was done quite well.

Still would like to know more about where the driver saves modes; just in case Matrox fails to make it work fine ... And because I want it today, not next month (when I'll be using Radeon, I think; RELEASE THAT DAMN G800 (or just send me a PROTO of it ) ..

I know that there are some specs available about Matrox hardware, but where to find?

[Haig]

Apply at our dev rel section of our web site. They can give you some specs.

Haig

[Tronic]

Thanks,... It was hidden so well that I were unable to find it before

[Ashley]

A "VideoParameters" value is a 24-byte binary array:

Bytes[ 1.. 2]=Vertical refresh in Hz
Bytes[ 3.. 4]=Horizontal scan rate in kHz
Bytes[ 5.. 8]=Pixel clock in Hz
Bytes[ 9..10]=Horizontal front porch
Bytes[11..12]=Horizontal sync width
Bytes[13..14]=Horizontal back porch
Bytes[15..16]=Vertical front porch
Bytes[17..18]=Vertical sync width
Bytes[19..20]=Vertical back porch
Bytes[21..24]=Sync and polarity flags

Once you decide the refresh rate you can compute the remaining values using the VESA GTF.

[Tronic]

VESA GTF? What is it, and where to find it?

[Ashley]

http://www.vesa.org/standards.html

VESA Generalized Timing Formula (GTF) - Version 1.1: A standard method for generating general-purpose display timings. Allows for much greater flexibility in the choice of refresh rates and pixel formats than currently available with existing discrete monitor timings. GTF describes a computational method that will provide standardization, and yet also enable new features, such as user-defined image resolution and low-cost self alignment of display devices, to be added to graphics systems and monitors.

[Tronic]

First of all, www.vesa.org doesn't seem to work from here.

I managed to contact that site (with lynx, from my shell-account), but no information was available.

I am not going to pay anything of specs needed for FREEWARE util...

Does anyone have that information, or do I have to reverse engineer the information needed from Matrox drivers, or somewhere?