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HOWTO: Hooking up an O2 to the 1600SW via the MLA.

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Avi Bercovich

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May 6, 2002, 7:36:16 PM5/6/02
to
Hi All,

SGI doesn;t support the 1600SW on an O2 via a Multilink 'out of the
box'. You need to do some stuff yerself. Fortunately this is pretty
straightforward. Here's a short HOWTO get your O2 to display 1600x1024
on the 1600SW flatpanel using the Multi-Link Adapter (MLA).

Thanks to Stuart Levy, sl...@ncsa.uiuc.edu for putting together the
o2-stereo package that this is based on.

1. make sure /usr/sbin/vfc is installed.
2. use the vfc to compile this file:

/*
** 1600x1024_60.vfs - Flat panel format for MLA
*/

General
{
FieldsPerFrame = 1;
FramesPerSecond = 60;
TotalLinesPerFrame = 1066;
TotalPixelsPerLine = 1700;
ActiveLinesPerFrame = 1024;
ActivePixelsPerLine = 1600;
FormatName = "1600x1024_60";
}

Active Line {
HorizontalFrontPorch = 20 pixels;
HorizontalSync = 35 pixels;
HorizontalBackPorch = 45 pixels;
}

Field
{
Vertical Sync =
{
{
Length = 1.0H;
Low = 0.0 usec;
}
repeat 3
{
Length = 1.0H;
}
}

Initial Low;
Vertical Back Porch =
{
{
Length = 1.0H;
High = HorizontalSync;
}
repeat 34
{
Length = 1.0H;
Low = 0.0 usec;
High = HorizontalSync;
}
}

Initial High;

Active =
{
repeat 1024
{
Length = 1.0H;
Low = 0.0 usec;
High = HorizontalSync;
}
}

Vertical Front Porch =
{
repeat 3
{
Length = 1.0H;
Low = 0.0 usec;
High = HorizontalSync;
}
}
}

#if 0
postprocess
{
dump edge;
}
#endif

like so:

vfc -c
chip=/usr/gfx/ucode/vfc/rules/O2_Chip.def,board=/usr/gfx/ucode/vfc/rules/O2_Board.def
-o 1600x1024_60.vfo 1600x1024_60.vfs

3. copy the resulting 1600x1024_60.vfo file into /usr/gfx/ucode/CRM/vof/
4. Make sure your O2 is set at 1280x1024_60 before you hook-up the
flatpanel/MLA.
5. connect the MLA to your O2, you'll get a wide black band on the left
side of your planel...
6. run `xsetroot` as root.
7. choose the new 1600x1024_60 resolution, and make it the start-up
default.
8. use the MLA's OSD to set 'phase' to 13, and the clock divider to 125.
Adjust colour to taste.

that's it ;)

enjoy!

avi

PS> DISCALAIMER: The above works for me. But I don't guarentee that it
will for you. Use it at you own risk.

Matthew Marchese

unread,
May 7, 2002, 8:55:17 AM5/7/02
to
Avi Bercovich wrote:
>
> SGI doesn;t support the 1600SW on an O2 via a Multilink 'out of the
> box'.

And for good reason: the CRM (crime) chip in the O2 doesn't have quite
enough bandwidth to drive 1600x1024_60.

> PS> DISCALAIMER: The above works for me. But I don't guarentee that it
> will for you. Use it at you own risk.

Since you're operating right at the hairy edge of the O2's video output
bandwidth, you're liable to see some artifacts in the display. I got
alternating light and dark vertical bars across the raster when I tried
this a few months ago. I wasn't able to tune them out by tweaking the
1600SW OSD.

It took me a while to find an FPA board, but it was well worth it in
terms of display usability.

--
Matt Marchese
SGI Service Publications and Training
"If there's no ear then there's no sound if there's no tree
then there's no ground" -Imperial Teen
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Avi Bercovich

unread,
May 7, 2002, 9:28:46 AM5/7/02
to
Matthew Marchese wrote:
>
> Avi Bercovich wrote:
> >
> > SGI doesn;t support the 1600SW on an O2 via a Multilink 'out of the
> > box'.
>
> And for good reason: the CRM (crime) chip in the O2 doesn't have quite
> enough bandwidth to drive 1600x1024_60.
>
> > PS> DISCALAIMER: The above works for me. But I don't guarentee that it
> > will for you. Use it at you own risk.
>
> Since you're operating right at the hairy edge of the O2's video output
> bandwidth, you're liable to see some artifacts in the display. I got
> alternating light and dark vertical bars across the raster when I tried
> this a few months ago. I wasn't able to tune them out by tweaking the
> 1600SW OSD.

Point taken.

> It took me a while to find an FPA board, but it was well worth it in
> terms of display usability.

Indeed I'm also looking for the FPA board. But in the meanwhile the MLA
setup as described above works pretty well. I hope it won't burn out the
gfx chips in my O2 before I get hold of the FPA ;)

ttfn,

avi

Jeff Long

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May 7, 2002, 11:05:30 AM5/7/02
to
Matthew Marchese wrote:
>
> Avi Bercovich wrote:
> >
> > SGI doesn;t support the 1600SW on an O2 via a Multilink 'out of the
> > box'.
>
> And for good reason: the CRM (crime) chip in the O2 doesn't have quite
> enough bandwidth to drive 1600x1024_60.

So what was the maximum supported resolution on the 1600SW when used
with the O2-specific adapter?

These O2 adapters ever for sale on ebay?

TIA,

Jeff Long

Avi Bercovich

unread,
May 7, 2002, 1:24:26 PM5/7/02
to
Jeff Long wrote:

> > And for good reason: the CRM (crime) chip in the O2 doesn't have quite
> > enough bandwidth to drive 1600x1024_60.
>
> So what was the maximum supported resolution on the 1600SW when used
> with the O2-specific adapter?

1600x1024@60Hz

>These O2 adapters ever for sale on ebay?
>

Sometimes.

ttfn,

avi

Matthew Marchese

unread,
May 7, 2002, 1:28:48 PM5/7/02
to
Jeff Long wrote:
>
>
> So what was the maximum supported resolution on the 1600SW when used
> with the O2-specific adapter?

The FPA supports 1600x1024_60.



> These O2 adapters ever for sale on ebay?

I haven't seen them offered separately from the 1600SW, but that doesn't
mean that they don't pop up occasionally.

<<>>

unread,
May 7, 2002, 2:49:57 PM5/7/02
to
"Matthew Marchese" <ma...@NOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:3CD80ED0...@NOSPAM.com...

"NEW! SGI O2 Accessory Kit for 1600 flat panel monitor. comes with
digital video adapter, software kit, and color lock sensor. SGI part
number ACCKIT-FP-02."

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2022774482


Rob Warnock

unread,
May 8, 2002, 4:48:12 AM5/8/02
to
Matthew Marchese <ma...@NOSPAM.com> wrote:
+---------------

| Jeff Long wrote:
| > So what was the maximum supported resolution on the 1600SW when used
| > with the O2-specific adapter?
|
| The FPA supports 1600x1024_60.
+---------------

But unlike the MLA, the FPA *also* supports 1600x1024_48 (specifically,
the 1600x1024_48p.vfo that comes standard with 6.5), which lets you
back off a bit from the hairy edge of CRIME's bandwidth limit. And being
an LCD, there's no visible flicker with the 1600SW at 48 Hz. None. [*]


-Rob

[*] Well, unless you paint one of those nasty patterns (some of which
have been posted here previously) that resonates with the LCD's
internal refresh rate. But AFAICT, those flicker with *any* of
the 1600x1024_{48,50,60}p formats.

-----
Rob Warnock, 30-3-510 <rp...@sgi.com>
SGI Network Engineering <http://reality.sgiweb.org/rpw3/>
1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy. Phone: 650-933-1673
Mountain View, CA 94043 PP-ASEL-IA

[Note: aaan...@sgi.com and zedw...@sgi.com aren't for humans ]

mike

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May 8, 2002, 11:54:30 AM5/8/02
to
this thread kind of disturbs me.
should I be worried that Im running my o2 at 1600x1200_56? I never
considered the idea of burning out the CRIME graphics shizm.
mike

mike

unread,
May 8, 2002, 11:55:21 AM5/8/02
to
this thread kind of disturbs me.
should I be worried that Im running my o2 at 1600x1200_56? I never
considered the idea of burning out the CRIME graphics shizm.
mike
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