DOS ain't dead

RayeR -

Just a heads up -- MTRRLFBE can't seem to autodetect my linear-frame buffer. When i issue the command line:

  mtrrlfbe lfb wc

it displays the following message:

  MTRR-WC enabler for VESA LFB 1.3 (C) 2005-2011 by Martin Rehak; rayer@nospam.cz
  Compiled by GCC 4.5.2 at 23:25:26, Mar 10 2011
  Host machine CPU vendor: GenuineIntel, ID: F27h

  VESA 2.0 ATI RAGE128 [16384 kB]
  ATI Technologies Inc.
  R128
  01.00
  LFB address: 00000000h
  ERROR: invalid address or LFB not supported!
  MTRR area 00000000-00FFFFFFh was set to mode: WC

Other programs report the LFB at E0000000h and are able to use it.

- Doug B.

> RayeR -
>
> Just a heads up -- MTRRLFBE can't seem to autodetect my linear-frame
> buffer. When i issue the command line:

Hm strange. Try last ver of vesatest.
http://rayer.g6.cz/1tmp/vesatest.zip
Still experimental, I didn't have time to solve mtrr magic for 4GB+ systems.
Please remove my email from the post.

---
DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.

> Hm strange. Try last ver of vesatest.
> http://rayer.g6.cz/1tmp/vesatest.zip

Ok, will do.

> Still experimental, I didn't have time to solve mtrr magic for 4GB+
> systems.

No problem -- my system RAM is currently 512mb.

> Please remove my email from the post.

Oops -- i apologize for that. I just tried to edit the original post but got the message:

Entry cannot be edited any longer after 1440 minutes.

I don't know what else to do. Perhaps RR can edit it? (I contacted admin.)

- Doug B.

> > Please remove my email from the post.
>
> Oops -- i apologize for that. I just tried to edit the original post but
> got the message:
>
> Entry cannot be edited any longer after 1440 minutes.
>
> I don't know what else to do. Perhaps RR can edit it? (I contacted
> admin.)

Done, though I think it's almost futile to expect no spam these days. :-/

> > Hm strange. Try last ver of vesatest.
> > http://rayer.g6.cz/1tmp/vesatest.zip
>
> Ok, will do.

It looks like VESATEST can successfully autodetect LFB and set WC on the card. So it must be a bug in MTRRLFBE? Here's the relevant comparison:

VideoModeNumber = 4112h
921600 B allocated for FrameBuffer
LFB Selector = C7h
LFB PhysBasePtr = E0000000h
Measured refresh rate = 60.4 Hz
Measured 81 FPS (FrameBuffer>VRAM)
(transfer speed 71 MB/s)

VideoModeNumber = 4112h, MTRR WC set
921600 B allocated for FrameBuffer
LFB Selector = C7h
LFB PhysBasePtr = E0000000h
Measured refresh rate = 60.1 Hz
Measured 227 FPS (FrameBuffer>VRAM)
(transfer speed 200 MB/s)

Also, if of any help, here's the debug dump from MTRRLFBE 1.4:

MTRR-WC enabler for VESA LFB 1.4 (C) 2005-2012 by Martin Rehak
Compiled by GCC 4.7.0 at 09:54:27, May  9 2012
Host machine CPU vendor: GenuineIntel, ID: F27h

VESA 2.0 ATI RAGE128 [16384 kB]
ATI Technologies Inc.
R128
01.00
LFB address: 00000000h
ERROR: invalid address or LFB not supported!
MTRR #0: base = 000000000h (    0MB), mask = FE0000000h (  512MB), WB, used
MTRR #1: base = 01FF80000h (  511MB), mask = FFFF80000h (    0MB), UC, used
MTRR #2: base = 000000000h (    0MB), mask = 000000000h (    0MB), UC, unused
MTRR #3: base = 000000000h (    0MB), mask = 000000000h (    0MB), UC, unused
MTRR #4: base = 000000000h (    0MB), mask = 000000000h (    0MB), UC, unused
MTRR #5: base = 000000000h (    0MB), mask = 000000000h (    0MB), UC, unused
MTRR #6: base = 000000000h (    0MB), mask = 000000000h (    0MB), UC, unused
MTRR #7: base = 000000000h (    0MB), mask = FFF000000h (   16MB), WC, used
Setting MTRR #7...
MTRR area 00000000-00FFFFFFh was set to mode: WC

Upon further testing, i discovered that MTRRLFBE actually slowed down measured throughput on this card, both BS and LFB. Using the VSpeed test program (from the FastVid package):

SYSTEM DEFAULT:
  Copy DRAM to banked VGA:           70.41 million bytes per second
  Copy DRAM to linear framebuffer:   75.57 million bytes per second

MRTTLFBE LFB WC:
  Copy DRAM to banked VGA:           13.64 million bytes per second
  Copy DRAM to linear framebuffer:   17.69 million bytes per second

VESAMTRR (reports MSRs 204-205 modified):
  Copy DRAM to banked VGA:           70.41 million bytes per second
  Copy DRAM to linear framebuffer:  213.07 million bytes per second

FASTVID x11 16 E0000000:
  Copy DRAM to banked VGA:          210.49 million bytes per second
  Copy DRAM to linear framebuffer:  212.71 million bytes per second

- Doug B.

OK,
MTRRLFBE is currently messed, I made a lot of changes and it will need some futher work. No time now, I will mail you when have something new to test...

---
DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.