Intel D915 chipset QNX 4.25 compatible (eventually)

A new desktop computer using the Intel D915GAGLX motherboard (which contains
the D915 chipset) was purchased from a local supplier for use as a QNX 4.25
server.

After some fiddling around, I was able to get it to work. The key driver
command lines are:

Net.ether82557 -v -V8086 -D1064 &

Pg.i830 -d 0x8086,2582 -T

After initial installation, attempting to start Photon with the ph script
caused a blank screen. I tried several different techniques, including
"safe" mode and nothing seemed to work. However, logging in using Phindows
did work, and doing so enabled me to confirm that the processor wasn't
saturated or the O/S locked up, so whatever the problem was, it was confined
to the video display.



Using Phindows, I was able to run pkginstall and install the latest graphics
driver updates, downloaded from
http://www.qnx.com/download/group.html?programid=8696 which requires logging
in with a MyQnx account. The updates are named QNX4-graphics_*. There is
a tar.gz installation file, HTML release notes and HTML installation notes.



After installing these updates, which specifically included the Pg.i830
driver for the Intel 82915 chipset, I still got the blank screen problem
when running ph. I observed that the problem seemed to related not so much
to the actual trapping process, but when Photon started up with the drivers
detected by the trap. After some experimentation, I determined that the
vesabios.ms modeswitcher seemed to be causing the problem, and by bypassing
it, I was able to get Photon to start up. The key breakthrough was running
the Pg.i830 driver explicitly searching for the device ID reported by
show_pci, which was 2582, as seen in the following snippet from the show_pci
output:

Vendor ID = 8086h, INTEL CORPORATION

Device ID = 2582h,

PCI index = 0h

Class Code = 030000h Display (VGA) ProgIF=0



The exact command line I used was:

Pg.i830 -d 0x8086,2582 -T

This resulted in a list of detected modes which I saved to
/etc/config/trap/crt.4 and re-ran ph. The result was the Photon desktop at
640x480 with no mouse cursor visible. Progress, but not done yet. The
reason the automatic detection of crttrap did not work is that the supplied
crttrap.list file did not contain the above line referencing device 2582.
Devices 2572 and 2592 were trapped for, but not the 2582 - weird. I
subsequently modified the list file and re-ran, getting the same results as
before with the exception of a bunch of vesabios modes, which I prompty
deleted.



With no mouse cursor visible, I initially thought the PS2 mouse was not
being detected properly and spent some time fiddling about with Input etc.
This was a red herring! The problem turned out to be hardware graphics
acceleration of the cursor. In the "Photon Display Configuration" dialog
window, there is an option at the bottom to "Disable hardware cursor", with
this checked and applied, the mouse cursor suddenly started working. The
reason I attempted this was because I noticed that Photon was responding to
mouse right button clicks by showing the PWM Workspace Menu in different
locations. To navigate the configuration dialog without a visible mouse,
use tab to change focus between widgets in the dialog, spacebar to activate
the "Disable hardware cursor" and the arrow keys to navigate the tree of
resolution options. The Photon graphics have now been setup at 1280x1024
with 32-bit colour a low refresh rate and a software cursor. These options
work satisfactorily with our software. I tried the highest resolution of
1600x1200x32 but the LG L1710B LCD monitor I was using was not able to
display the signal.



This information is provided as a "public service" to other QNX 4.25 users.
I have been frustrated in the past when trying to purchase and/or specify
systems by not knowing in advance if they would work or not. It would be
nice if there was reference list of known compatible hardware and the
"tricks" needed to make it work. The chipsets listed on the QNX website is
a start, but it's hard to go out and buy a system by chipset...



If other people know of modern systems that definately work, please post the
details here.





Regards, Tristan.

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Tristan Crees B.C.S.E

Robotics Engineer

International Submarine Engineering (http://www.ise.bc.ca)

1734 Broadway St. Port Coquitlam BC Canada V3C 2M8

Phone: (604) 942-5223, Fax: (604) 942-7577






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