[Openchrome-users] OpenChrome on an OQO 02

[Karim Yaghmour]

I've been trying to get decent display on an OQO 02 (CX700) for
a few days now. Here are my basic setup possibilities:
1- Office: OQO 02 on docking station w/ DVI-connected 1280x1024 LCD
2- Mobile: OQO 02's internal LCD display - 800x480
3- Projector: OQO O2 driving VGA (could be 1024x768 or 800x600)

Basically, I don't really care about 3D or anything of that kind,
I just want to be able to have decent 2D (browser, OpenOffice,
cli, emacs, vmware, etc.)

I've tried a few different approaches:
- basic vesa driver: I get #2 working pretty easily, but DVI is
   basically a 1280x1024 rendering of an 800x480 image ... :( Yuck.
- VIA's drivers: I get #1 working, but it's mutually exclusive w/
   #2 -- plus I really get the impression that VIA has no idea of
   how to interface with the FLOSS community. It's a shame, they
   have the knowledge and there are people who'd love to point them
   in the right direction ... not to mention that using the source
   code of a company that has no idea how to package OSS package
   for distribution scares the !#$# out of me.
- openchrome (Ubuntu 7.10 source w/ trivial patch from OQO:
   http://www.oqo.com/unsupported/linux/openchrome-vt3157.patch --
   instructions here: http://www.oqo.com/unsupported/linux/):
   same result as basic vesa driver.

I'm not new to funky hardware, but I would like a few pointers.
Basically, from what I gather, I should be using xrandr 1.2 drivers.
Looking into the openchrome branches, there seems to be a randr
branch with a couple of new files (when diff'ed against trunk.)
Though, from the comments in the sources I gather randr 1.2 support
isn't there yet.

So here are a few questions:
1- Can I *safely* use the randr branch on my hardware? I don't mind
    testing new stuff and reporting back, I just don't want any hardware
    to break.
2- I noticed this code snippet in via_driver.c:
	case VIA_CX700:
             /* FIXME:
              * Only for testing, this code will be removed
              * when randr 1.2 support is added
              */
             pVia->pBIOSInfo->FirstCRTC->IsActive = TRUE ;
             pVia->UseLegacyModeSwitch = FALSE ;
    can I replace it with something like this:
	case VIA_CX700:
             /* FIXME:
              * Only for testing, this code will be removed
              * when randr 1.2 support is added
              */
             pVia->pBIOSInfo->Panel->IsActive = TRUE ;
             pVia->pBIOSInfo->Lvds->IsActive = TRUE ;
             pVia->UseLegacyModeSwitch = FALSE ;
    Nothing precludes having 2 versions of the driver with some
    kind of option menu or boot option (one driver that fits
    use cases #1 and #2 and one that fits #2 and #3) ... or some
    dynamically modifiable symlink ... until randr 1.2 support is
    there ...
3- When is randr 1.2 support expected? No pressure, just thought
    I'd ask in case someone has an idea. Related question: how
    much work is randr 1.2 support?

Thanks for your help,

Karim Yaghmour
Founder and CEO
Kryptiva inc.