Re: SPARCStation VSIMM

●To: Aaron <aranderson%gmail.com@localhost> ●Subject: Re: SPARCStation VSIMM ●From: J Booth <166sunny%gmail.com@localhost> ●Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2021 10:48:20 -0400

Glad to hear it. I tried the 4MB VSIMM in my SS20 and had some success with SDL (which wasn’t working on CG6). Though unfortunately SDL2 crashes in libXi (X11 input extension lib).
What is the best way to report an issue like that? Talk to the NetBSD package maintainer (Nia)? Or log the issue with SDL GitHub?
Thanks, Jesse

On Wednesday, October 27, 2021, Aaron <aranderson%gmail.com@localhost> wrote: Thank you to everyone who replied and for the great info below Michael! As you suggested, it seems the Southland and Fujitsu have both passed into legend, but I did manage to track down an 8MB SX! Paid more than I'd have liked, but nowhere near the current eBay rate at least. Just to confirm a few things, it works great at 1280x1024@24bpp (known by many, but since it was cited as a potential concern earlier in the thread). Increasing to 24-bit also resolved the NetSurf blank window issue so I'm partying like it's 1994. - Aaron On Thu, Oct 21, 2021 at 10:31 AM Michael <macallan%netbsd.org@localhost> wrote: > > Hello, > > On Wed, 20 Oct 2021 09:26:26 -0600 > Aaron <aranderson%gmail.com@localhost> wrote: > > > Hello! Let me start with a preemptive apology for posting slightly > > off-topic, but after a year of searching, I've exhausted every other > > avenue I can think of! My SS20 is running NetBSD 9.2 quite nicely, but > > its capabilities in X are hamstrung by an 8-bit SBUS framebuffer. > > E.g., NetSurf won't render, Afterstep looks terrible, etc. > > > > I'm not interested in a ZX/Leo for several reasons (poor driver > > support, very unreliable hardware, heat issues), which leaves an 8MB > > VSIMM (p/n: 501-2482) as the only real option. Since this is the > > closest thing to an online SPARC community I'm aware of, might anyone > > on this list have a lead on one of these rare birds? > > There are a few other options to get 24bit graphics on an ss20, > although they're also mostly made of unobtainium: > - the Fujitsu AG-10e is basically Frankenstein's Monster of graphics > cards, it has three(!) PCI graphics chips behind a custom bridge, the > 24bit part is handled by a glint 300SX. Needs EXA support but should > work as dumb fb. Double-wide SBus card, the glint has 12MB > framebuffer. > - Southland Media MGX, another PCI-behind-custom-bridge thing, single > slot SBus card, 4MB fb. > > Both have kernel support and X works in 24bit colour, although > unaccelerated but with shadowfb and hardware cursor it's mostly usable. > There's XAA support in the ag10e driver, converting to EXA shouldn't be > hard, I've done it for Permedia2 which is basically a low end Glint > with VGA support. As for mgx, I need to finish the native X driver at > some point... > Both cards stay relatively cool, they don't even have heatsinks > anywhere. > > There are other cards, but the above are the ones we have driver > support for. > > have fun > Michael

●Follow-Ups: ●Re: SPARCStation VSIMM ●From: Michael ●References: ●SPARCStation VSIMM ●From: Aaron ●Re: SPARCStation VSIMM ●From: Michael ●Re: SPARCStation VSIMM ●From: Aaron

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