atitvout does not work with the current version of X in unstable. See the following IRC log for details:
<JoshTriplett> Overfiend: Short version: atitvout works fine under stable (plus a 4.2.1 backport), but has some serious problems under current unstable. <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: Same version of atitvout. <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: And same kernel, because I'm using my stable chroot. <joshk> atitvout seems to have nothin to do with X <Overfiend> I've never heard of atitvout. <joshk> because i used it to enable tv output on the tty <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: It's a program to turn on the ATI tv-out, by doing unspeakable things with /dev/mem, VM86, VBE, and the BIOS. :) <Overfiend> maybe atitvout pokes registers that X didn't used to, until I updated the driver. <joshk> that and it sucks, but i haven't bothered reporting bugs <Overfiend> JoshT: without knowing more, there's my theory <JoshTriplett> joshk: Works fine under console too. <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: I see. <Overfiend> is atitvout designed to play nicely with the X server, or did it merely get along accidentally before? <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: I have no idea. I don't think it really cares what is running. <Overfiend> that's probably not good <joshk> i think it got along accidentally <Overfiend> the X server drivers expect absolutely nothing else to even imagine dreaming of touching the card's registers while it has the VT <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: The symptom is that the TV-out has strange brightness/contrast problems, and so does the LCD when I switch back. But if I then use xrandr to switch video modes, it goes back to normal. <Overfiend> as a famous general once said, "it's a court-martial offense to even imagine to dream of blowing that bridge up" <Overfiend> JoshTriplett: sounds very much like something in support of my theory <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: Yeah. <Overfiend> JoshTriplett: is atitvout stateful? <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: 1) Is there anything I could do to confirm that theory? 2) Is there anything I can do to otherwise diagnose or fix the problem? <Overfiend> or does it just poke the card and then exit? <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: It pokes the card and then exits. <Overfiend> JoshTriplett: that's bad. <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: For example, "atitvout -f t" turns on tv out. <Overfiend> I think this is probably a design flaw in atitvout. <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: It uses LRMI, if that means anything to you. <Overfiend> I would mail debian-x and [EMAIL PROTECTED] and ask what should be done about this <Overfiend> no wonder I haven't heard of it <Overfiend> we don't have LRMI on powerpc <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: Or BIOS, for that matter. :) <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: It's definitely x86 only. <Overfiend> JoshT: this may not be a fixable bug -- it sounds like atitvout isn't designed to respect anything else <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: Entirely reverse-engineered, since ATI won't give TV-out specs. <Overfiend> right, because Macrovision is the best company in the world <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: Exactly. :( <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: My impression is that they can't, not that they won't. <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: s/they/ATI/ <Overfiend> it's starting to sounds like a ubergeek's tool, not something mere mortals should be playing with <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: The internals are definitely deep magic. <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: But I know no other way to turn on TV-out for ATI cards. <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: If you do, I'm all ears. <Overfiend> well, I mean that it's a proof of concept that should spur further development in the X driver or GATOS or whatever <Overfiend> JoshTriplett: I don't :( <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: So you think that perhaps the functionality of atitvout could be added to X in a stateful way? <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: And in the meantime, you just want me to mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] and [EMAIL PROTECTED] ? <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: Or should I file a bug, so it isn't forgotten? <Overfiend> JoshTriplett: 1) possibly; 2) yes <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: (On atitvout, presumably, from what you've said.) <Overfiend> JoshTriplett: what you're asking for is a wishlist request. things acting weird after atitvout has poked the hardware is pretty much unfixable <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: True, but I would think it would be an important bug on atitvout. <Overfiend> vorlon: yes <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: (Or grave, if it doesn't work for anyone else.) <Overfiend> JoshTriplett: if it's not designed to be stateful, maybe not. <Overfiend> JoshTriplett: maybe just a big fat warning in the manpage <Overfiend> "This tool is a kludge to get around the extreme evil of the ATI and Macrovision companies." <Overfiend> "As such, it does kludgey things. Don't switch back to your X VT without turning TV out back off. You have been warned." <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: Actually, that isn't the problem. <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: It won't work in X at all. <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: Which renders it almost useless for me. <Overfiend> ah. <joshk> JoshTriplett: it still lets you put 'bb' on a tty <Overfiend> JoshTriplett: I would urge the maintainer to document these caveats in the manpage or even the package description, then. <joshk> and tha'ts pretty cool ;) <joshk> er <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: As in, if I start in X, in a resolution it can handle, and then run it, it doesn't work. <joshk> bb from tty on tv <JoshTriplett> Overfiend: That's a pretty big limitation. <Overfiend> JoshTriplett: please do mail the info from this conversation, though. I want this in the mailing list archives so Google will find it. [I am not subscribed to debian-x; please CC me on replies. Mail-Followup-To is set accordingly.] - Josh Triplett
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