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Shuttle SN41G2, PVR 250
http://forum.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1150		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  tjc [ Tue Apr 06, 2004 5:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Shuttle SN41G2, PVR 250
Hardware:

Shuttle SN41G2 (NVidia nforce2 chipset)
Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton) 333 FSB, 512K cache, OEM
Kingston Value RAM 512Mb DDR333/PC2700
Western Digital WD800JB (80Gb, 7200 rpm, 8Mb cache)
Sony DDU1612 DVD/CD-ROM drive
Hauppauge WinTV PVR 250

Gotchas:

- Given the WD HD & nforce2 combo ALWAYS JUMPER FOR CABLE SELECT. I wasted a bunch of hours on that little issue... 8-(

- Make sure you flash the BIOS to the latest version (FN41S025) from Shuttle's website. Their BIOS change notes are nearly useless and don't indicate any of the problems this fixes. These include hard freezes under heavy disk activity, freezing when both the disk and PVR-250 are busy, locking up randomly, ... It's also important to follow their directions to "load optimized defaults" after flashing, since this changes some important defaults related to this issue. I wasted WEEKS trying to track down this instability. 8-(

Sizing:

- This CPU is overkill given hardware encoding. The RAM seems to be about right.

- 80Gb is just *NOT* enough space. Get the biggest disk you can. The 200Gb Seagate ST3200822A is plenty fast, quiet and cool.

Installation:

- Follow the directions elsewhere in the forums and intervene in the install to update XMLTV and the like.

- Directions to get TV out working will follow...

- There are several non-obvious linkages inside the MythTV configuration, more on those later...

General thoughts:

- The Biostar boxes have tidier internals and are easier to populate. If it weren't for the stupid sliding door I'd have used one of those here. They're also easier to flash because the updater is built right into the BIOS.

- KnoppMyth is an utterly brilliant bit of work, especially in how it makes setting everything up and dealing with the NVidia chip set painless.
Author:  tjc [ Sun May 16, 2004 3:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Twinview set up for SN41G2
This is what I did to get twinview working and getting the fonts back to a reasonable size. As root:

- run install-nvidia.sh to get the driver installed.

- edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 as follows

Code:
Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "XFree86 Configured"
        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
        InputDevice    "PS/2 Mouse" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
        Option "AllowMouseOpenFail"  "true"
        Option  "NoPM"  "true"
EndSection

Section "Files"
        RgbPath      "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
        ModulePath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/PEX"
# Additional fonts: Locale, Gimp, TTF...
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
#       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/75dpi"
#       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/100dpi"
# True type and type1 fonts are also handled via xftlib, see /etc/X11/XftConfig!
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ttf/western"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ttf/decoratives"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype"
#       FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/openoffice"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-bitstream-vera"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/latex-ttf-fonts"
#       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/defoma/CID"
#       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/defoma/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load  "ddc"  # ddc probing of monitor
#       Load  "GLcore"
        Load  "dbe"
        Load  "v4l"
        Load  "extmod"
        Load  "glx"
        Load  "bitmap" # bitmap-fonts
        Load  "speedo"
        Load  "type1"
        Load  "freetype"
        Load  "record"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Keyboard0"
        Driver      "keyboard"
        Option      "CoreKeyboard"
        Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
        Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
        Option "XkbLayout" "us"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "PS/2 Mouse"
        Driver      "mouse"
        Option      "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
        Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/psaux"
        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
        Option      "Emulate3Timeout" "70"
        Option      "SendCoreEvents"  "true"
EndSection

# Auto-generated by KNOPPIX mkxf86config

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName      "EPI"
        ModelName       "EPId790"
        #DisplaySize 204 153 # 100 DPI @ 800x600
        DisplaySize 271 204  #  75 DPI @ 800x600
        #DisplaySize 535 415 # Real screen measurements
        HorizSync 30 - 95 # DDC-probed
        VertRefresh 50 - 160 # DDC-probed
        # These are the DDC-probed settings reported by your monitor.
        Modeline "640x480" 25.175 640 664 760 800 480 491 493 525 #60Hz
        Modeline "800x600" 40.12 800 848 968 1056 600 601 605 628 #60Hz

        # 800x600, 85.0Hz; hfreq=53.67, vfreq=85.06
        ModeLine "800x600"       56.25  800  832  896 1048  600  601  604  631 +hsync +vsync
        # 800x600, 75.0Hz; hfreq=46.88, vfreq=75.00
        ModeLine "800x600"       49.50  800  816  896 1056  600  601  604  625 +hsync +vsync
        # 800x600, 72.0Hz; hfreq=48.08, vfreq=72.19
        ModeLine "800x600"       50.00  800  856  976 1040  600  637  643  666 +hsync +vsync
        # 800x600, 60.0Hz; hfreq=37.88, vfreq=60.32
        ModeLine "800x600"       40.00  800  840  968 1056  600  601  605  628 +hsync +vsync
        # 640x480, 85.0Hz; hfreq=43.27, vfreq=85.01
        ModeLine "640x480"       36.00  640  696  752  832  480  481  484  509 -hsync -vsync
        # 640x480, 75.0Hz; hfreq=37.50, vfreq=75.00
        ModeLine "640x480"       31.50  640  656  720  840  480  481  484  500 -hsync -vsync
        # 640x480, 60.0Hz; hfreq=31.47, vfreq=59.94
        ModeLine "640x480"       25.17  640  648  744  784  480  482  484  509 -hsync -vsync
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Card0"
        Driver      "nvidia"
        VendorName  "Shuttle"
        BoardName   "nVidia GeForce 4 MX"
        #Option     "RenderAccel" "1"

        # TV Out Setup
        Option "TwinView" "1"
        Option "TwinViewOrientation" "Clone"
        Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT, TV"
        Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "30-50"
        Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "60"
        Option "MetaModes" "800x600, 800x600; 800x600, 640x480; 640x480, 640x480;640x480, NULL;NULL, 640x480"
        #Option "MetaModes" "1024x768, 1024x768; 800x600, 800x600; 640x480, 640x480;"
        Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
        Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
        Option "TVOverScan" "0.7"

        Option "NoLogo" "1"
        # sw_cursor is needed for some ati and radeon cards
        Option      "sw_cursor"
        # Other options...
        #Option     "hw_cursor"
        #Option     "NoAccel"
        #Option     "ShowCache"
        #Option     "ShadowFB"
        #Option     "UseFBDev"
        #Option     "Rotate"
        # The following line is auto-generated by KNOPPIX mkxf86config
        #BusID      "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Card0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        DefaultColorDepth 24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     1
                Modes "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     4
                Modes "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     8
                Modes "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     15
                Modes "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     16
                Modes "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     24
                Modes "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     32
                Modes "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

#Section "DRI"
#       Mode 0666
#EndSection


- Run /etc/init.d/gdm restart

This is mainly useful for fine tuning your X config since it will let you fall back on the monitor. On the other hand, the xv controls won't work so you can't adjust the color, contrast, and so on.
Author:  Xsecrets [ Sun May 16, 2004 3:56 pm ]
Post subject: 
I may be completely off base here, but I think if you do connectedmonitor tv, crt then you should have xv on the tv. I know you can only do xv on one screen, but I thought there was a way to put it on the one you want.
Author:  tjc [ Sun May 16, 2004 3:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Switching to pure TV out
This is what I did to switch over to using the TV as the sole display on the system. BTW - I didn't mention it above, but MAKE A BACKUP before you start hacking your XF86Config-4 file! ;-) As root:

- Unplug the monitor from the system

- Edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 as follows
Code:
Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "XFree86 Configured"
        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
        InputDevice    "PS/2 Mouse" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
        Option "AllowMouseOpenFail"  "true"
        Option  "NoPM"  "true"
EndSection

Section "Files"
        RgbPath      "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
        ModulePath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/PEX"
# Additional fonts: Locale, Gimp, TTF...
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
#       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/75dpi"
#       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/100dpi"
# True type and type1 fonts are also handled via xftlib, see /etc/X11/XftConfig!
        FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ttf/western"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ttf/decoratives"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype"
#       FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/openoffice"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-bitstream-vera"
        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/latex-ttf-fonts"
#       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/defoma/CID"
#       FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/defoma/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
#       Load  "ddc"  # ddc probing of monitor
#       Load  "GLcore"
        Load  "dbe"
        Load  "v4l"
        Load  "extmod"
        Load  "glx"
        Load  "bitmap" # bitmap-fonts
        Load  "speedo"
        Load  "type1"
        Load  "freetype"
        Load  "record"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Keyboard0"
        Driver      "keyboard"
        Option      "CoreKeyboard"
        Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
        Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
        Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "PS/2 Mouse"
        Driver      "mouse"
        Option      "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
        Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/psaux"
        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
        Option      "Emulate3Timeout" "70"
        Option      "SendCoreEvents"  "true"
EndSection

# Auto-generated by KNOPPIX mkxf86config

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        Option "ConnectedMonitor" "TV"
        Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
        Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
        Option "TVOverScan" "0.7"
        Option "NoLogo" "1"
        VendorName      "Panasonic"
        ModelName       "CT-27SF22T1"
        HorizSync 30 - 50 # DDC-probed
        VertRefresh 60 # DDC-probed
        #DisplaySize 204 153 # 100 DPI @ 800x600
        DisplaySize 271 204  #  75 DPI @ 800x600
        #DisplaySize 535 415 # Real measurements
        # These are the DDC-probed settings reported by your monitor.
        Modeline "640x480" 25.175 640 664 760 800 480 491 493 525 #60Hz
        Modeline "800x600" 40.12 800 848 968 1056 600 601 605 628 #60Hz
        # 800x600, 85.0Hz; hfreq=53.67, vfreq=85.06
        ModeLine "800x600"       56.25  800  832  896 1048  600  601  604  631 +hsync +vsync
        # 800x600, 75.0Hz; hfreq=46.88, vfreq=75.00
        ModeLine "800x600"       49.50  800  816  896 1056  600  601  604  625 +hsync +vsync
        # 800x600, 72.0Hz; hfreq=48.08, vfreq=72.19
        ModeLine "800x600"       50.00  800  856  976 1040  600  637  643  666 +hsync +vsync
        # 800x600, 60.0Hz; hfreq=37.88, vfreq=60.32
        ModeLine "800x600"       40.00  800  840  968 1056  600  601  605  628 +hsync +vsync
        # 640x480, 85.0Hz; hfreq=43.27, vfreq=85.01
        ModeLine "640x480"       36.00  640  696  752  832  480  481  484  509 -hsync -vsync
        # 640x480, 75.0Hz; hfreq=37.50, vfreq=75.00
        ModeLine "640x480"       31.50  640  656  720  840  480  481  484  500 -hsync -vsync
        # 640x480, 60.0Hz; hfreq=31.47, vfreq=59.94
        ModeLine "640x480"       25.17  640  648  744  784  480  482  484  509 -hsync -vsync
EndSection
Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Card0"
        Driver      "nvidia"
        VendorName  "Shuttle"
        BoardName   "nVidia GeForce 4 MX"
        #Option     "RenderAccel" "1"

        # TV Out Setup - Does this still belong here?
        Option "ConnectedMonitor" "TV"
        Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
        Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
        Option "TVOverScan" "0.7"

        Option "NoLogo" "1"
        # sw_cursor is needed for some ati and radeon cards
        Option      "sw_cursor"
        # Other options...
        #Option     "hw_cursor"
        #Option     "NoAccel"
        #Option     "ShowCache"
        #Option     "ShadowFB"
        #Option     "UseFBDev"
        #Option     "Rotate"
        # The following line is auto-generated by KNOPPIX mkxf86config
        #BusID      "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Card0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        DefaultColorDepth 24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     1
                Modes "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     4
                Modes "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     8
                Modes "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     15
                Modes "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     16
                Modes "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     24
                Modes "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     32
                Modes "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

#Section "DRI"
#       Mode 0666
#EndSection


- run /etc/init.d/gdm restart
Author:  tjc [ Sun May 16, 2004 4:24 pm ]
Post subject: 
XSecrets - The xv controls simply didn't work at all in twinview. Even directly setting the values in the database didn't make any difference on the TV or the monitor as far as I could tell.

Which reminds me that I wanted to include the types of adjustments to make there. I found that to get rid of the awful oversaturated colors I not only had to adjust the colors and hue settings but tweak the contrast and brightness considerably. Current settings are:

PlaybackBrightness 57
PlaybackColour 33
PlaybackContrast 72
PlaybackHue 0

Note that once you get close, even changing these by one step can make a big difference. I also noted that the hue setting seems to wrap around, so if you need to go "lower than 0" try running it all the way up to 99. Pushing the contrast way up cured some issues that came from turning the color setting down, but too much led to washed out flesh tones and no detail in dark areas. YMMV, and quite considerably. I suspect that the issue is 90% the SN41G2's built in GF4 and 10% the television you're displaying it on, but that's just a S.W.A.G.

Oh, and I'm using big fat S-Video cable to connect the TV to the Myth box. Composite is also an option since an adapter comes with the SN41G2, but be sure to change the TVOutFormat setting in your XF86Config-4 file. I have no idea what other adjustments would be required.
Author:  cards [ Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:33 pm ]
Post subject: 
tjc, would it be possible for you to highlight the things you had to change in those XF86Config-4 files? I'm poking through mine, trying to match everything to what you have...and so far everything is the same. Just thinking if you could highlight the changes it would really help me out. Thanks!

EDIT: Nevermind...I took the XF86Config-4.nvidia-tvout.sample and changed the tv out mode from "S-VIDEO" to "RCA" (because that's what I'm using...) and it worked! :)
Author:  tjc [ Wed Sep 01, 2004 8:33 pm ]
Post subject: 
Another option is to do something like this. In a terminal window run the following comand. (BTW - don't try to copy this by hand, cut and paste is your friend!)
Code:
cat >sample.xf86config-4

Now cut and paste with your mouse from the XF86Config-4 code block above into that window. Finally make sure your focus is in that window and hit control-D. Now run the following comand:
Code:
diff -w /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 sample.xf86config-4 | more

This will show you the changes other than those which only involve whitespace.

If you think that's hardcore Unix geekdom, you should have seen some of the things I was showing people how to do with find earlier today. ;-)
Author:  davem [ Thu Sep 02, 2004 8:23 am ]
Post subject: 
You gotta drop "more" in favor of "less". ;) It allows scrolling.
Author:  tjc [ Thu Sep 02, 2004 6:04 pm ]
Post subject: 
Yeah but I still use "more" for the same reason that I always use "-print" at the end of a "find" command. I spent too many years as the porting guy and the on-call troubleshooting guy.

It wasn't unusual for me to find myself on a (possibly international) flight with tapes in a half dozen common formats in my briefcase going to meet a Unix (or Unix-like) system I'd never seen before and make a pile of software work on it, or rooting around the inards of a machine by remote control at 3AM over a slow international link to fix some problem.

Under those circumstances what you type by reflex gets very generic and portable just out of self defense. ;-)
Author:  davem [ Thu Sep 02, 2004 9:10 pm ]
Post subject: 
Know what you mean. We're still supporting quite a few machines that are hpux, but I still take advantage of the niceties of linux/bash and all the updated utils. :)
Author:  tjc [ Sat Sep 04, 2004 2:25 pm ]
Post subject: 
First thing on my tapes was a GNU tool kit. Porting is a lot easier if you're using a known compiler and the like. ;-) You still end up spend a lot of time in environments that are less capable, which is what builds those reflexes to use the portable subset...

As for hpsux, it was the only system more miserable to port things to than SCO, and that's saying something.
Author:  Liv2Cod [ Fri Sep 10, 2004 1:44 pm ]
Post subject: 
tjc wrote:
As for hpsux, it was the only system more miserable to port things to than SCO, and that's saying something.


Just think, if Hewlett-Packard had been named Packard-Hewlett instead, we'd be talking about the PHUX operating system.
Author:  mattshaw [ Fri Apr 22, 2005 1:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Large Font problem in R5A12
Hey tjc,

thanks for the tip to try and make the fonts smaller. I have the Nvidia drivers loaded, and am connected to a tv.

But unfortunately your tip didn't help. I originally copied the sample XF86Config for Nvidia. This didnt have a displaysize section in it, so I copied the line from your sample above, no joy !!!!! I also #'d out the Fontpath entries with 100dpi in them, still no joy !!!! (I did reboot after these changes)

I also have a couple more problems, I cannot switch to a console session with CTRL ALT F1, just a blank screen. I looked it up in the forum and ithere was one entry that said to # out the vga=normal entry in lilo.conf, do a lilo -v and then reboot. No joy !!!!! Strange thing is I have another working R4V5 box, which is fine for a console on the same tv ???

Any ideas ???

Thankx in advance

Matt Shaw
Author:  tjc [ Fri Apr 22, 2005 2:11 pm ]
Post subject: 
In R5Axx Cecil did something special to make it use the big fonts and I don't remember the details...
Author:  Xsecrets [ Fri Apr 22, 2005 2:31 pm ]
Post subject: 
You are probably thinking about the 100dpi stuff in gdm, but I think he is undoing that in the latest test releases.
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