I'm tinkering with a fresh install of R5C7, and I'm trying to get my s-video out configured. Searching here and on the wiki both point me to setting the resolution to 800x600 and then modifying the XF86Config-4, but I can't find any information on _how_ to set the system resolution (I have no linux experience).

I did see reference to entering "tv" at the boot: prompt, but I'm getting the impression that only works during installation. I tried it anyway, and it didn't recognize the command, but that my be due to the boot loader that's showing up (for some reason, it seems to think I have a windows partition on the drive--I don't).

Some hardware details (especially video card) might be helpful. The most straight forward way of changing the system resolution is via your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4. If we knew what hardware you're using we could point you to a preconfigured one that you could just drop in.

For example, in addition to the samples in the /etc/X11/ directory this one on the wiki http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php?page=XF86ConfigForFX5200HowTo is known to work for Nvidia FX5200 (or similar nVidia chipset) based cards connecting to an NTSC TV via S-Video. Connecting via Composite (yellow RCA phono jack) requires a simple chnage to that. For PAL you'd want a different config and there are at least a couple of those posted around here.

I really had intended to provide hardware info...guess it slipped my mind.

AMD 1800+ on an Asus A7V266-E; 512MB; ATi 7500

NTSC; no tuner as of yet

I'm getting video during bootup, but it fritzes when the GUI loads. I'll see if I can look through the samples...guess that means I need to figure out how to browse files, first

Well, no luck with the samples, but I did pull from here, and now I have my s-video working...but now it won't play videos that were working fine before--pressing enter from the library doesn't do anything at all.

It's trying my patience, but at least feel like I'm making progress.

Yeah, you're going to want to set up the ATI drivers. I think Cecil includes a script to do this in R5C7. This looks like the right one - install-radeon-debian.sh. Search the forums for that name and you should find the directions for running it.

Thanks for the tips, BTW

I've tried running the script, but it just returns a line stating that it doesn't see an ATI/Radeon card. I switched it back to "radeon" from "vesa", but no change.

I've started looking around the web for an updated driver, but it seems that ATi didn't start linux drivers until the 8500--I'm guessing that the third party drivers available for the 7500 haven't changed in a while are are available to the build already, but I don't know how to check that.

I haven't had time to tinker much in the past few days, but I'm getting excited enough about this box to start digging back into it--back to the search for me...

She's limping along....

I switched the vid player to xine, and now it plays my videos, but the quality leaves a bit to be desired--the frame rate and color depth are rather low (it throws up a dialog to let you know this, just in case you didn't notice). I'm thinking this is due to the use of the vesa drivers, as the files seem fine from my desktop box, and I would think the processor ought to be sufficient for the job.

Anyone know how I can get the aforementioned script to recognize my card? I still can't get the svideo out to funtion on the radeon driver.

As far as I'm aware, the ATi drivers only work for the 8500 on up...

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

cesman's right, ATI doesn't support cards that old, all that's available are attempts to reverse-engineer the drivers. And since they don't give specs or any info at all to driver writers, the drivers are slow and don't work very well. There's the one available in X, you can try setting the driver line in your device section to radeon:

Some options available for it are here. It doesn't mention anything about S-Video Out, however. This page has some info on getting tv-out working, with a couple of approaches (I notice that atitvout is available in the Debian repository).

All of this is likely to be a crapshoot, I doubt if the drivers have the kind of performance needed for full screen video playback, even if you get through all these setup routines. Your best bet would really be to go find a 20$ nvidia card with tv-out.