<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title>8.7. Matrox framebuffer (mga_vid)</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="default.css" type="text/css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.75.2"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="MPlayer - The Movie Player"><link rel="up" href="video.html" title="Chapter 8. Video output devices"><link rel="prev" href="fbdev.html" title="8.6. Framebuffer output (FBdev)"><link rel="next" href="tdfxfb.html" title="8.8. 3Dfx YUV support"><link rel="preface" href="howtoread.html" title="How to read this documentation"><link rel="chapter" href="intro.html" title="Chapter 1. Introduction"><link rel="chapter" href="install.html" title="Chapter 2. Installation"><link rel="chapter" href="usage.html" title="Chapter 3. Usage"><link rel="chapter" href="advaudio.html" title="Chapter 4. Advanced audio usage"><link rel="chapter" href="cd-dvd.html" title="Chapter 5. 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Matrox framebuffer (mga_vid)</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="fbdev.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 8. Video output devices</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="tdfxfb.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></div><div class="sect1" title="8.7. Matrox framebuffer (mga_vid)"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="mga_vid"></a>8.7. Matrox framebuffer (mga_vid)</h2></div></div></div><p> <code class="systemitem">mga_vid</code> is a combination of a video output driver and a Linux kernel module that utilizes the Matrox G200/G400/G450/G550 video scaler/overlay unit to perform YUV->RGB colorspace conversion and arbitrary video scaling. <code class="systemitem">mga_vid</code> has hardware VSYNC support with triple buffering. It works on both a framebuffer console and under X, but only with Linux 2.4.x. </p><p> For a Linux 2.6.x version of this driver check out <a class="ulink" href="http://attila.kinali.ch/mga/" target="_top">http://attila.kinali.ch/mga/</a> or have a look at the external Subversion repository of mga_vid which can be checked out via </p><pre class="screen"> svn checkout svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/mga_vid </pre><p> </p><div class="procedure" title="Installation:"><a name="id331915"></a><p class="title"><b>Installation:</b></p><ol class="procedure" type="1"><li class="step" title="Step 1"><p> To use it, you first have to compile <tt class="filename">drivers/mga_vid.o</tt>: </p><pre class="screen"> make drivers</pre><p> </p></li><li class="step" title="Step 2"><p> Then run (as <code class="systemitem">root</code>) </p><pre class="screen">make install-drivers</pre><p> which should install the module and create the device node for you. Load the driver with </p><pre class="screen">insmod mga_vid.o</pre><p> </p></li><li class="step" title="Step 3"><p> You should verify the memory size detection using the <span class="command"><strong>dmesg</strong></span> command. If it's bad, use the <tt class="option">mga_ram_size</tt> option (<span class="command"><strong>rmmod mga_vid</strong></span> first), specify card's memory size in MB: </p><pre class="screen">insmod mga_vid.o mga_ram_size=16</pre><p> </p></li><li class="step" title="Step 4"><p> To make it load/unload automatically when needed, first insert the following line at the end of <tt class="filename">/etc/modules.conf</tt>: </p><pre class="programlisting">alias char-major-178 mga_vid</pre><p> </p></li><li class="step" title="Step 5"><p> Now you have to (re)compile <span class="application">MPlayer</span>, <span class="command"><strong>./configure</strong></span> will detect <tt class="filename">/dev/mga_vid</tt> and build the 'mga' driver. Using it from <span class="application">MPlayer</span> goes by <tt class="option">-vo mga</tt> if you have matroxfb console, or <tt class="option">-vo xmga</tt> under XFree86 3.x.x or 4.x.x. </p></li></ol></div><p> The mga_vid driver cooperates with Xv. </p><p> The <tt class="filename">/dev/mga_vid</tt> device file can be read for some info, for example by </p><pre class="screen">cat /dev/mga_vid</pre><p> and can be written for brightness change: </p><pre class="screen">echo "brightness=120" > /dev/mga_vid</pre><p> </p><p> There is a test application called <span class="command"><strong>mga_vid_test</strong></span> in the same directory. It should draw 256x256 images on the screen if all is working well. </p></div><div class="navfooter"><hr><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="fbdev.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="video.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="tdfxfb.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">8.6. Framebuffer output (FBdev) </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 8.8. 3Dfx YUV support</td></tr></table></div></body></html>