[MPlayer-users] Re: best graphical card for mplayer

[Bradley Rosser]

Patrice writes:

> > > Am I understanding that there is a way to switch between the two modes
> > > without rebooting? a HOWTO would *greatly* be appreciated as I wasn't
> > > able to find any working doc.
> >
> > Well, just use windows, the windows drivers could switch between all
> > modes iirc, the last time i used this was back in 1997.
> 
> Of course, but then I'd just *have* to reboot to be able to use a stable
> OS :)
> 
> Can't have both I guess...

That's what I thought about a year ago with my ATI Rage Fury Pro, and it
disturbed me no end.  I wanted to be able to execute long-running internet
downloads while still being able to switch in and out of tv-out mode;
tv-out for playing movies and out of that mode for desktop work (since
the tv-out fixed refresh rate of 60Hz would have driven me crazy).

I've found - for my Rage Fury Pro - that a 'mixture' of atitvout commands
works.  What I do is something like this:

o  I have two XFree86 configurations - one with the r128 driver for proper
   desktop work and another with the much dumber 'vesa' driver (I'm not
   on my system at the moment so I'm not sure of the name).

o  From normal desktop mode I can connect the tv and then run 'atitvout
   auto', once or perhaps twice, to get into tv mode.

o  To get OUT of tv-mode there's more jiggling involved.  Sometimes I
   used to think I was 'out' of tv-out mode but when running the r128
   X11 configuration the system would lock up and I'd have to reboot.
   My latest practice is:

   o  run 'atitvout c' three times (!)
   o  then run 'atitvout auto', which seems to 'commit' the 'atitvout c'
      change(s)
   o  then - I *think* this is required - run the 'vesa' X11 configuration.
   o  exit (control-alt-backspace) the X11 vesa config and run up
      the desktop X11

It sounds hokey, but it works for me, and allows me to keep long-running
Linux programs running under VNC while I get in and out of tv-out mode
and X11 server sessions.  And no need for Windows.

The procedure could no doubt be optimised greatly; I've just never bothered
to sort through the various steps and permutations.

I think it used to be easier with an older version of atitvout - minor
version .2? - but the latest version I have requires me to perform this
dance.

Still, it works, and allows me to stay totally within the same Linux session.
It might work for other ATI cards too.

Hope this helps.


Brad


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