[MPlayer-users] Re: RH8: Can't Use VESA, Even As Root

[Dan8827]

Thanks to those who have contributed ideas so far.  I haven't fixed this
yet, but I might have learned more about the problem.  I've done some
experimenting, and some reading on this list and Google.  Also, I booted
into Redhat 7.0, ran the same file (successfully) , and compared the
messages to those on Redhat 8.0.  Here's what I've learned:

1. The "VO: Comment: Requires ROOT privileges" is apparently for
information only, not an indication that it failed to obtain root
privileges.  I get the same message on Redhat 7.0 when VESA is
successful.

2. I gave fbdev a try, but without success.  I believe that's not
supported in Redhat, and I'm not looking to build my own kernel just
yet.  I could be wrong here - I'll admit I haven't R'd the FM when it
comes to fbdev.

3. Switching to gentoo apparently won't help, as there was a post today
from a gentoo user with the same difficulty.  :)

Here's a portion of the output from mplayer under Redhat:

-------
VO Config (640x360->640x360,flags=1,'MPlayer',0x32315659)
VO: [vesa] 640x360 => 640x360 Planar YV12  [fs]
VO: Description: VESA VBE 2.0 video output
VO: Author: Nick Kurshev <nickols_k at mail.ru>
VO: Comment: Requires ROOT privileges
[?25lvo_vesa: Found VESA VBE BIOS Version 2.0 Revision: 100
vo_vesa: Video memory: 32768 Kb
vo_vesa: VESA Capabilities: 8-bit DAC, VGA CRTC, normal RAMDAC, no
stereoscopic, no stereo
vo_vesa: !!! Below will be printed OEM info. !!!
vo_vesa: You should watch 5 OEM related lines below else you've broken
vm86
vo_vesa: OEM info: ATI RAGE128
vo_vesa: OEM Revision: 100
vo_vesa: OEM vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
vo_vesa: OEM Product Name: R128
vo_vesa: OEM Product Rev: 01.00
vo_vesa: Hint: To get workable TV-Out you should have plugged
tv-connector in
vo_vesa: before booting PC since VESA BIOS initializes itself only
during POST
vo_vesa: Requested mode: 640x360 at 16 (Planar YV12)
vo_vesa: Total modes found: 56
------

On Redhat 8, the message immediately after "VO: Comment: Requires ROOT
privileges" was "Killed", at which point mplayer stops.

As seen above, Redhat 7.0 continues with the following message:
"vo_vesa: Found VESA VBE BIOS Version 2.0 Revision: 100"  

...so I'd presume the problem is somehow related to the VESA BIOS.  Any
thoughts on what might cause Redhat 8 to stumble at this point?  It's
the same video card between 7.0 and 8.0.  Also, X appears to be
accessing the VBE BIOS under 8.0 without a problem; here's a bit from
/var/log/XFree86.0.log:

(II) Loading sub module "vbe"
(II) LoadModule: "vbe"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libvbe.a
(II) Module vbe: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
	compiled for 4.2.0, module version = 1.0.0
	ABI class: XFree86 Video Driver, version 0.5
(II) R128(0): VESA BIOS detected
(II) R128(0): VESA VBE Version 2.0
(II) R128(0): VESA VBE Total Mem: 32768 kB
(II) R128(0): VESA VBE OEM: ATI RAGE128
(II) R128(0): VESA VBE OEM Software Rev: 1.0
(II) R128(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
(II) R128(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: R128
(II) R128(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: 01.00

Any advice on what the check next?

Thanks again.

--
Damian
Increasing The Entropy Of The Universe Since 1972