NAME

ffb — Sun accelerated 24-bit color frame buffer

SYNOPSIS

ffb* at mainbus0 addr 0xff8de000: Creator3D, model SUNW,501-4790, dac 10 (UltraSPARC II horizontal)
ffb* at mainbus0 addr 0xfeb80000: Creator3D, model SUNW,501-4788, dac 10 (UltraSPARC II vertical)
ffb* at mainbus0: Elite3D, model SUNW,540-3623, dac 10 (UltraSPARC II vertical)
ffb* at upa0: Creator3D, model SUNW,501-4788, dac 10 (UltraSPARC III vertical)
ffb* at upa0: Elite3D, model SUNW,540-3623, dac 10 (UltraSPARC III vertical)

DESCRIPTION

The ffb is a UPA based color frame buffer, found in some Sun SBus and PCI systems. The ffb driver supports both the Creator/Creator3D, and the Elite3D frame buffers.

There are several versions of the ffb board. The Sun part numbers and board types are:

501-2634

Creator Series 1 (FFB)

Ultra1, Ultra2

501-4127

Creator Series 1 (FFB)

Ultra1, Ultra2, Enterprisexx00

501-2633

Creator 3D Series 1 (FFB)

Ultra1, Ultra2

501-3129

Creator 3D Series 1 (FFB)

Ultra1, Ultra2, Enterprisexx00

501-4126

Creator 3D Series 1 (FFB)

Ultra1, Ultra2

501-4174

Creator Series 2 (FFB2)

Ultra 30, Ultra 60

501-4173

Creator3D Series 2 (FFB2)

Ultra1, Ultra2, Enterprisexx00

501-4172

Creator3D Series 2 (FFB2)

Ultra30, Ultra60

501-4789

Creator Series 3 (FFB2+)

Ultra10, Ultra30, Ultra60

501-4790

Creator 3D Series 3 (FFB2+)

Ultra2, Enterprisexx00

501-4788, 501-5690

Creator 3D Series 3 (FFB2+)

Ultra10, Ultra30, Ultra60, Blade1000, Blade2000

501-4860, 501-5268, 501-5201, 501-5484

Elite3D-m3 Series 1 (AFB)

Ultra10, Ultra30, Ultra60, Ultra80

540-3623, 540-3902

Elite3D-m6 Series 1 (AFB)

Ultra10, Ultra30, Ultra60, Ultra80

501-5574, 501-5575

Elite3D-m3 Series 2 (AFB)

Ultra10, Ultra30, Ultra60, Ultra80, Blade1000, Blade2000

540-4313

Elite3D-m6 Series 2 (AFB)

Ultra10, Ultra30, Ultra60, Ultra80, Blade1000, Blade2000

540-3058, 540-3979, 540-4335

Elite3D-m6 (AFB)

Ultra2, Ultra450, Enterprisexx00

The ‘Creator' cards have 5MB of on-board memory, support a maximum graphics resolution of 1280x1024, and are single-buffered.

The ‘Creator3D' cards have 15MB of on-board memory support a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 double-buffered, and 1920x1360 single-buffered.

The ‘Elite3D' cards have 15MB of on-board memory, support a maximum resolution of 1280x1024, and are always double-buffered. The ‘Elite3D-m3' cards have one hardware geometry engine, whereas the ‘Elite3D-m6' cards have two.

The ‘Series 3' cards are considerably faster than the ‘Series 1' and ‘Series 2' cards.

The ffb driver supports reading EDID data from connected monitors, and will automatically set a resolution that is supported by both the card and the monitor if the EDID data can be read. This can be overridden for the console frame buffer, by setting the output-device openprom variable. For example, the following openprom command will set the console resolution to 1280x1024 @ 60Hz, which will not be altered by the ffb driver.

setenv output-device screen:r1280x1024x60

SEE ALSO

eeprom(8)

BUGS

It is necessary to blank the video output when reading EDID data.

The ffb driver does not support 3D acceleration.

Not all 13W3 to VGA converters connect 13W3 pin 2 to VGA pin 9. This pin supplies +5V DC to power the monitor EEPROM, even when the monitor is powered off, and is necessary in order to obtain EDID data on some monitors.

Adapters that are known to connect these pins are:

530-2917

13W3 cable

130-3034

VGA cable

Adapters that are known not to connect these pins are:

530-2357

13W3 cable