Support for SIS graphics cards please

Development Discussion
#1

Hi all,

I was working on an old notebook which has the dreaded “SIS 671 graphics card” on it, guess what, it won’t boot with Ubuntu 15.10, 14.04 installs but leaves it with a res of 600 X 400 although it started with 800 X 600!.

So, this is a request to natively support SIS graphics cards from Ubuntu (Mate) 16.04 onwards.

I tried the following thread but to no avail and it is way too much for a noob to follow anyway!:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2215422

Before I hear someone scream: " it isn’t possible", I ended up installing PCLinuxOS LXDE and Rosa LXQT on the rig and both worked out of the box, PCLinuxOS LXDE is the (very) slightly better of the two graphics wise but Rosa LXQT looks better!. The user doesn’t need to do anything as the drivers automatically install !.

Mods, if this is placed in the wrong location, please move it to the correct one thanks!. :smiley:

Your inclusion of the SIS drivers in UM 16.04 would please an awful lot of people and win over users to Ubuntu Mate!. :smiley:

As a footnote, I did not try out the dev version of Ubuntu Mate 16.04 on the rig as I needed to get it finished and I didn’t want to leave the guy (who is a Linux noob) with a dev version of Linux!. :smiley:

#2

@wolfman, I don’t suppose this is any help…:sweat:

https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/sis

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#3

@mated,

thanks but that is for Ubuntu 12.04 only, I wanted the latest and greatest but Ubuntu don’t give a monkeys about SIS graphics it seems!. :confused:

I will give UM 16.04 Alpha a bash but I am not holding my breath!. :smiley:

This page hasn’t been edited since 2012!.:confused:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Sis

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#4

Someone (not me!) would have to take up support. Latest SIS driver patches did not
make it into Xorg managed source.

Driver patches: Someone would need to compare http://www.linuxconsulting.ro/xorg-drivers/
to what is in the Xorg source, patch the Xorg source and then build the Xorg software.

KMS: The source for Kernel modesetting would have to be found and updated.

Doable but not NOOB friendly at all:(

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#5

I tried to use UM 16.04 but the PC (laptop) wouldn’t entertain the idea and it just booted past the USB stick as if it wasn’t there!.

Specs (Generic brand laptop): 1GB RAM, 2MHZ Intel CPU, SIS 671 GPU with shared memory

#6

@Wimpy,

Your thoughts on this thread please sir. :smiley:

#7

Requires Xorg upstream fixes. Nothing I can do :frowning:

#8

Okay thanks @Wimpy.

Consider this solved. :smiley:

#9

Do you want to try some SIS code I’ve found?

#10

Hi Dave,

that might be nice but nothing too complicated please!.

Can you post it here so others can see it too?. :smiley:

I actually have 2 old SIS deb packages which I intend to try out on Ubuntu 12.04 and see if that does the trick!. :smiley:

#11

OK

What I want to try is the SIS Kernel Modesetting Driver to see if it works with the 671. We will
compile and load the driver via DKMS. I’ve got a script that does all of the heavy lifting for
DKMS so it should be easy.

(1) Let’s see what device we have. We should have PCI ID [1039:0671]. Verify by running

lspci -nn

(2) We should have loaded the sis_agp kernel driver. Verify lsmod | grep sis

(3) Let’s see what modules the Xorg server loads.

grep "oadModule" /var/log/Xorg.0.log

(We want to view modules that get loaded -and- unloaded. “oadModule” is not a typo.)

The Xorg server should be trying to find and load the “sis” and/or “sisfb” module. If true, we can
continue. Else, things get real complicated. I don’t think you want to rebuild the Xorg package.

#12

Thanks for that Dave but as I stated above, I have 2 SIS deb packages (32 Bit only) and I installed them on Ubuntu 12.04 then converted it all to Mate!. What you describe above is a bit too much for a noob to handle!.

If anyone wants the packages, PM me with your Email address and I will send them to you!. :smiley:

@mated. @Dave_Barnes

I used the Mate PPA for Ubuntu 12.04 ( http://www.webupd8.org/2014/03/how-to-install-mate-18-in-ubuntu.html ) on top of that, it isn’t a Rolls Royce but runs okay with 1024 X 768 max res!. :smiley:

#13

That’s OK. I’ll be here.

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#14

Good to know, I am not a noob btw; I just wanted to make sure that others reading the thread can get their heads around it!. :smiley:

Here is a screenshot of the desktop although it isn't quite finished!:

Workspace 1_001.jpeg1024×768 488 KB

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#15

I haven’t been a noob in so long I don’t know what it’s like.

Great desktop…

What sis driver did you end up with? The sis-imedia one?

#16

Hi Dave,

I used this one: xorg-driver-sis671_0.9_i386.deb

I also have this one: xorg-driver-sisimedia_0.9-1_i386.deb

I did have to run a small fix after installing the package by running:

sudo apt-get install -f

to satisfy dependencies!. :smiley:

I have had the packages since Ubuntu 9. :smiley:

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#17

Not quite Ubuntu-Mate, but Scientific Linux 6.7 still runs on some fairly old hardware, and has updates until 2020 if I’m not mistaken. Pretty certain it still contains sis drivers.

2 Likes
#18

Thanks @misterA, I’ll take a look at that, I have never used it because I can’t spell scientafiec!. :smiley:

#19

I took a look on their forum and a lot of the messages about SIS are quite old and basically the same problems as they are with Ubuntu!. :frowning:

I have Ubuntu 12.04 and the Mate DE installed and it works fine(ish) so I will stick with that. :smiley:

PCLinuxOS Mate/LXDE and Rosa Linux work but have problems with the special function keys (FN + a key for sound, brilliance etc!).

#20

After more research; I found this answer and now have Ubuntu Mate 14.04 installed!:

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