Sun

I've just finished creating an XVR-100 work-alike from a cheaper ATI branded Mac Radeon card. Not only that, but I can display my console output via DVI.

To do this, you'll need an honest to goodness 32MB ATI branded Mac Radeon 7000. I've tried this experiment with a couple of no-name "powered by ATI" cards without success. You'll also need a PeeCee and a Windows boot disk. Anyone who has philosophical objections to that can stop reading now
(FWIW, I created my boot disk via FC4)

Grab a copy of the Radeon firmware flash utility. I got mine via a link here: http://www.appletalk.com.au/articles/in ... rticle=352

Next you'll need a copy of the 1.61 firmware for the XVR-100. If you've already got an XVR-100 with this firmware then you're golden. If not then you should be able to get this firmware from Sun. Pending mod approval I can also post a link to a public webserver that offers this patch.

Back up the Mac BIOS. Hey, you might want to go back. Besides, "measure twice, cut once" is a good rule to live by.

Load the Sun firmware using the flash utility.

Drop your new XVR-100 clone into a Sun box and enjoy DVI console goodness. Hey, it beats the 8 color 800x600 I get from the built in Rage chipset on my U5

Edit: If you don't have the 1.61 firmware the reflash should still work. You'll just be missing out on the DVI console output.

Hmm, I might have a Mac PCI Radeon 7000 out in the garage; I'll have to dig around and see. If so I'll make it available if it's needed.

Sweet. Glad to hear the card is working out. A little surprised to see where it ended up though

Hey, I gotta scrounge my pennies for a B&W and an XVR-1000

coredog64 wrote: Next you'll need a copy of the 1.61 firmware for the XVR-100. If you've already got an XVR-100 with this firmware then you're golden. If not then you should be able to get this firmware from Sun. Pending mod approval I can also post a link to a public webserver that offers this patch.

Great stuff!!! Since I got my hands on a Mac Radeon 7k, I would like to do the trick! Could you please point me to the exact file with the 1.61 firmware from Sun? Their pages are a bit chaotic and I always get confused...
Another thing: Is all this worth the try? I have two U10s and a U60 that run Sol8, 9 and 11 respectively! I've read (older) threads about the XVR100 being dead slow, even for the desktop refresh etc. with the Ultras! Is this a matter of HW, or just lousy drivers from Sun? I suspect the second case, since I've seen a lot of patches for Solaris/XVR100 hanging around...

I'd advise sticking with UPA framebuffers- better bandwidth. Creator3D isn't particularly great for complex 3D stuff, but you've got a SGI. Elite3D is O.K., not worth what Sun charged but you don't have to pay that .
UPA framebuffers keep all the graphics data off the PCI bus- bit like XIO. It's a Good Thing

@saq:
Yes, I totally agree with you! Anyone who has an SGI machine, never needs a Sun box, in matter of graphics
But I just like "transplant surgery" HW operations VERY much and this is a very good occasion for me having a cheap XVR100, just for the experience! The most probable thing is to get disappointed of its performance stick back to Creator3D after a while, but need to see it first
Another thing is, that I still cannot admit that Sun Ultras, which are very good machines in general, can't have a basic contemporary video performance of even a poor and humble 6-7 years old PeeCee..
If I could just find the 1.61 firmware file from Sun...

I need to dig through my links to find it. If it helps, I originally found it via Google. I believe it was Lockheed Martin or somesuch company hosting a collection of useful Sun downloads.

Found it:
It was Google Groups and not generic Google.

Group message:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.uni ... dd36f78242

General Dynamics (hey, I was close) download:
http://chs2.gdc4s.com/sw_supt.htm

Enjoy!

:):)
Thanks!!!
I'll be back with my impressions, as soon as I find the time for the experiment and some testing

Hello,
Can anyone post here the ROM of a real XVR-100 in a zip file to flash my ATI 7000 PCI 32MB ?

Thank you

Why do you need a Mac Radeon? Flash size? Similarities with the Sun part?

What happens if you insert a Mac Radeon on a Sun box? Is the OFW Fcode compatible with the Sun OBP?

Why do you need a Mac Radeon? Flash size? Similarities with the Sun part?

Yes and yes. The Mac Radeons have larger flash memory and the firmware updater expects the firmware to be that size.

You can dink with it and use "dd" to cut it down to half the size (most of the Sun firmware is zeroed out) I didn't have a lot of success doing so with an off-brand Radeon 7000, even one that typically flashes well to the Mac version.

What happens if you insert a Mac Radeon on a Sun box? Is the OFW Fcode compatible with the Sun OBP?

I never even bothered to try.

Can anyone post here the ROM of a real XVR-100 in a zip file to flash my ATI 7000 PCI 32MB ?

The General Dynamics link posted above has the ROM from a real XVR-100. Not only that, it has the best ROM version:

http://chs2.gdc4s.com/SW_Support/XVR-100(32MB )%20DVI%20Output%20at%20the%20OBP%20Level/xvr100-DVI_console-040512.tar.Z

Is this the ROM file that you are speaking coredog64 ?

pfb_prom_update_1_61.sh

Do I have to rename it to "something.rom" ?

Please write me the command line that I have to type to upgrade my ATI Radeon 7000 PCI Mac version to a XVR-100 card with the "dd".

The download file is a self-extracting shell script. It should (operating from memory here) give you the actual ROM as well as Solaris tools for reading/writing XVR-100 ROMs.

If I get some time later today I can go through the process and call out the exact name of the ROM file.

coredog64: I have an ultra60 with Creator-3D. When I put my ATI Radeon 7000 PCI (mac firmware) as a second graphic card, I have not screen at Creator's connected monitor. I have also tested this with a PGX32 (as a first card) and ATI (as a second) and I have not screen at PGX's monitor too.

So, if you have the bios can you send it to flash my ATI card from a PC ?

I have bought a Sun Enterprise 250 mainly to run and compile Linux software but I have enough drives to install all kinds of operating systems such as Solaris and BSDs. It includes a Tech Source GFX 8P graphics adapter but I would like to try a Radeon 7000 or 9250 PCI which I have kept around for this kind of purpose.

Is there a way to get one of these cards up and running as the main adapter instead of the old and slow GFX 8P, which is not very well supported on Linux? If this is possible I intend to buy several more Ultra workstations.

If it's a Radeon 7000, and you can turn it into an XVR-100, then you can just yoink out the GFX8P (PGX32), and drop the MacGyvered XVR-100 in there instead. If it lacks Sun firmware then it can't be the primary. (Of course, under Linux/BSD you could trivially make Xorg use it instead, if it can be initialized).

The GFX8p/PGX32 is actually a Permedia2, IIRC, so it should work OK under Linux, though.

Anyone still have the the patcher and the 1.61 firmware for this card?
None of the links in the early portion of this thread seem to work anymore and an evening of googling hasn't helped either.
I even had a Sun admin friend root through sunsolve hunting for the patch with no luck.
Even a patch number would help, then we could dig it out of Sun ourselves.

Thanks in advance

Sky

I thought I'd write up a more comprehensive writeup.

So, here goes.

You will need:

• x86 PC with an available PCI slot, and some way to boot into DOS - floppy, CD-ROM, whatever.
• Radeon 7000 Mac Edition, 32 MiB VRAM. I personally used a genuine ATI card - exactly the same as an XVR-100.
• Copy of the XVR-100 firmware, version 1.61 strongly recommended. The link earlier in the thread is broken, but here's a web archive link .
• Copy of flashrom. Newer copies don't work, the copy from here (link earlier in the thread ALSO broken) does.

Preparation:

1. On a Solaris machine, navigate to the directory that you downloaded the flash update to, and issue the following command:
   

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   $ ./pfb_prom_update_1_61.sh xvr100/
   This will extract the files.
2. Copy xvr100/flash/xvr100.prom.1.61 to the DOS disk.
3. Extract the Radeon 7000 flashkit, and copy the following files to the DOS disk:
   • DOS4GW.EXE
   • FLASHROM.EXE
   • FLASHROM.ROM

Update:

1. Install the Radeon into an available PCI slot on the PC. This is best if there are no other Radeon 7000s in the system - don't want to flash the wrong one.
2. Boot your DOS disk, and run the following command:

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   flashrom -i
3. Look in the resulting list for an adapter with ID 5159. This is a Radeon 7000 - hopefully, the one you want to flash, if there's more than one. Note the adapter number.
4. Optional: If you wish to save the original firmware, issue the following command. N is a placeholder for the adapter number obtained in the previous step:

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   flashrom -s N atimac.bin
5. Enter the following command, changing N to match the adapter number:

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   flashrom -f -pm N xvr100~1.61
6. Assuming the flash completed successfully, power down, and install your new XVR-100 in your Sun!

Geee... piece of cake. ^^