Panorama

ReadMe for Panorama package version 1.11 If your system has is using the SMP kernel then ACPI.PSD version 3.21.03 or later is required for optimal performance. The WarpIn installer will verify this for you. This WarpIn package will do a full install of the GRADD based Panorama Video driver. It will first copy files to a temporary directory and then install Panorama from there. The temporary directory can be deleted after installation. Installation using anything other than CMD.EXE as the default OS/2 shell may not work and is not supported. WarpIn cannot be used to uninstall Panorama. You can only change video drivers by installing a different driver. Copyright and License ===================== Copyright (c) 2011-2018 David Azarewicz <david@88watts.net> All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2005-2009 eCo Software (c) Copyright IBM Corporation 1990,2000. All rights reserved. Binary programs and documentation for the Panorama Driver Software are licensed to and distributed by Arca Noae, LLC. Important! By downloading or using this software, you acknowledge that you have read and consent to the license agreement contained in the separate License.txt file, that you understand it, and that you agree to be bound by its terms. Getting Support and Reporting Problems ====================================== For more information and to report problems please visit: https://www.arcanoae.com and click on SUPPORT. Or go directly to the Panorama support wiki at: https://www.arcanoae.com/wiki/panorama/ A Note About Performance ======================== This version of the Panorama driver attempts to set write combining caching for the video display memory using MTRRs. This is preferred since using MTRRs affects all access to video memory from all drivers and all programs anywhere in the system. If your system does not support this type of MTRR change, the Panorama driver will use PAT to set write combine caching for its own video memory access. PAT is process specific and does not affect anything outside of the process that sets it. This means that any other interfaces or programs (such as DIVE) that do not access video memory through the Panorama driver will not have write combine caching enabled and will not have the performance improvement from this type of memory caching. Custom Resolutions ================== ** WARNING *** DO NOT CHANGE CUSTOM RESOLUTION SETTINGS UNLESS YOU FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT EACH SETTING DOES. The default settings are correct for almost every system. You will not need to change ANY settings except in extremely rare cases. To get back to the default settings, open the Screen object, go to the Custom Resolutions page and click Default. *** WARNING *** The custom resolution feature is experimental and may not always work. This feature works by patching the mode table in the BIOS. It is intended to work on Intel, ATI/ATOM, and Nvidia VESA BIOS. Old style ATI BIOS that are not ATOM based will not work. The Nvidia support is not finished yet so it has been disabled. Patching the mode table does not work in every case. Some BIOS have additional limitations that do not allow certain resolutions to work even though the mode table has been patched. There is nothing that can be done in Panorama to fix this limitation in the BIOS. Patching the mode table requres changes to the memory controller to allow write access to the BIOS. This should work correctly on all modern AMD systems. Intel hardware is much more difficult to deal with and support must to be added for every individual CPU type. Support for all the current Intel CPU types has been added as of the release date of this version. Any new CPUs added by Intel will not work until support is added for them. By default, the Panorama driver will query the display resolution via the Display Data Channel. If this succeeds, the Panorama driver will automatically add the native display resolution to the list of available resolutions that are displayed in the Screen Object settings. You can then select the desired resolution from the list. If the query of the display resolution (the EDID) fails you can manually specify a custom resolution. Look in the \var\log\vbe2grad.log file to see if the "Get EDID failed". If a manual custom resolution is set, the Panorama driver will attempt to add the requested resolution to the list that is displayed in the Screen Object settings. A manually set custom resolution overrides the automatic display detection. If a manual custom resolution is set, the Panorama driver will not even query the disply for its resolution. NOTE THAT IF YOUR DISPLAY PROVIDES THE RESOLUTION AND TIMING INFORMATION VIA DDC (THE EDID) THEN YOU SHOULD NOT SET THE RESOLUTION MANUALLY. If the display provides timing information along with the resolution, then that timing information is used rather than calculating the timings. Using the timings that the display provides is always best since the timings provided by the display are exactly what the display wants. If you manually specify a custom resolution or if the display (or controller) cannot provide the timings, then the Panorama driver will calculate the timings using the standard VESA timing formula for a 60Hz refresh rate. These standard timings may not be exactly what your display wants and may not work correctly or may not work at all. You can set a manual resolution using the "Custom Resolutions" tab in the screen object, or you can manually set a custom resolution using PanoUtil.exe: PanoUtil -c 1680 1050 Setting a manual custom resolution modifies entries for the PANORAMA application in OS2.INI. Once you have manually set a custom resolution, you must reboot to make it active so it will show up in the selection dialog in the Screen object settings. You can then select the resolution you want from the Screen object and reboot again. If you try a manual custom resolution and you happen to get something that your monitor cannot display, or if you have other problems with the custom resolution feature you can disable portions of this feature by using PanoUtil.exe. These disable/reset functions of PanoUtil.exe can be run typing CTL-ALT-DEl to activate the CAD handler and going to a command prompt. These disable/reset functions can also be run when booted from a different partition if you specify the drive on the command line. If you do not specify the drive then the command operates on the currently booted disk. You must reboot after using this command for the change to take effect. To remove a manual custom resolution on drive d: PanoUtil -r d: To completely disable all the custom resolution support on drive d: PanoUtil -d 0 d: To enable the custom resolution support on drive d: PanoUtil -d 1 d: To reset the Presentation Manager selected resolution to 800x600 on drive d: PanoUtil -p d: The custom resolution feature (automatic or manual) is not compatible with the wide screen enabler drivers and will not work if you have one of those drivers installed. PanoUtil, like Panorama, is a Presentation Manager application and will not run unless Presentation Manager is running. You cannot run PanoUtil when booted to a command line. Warning: The Custom Resolution feature is experimental and is still being developed. It may change radically in future releases. Collecting Data =============== CD to the directory where you unpacked this package and use testlog.cmd. Example: testlog panorama Change Log ========== 1.11 - 03-Mar-2018 - David Azarewicz ------------------------------------ Fixed a problem where Panorama would hang with certain BIOS. Removed unused display settings page. 1.10 - 30-Nov-2017 - David Azarewicz ------------------------------------ Installer enhancements. Screen object enhancements. 1.09 - 26-Oct-2017 - David Azarewicz ------------------------------------ Added some Custom Resolution settings to the screen object. Automatically disable UseNativeRes if resolution is changed in the screen object. Fixed validation of EDID information from older displays. 1.08 - 18-Dec-2016 - David Azarewicz ------------------------------------ Removed some Warpin installer restrictions Added setup WPS class to package. Enhanced UseNativeRes functionality. Fixed installer to work on ArcaOS installations. Added test so that driver will not report resolutions or attempt to use video memory above that reported by the BIOS. 1.07 - David Azarewicz ---------------------- Fixed vram size calculation so Panorama claims the proper amount of memory. 1.06 - David Azarewicz ---------------------- Fixed support for custom resolutions for Intel type 2 BIOS. 1.05 - David Azarewicz ---------------------- Added a special native resolution feature for the demo CD. 1.04 - David Azarewicz --------------- Added sleep/wake support 1.03 - David Azarewicz --------------- Fixed a problem with setting custom resolutions in older type ATOM BIOS. 1.02 - David Azarewicz ---------------------- Fixed a problem with setting custom resolutions in ATOM BIOS. Some changes to the way PanoUtil works. 1.01 - David Azarewicz ---------------------- Added support for more Intel CPUs. Removed SetCustomRes.cmd and added that functionality to PanoUtil.exe Added an alternate way to detect Intel Type 1 ROMS. 1.00 - David Azarewicz ---------------------- Major code cleanup for all modules. Major reorganization and restructuring of GRADD.SYS. Fixed several bugs. Fixed the math in the MTRR routines to handle numbers >= 4Gib. Added code to reorganize certain incompatible MTRR tables. Added support for PAT when setting MTRR fails. Added experimental support for custom resolutions Previous Versions - eCo Software -------------------------------- The Panorama VESA video driver was originally created and maintained from 2005 through 2009 by eCo Software.