Radeon7500TVOut

The ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 includes an s-video out to connect to a TV. These are instructions on how to get the X server to output through the s-video port. As far as I am aware, it is not possible to have output on both the LCD screen and the s-video port at the same time.

These instructions were tested using a Compaq Evo N610c, but they should work for other laptops which have the same Radeon video card. Most of the information on this page has been adapted from IBM Thinkpad instructions to work with the Compaq Evo. Information for the TV out on the Thinkpad can be found here and here

First step is to switch your xorg driver. You should back up the file before editing it. Open your xorg.conf file and find the line that says:

Driver "ati"

and replace it with

Driver "vesa"

Now you must plug the s-video cable into the port and restart the computer. The BIOS will only enable the s-video port if there is a connection at boot-time. Once the computer has rebooted. Install the atitvout program (i386 only) with Synaptic or from a terminal with this command:

sudo apt-get install atitvout

You can now determine which ports the BIOS has enabled with the command:

sudo atitvout detect

If the s-video port is found with the previous command, you can switch your output to the TV using the command:

sudo atitvout -f t

And you can switch it back to the LCD with the command:

sudo atitvout -f l

Keep in mind that is you want to play movies on the TV through mplayer, you must notify mplayer which display you are on. Since you have switched the driver to vesa, you should start the programs with the command:

gmplayer -vo vesa

Radeon7500TVOut (last edited 2008-08-06 16:23:06 by localhost)