SiS

This page describes how to get Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) chipset graphical adapters working on Arch Linux.

Packages

Note: Driver is only working on linux-lts with the iomem=relaxed kernel parameter.

You will need xf86-video-sis^AUR for the driver driver and it is good idea to install sisctrl^AUR, a tool for debugging video modes. Some cards are not supported by the sis driver package, but they can work with xf86-video-sisusb or xf86-video-sisimedia^AUR.

lspci

Output of lspci should look like this (depends on present model):

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 661/741/760 PCI/AGP or 662/761Gx PCIE VGA Display Adapter

Modules

There are couple of kernel modules related to SiS video cards:

$ lsmod | grep sis | sed -re 's#^([a-zA-Z0-9_-]*) *.*#\1#g' | xargs modinfo | grep 'filename:'
...
filename:       /usr/lib/modules/kernel-version/kernel/drivers/char/agp/sis-agp.ko.gz
filename:       /usr/lib/modules/kernel-version/kernel/drivers/char/agp/agpgart.ko.gz
...

where kernel-version is the kernel version currently installed on your system. For example kernel 3.7.1.1

You will probably need to load only the sis-agp kernel module.

xorg.conf

Here are the few most important sections from /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

1. Load some modules:

Section "Module"
  Load  "dbe"
  Load  "i2c"
  Load  "bitmap"
  Load  "ddc"
  Load  "dri"
  Load  "extmod"
  Load  "freetype"
  Load  "glx"
  Load  "int10"
  Load  "vbe"
EndSection

1. Device specification:

Section "Device"
  Identifier "Card0"
  Driver "sis"
  Card        "** SiS (generic)     [sis]"
  BusID "PCI:1:0:0"

  Option "UseFBDev" "true"
  Option "EnableSisCtrl" "yes"
  Option "ForceCRT1Type" "LCD"
  Option "ForceCRT2Type" "NONE"
  #Option "CRT2Detection" "true" #For me this worked better than forceing the detection. If you use this comment out the two Force lines above this.
  Option "CRT1Gamma" "on"
  Option "CRT2Gamma" "on"
  Option "Brightness" "0.000 0.000 0.000"
  Option "Contrast" "0.000 0.000 0.000"
  Option "CRT1Saturation" "0"
  Option "XvOnCRT2" "yes"
  Option "XvDefaultContrast" "2"
  Option "XvDefaultBrightness" "10"
  Option "XvDefaultHue" "0"
  Option "XvDefaultSaturation" "0"
  Option "XvDefaultDisableGfxLR" "no"
  Option "XvGamma" "off"
EndSection

1. Enable Direct Rendering:

Section "DRI"
  Mode         0666
EndSection

Enable SSE

Enable or force the SSE use in SiS card

Add

 Option "UseSSE" "yes"

to the Device section.

SiS 671 card

Add

 Option "UseTiming1366" "yes"

to the Device section.

Dual head configuration

You need 2 device sections to enable dualhead mode. Sis specific options should be placed into master head device section.

Section "Monitor"
  Identifier   "CRT1"
  ModelName    "PANEL"
  Option       "DPMS"
  VendorName   "LCD"
  HorizSync    31-60
  VertRefresh  40-60
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
  Identifier   "CRT2"
  ModelName    "tv"
  Option       "DPMS"
  VendorName   "tv"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
  DefaultDepth 24
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      24
    Modes      "1024x768".
  EndSubSection
  Device       "Device[0]"
  Identifier   "Screen[0]"
  Monitor      "CRT2"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
  DefaultDepth 24
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      24
    Modes      "1024x768".
  EndSubSection
  Device       "Device[1]"
  Identifier   "Screen[1]"
  Monitor      "CRT1"
EndSection

Section "Device"
  BoardName    "630"
  BusID        "PCI:1:0:0"
  Driver       "sis"
  Identifier   "Device[1]"
  Screen       1
  VendorName   "SiS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
  BoardName    "630"
  BusID        "PCI:1:0:0"
  Driver       "sis"
  Identifier   "Device[0]"
  Screen       0
  VendorName   "SiS"
  Option "EnableSisCtrl" "true"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
  Identifier   "Layout[dual]"
  ...
  Option       "Clone" "off"
  Screen       "Screen[0]"
  Screen       "Screen[1]" RightOf "Screen[0]"
  Option       "Xinerama" "off"
EndSection