Quest for 800x480 - Page 16

rgardjr · 03-06-2005, 12:04 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by mpattonm

EDIT: This little project of mine is abandoned. Explanation here: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...322#post398322

Did you see this post in the other thread?

"I'm using Lilliput 7" touchscreen lcd, and MII-10000, with Win Xp Home edition. It can use 800*480. No special driver needed."

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...2&postcount=16

antimatter · 03-06-2005, 12:29 AM

Yea then read the next post.... actually read the whole thread. looks hopeless

tom2112 · 03-07-2005, 03:03 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by mpattonm

OK guys, since so far we appearently failed to convince VIA to provide us working 800x480 driver for EPIA-M, without actual and irrelevat need for having Lilliput on site, I am going to do 2 things:

1) reveal my contacts within VIA:
ThomasChao@via.com.tw
RickLee@via.com.tw
NicoleHsu@via.com.tw - account manager

use them as you as you consider.

OK. I just emailed those three with the following letter. I would encourage everyone else to do the same. Heck, if you're real lazy, just cut and paste my letter (that's why I posted it) into you're own email. Do change the To and From lines please!

Letter:
=========================
Dear Insert Thier Name Here,

First let me thank you for VIA's creation of the EPIA series of motherboards. They are truly a boon to system developers and integrators everywhere. PC's are now showing up in places never before possible.

I am writing to you in the hopes that you can influence the decision makers within VIA to add a feature to your VIA EPIA M10000 motherboard's BIOS. The desired feature is support for the 800x480 graphics resolution. I realize that 800x480 is an odd resolution and is easily confused with 848x480 (a standard 16:9 resolution).

Why do we need that resolution? There is a large group of system developers and custom system installers that are using the EPIA M10000 in automotive applications. For automotive applications, the most readily available VGA displays (with touch screens) have a native resolution of 800x480. Of course, the native resolution is always the ideal resolution to use on any LCD display. Any other resolution will appear distorted or out of focus. When you're dealing with a 7" display, any distortion or fuzziness can destroy the legibility of the display.

The automotive VGA touch screen market is dominated by two products, the Xenarc 700TS and the Lilliput 619GL-70NP. Both of these products have a native resolution of 800x480. Also there is a large installed base of these units in use with your EPIA M10000 motherboards. Many individuals have been forced to purchase add-on VGA cards that will support the 800x480 resolution. This severely detracts from the benefits of using a VIA EPIA motherboard, as it increases power draw, heat, and required space. It seems a terrible shame to have to add a graphics card when the CLE266 graphics are already integrated on the motherboard.

Can you please encourage VIA to support this group of auto/computer integrators and enthusiasts by adding the 800x480 resolution to the EPIA M10000 motherboard's BIOS?

Thank you for your time,
Insert Your Name Here

turbocad6 · 03-07-2005, 05:20 PM

very nicely written, not demanding or derogitory, clear concise & to the point...... I'm curious as to how much they'll give a **** though.... definately a good start........

tom2112 · 03-07-2005, 06:38 PM

Yeah, I'm hoping the "more flies with honey" approach works. Of course, it won't mean crap if no one else writes them. So EVERYONE should write. Maybe a full mailbox (full of polite requests) will get them moving!

STI_FFY · 03-07-2005, 08:35 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by tom2112

Of course, it won't mean crap if no one else writes them. So EVERYONE should write. Maybe a full mailbox (full of polite requests) will get them moving!

They are at least communicating with us. Here, in reverse order are the response I sent, and VIA's response to my recent inquiry (below):

From: <me>
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 8:23 PM
To: Howard Ling (VIA Tech)
Subject: EPIA-M10000 with 800x480 Display Resolution

I am an end user of your product, not a developer.

I have an EPIA M-10000 driving a Lilliput 7" diagonal touchscreen LCD in my car. The LCD display has a native resolution of 800 X 480. I know this is not standard 14:9, but this is the resolution that exists in the vast majority of automotive widescreen displays that are available today. There are many like me who are in the same boat. We are all using your motherboard and the same kind of 7" LCD displays in our cars. The advantages to using your motherboard is obvious. The advantages to using the 800 X 480 display is that it is the only widescreen resolution LCD that is affordable for automotive use.

There is constant discussion on the car audio-video forums concerning which motherboard is the optimal solution for this application. Were it not for the lack of support for this resolution, your motherboards would be the de-facto standard in this area. When it is revealed that an additional PCI video card is required in order to obtain the required resolution, your product loses most of its appeal.

You can read the frustration of end users like me by going to this forum:

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/lcd-display/

...and in particular this thread:

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/lcd-display/33673-quest-800x480.html

We have been told of the upcoming release of 800 X 480 by a number of VIA employess (some are now ex-VIA employees) but it never seems to come to pass. It would seem a trivial thing for VIA to make such an enhancement for this user base.

I hope that you can find a way to accommodate our needs. We would like to remain loyal VIA technology users.
-----Original Message-----
From: Howard Ling (VIA Tech)
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 6:52 PM
To: <me>
Subject: EPIA-M10000 with 800x480 Display Resolution

Hi Jim, I got your request from our Taiwan HQ regarding 800x480 display resolution for our M10000 board. May I know a little more of your project detail and targeted volume? 800x480 is not a standard 16:9 widescreen display resolution…so we need to do a custom display BIOS to support it.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Best regards,

BeaverWise · 03-08-2005, 06:40 AM

Mr Ling,

If you eventually find yourself reading this post, please take time from your busy day to investigate this issue. The car computer revolution is taking off and many have selected Via as their source for high end compact technology. This is a market that will only be expanding, if you need verification of this pick up any new car prospectus and see how many are available with the abilities that this community is striving for.

The ability to get native screen resolutions on the two monitors of choice within this community is critical to building a high quality interface. Thank you for your time.

SamDude · 03-08-2005, 11:01 AM

I've sent an email to Thomas via Jim's template above :thumbsup:

stevieg · 03-09-2005, 09:52 AM

I've emailed them too, made my own email but said pretty much the same thing just gave links to my magazine articles mentioning I have driven sales for them etc

hope it helps

Custommx3 · 03-09-2005, 10:38 AM

Adding myself to the thread// I want 800x480!!!!

Confused · 03-09-2005, 10:44 AM

I've just sent this, lets see if I get a response.

Quote:

I am writing to you in the hopes of trying to get some answers and outcomes on a situation that I am sure you have no doubt been made aware of over the past few weeks.

I am one of a number of people who's hobby is in-car computing, both use and installation. I am a member of both the Digital-Car.co.uk and MP3Car.com forums, which are big communities full of people with the same interests - building and maintaining custom in-car computer systems and applications.

Just taking a look at these forums will show you how common the VIA Epia series of motherboards are. You will also see how common VGA 7" Widescreen displays are from the manufacturers GAIN/Xenarc, Lilliput, and also other screens branded as LinITX, CarTFT 400mm and TVIEW.

All of these monitors are ideal for in-car use, due to their 7" widescreen display, which fits almost perfectly into a double-DIN opening as found in many car dashboards. Also arriving on the scene are single-DIN fold/roll out screens, based on the exact same LCD panels.

These LCD panels have a native resolution of 800x480 (not to be confused with 848x480), which it has been found that the VIA Epia series of motherboards do not support. This makes situations very difficult from an end-user, and system integrator's point of view, as we are unable to use these LCD panels and your Epia motherboards together correctly, forcing us to use non-native resolutions and put up with displays that are not performing to their best, or use an add-in VGA card, which then goes against most of the features of the Epia boards - low profile, low power usage and low heat output.

Can you please do what you can to ensure that this resolution is added to the available resolutions on the Via Epia series of motherboards via BIOS/driver updates, so that we can enjoy our hobby to it's fullest.

I dearly look forward to hearing back from you with regards to this.

Regards

damageboy · 03-10-2005, 01:00 PM

/me too

mpattonm · 03-12-2005, 04:26 PM

So I did

Mad Ad · 03-13-2005, 02:52 PM

E-mail made and sent

----------------------------------
Dear Thomas

I am a new M10000 owner and find that I can only achieve 800x480 by adding on a video card. This would take up the only PCI slot I have.

I am one of a large and growing base of users either installing or researching EPIA type motherboards but there is a problem, the main two screen types that are available in this market segment are the Xenarc 700TS or the Lilliput 619GL-70NP. Both screens have a native resolution of 800x480 but the M10000 cannot display at this resolution.

Im sure that this is within the capabilities of the Apollo 266 chipset so I therefore write this to ask respectfully for this resolution to be added and of course, for you to make this available as a full bios flash upgrade as soon as possible please.

I would dearly like to use my M10000 and Lilliput together without having to stretch 1 pixel into a 1.25 pixel space using the nearest resolution. Please could you let me know when you would be able to make this update available?

Regards

Mr My Fullname

-------------------------------------------------

stevieg · 03-14-2005, 05:01 AM

Has anyone else got a reply yet? I haven't got anything so far.

I am very surprised actually, VIA are usually quite good - what with the Car PC project page on their website, and the fact they sent me a free M10K board to give away as a prize at the upcoming UK car pc event... Given their track record I would have thought with these email they'd be working right now on a new bios and driver!