SISUSB(4)

📦 version 0.9.7, in arch rolling, debian bookworm, debian trixie, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, opensuse-leap 16.0

💖 SISUSB 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because today we're talking about sisusb — the SiS USB video driver from the Kernel Interfaces Manual. yes it's a mouthful, yes it's niche, and yes i'm obsessed. let's get into it 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

sisusb — the SiS USB video driver. that's it, that's the name, short and slay 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

this is how you actually summon it into existence inside your config:

Section "Device"
  Identifier "devname"
  Driver "sisusb"
  ...
EndSection

see that Driver "sisusb" line? that's the main character right there 👑

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so sisusb is an Xorg driver for SiS (Silicon Integrated Systems) video chips — but specifically the ones plugged in through a Net2280-based USB dongle. yes, a USB dongle. video over USB. it's giving chaos but it works 🫶

important vibe check: this driver is not accelerated. no zoomies, no turbo. BUT it does provide support for colordepths of 8, 16 and 24 bpp, plus Render and other extensions. so like, not fast, but it shows up and it does the thing. iconic behavior honestly 💜

🌈 SUPPORTED HARDWARE 🌈

the sisusb driver supports USB video cards based on this chipset and only this chipset:

  • SiS315E/PRO

now here's a lil fun fact ✨ — the SiS315E/PRO actually has two CRT controllers. but in its USB version, only the first output is used, and that one is referred to as "CRT1". so if you were out here looking for CRT2, bestie... she's not on this bus 😭

💅 CONFIGURATION DETAILS 💅

for the general config tea, go read xorg.conf(5), and for even more info go read sis(4). this manpage is only covering a subset of the supported options, so don't come for me about the rest 🙈

if you want the detailed info on every supported option, it lives here:

http://www.winischhofer.at/linuxsisusbvga.shtml

⚠️ also important: this driver needs a Linux kernel driver too, not just the Xorg side. that kernel driver is included in Linux 2.6.12 and later, and it's also available at that same website above. don't skip this step, i'm literally begging 😭

the following driver Options are supported:

  • Option "HWCursor" "boolean" — turns the hardware cursor on or off. pls don't turn it off, it is not recommended because disabling it increases the amount of data transferred over the USB. Default: HWCursor is on. 🫶
  • Option "SWCursor" "boolean" — the exact opposite of HWCursor. this enables or disables the software cursor. this sort of cursor is slower because the pointer must be painted into the graphics display, and it increases the amount of data transferred over the USB significantly. Default: SWCursor is off.
  • Option "CRT1Gamma" "boolean" — enables or disables gamma correction. Default: gamma correction is on. ✨
  • Option "DisconnectTimeout" "integer" — this one decides how the driver reacts when the USB device gets unplugged/disconnected. here's the breakdown, bestie:
    • if the integer you give is -1, the driver will abort the X server immediately upon disconnection. boom. gone. 💀
    • if the value given is 0, the driver will probe for a re-connection every 2 seconds, and if the device is detected, it re-establishes the display.
    • if the value is greater than 0, the driver does that re-probing within the given number of seconds, and it will abort the server if it doesn't detect the device within this time-out.
    • Default: 0 (probe forever for device reconnection). patient queen energy 💜

💀 KNOWN BUGS 💀

none.

literally none. we love a clean record. no cap. ✨

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

go check these out, they're all part of the lore:

and for more information and updates:

http://www.winischhofer.at/linuxsisvga.shtml

🎀 AUTHORS 🎀

Author: Thomas Winischhofer

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this lil masterpiece comes to you from X Version 11, xf86-video-sisusb 0.9.7 — thanks for reading my TED talk, go plug in your USB dongle and slay 💖✨🦋🌸💅🫶

📦 where this page comes from