Palm Treo 700WX resolution

[gmaslin]

I've been looking for an explanation why the 320x320 resolution on these devices could not be enabled. Is there an insufficient RAM allocation? Does this device have VRAM? The 800W can do the higher resolution so where is the difference? If there is a better place to ask this then please redirect me and/or move this post.

[crt60]

I thought it had to do with the LCD screen, there are only so many pixels in the X and Y axis on the screen. All LCD screens have a native resolution. That is the highest resolution you can achieve with the screen. Anything higher than the native resolution will just zoom in.
Like on LCD flat screen tv, a 720p LCD tv converts the 1080p signal before it is displayed.

[Yuxi]

The screen only has 240x240 physical resolution. It's a hardware limitation, not software.

[gmaslin]

Yuxi
I don't think it's the LCD. I've seen techs put a 700W LCD on a broken 700P when doing repair so if it is a hardware problem, it ain't the LCD. Anyone else with a more authoritative reply?

[joojoobee666]

Techincally, you can get 6.5 to run on a 240x240 device. The problem with the 700wx is the display driver. NightRaven and I have both made MANY attempts to get 6.5 to run on this device, but the video driver fails to initalize during gwes.exe initialization, therefor gwes.exe hangs and the boot stops. The last gwes.exe that will initialize the display was from build 207xx something. Unfortunately, 6.5 will not boot with such an old gwes.exe due to the many changes in it since.

We were able to get past that using a dummy ddi.dll driver, but of course no video. We were looking at attempting to recompile another driver for the 700wx device but haven't done it yet.

[gmaslin]

joojoobee666
Noted. Everything I have read assumes the LCD hardware resolution is 240x240 but I have seen a tech replace a 700P LCD from a broken 700WX which leads me to believe they are the same 320x320 LCD.

[joojoobee666]

joojoobee666
Noted. Everything I have read assumes the LCD hardware resolution is 240x240 but I have seen a tech replace a 700P LCD from a broken 700WX which leads me to believe they are the same 320x320 LCD.

I believe you are correct on that assumption. NightRaven believes that it was a driver limitation forcing it to 240x240 due to it being a WM5.0 device initially, which did not have 320x320 support. One of the things we are going to try when we get around to compiling a new driver is testing 320x320.

[gmaslin]

joojoobee666
It's nice to get replies that reflect contemplation. I can't tell you how many forums insist the LCD is 240x240. I have conjectured that there may be a ROM call which sets memory allocation only sufficient for 240x240 operation. As far as I know, there is no VRAM or frame buffer RAM on the 700WX. If there is then the issue becomes considerably more complicated but if we can find the all the calls related to RAM allocated for display purposes, we should be able to unravel the mystery behind the video driver failure.

[NightRaven]

The displays on the 750, 700w(x) and the 700p are the same part numbers, so they would be the same resolution. Which is why I suspected the 700wx could support 320x320 with the right driver.

Once we get the necessary files for the pxa27x display driver sample, we should be able to create a new driver. We will attempt to create both 320x320 and 240x240 driver.

[gmaslin]

NightRaven
Awesome! I really appreciate the corroboration. Do you know if the WX uses VRAM or allocates system memory for its display? Is there anyway I can help? Do you know if Palm licensed Apple Quickdraw for the display engine? That might explain why writing a new driver is such a p.i.t.a.

[gmaslin]

NightRaven
Any news? I'll be checking in on this thread every month or so.

[splink007]

yeah this is a very interesting thread...
keeping an eye on it as well..

would love to up the res on my treo