August 10, 2008:

MISSION: get the screens to display in portrait on boot.

Setting up xorg to display portrait with the via drivers. Testing first on home computer -w- puppy.

Great article from someone who already did some work on getting a touchscreen to work:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=198434&sid=2a55e2ddf620f21eba2cc632fee55bab

Also notes on configuring xorg:
http://xorg.freedesktop.org/releases/X11R7.0/doc/html/via.4.html

Result on home computer: success!

By adding in the line:

Option "Rotate" "CW"

under the device section of xorg.conf the screen rotates. Now just need to test on a "live" sign box.

This will get around the training on how to deal with the pictures in the backend. Now the graphics designers won't have to rotate the images to get then to show properly on the screens. Hmmm  - a thought - this works on the 1024x768 screen size at home - wonder how it will react on the 1600x1200 and the 1280x1024?

ANSWER: Althought the ebox has onboard video (VIA700), these drivers don't come natively with Puppy Linux. Right now xorgwizard is setting as an unknown video card. The onboard video does work when set as unknown - but many options (like rotate) aren't available. Looks like I'm going to have to learn how to install the video drivers for the VIA into Puppy.

The Ebox has in it:
CX700 embedded.
S3 Graphics UniChrome™ Pro IGP Series.

So - to get the CX700 to workm here's a good link to someone who has explained in beginner's terms the challenges of getting video to run in linux:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?search_id=2124576450&t=28061

In short, looks like the driver need to be installed, and there needs to be xorg add-ins installed.

Think this might be the solution - a user already made a .pet for the ebox 4300...!
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?mode=attach&id=9629

In the full thread:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=22933&search_id=2124576450&start=15

he also says you need:
xorg_DRI_MODULES-7.2.pet
xorg_OPENGL-7.2.pet

...BUT - there's a "how to install" xorg add-ins which says it's different modules for pupppy 2.16:
http://www.puppylinux.ca/tpp/bugs/Guides/2_Howto_Enable-Video_Hardware_Acceleration.html'

Here's what we might need for puppy 2.16:
1. ftp://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/pet_packages-2/xorg_DRI_MODULES-7.0.pet
2. ftp://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/pet_packages-2/xorg_OPENGL-7.0.pet
3. ftp://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/pet_packages-2/xorg_VIDEO_DRVRS-7.0.pet

OK - have hopefully the right .PETs for the xorg add-ins. Also looks like they have to be installed first and the driver .PET second. Here's to keeping fingers crossed.

Here's the answer I hope (near bottom of thread)
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=22933&start=15&sid=b868c93430ece6299bad62fdc24355b0

Tried the .pet from above and can't get to work. Trying right from manufacturer:
http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=2

Or
There's some articles on this - such as:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=16678

Other known issues to resolve:
1. Some screens blackout when left for awhile. Looks like this is a screen/keyboard/mouse inactivity issue in the OS.
2. WPA wireless support
3. USB loading stable. Right now it does download, but doesn't stop. Unparking then breaks ability to load and have to reboot.
4. 60 sec dhcp waiting. A way to turn off?
5. A boot screen with our logo possible?
6. MAC compatible backend (also need to make sure works in IE6)
7.

Other links of interest:
Not sure when we would use it - but here's a great article on what "randr" does in xorg.conf and how to program it to support multiple monitors:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Xorg_RandR_1.2