Bash script to install SiS Mirage 3+ graphics drivers on Linux

install_sis_graphics_on_linux.sh

#!/bin/bash

# Bash script to install SiS Mirage 3+ graphics drivers on Linux
# Supports 671/672MX graphics cards
#
# Created in March 2019
#
# Tested on:
# - Lubuntu 18.04 (32-bit) with X.Org v1.19
# - Xubuntu 18.04 (64-bit) with X.Org v1.20
# installed on a Fujitsu-Siemens Esprimo Mobile v5535 laptop (specs: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Fujitsu-Siemens-Esprimo-Mobile-V5535.9149.0.html)
#
# Execute as root user with:
#
# $ sudo su
# (then type your password)
# $ cd ~/
# $ wget --no-check-certificate https://gist.githubusercontent.com/fevangelou/46a2885233c45011ad5c8752f18eac73/raw/79b407db60589d98e78cd131b56a1652756fb7b2/install_sis_graphics_on_linux.sh
# $ chmod +x install_sis_graphics_on_linux.sh
# $ ./install_sis_graphics_on_linux.sh
#
# IMPORTANT:
# If you X.Org version is not 1.20, edit the variable "XORG_VERSION" below accordingly and re-run the script.
#
# References:
# https://github.com/rasdark/xf86-video-sis671 (driver)
# https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2350126&page=4&p=13599531#post13599531 (how-to)

XORG_VERSION="1.20"

# Check for /etc/X11/xorg.conf
if [ ! -f "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" ]; then
    touch /etc/X11/xorg.conf
fi

# Install required packages
apt-get -y install build-essential xorg-dev autoconf automake git libtool-bin xutils-dev inxi

# Build the driver
cd ~/
git clone https://github.com/rasdark/xf86-video-sis671.git
cd xf86-video-sis671/
git checkout for-xorg-$XORG_VERSION
autoreconf
automake
./configure --prefix=/usr --disable-static
make
make install

# Check if the drivers were installed
ls -la /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/sis671*

echo ""
echo ""

inxi -G

echo ""
echo ""

if [ -f "/usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/sis671_drv.so" ]; then
    # Setup the SiS graphics driver
    cat > "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" <<EOF
Section "Device"
    Identifier      "Configured Video Device"
    Driver          "sis671"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier      "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier      "Default Screen"
    Monitor         "Configured Monitor"
    Device          "Configured Video Device"
EndSection
EOF

    # Now reboot
    echo ""
    echo ""
    echo "  *** The installation for SiS graphics drivers is now complete *** "
    echo ""
    echo "  === --------------------------------------------------------- === "
    echo "  ===               PLEASE REBOOT YOUR SYSTEM NOW               === "
    echo "  === --------------------------------------------------------- === "
    echo ""
else
    echo ""
    echo ""
    echo "  *** The installation for SiS graphics drivers FAILED *** "
    echo ""
    echo "  === ---------------------------------------------------- === "
    echo "  ===                Check your X.Org version!             === "
    echo "  === ---------------------------------------------------- === "
    echo ""
fi

Screenshot of SiS 672 on Xubuntu 18.04 (64-bit) with Qogir theme:

Hi,
I have Asus k50c notebook with sis mirage 3+ and I wanted install a lightweight linux distro, like lubuntu or xubuntu. So I installed xubuntu 18.04 like you, After the installation of Xubuntu 18.04 i ran your script in terminal. First I wrote sudo su, then cd ~/ chmod +x and then the script. After script installation I restarted my computer (Script was completed with no errors) And after restarting a computer I have still fucking 640X480 res...I dont get it, I did everything right, but no native res...Is a problem, that my laptop has 1366x768 resolution, and you have 1280x800? Pls help man.

Did you check for your installed X.Org version? See the comments in the script.

First of all. Thank you for fast reply. Im glad you are active. Can you please tell me how can I check it? I am the Linux beginner so I dont know these commands. Is that inxi -G? In that case it shows me Display server: X11 (X. Org. 1.20.1) in Xubuntu 18.04.

Install Screenfetch with "sudo apt-get install screenfetch" and then just run it with "screenfetch". See the screenshot above. At the lower part the X.Org version is referenced clearly (1.20 in my case).

I have it same as you. X.Org 1.20.1 so i dont know man.

Try manually changing the resolution and make sure the refresh rate is not so high (set it to 60Hz if possible).

BTW: screenshot is after clean system install. so I havent installed this script yet.

Then follow the instructions to the letter to install the script.

Yeah, I was thinking on the same thing. But pls tell me how? Can you give me a link on a some website?

Ok now im gonna install your script, after the installation, I will tell you more.

sudo su
cd ~/
wget --no-check-certificate https://gist.githubusercontent.com/fevangelou/46a2885233c45011ad5c8752f18eac73/raw/79b407db60589d98e78cd131b56a1652756fb7b2/install_sis_graphics_on_linux.sh
chmod +x install_sis_graphics_on_linux.sh
./install_sis_graphics_on_linux.sh

Wait I must copy this command in the terminal? wget --no-check-certificate https://gist.githubusercontent.com/fevangelou/46a2885233c45011ad5c8752f18eac73/raw/79b407db60589d98e78cd131b56a1652756fb7b2/install_sis_graphics_on_linux.sh

Try the shortened version - and yes, you OBVIOUSLY need to type each line...

sudo su
cd ~/
wget --no-check-certificate https://git.io/fjRzm
chmod +x install_sis_graphics_on_linux.sh
./install_sis_graphics_on_linux.sh

In the last line before the Inxi -G command, it says, that file /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/sis671 is not exist.

Reboot and run "screenfetch" afterwards.

Interesting, isnt it?

I can't see the entire error so I can't possibly know what's going on. Sorry.

Its ok dude. Im glad you had time to help me. Thanks. But one more, can you give me a advice about the manual changing resolution?

Under "Settings" in XFCE, you should be able to change the display's resolution (given the driver works of course).

Ah you mean this...I remember I once downloaded your script directly from this site (so, no command wget --no-check-certificate etc.) And I Installed script on Lubuntu 18.04. And surprisingly it installed without any problems, but I still had that 640x480 resolution like I said before, so thats why I asked you for advice about manual changing res. I obviously knew about change resolution under settings in xfce etc. like you said, But I couldnt set any res. than 640x480, so I expected more advanced. Whatever. Im trying to get native resolution on this laptop for 4 days. But nothing help. I give up.

Ok so, last time it didn't work well. I just gave up after so many hours trying to get this driver work. So I was running on Windows 7, which wasn't great. But today I again installed Linux, this time Lubuntu 18.04 LTS. And I was looking on Internet again to find some instructions to get this driver work. So I found this website and this article about SiS driver on 18.04 LTS etc. link here: https://www.vivaolinux.com.br/artigo/Como-instalar-o-driver-da-placa-de-video-SiS-771671-no-Ubuntu-1804?pagina=2 if you dont understand, then use google translator
Honestly, install this driver was very easy. You must download the file (sisimedia-0.9.1.zip) from the website which I already mentioned. Run your file manager with root permissions (sudo "name of your file manager)
and simply copy and paste the xorg.conf file from the .zip to the /etc/X11/ and sisimedia_drv.la sisimedia_drv.so copy and paste to /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/. And it should work.

This is important. If you have Asus K50c or some laptop with 1366x768 monitor and obviously with Sis mirage 3 graphics, you must have the xorg.conf file like this:

x11-driver-video-sisimedia

Section "Device"
Identifier "sis671"
Driver "sisimedia"
Screen 0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "tft"
Option "UseTiming1366" "yes"
Gamma 1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "sis671"
Monitor "tft"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Virtual 1366 768
Depth 24
Modes "1366x768@60" "1024x768@60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "IgnoreABI" "True"
EndSection

Hi Sawage. Could you please release an .iso of your Lubuntu 18.04 with Sis671 driver for Asus K50C? Thanks!

Hi! I have question. How can I do that? Like I know that I just downloaded iso from lubuntu website (it can be downloaded here: https://lubuntu.net/lubuntu-18-04-bionic-beaver-released/ ) I only copy that iso file to USB drive, using UNetbootin. And thats pretty much it...Obviously install Lubuntu on your laptop or whatever. And follow the steps that I writed before. But Im such a noob in Linux. So I dont know how to release my own .iso of lubuntu that im using right now.

https://clonezilla.org Hi! I created an .iso of my Ubuntu 14.04.5 with Mati75's Sis 671 driver package. Take your time and look at it. I'm experiencing some difficult in getting a good and stable resolution with Lubuntu/Xubuntu 18. i'm stuck in this temporary solution: http://www.istitutomajorana.it/forum2/Thread-Driver-Asus-K50C-e-Sis-771-671-su-Xbuntu?pid=139165#pid139165. Please translate with Google. I admit that my Asus K50C was a bad buy in 2010, but I think it's not time to throw it away. My best. Emmanuel. 2019-08-20 21:45 GMT+02:00, TheSawage <notifications@github.com>:

…

Hi! I have question. How can I do that? Like I know that I just downloaded iso from lubuntu website (it can be downloaded here: https://lubuntu.net/lubuntu-18-04-bionic-beaver-released/ ) I only copy that iso file to USB drive, using UNetbootin. And thats pretty much it...Obviously install Lubuntu on your laptop or whatever. And follow the steps that I writed before. But Im such a noob in Linux. So I dont know how to release my own .iso of lubuntu that im using right now. -- You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://gist.github.com/46a2885233c45011ad5c8752f18eac73#gistcomment-3003676

So what do you want? My iso file with that driver? Ok no problem I will somehow do it. But I dont understad. You just need a fresh install of Lubuntu 18.04 (I dont think that Xubuntu will work) And follow the steps. Extract files from .zip file to your desktop. Run sudo pcmanfm (in Lubuntu) and sisimedia_drv.la sisimedia_drv.so files from your desktop put in /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/ and xorg.conf put in /etc/X11/ of course you need change that file like I writed before. And thats it

Hi Sawage, I did exactly what you said but every time I restart the computer, it's got a command line blinking forever and I can't do anything at all

Hi Luiz, you must did something wrong. maybe your xorg.conf is wrong, just delete it, and create another one. Remember if you have 1366x768 resolution. You need change that xorg.conf file

I copied exactly xorg.conf as you sent it, and it didn't work

Hi. The same for me.

What resolution do you have?

The system doesn't even start, I can't know

just tell me your name of notebook

I don't remember the model, just know that the brand is N3 Mobile

then i cant really help you. Sry.

It still runs fine on Xubuntu 20.04 (64-bit) with X.Org v1.20, installed on a Fujitsu-Siemens Esprimo Mobile v5535 laptop.
Thanks for putting all the stuff together...

Runs fine on BenQ Joybook A53, Xubuntu 18.04.4
Thank you.

Hello everyone, I'm new,I would ask you for help, I xubuntu(18.04.4) installed on my PC, my PC has a video card sis 771 671, I tried to do everything but after I install the drivers my PC remains with a black screen, you only see the logo of xubuntu. Sorry for my English but I'm Italian. Please help me I don't know what to do anymore!

This didn't work for me, Xorg log says (EE) No devices detected after loading sis671 driver.

So, this is my working alternative:

wget http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia/distrib/cauldron/x86_64/media/core/release/x11-driver-video-sis-0.12.0-2.mga8.x86_64.rpm                     
sudo alien -c -k x11-driver-video-sis-0.12.0-2.mga8.x86_64.rpm
sudo dpkg -i x11-driver-video-sis*.deb
ln -s /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/sis_drv.so /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/

And in my /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "sis671"
        Driver          "sis"
        Screen          0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "tft"
        Option          "PreferredMode" "1280x800"
        Gamma           1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Device          "sis671"
        Monitor         "tft"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Virtual 1280    800
                Depth   24
                Modes   "1280x800@60"   "1024x768@60"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
        Option          "IgnoreABI"     "True"
EndSection

Note that I'm using Xubuntu 18.04 LTS.

I think that there is some SiS Mirage 3 like mine which is not compatible with sis761.

For those who have Sis 671 working properly on Lubuntu/Xubuntu 18: do you have GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" or GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="iomem=relaxed quiet splash"?

I have quiet splash

Thank you for making nice script . I got compilation error on Xubuntu 20.04 on same Fujitsu-Siemens Esprimo Mobile v5535 laptop ... , so I posted to driver developer gurus:
rasdark/xf86-video-sis671#6

OK i fixed the laptop , I described the steps here : https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/591606/416824 , thank you to "TheSawage". I had two attempts with fevangelou script and your link with ZIP but failed ... Core finding is that you have to stick with ubuntu 18.04.1 , cause higher versions of 18.04.XX will not work ...

I found out why the black screen came up when I installed the driver here and I couldn't start Lubuntu, because the driver only supports 671 / 672MX cards, and my video card is 672 :/

I hope that someday, there will be support for this card

I managed to install the sis671 driver on an Esprimo v5535 running Debian 10 (Xorg 1.20).

Remarks:

• only works on i686 architecture (32bit), driver compiles but segfaults under amd64
• "make install" didn't work for me, so I copied src/sis671_drv.la and src/.libs/sis671_drv.so to /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/ by hand
• libreoffice writer behaves strange (multiplying text if scrolling on text input), this can be solved with
  "Option NoAccel yes"
  in xorg.conf

I followed the tutorial, but I got an error in the code

junaidi@junaidi-NEON-MNW:$ git checkout for-xorg-$XORG_VERSION
fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git
junaidi@junaidi-NEON-MNW:$

Hi, i have followed this tutorial but didn't work. My laptop card is different from 671, here's my inxi -G:
gabrio@AspireLXDE:~$ inxi -G Graphics: Card: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 661/741/760 PCI/AGP or 662/761Gx PCIE VGA Display Adapter Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.20.5 ) drivers: fbdev (unloaded: modesetting,vesa) Resolution: 640x480@73.00hz OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 9.0, 128 bits) version: 3.3 Mesa 19.2.8

Screenshot of SiS 672 on Xubuntu 20.04 (64-bit):

Thanks a lot this is the only real script that works on my Fujitsu Esprimo 550 laptop with ubuntu/xubuntu 18.04.5.
Greate.

Great 👍

Thank you very much! This works beautifully on Linux Lite 5.2 on my Asus X58C.

Hi, can someone follow me step by step on how to install this driver.
I didn't understand from line 23 onwards. Thanks

Hi, can someone follow me step by step on how to install this driver.
I didn't understand from line 23 onwards. Thanks

Hi.
You need to run the script.
sudo ./install_sis_graphics_on_linux.sh

Ok done

Hi,
I run your script in my Esprimo Mobile v5535 laptop and it works. But after some minutes, the screen freezes. In fact that's not really the screen as the mouse still moves. But the UI (gnome? Xubuntu 20.04) doesn't respond to mouse click. The time still goes on.

Wow. Just wow. The hours, nights, days, weeks I had spent in the past to get the various old drivers for that graphic card to work, reading blog posts, downloading drivers from mandriva and other distbitutions, tweeking xorg config files until the small hours, just to discover that after the next Debian upgrade I was back to the vesa drivers, fuzzy fonts and distorted display. Now, several years after having given up on the laptop, to prepare a separate laptop for my children during lockdown, I discover that somebody has written drivers, and there's even a bash script (this one) for easy download, compilation and installing. And it works out of the box, on my old Esprimo 5535!
I'm speechless.
Pity there is only one star on github to give you. You deserve twenty, at least.
Million thanks!

@jkanev Well, I'm glad it helped a few people 😃

@jkanev Well, I'm glad it helped a few people 😃

You just helped a friend of mine. Starred.

Works on xorg 1.20 with xorg.conf from ubuntu folder (look here https://github.com/rasdark/xf86-video-sis671).
Peppermint based on Ubuntu 18.04.
Asus K50C with Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 771/671 PCIE VGA Display Adapter (chip-ID: 1039:6351)

https://linux-hardware.org/?probe=e6cc5c82bf

Thanks again @fevangelou for this script. It is working just fine on my Asus X58C with Linux Mint 20.1 xfce.

There is one issue that may need some attention. When following the instructions inside the script shown in the first post of this thread something did not work as expected. Further investigation showed that the command

wget --no-check-certificate https://gist.githubusercontent.com/fevangelou/46a2885....

downloaded a script with different contents than that shown in the script in the first post. I then copied the contents of the script in the first post and pasted it into a editor and saved it locally. The script then worked fine and created the files needed to used the SiS display on this PC.

@JaquimoSwallow I'm glad it's working for you and thanks for the feedback. To be honest though, I did test the Gist URL and it's fine. Perhaps there was some other issue that prevented you from using wget with that Gist URL. But I can verify the URL is correct.

@fevangelou Thanks for your reply. The wget and URL works fine but the contents of the file that is downloaded differs from the script in the first post. Thanks again.

@fevangelou - Hey Man, Thanks a lot for your work!!! im really happy now!
so cool that people do still workarounds for old (still quite usable) machines!!

i still have exactly the same computer, the Esprimo v5535 with SIS graphics chip, with ubuntu 20.04 in 2021 :-P
i was annoyed that a still working machine cannot be used with ubuntu just because of missing driver support....
the vesa driver just worked up to eye-cracking 1024x768
and with your script i could finally change the resolution to 1280x800.

im not shure it works properly, video playback is still poor, (youtube etc) and not fluent at low resolutions... same as with vesa driver at 1024x768, or maybe a bit poorer. shure, its an antique machine, it may result from the higher resolution...

is there a way to accelerate video playback? maybe by setting lower frame rates instead of 60 Hz? oder depth?
can i check somehow if hardware accelation is used properly

i also re-installed the restricted 3rd party codecs after not setting that during the ubuntu installation

greets Georg

update: video playback with mpv player:
the mpv player uses vaapi hardware acceleration, and it plays a downloaded Mpeg4 video absolute fluently! ~30fps
the standard video player doesnt use hardware acceleration i read, and plays the same downloaded file with about 5 fps very poor.

so does firefox and chrome, streaming the same file reaches also only about 5fps
in firefox via about:config i activated vaapi, but it did not show any increase of performance.

so i think the poor video performance is a browser problem, or a problem of not implemented hardware acceleration
probably as nowadays cpus are fast enough...

graphics driver seems to work!

Not work on my fresh lubuntu 18.04, the console doesnt recognize all the command, also puppy linux too

Hi. Thanks a lot! This worked for me in Sparkylinux (light debian based distro). I was able to revive a 10+ year old BGH laptop, with excellent image and decent performance. The line "git checkout for-xorg- $ XORG_VERSION" was not recognized and I modified it with the xorg version manually (git checkout for-xorg-1.20) In my particular case.