[PATCH v2 00/10] drm: Add support for low-color frame buffer formats

From: Geert Uytterhoeven
Date: Mon Mar 07 2022 - 15:53:09 EST


Hi all,

A long outstanding issue with the DRM subsystem has been the lack of
support for low-color displays, as used typically on older desktop
systems, and on small embedded displays.

This patch series adds support for color-indexed frame buffer formats
with 2, 4, and 16 colors. It has been tested on ARAnyM using a
work-in-progress Atari DRM driver supporting 2, 4, 16, and 256 colors,
with text console operation, fbtest, and modetest.

Overview:
- Patch 1 introduces a helper, to be used by later patches in the
series,
- Patch 2 introduces a flag to indicate color-indexed formats,
- Patches 3 and 4 correct calculations of bits per pixel for sub-byte
pixel formats,
- Patches 5 and 6 introduce the new C[124] formats,
- Patch 7 fixes an untested code path,
- Patch 8 documents the use of "red" for light-on-dark displays,
- Patches 9 and 10 add more fourcc codes for light-on-dark and
dark-on-light frame buffer formats, which may be useful for e.g. the
ssd130x and repaper drivers.

Changes compared to v1[1]:
- Reshuffle patches,
- New patch "[PATCH v2 02/10] drm/fourcc: Add
drm_format_info.is_color_indexed flag",
- Improve pixel descriptions,
- Require depth to match bpp in drm_mode_legacy_fb_format(),
- Set .is_color_indexed flag.
- Use drm_format_info_bpp() helper instead of deprecated .depth field
or format-dependent calculations,
- Use new .is_color_indexed field instead of checking against a list
of formats,
- Add Acked-by,
- Replace FIXME by TODO comment,
- New patch "[PATCH v2 08/10] [RFC] drm/fourcc: Document that
single-channel "red" can be any color",
- Add rationale for adding new formats,
- Add D[248] for completeness.

Notes:
- Using modetest with the C4 formats requires [2].
- Using modetest with the default XR24 format requires [3].
- As this was used on emulated hardware only, and I do not have Atari
hardware, I do not have performance figures to compare with fbdev.
I hope to do proper measuring with an Amiga DRM driver, eventually.

Thanks for your comments!

[1] "[PATCH 0/8] drm: Add support for low-color frame buffer formats"
https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220215165226.2738568-1-geert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
[2] "[PATCH libdrm 0/3] Add support for low-color frame buffer formats"
https://lore.kernel.org/r/cover.1646683737.git.geert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[3] "[PATCH RFC libdrm 0/2] Big-endian fixes"
https://lore.kernel.org/r/cover.1646684158.git.geert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Geert Uytterhoeven (10):
drm/fourcc: Add drm_format_info_bpp() helper
drm/fourcc: Add drm_format_info.is_color_indexed flag
drm/client: Use actual bpp when allocating frame buffers
drm/framebuffer: Use actual bpp for DRM_IOCTL_MODE_GETFB
drm/fourcc: Add DRM_FORMAT_C[124]
drm/fb-helper: Add support for DRM_FORMAT_C[124]
[RFC] drm/gem-fb-helper: Use actual bpp for size calculations
[RFC] drm/fourcc: Document that single-channel "red" can be any color
[RFC] drm/fourcc: Add DRM_FORMAT_R[124]
[RFC] drm/fourcc: Add DRM_FORMAT_D[1248]

drivers/gpu/drm/drm_client.c | 4 +-
drivers/gpu/drm/drm_fb_helper.c | 101 ++++++++++++++-----
drivers/gpu/drm/drm_fourcc.c | 55 +++++++++-
drivers/gpu/drm/drm_framebuffer.c | 2 +-
drivers/gpu/drm/drm_gem_framebuffer_helper.c | 12 +--
include/drm/drm_fourcc.h | 4 +
include/uapi/drm/drm_fourcc.h | 36 +++++--
7 files changed, 169 insertions(+), 45 deletions(-)

--
2.25.1

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

Geert

--
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
-- Linus Torvalds