Re: SVGA kernel chipset drivers.

Kenneth Albanowski (kjahds@kjahds.com)
Fri, 7 Jun 1996 23:13:25 -0400 (EDT)


On Fri, 7 Jun 1996, Jamie Lokier wrote:

> >>>>> "Kenneth" == Kenneth Albanowski <kjahds@kjahds.com> writes:
>
> Kenneth> This keeps getting mentioned, but I'm not sure all the
> Kenneth> pieces are in place. Yes, VESA 2.0 is "32-bit". Does that
> Kenneth> actually mean it's usable from within Linux? More
> Kenneth> importantly, do _any_ cards have VESA 2.0 information built
> Kenneth> into the ROM? I hope I don't need to point out that a DOS
> Kenneth> VESA TSR (32-bit or not) is quite useless to Linux.
>
> Well, actually I had 16-bit VESA in mind if it's the only thing
> available. Pretty much everything has that. I didn't say it would be
> easy... :-)

Hmmmm. Nope, sorry, not of much use. You could use it to enumerate modes
at boot time, but there would be no way of actually _setting_ those modes
without dropping back to real mode. (Or at least setting up a V86 mode.)
Not easy at all.

I'm afraid VESA (in just about any incarnation) is basically useless to
Linux. Perhaps I'm wrong about 2.0, but I wouldn't bet on it.

> -- Jamie

--
Kenneth Albanowski (kjahds@kjahds.com, CIS: 70705,126)