That's the `bad hardware design' syndrome...
> Neither card is safe from userspace FWIW, and S3-ViRGE/GX has a nasty
> tendency to crash under XFree86 for me...
I know, we have similar problems with a ViRGE/VX here.
> > OK, atyfb doesn't support multiple ATI boards yet, but that's a question of
> > hours...
>
> You're lucky you have such a nice computer and managed to get either docs
> from ATI on your board (real lucky!) or have a board that's
> self-initializing. (sorry - it took me 3 months to get docs on the S3
> cards but the ATI docs are _NOT_ available afaik. At least not for
> anything newer than Mach64)
I've got a PDF file for the RAGE PRO from ATI, but I have to admit that it
doesn't document the 3D and video stuff, 2D only. And I've got a lot of sample
code. Didn't sign any NDA.
I do more like S3 than ATI (politically), but the S3 doesn't have Open Firmware
on the board, while the ATI has and thus worked out-of-the box on my CHRP
PowerPC.
> > Oh yeah, I'm _not_ saying that everyone should be using fbcon. For plain PCs,
> > vgacon is fine. We just need the full abstract console code to be in the kernel
> > for machines that always boot with a graphical screen, not text mode. So, on
> > machines without decent firmware, you'll be stuck with vgacon and VGA text
> > mode, and XFree86 :-)
>
> or KGI/EvStacks - which is what I use. I'm happy :)
So we can split the $100000 question in two parts:
1. When will there be generic support for graphics consoles in the kernel
for non-PC architectures?
2. When will there be GGI for PC-architectures?
The answer to the second question is definitely not `now'. For question 1, you
all know my opinion.
Oh yeah, to make things clear: I'm not opposed to a GGI-alike scheme at all.
> [I also am programming userspace consoles - something not possible without
> EvStacks or equiv... I want ioctl's forewarded to userspace, eh? A
> console without, say, loadable font support is pretty weak]
Fbcon has loadable font support, vgacon doesn't have it yet because I didn't
bother to implement it (I have to halt production machines to play with that).
Greetings,
Geert
--
Geert Uytterhoeven Geert.Uytterhoeven@cs.kuleuven.ac.be
Wavelets, Linux/{m68k~Amiga,PPC~CHRP} http://www.cs.kuleuven.ac.be/~geert/
Department of Computer Science -- Katholieke Universiteit Leuven -- Belgium
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