> As for space I do care - imagine having to do Linux installation
> floppies and having to put 50 video drivers on there which includes
> acceleration code just to get a simple console display ... its bad
> enough with the amount of drivers as it is already.
No, you only need that if you want the intall to run X.
If you _do_ want the install to run X, you are no worse off
than you would be with a huge collection of userspace drivers.
> Most cards do X fine in user space as it is now and it works
> pretty well.
It works. That is all. We don't get to use all the features
that Windows users can use.
>> It should go into the kernel, thats the only place it can be
>> multiplexed, used fully (irqs,dmas, atomic operations), and
>> used safely.
>
> And be slow.
or fast, depending on hardware requirements.
> Ok lets put it another way: A lot of people use older installations
> and are not very much interested in upgrading kernels regularly due to
> the `if it works now, don't try to install something that may break
> something else' strategy. Thus if we tie the whole graphics
> acceleration stuff (which primarily means X) to the kernel it means
> that people will have to run and get new kernels to get the new and
> improved X servers that can run using acceleration on their hardware
> same goes for bug fixes.
That is totally bogus. The same thing applies to SCSI, Ethernet,
sound, and every other bit of hardware.
Speaking for myself, I'd much rather upgrade the kernel.
XFree86 comes with a collection of libraries, and a library
upgrade often breaks stuff. The kernel is easy to change.
>> Ok fine, I'll take your bet and double it. What PROPER
>> hardware can I get for X86 that can do FULL ACCELERATION
>> safely from userspace? It would need to have support for
>> hardware context switches and be able to get steller
>> performance without the use of DMAs or IRQs. AFIK there is
>> NONE, and if there it it's not common..
>
> Someone mentioned the Matrox cards
Nope, they need DMA and an IRQ at the very least. Newer models
may require more.
> Anyway what I am opposed to is the idea that
> because some PC hardware is broken, we degrade the performance for
> everybody by putting it in the kernel as default (I don't expect
> anybody to seriously want that we have two parallel developments of
> graphics drivers).
Anyway what I am opposed to is the idea that because some people
don't need to use DMA, we degrade the performance for everybody by
not putting proper video support in the kernel ever.
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
Please read the FAQ at http://www.altern.org/andrebalsa/doc/lkml-faq.html