Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1752185AbaJ1Psv (ORCPT ); Tue, 28 Oct 2014 11:48:51 -0400 Received: from mail-qc0-f169.google.com ([209.85.216.169]:35763 "EHLO mail-qc0-f169.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1750873AbaJ1Pst (ORCPT ); Tue, 28 Oct 2014 11:48:49 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <20141028023208.320b777b6ad97c7c9a815300@michaelshell.org> References: <20141028023208.320b777b6ad97c7c9a815300@michaelshell.org> From: Bjorn Helgaas Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 09:48:28 -0600 Message-ID: Subject: Re: Standard VGA console with DRI/DRM under X? To: Michael Shell Cc: "linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org" , David Airlie , DRI mailing list , Alex Deucher , =?UTF-8?Q?Christian_K=C3=B6nig?= Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org [+cc David, Alex, Christian, dri-devel] On Tue, Oct 28, 2014 at 12:32 AM, Michael Shell wrote: > > > Greetings, > > Well, I want to be able to have my cake and eat it too. I want to be able to > have the standard VGA/"hardware" classic console (not the framebuffer) but > I still want the /dev/dri/cardX devices so that I can use DRI under Xorg. > > Is this possible and if not, why not? > > > (I do hope I'm not bring up an issue with an obvious fix, but my searching > has not yielded an answer yet. For the record, I'm running modern kernel > (3.16.3) with much older x86 hardware [r100 Radeon video card].) > > > If I boot with the kernel nomodeset option I can get the classic > VGA/"hardware" console, but then I lose support for DRI/DRM: > > Oct 27 15:11:09 X kernel: [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810 > Oct 27 15:11:09 X kernel: [drm] VGACON disable radeon kernel modesetting. > Oct 27 15:11:09 X kernel: [drm:radeon_init] *ERROR* No UMS support in radeon module > > and glxgears et al. turns slow. In more modern Xorg releases, DRI is > required for all hardware acceleration, so having /dev/dri/cardX is very > important: > > http://askubuntu.com/questions/463142/why-x-is-relying-on-software-instead-of-hardware-with-nomodeset-kernel-paramet > > > One reason I do not wish to use the framebuffer console is because of the > small font. 160 columns makes it difficult to tell which [OK] belongs with > which service. The selection of console fonts should always include a > set that gives us an 80 column screen and the docs should point this out. > > And I dislike any blanking or video mode changes during boot. > > Can't the kernel just declare that it is capable of setting the video mode, > provide the /dev/dri/cardX devices and leave the console alone, but still > allow Xorg to call for a new mode and use /dev/dri/cardX if/when it sees fit? > > In an ideal world, there would be some kernel option such as fbcon=no. > > In the kernel Documentation fbcon.txt it mentions "fbcon=map:1 tells fbcon not > to take over the console." But, IIRC, from my tests I wasn't able to use this > to get a VGA/"hardware" console and still be able to have /dev/dri/cardX devices. > > > > Cheers and thank you, > > Mike Shell > -- > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org > More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html > Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/ -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/