Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1751424AbWE2WKY (ORCPT ); Mon, 29 May 2006 18:10:24 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1751427AbWE2WKY (ORCPT ); Mon, 29 May 2006 18:10:24 -0400 Received: from nz-out-0102.google.com ([64.233.162.193]:42712 "EHLO nz-out-0102.google.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751424AbWE2WKX convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Mon, 29 May 2006 18:10:23 -0400 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=bCW4OnAAbaerS8Ov3i8xS5B64+T7fX7+/t4U1e6iKOUCSaI2AY/owiSYOVkrbah5N7H9CQdeVfJelZDmZ9Cqik62u8c0b7NZ4sZ2BHCPwmYq/JsCHdq6TJYI0SRqy6xuXr2PF/+gJkKGAEgiKeVCKbeUgOe7eqyk6/SwcSJWIM0= Message-ID: <9e4733910605291510i18d80ff3qc7be3b412fc99785@mail.gmail.com> Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 18:10:13 -0400 From: "Jon Smirl" To: "Jeff Garzik" Subject: Re: OpenGL-based framebuffer concepts Cc: "Pavel Machek" , "Dave Airlie" , "D. Hazelton" , "Alan Cox" , "Kyle Moffett" , "Manu Abraham" , "linux cbon" , "Helge Hafting" , Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: <447B666F.5080109@garzik.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Content-Disposition: inline References: <20060519224056.37429.qmail@web26611.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> <200605272245.22320.dhazelton@enter.net> <9e4733910605272027o7b59ea5n5d402dabdd7167cb@mail.gmail.com> <200605280112.01639.dhazelton@enter.net> <21d7e9970605281613y3c44095bu116a84a66f5ba1d7@mail.gmail.com> <20060529102339.GA746@elf.ucw.cz> <21d7e9970605290336m1f80b08nebbd2a995be959cb@mail.gmail.com> <20060529124840.GD746@elf.ucw.cz> <447B666F.5080109@garzik.org> Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1771 Lines: 41 On 5/29/06, Jeff Garzik wrote: > Pavel Machek wrote: > > These are very reasonable rules... but still, I think we need to move > > away from vgacon/vesafb. We need proper hardware drivers for our > > hardware. > > I agree we need proper drivers, but moving away from vesafb will be > tough... moving away from vgacon is likely impossible for many many > years yet. > > Once proper hardware drivers exist, you will still need to support > booting into a situation where you probably need video before a driver > can be loaded -- e.g. distro installers. Server owners will likely > prefer vgacon over a huge video driver they will never use for anything > but text mode console. These are areas that definitely need more discussion and design work once we can come to some kind of basic agreement on where to start. I would definitely like to reduce the number of permutations on how video drivers can be combined to an absolute minimum. For example vesafb has caused me a number of problems when it is used simultaneously with other drivers. Other areas that can be explored: 1) Multiple active consoles on multiple video cards 2) User space console driver 3) Ownership of video hardware by the logged in user 4) Using graphics mode to do console for complex Asian languages 5) Concept of a safe mode console that will work in all environments There are probably a lot more areas that can be added to this list. But none of this can be built until the foundation is laid. -- Jon Smirl jonsmirl@gmail.com - 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/