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From:   Geert Uytterhoeven <geert@linux-m68k.org>
Date:   Thu, 11 May 2023 15:10:41 +0200
Message-ID: <CAMuHMdX8piLhEbV+pcWvdn1OEGH9N5FwDOQcqNcEjBx3=ThjXA@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v6 1/6] fbdev/matrox: Remove trailing whitespaces
To:     Helge Deller <deller@gmx.de>
Cc:     Thomas Zimmermann <tzimmermann@suse.de>,
        Sui Jingfeng <15330273260@189.cn>, javierm@redhat.com,
        daniel@ffwll.ch, vgupta@kernel.org, chenhuacai@kernel.org,
        kernel@xen0n.name, davem@davemloft.net, arnd@arndb.de,
        sam@ravnborg.org, linux-fbdev@vger.kernel.org,
        dri-devel@lists.freedesktop.org, linux-arch@vger.kernel.org,
        linux-snps-arc@lists.infradead.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
        linux-ia64@vger.kernel.org, loongarch@lists.linux.dev,
        linux-m68k@lists.linux-m68k.org, sparclinux@vger.kernel.org,
        linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org, linux-parisc@vger.kernel.org
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Hi Helge,

On Thu, May 11, 2023 at 3:05 PM Helge Deller <deller@gmx.de> wrote:
> On 5/11/23 09:55, Thomas Zimmermann wrote:
> > But the work I do within fbdev is mostly for improving DRM.
>
> Sure.
>
> > For the
> > other issues in this file, I don't think that matroxfb should even be
> > around any longer. Fbdev has been deprecated for a long time. But a
> > small number of drivers are still in use and we still need its
> > framebuffer console. So someone should either put significant effort
> > into maintaining fbdev, or it should be phased out. But neither is
> > happening.
>
> You're wrong.
>
> You don't mention that for most older machines DRM isn't an acceptable
> way to go due to it's limitations, e.g. it's low-speed due to missing
> 2D-acceleration for older cards and and it's incapability to change screen
> resolution at runtime (just to name two of the bigger limitations here).
> So, unless we somehow find a good way to move such drivers over to DRM
> (with a set of minimal 2D acceleration), they are still important.

DRM can change resolution at runtime, just not through the fbdev API.

Or do you mean the resolution of the text console, akin to
"fbset <mode>"? I have to admit I do not know if there is a command
line tool to do that...

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

                        Geert

-- 
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@linux-m68k.org

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
                                -- Linus Torvalds