Message-ID: <3C28B113.7F4CFA0E@webit.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2001 18:02:11 +0100
From: Thomas Winischhofer <tw@webit.com>
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To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: @Linus, Marcello, (Alan?) (regards sisfb)
In-Reply-To: <3C2349C8.1DF70E5F@falke.mail>
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Hi again.

I just finished an update for the new sisfb driver which is available
here:

http://members.aon.at/~twinisch/sisfb_src_251201.tar.gz

The update was necessary for making sisfb co-operate better with the new
X driver.

Feedback welcome.

Thomas


Thomas Winischhofer wrote:
> 
> Hi, as you might know, the sisfb driver did not work correctly on
> systems with SiS630 and LCD panels, i.e laptops. The problem was the
> type of video bridge used, which is LVDS in most cases.
> 
> The current driver contained in the kernel can't even work in theory,
> because
> 
> 1) the tables that should have contained necessary data for refresh and
> timing were empty, and
> 
> 2) this data depends on the type of LCD panels attached and is not the
> same on all machines.
> 
> So, the whole theory with this driver is a failure.
> 
> I therefore re-wrote (and commented) the sisfb driver to read out the
> BIOS data, instead of its very own tables. On non-SiS630 or non-LVDS
> systems, the old code is used.
> 
> From the feedback I got, I know that the driver is working in about 50%
> of the SiS630-LVDS-machines out there, depending on what revision of the
> SiS630 and LCD panel being used. This is 50% more than before!
> 
> The driver has been tested on systems without a video bridge as well
> (ie. desktop machines) and it works there as well. This means I didn't
> break it for other configurations.
> 
> The dark side: The driver is - when used on SiS630 and LVDS - not
> LinuxBIOS-capable (because it depends on data stored in the SiS-BIOS)
> 
> Are you willing to include the new driver in the kernel?
> 
> It's available here: <old link, outdated - see above>
> 
> I have not made a patch, because this patch would be about as twice as
> huge than the whole code. But if you insist, I could make a patch as
> well. The code is based on 2.4.16. AFAIK there were no changes to sisfb
> up to current 17-rc2. The archive is to be extracted over the existing
> code while in /usr/src/linux/drivers/video/sis/
> 
> Thomas

-- 
Thomas Winischhofer
Vienna/Austria
mailto:tw@webit.com              *** http://www.webit.com/tw
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