Messages in this thread |  | | From | (Alan Cox) | Subject | Re: SVGA kernel chipset drivers. | Date | Sat, 1 Jun 1996 00:34:09 -2300 (BST) |
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> Nope, the kernel can provide a framebuffer device in /dev that > programs can mmap. IO port access is less critical. We had this argument before. Some cards dont have a frame buffer.
I/O port access is critical. The "frame buffer" of most cards is actually a window of 64K onto a mapped space. Its critical enough the X servers do iopl() rather than ioperm to save a few clocks (2 or 3) for each out/in they do.
> The real reasons for such a driver are reliability and security.
Which only need kernel support for "restore to text mode".
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