Jon Smirl wrote:
> [...]
> BenH has source for a working emu86. I would wait on that project
> until klibc has been merged.

A while ago I worked on cleaning up the emulator that was first written 
by SciTech, and then used by X and LinuxBIOS people.

The .text size of the emulator went from 59478 to 38225 bytes, but I bet 
I could shrink it even further. The emulator was a bit optimized for 
speed, but IMHO we want it optimized for size.

If I can get the emulator to use, say, 20kB, wouldn't it be better to 
have it in the kernel instead of as user-space helper?

This would allow the graphics driver to call BIOS functions as if they 
were regular functions, i.e., you could call on a BIOS function to set 
the graphics mode and continue execution when the BIOS function completes.

A user mode helper will always be more cumbersome from a programming 
POV. Not to mention that it would be a lot easier for distro maintainers...

-- 
Paulo Marques - www.grupopie.com

Pointy-Haired Boss: I don't see anything that could stand in our way.
            Dilbert: Sanity? Reality? The laws of physics?
-
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/