Messages in this thread | | | Date | Tue, 22 May 2007 15:35:02 +0100 | From | "Dave Airlie" <> | Subject | Re: [RFC] enhancing the kernel's graphics subsystem |
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On 5/22/07, Jon Smirl <jonsmirl@gmail.com> wrote: > On 5/21/07, Jesse Barnes <jbarnes@virtuousgeek.org> wrote: > > Jon, that's why I'm posting this stuff in the first place! :) Again, if > > you have specific problems with the proposed interfaces (problems that > > would preclude your wishlist from being fully implementable), please let > > me know (preferably with specifics). > > A simple place to start is OOPS display while in graphics mode. If we > going to tear up the kernel graphics system this is something that > needs to be fixed. > > I don't think it is safe for the OOPS code to attempt a mode change to > text mode when the OOPS happens. The OOPS could have happened in a 3D > driver and left the GPU messed up. The safest thing to do is to > display the OOPS using the mode that is already set. > > This implies that the kernel driver needs to track the dimensions and > location of the framebuffer and whether it is in text/graphics mode > (this hasn't been possible before because X never tells the kernel > what mode it is setting). You also need to bring in the bitmap copy > code and fonts over from fbdev. When the OOPS happens you use this > info to paint the OOPS onto the screen. The code from fbdev will let > you display text in graphics mode entirely in kernel context. The > driver should also attempt to stop the GPU to try and make sure it > doesn't erase the OOPS display.
What does this have to do with Jesse's patches? this is a totally orthogonal issue..
We will fix this once we have the basic modesetting code working,
> Another simple thing that needs to be built is a mechanism to run the > VBIOS in x86 mode when the driver is first loaded. This can be > achieved by using call_usermode helper to trigger an external app. You > also need to get the x86 emulator working so that this will work on > non-x86 platforms (benh has already done this). I've aput the hooks > into place to give you access to the VBIOS from sysfs. This app is a > prime candidate for klibc. This app is strongly coupled to the problem > of VGA arbitration. >
Again orthogonal problem, VGA arbitration isn't going to matter for this stuff, and we can have initramfs sw do vbetool post on non-initialised cards at startup even now (it may not always work as some cards may not have BIOSes in the right place s and we need the VGA arb to work to do it properly...)
These are nothing to do with the work we are doing, and I think a big part of your problem with working on this previously is you have linked together a group of orthogonal problems into one big problem, when really there are 5-10 problems all of which can be solved separately...
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