Re: fbcon

["Adam C. Powell, IV" <adam powell nist gov>]

"Dr . David Alan Gilbert" wrote:

> At 11:51 AM 1/27/99 -0500, you wrote:
> >Zeen,
> >
> >UPDATE: matroxfb works in *text mode* on 164LX with Millennium II, 4 MB
> VRAM, 2.2.0
> >and 2.2.0-final (since sound is broken on 2.2.0).  Text modes that worked
> for me:
> >video=matrox:vesa:0x108 or 0x10B or 0x10C (i.e. 640x480, 1056x400,
> 1056x480; though
> >0x10C seems to only work on reboot, not on initial BIOS/ARC startup).  You
> don't get
> >the penguin in these text modes, but all of them allow quite a bit more
> text than
> >the standard VGA console.
>
> Good! Now can you explain how it works? I thought that VESA worked by the
> kernel calling the BIOS to change modes - nice idea, but how the hell does
> it do that on an Alpha with a board with x86 BIOS - I thought all the
> emulation stuff disapeared by the time it got to the kernel?

Uh, how it works?  That's not my department.  Sorry!  Try the linux-fbdev
list.  I'm just doing some testing.

More updates:

   * video=matrox:vesa:0x10C (1056x480 text) does indeed work from initial
     BIOS/ARC startup, I must have done something wrong last time I tried.
   * matroxfb as a module seems to work- just answer "M" to CONFIG_FB_MATROX,
     and when you're up, do "modprobe matroxfb" to install all of the
     modules.  (If it doesn't work, write back- I made another change in
     kernel source which might have made this work.)
   * fbset is not where Documentation/fb/framebuffer.txt says it is.  Get
     version 2.0-pre source from http://www.cs.kuleuven.ac.be/~geert/bin .
     Switching fb modes seems to work- it goes right up to the full resolution
     of my monitor, but trying to change depth causes a spectacular
     catastrophe (well, more or less spectacular depending on your current
     mode :-).

Zeen,

-Adam `Cold Fusion' Powell, IV http://www.ctcms.nist.gov/~powell/ ____
USDoC, National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST)  |\ ||<  |
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