You don't have to fudge drivers to use the 'vesa' driver. That's a driver in it's own right. There's a submodule that's used called 'vbe' - VESA BIOS Extensions, that a driver can call into the Video BIOS. The 'vesa' driver uses the 'vbe' module to do it's work. But..........
Like I said, The Intel driver already does this. There's nothing stopping other drivers doing this too. If your stepping up to add an option to the drivers to do this - feel free and submit the patches. Alan. On Mon, Nov 24, 2003 at 09:46:09PM +0000, Raymond Jennings wrote: > Could you fudge it so that the VESA driver just sets standard modes and > passes custom modes and all other requests to the default driver? That way > you wouldn't miss out on any acceleration. I was talking about only using > VESA to set the video modes, and use standard drivers for the rest. > > > >From: Alan Hourihane <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: Raymond Jennings <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Subject: Re: Could the VESA BIOS be of assistance? (ID 20311056 ignore > >this filter) > >Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 21:40:15 +0000 > > > >The 'vesa' driver is just like any other driver. If you use the 'vesa' > >driver > >then it will change video modes using the VESA BIOS. Note that you won't > >get any acceleration from this driver. One problem with using the BIOS is > >that your set in the fixed modes provided by the BIOS. Some people like > >the ability to set obscure modes. It's also been noted that some laptops > >don't have appropriate modes in the BIOS for some 1400x1050 panels and > >the Windows driver programs the mode directly anyway, so XFree86's users > >lose out when using the VESA BIOS exclusively. I'm sure it affects more > >users too. > > > >You don't have to get the latest version though either, although it's > >that's best. > > > >Alan. > > > >On Mon, Nov 24, 2003 at 09:33:04PM +0000, Raymond Jennings wrote: > >> So if I got the latest version, and decided to change video modes, would > >it > >> use VESA? > >> > >> > >> >From: Alan Hourihane <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >> >To: Raymond Jennings <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >> >CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >> >Subject: Re: Could the VESA BIOS be of assistance? (ID 20311056 ignore > >> >this filter) > >> >Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 21:26:50 +0000 > >> > > >> >On Mon, Nov 24, 2003 at 09:19:01PM +0000, Raymond Jennings wrote: > >> >> I was wondering if we could make some use of the VESA VGA extension, > >to > >> >set > >> >> video modes at least. That would eliminate all of the video mode > >> >problems, > >> >> such as bad offsets, out of sync, and scanline problems. The VESA > >> >standard > >> >> covers everything the XVidMode extension does, but does it more > >safely. > >> >I > >> >> have yet to see the video bios mess up the video card. The XVidMode > >> >> extension could ignore everything but the screen dimensions and be > >> >backward > >> >> compatible. Xvidtune would be made obsolete. I've done plenty of > >VESA > >> >> hacking, and it seems a promising interface. > >> >> > >> >> And don't tell me it's slow, because the video card takes a while > >when > >> >> changing video modes anyway, and any latency involved in calling the > >> >VESA > >> >> BIOS would be masked by the monitor resyncing. > >> >> > >> >> Tell me what you guys think about this. I'm aware of a prejudice > >> >against > >> >> the BIOS, but this is a special case. I know for a fact that messing > >> >> around with sync frequencies is dangerous, and the BIOS can be > >trusted. > >> >> > >> >> You could make use of the vm86 system call, or write a kernel module > >to > >> >go > >> >> to v86 mode on behalf of the X server. I'm certain there's always a > >way > >> >to > >> >> get to the VESA extension. > >> >> > >> >> Let me know what you guys think. Is this practical? is it > >ingenious? > >> >Is > >> >> it dangerous? Is it stupid? > >> > > >> >The driver for using the VESA BIOS already exists and has done for > >several > >> >XFree86 versions. The driver is called 'vesa'. > >> > > >> >Some drivers already use BIOS calls to set modes too, some of the Intel > >> >chipsets exclusively use it. > >> > > >> >Alan. > >> > >> _________________________________________________________________ > >> Has one of the new viruses infected your computer? Find out with a FREE > >> online computer virus scan from McAfee. Take the FreeScan now! > >> http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 > > _________________________________________________________________ > Share holiday photos without swamping your Inbox. Get MSN Extra Storage > now! http://join.msn.com/?PAGE=features/es _______________________________________________ Devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/devel
