> I can see two ways forward - either write a fbdev driver, or a kgicon
> driver. The kgicon approach seems to open up more possibilities, but I
> don't know if this way is going to be easier or harder.
I don't think it will make much difference.
The kgicon structure forces you to think a little more when it comes to
separating components and allows for an acceleration driver, so in that
area you might have a little extra work with kgicon.
However this usually pays off, when later maintaining the driver or
extending it to future chipsets, as usually the resulting code is much
cleaner.
> I intend to copy all the code that I can out of the X I740 server,
> which also includes acceleration code, incidentally.
In that case I'd opt for a kgicon driver, as you don't need to drop the
accels (except for simple stuff like blits and fills) and can export them
to userspace.
> Given that I'm new to all these arenas (fbdev, kgicon, x-servers *and*
> VGA-hacking), but that I'm willing to put some time in to get through these
> obstacles, does anyone have any helpful advice or comments they could add.
Not yet. But just feel free to ask any question. Remember: There is no such
thing as a stupid question. Only ignorant answers.
> Particularly, I reckon it would be easier for me to understand an existing
> driver that is somehow similar to the I740, and pull everything together
> that way. Any pointers to other sources of information would also be
> appreciated.
I don't know much about the structure of the I740, but the Permedia 2 driver
should be a relatively "clean" sample driver, though it severely lacks
documentation, as I don't have much docs on the chip.
The driver was ported from the fbdev driver in order to get acceleration
for XGGI and to have a sample driver for a "modern" VGA chipset for some
mysterious OS :-).
CU, Andy
--
= Andreas Beck | Email : <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> =
