Hi Andreas,
>> I have been trying to use kgicon from the 2000/06/21 >>snapshot to use the
>> text console at 800x600 with my old Thinkpad (only VESA >>1.2 compliant);
>> is this possible (i.e., should I keep trying? :-)?
>
>This depends on the chipset of the graphics subsystem.
(..)
>Hmm - I don't think this card is supported - wait ... - no, I >don't see Trident's
>anywhere
Thank you for your reply; so I guess I am out of luck, right? I suppose there isn't
much demand for a driver supporting an
old Trident chip... :-)
I am just a hobbyist C programmer (with *very* poor knowledge of all kinds of "low
level" stuff); is there any easy way out
for me?
>
>> With the standard fbcon from the linux 2.2.x kernel I can use the console
>> at that resolution, but
>> 1) it requires me to run a DOS TSR at boot time to "upgrade" my video
>> card to VESA 3.0 compliance and then boot with loadlin (passing it the
>> parameter "vga=771");
>
>I.e. you are running VESAfb, then.
Yes; is there any other framebuffer I may use available on the Intel archictecture?
Sorry if I commited a mistake in calling
it "fbcon"; in "real life" I just study Economics... :-)
>> 2) it is *really* slow when it comes to scrolling...
>
>You might want to try enabling the "ypan" and/or "ywrap" options, using a
>syntax like "video=vesa:ypan,opt2,...".
I will check the docs for that, thanks!
>> which is only VESA 1.2 compliant
>
>VESA compliance is not useful to kgi-style drivers, which rely on being able
>to control the hardware completely.
Humm..., that makes it even more interesting, since any requirement for VESA
compliance (at least VESA 3/2.0 compliance)
would force me to keep that old 60MB MS-DOS partition around (to run that scitech
software product I mentioned before booting
the kernel).
I guess that's why GGI needs to know about the specific chips, right? If it used the
VESA interface it really wouldn't be
necessary for it to "know" about each chip; but then it would also have all the
incovenient aspects of the VESA framebuffer
which are the reason why I want to try out GGI, isn't that it? :-)
Best regards and thanks for any further tips,
Manuel
