On Sun, 13 Jan 2002, pesarif wrote:

> On Sun, 13 Jan 2002 10:40, Stas Sergeev wrote:
> > "Edward Mendelson" wrote:
> > > and I hope someday
> > > it becomes possible to use hardware graphics as an ordinary user, not
> > > as root.
> >
> Will anyone being implementing this soon?

Obvious statement --- Are You Volunteering?

> I would like full-screen, fast, console graphics, as an ordinary user, as 
> well.
> 
> > It is possible under X.
> > -
> 
> But, I just have to mention that it's really slow (as are all fully-software 
> emulated things).

X can give you direct framebuffer access, but no ports, and cannot
(yet) switch bpp. If your X is running at 8bpp and your DOS program also
wants 8bpp (and maybe also the same resolution as X), then it could run
quickly.

Completely direct ports access you simply can't get as an ordinary user.
A client-server approach could work but then the server, at the very least
needs root privileges at start-up. Moreover each port access needs to be
catched by the client, and then forwarded to the server - giving a lot of
overhead for some (but not all) video modes.

Also there is the (new) svgalib approach with a device in /dev/svga for
which you can then give a user privileges. However giving a user full
access to the video card means giving her/him an ability to crash the
system, even if logged in remotely, just like it is now possible with
suid-root dosemu. So that does not help a lot.

The client-server might appear in DOSEMU in the future, but don't hold
your breath.

Bart

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