> The only interesting part is the text mode initialization.  Nothing 
> beyond 80x25 monochrome text is required, and that's just for 
> convenience so you don't need a custom kernel to boot.

I disagree. I frequently use the text console and find that 80x25 is not
enough.... I suggest that at least 80x50 should be supported too.

Further, I suspect that dropping colour support in text mode would be a
mistake. Many Linux installers and boot scripts use colour to highlight
important information, particularly red for failure.

Going further, I don't think that a graphics card can be truly VGA
compatible without the full range of text modes.

> Personally, I don't think it's worth supporting VESA modes at all.
> Since the card specs are open, VESA support is pointless.  This makes
> the bios code very short and sweet.  Only a fraction of Int15 has to
> be supported on the PC.  Other arches should be a piece of cake.

That's fine for Linux, but what about DOS based apps? What about
graphical installers that use vesafb?

Theoretically, VESA support can be done in a TSR for DOS, but that
rarely worked well.

Don't forget that the card is intended to support running Windows and
other operating systems too.

Rob

-- 
Robert Loomans
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________
Open-graphics mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics
List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com)

Reply via email to