El Sun, 06 Aug 2006 17:20:59 -0700 James Richard Tyrer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> escribio:
> Timothy Miller wrote: > > I'd like to put out a call for 4 or 5 driver writers to help with the > > following pieces of software for OGD1, OGC1, etc.: > > > > - VGA BIOS > > - Linux kernel driver > > - Linux fbconsole driver > > - Linux DRI driver > > - X11 DDX module > > - Mesa driver (later than the others) > > > > Those that volunteer will be lent OGD1 cards. Most likely, those who > > check in working code will get their loans made permanent. > > I am afraid that I am also someone whose low level programing experience > is limited to DOS. So, I guess that all I could help with is the Video > BIOS. I don't know how much help I can be since I have retired on > disability. I have CFS and my brain doesn't always work correctly. May be i can help. I have some known about asm, BIOS, etc and a little experience about asm > Actually, my area of programing expertise is numerical methods. Such > programs are usually not written in C because C compilers tend to screw > up such programs. But, I know C and x86 assembler. The only assemblers > I have are a buggy MS 5.1 which is now obsolete and something from > Borland that might be OK if it will run on PC-DOS 2K. > > Perhaps we will need a new Intel assembler. Does the Video BIOS need to > be able to run in protected mode? What code level should we use (486, > 586, 686)? What about nasm? It is free software and i preffer the sintaxis over gnu as. Nasm is not full intel sintaxis though. Some VESA functions need to run in protected mode. We can write asm code that run in real and protected mode with care about segments. I have see code like that before. I have not see a 486 with pci but maybe it exist. > But about the VGA/VESA BIOS. Can we obtain some information from VESA > as a starting point to write a BIOS? I have see a lot of info and function descriptions for vesa until 2.0 for VESA 3 it can be more dificult. > I have a listing of the IBM EGA BIOS so I might be able to help on the > listing side of a "Chinese Wall". Or, do you think that IBM cares > anymore since they got out of the PC business. Actually, the assembler > code would be modified so much for our hardware that it wouldn't be > recognizable. I presume that, as in music or literature, you are > allowed to copy a little. It can be very interesting to have good compatibility with some BIOS varibles. > -- > JRT _______________________________________________ Open-graphics mailing list [email protected] http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com)
