Rogelio Serrano wrote:
On 8/29/06, James Richard Tyrer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Rogelio Serrano wrote:
> On 8/29/06, James Richard Tyrer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > if i use the ogc i will not be booting into vga mode even on an
x86. i
>> > will be using linuxbios and boot straight onto graphics mode.
>> >
>> And how will you do this?
>>
>> Will your System BIOS be configured for your monitor?
>
> no. linuxbios will configure the card. and since the card is open its
> not rocket science. with current proprietary cards its impossible to
> do that. the vga bios is a copyrighted opaque 16bit binary blob
> nonsense.
>
> why not vga then? because i can. the card has open specs. no need to
> go to vga and delay the bootup.
>
> the mode will be available via ddc. the bios does not need to be
> configurable at all. bios should just load the OS as fast as possible.
>
That would be the case with any monitor that provides DDC. The issue
that I am raising is what we do with monitors that don't provide DDC and
won't support VGA. How does Linux BIOS deal with such monitors?
linuxbios does not do anything special. it uses the vga bios now.
because nobody knows how to initialize the graphics card. its a well
kept secret.
I don't really understand what you mean. The VGA hardware in a video
card must be 100% compatible with IBM because the System BIOS and DOS
programs write directly to it.
IBM document 68X2251 (5.5 mm thick in 5.5 x 8.5 inch format) fully
documents all Video BIOS functions and the functions of all VGA
registers. Since most of the VGA hardware is 100% compatible with EGA,
more detail can be obtained by reading the EGA spec and books on DOS
programing.
IIUC, the VESA BIOS extension documentation is available from VESA.
Specifically, DDC appears to be documented since there are debugging
programs which read it.
its up to the graphics card. thats why if we have an open
card why use vga? sure we can emulate the vga during bootup and we
jump through hoops to get out of vga mode like its the plague.
the guys with fixed freq monitors buy fixed freq video cards. very
expensive. we need to find a way to support them. if you had a bunch
of those monitors would you throw it away? not everybody would. its a
matter of choice.
No, I am suggesting that we support them. I'm just saying that the most
efficient way to setup the card for such a monitor is to borrow a VGA
monitor or use a TV set.
linuxbios developers dump the vga bios from a running machine and
insert it in the rom image. ugly but thats the only option available.
Why not just write an open Video BIOS based on the VGA spec?
there is already interest in the linuxbios list to to go beyond the
open graphics card. its a drive to standardise the hardware. they see
first hand the kind of hell a lack of hardware standards creates.
i would love to see an open northbridge.
Well, that is an interesting idea for a project.
--
JRT
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