Dieter wrote: >>>>> James> Yes, but a video board is a slave system, it must do what the main >>>>> James> system requires. >>>> Does it need to be able to function as the only video board on the system? >>> The Ethervideo box isn't a "video board", it is more like an X11 terminal. >>> >> It could be an X terminal, or not. What is apparent is that there are >> clearly two cases here. >> >> 1. The box can function as the video card for a PC. In this case, >> Ethernet is functioning as just a fast serial interface and would be >> connected directly to the PC's Ethernet connection with a RJ45 cable -- >> like my DSL box is connected. Or, could it simply respond to any >> address if the senders IP address was 127.000.000.xxx? But, that might >> be a security issue on a network. >> >> 2. The box could function as a video display on a network. It would be >> reached by a router or coax. In that case, it would not act as the >> primary display for a PC. > > A computer doesn't need a video card, at least I've never seen one that did. > It does need a console. Which can be a window on an X terminal. The user > can easily set IP addresses on an X terminal, as it has display and keyboard > (and mouse or other pointing device). The trick will be to find a good way > to set the IP addresses on the computer before the console connection to the > X terminal is established. > > We can't assume that the system supports an open bios, or has a socket for > additional BIOS. Most pee-cee type computers will likely need a card with > a socket for BIOS. Once we do that we might as well put an Ethernet port on > the card, and some SATA ports and maybe an RS-232 port or 2. (And anything > else that is inexpensive and recent computers don't have enough of.) We could > include a bunch of jumpers or dip switches or rotary switches or whatever for > the Ethernet addresses. We'd need at least the computer's IPaddr, the IPaddr > of the Ethervideo/X11 box that will be the console. Maybe the netmask and > gateway. >
You can obtain a unique IP for the PC side using DHCP. You can discover the display devices IP either by scanning the network, or sending a broadcast "magic" packet (our own discovery protocol, or maybe a standard way - uPnP protocol should be for this kind of stuff). >>> So, how would the VGA-to-X11 bios firmware know what IP address to use for >>> itself? >>> How would it know the IP address of the Ethervideo box that is its console? >> Well, my DSL box has a fixed IP address. Doesn't a slave device have to >> use a fixed, or hardware selected, IP address? > > I suppose if your ISP provides static IP addresses, they could just hardcode > the address into the box somehow. But ISPs are a special case, we can't > dictate IP addresses. > >> I suppose that the box should have an IP address so that a small local >> network was possible even in case #1. However, I really think that a >> network port dedicated to only the console display is the best idea for >> case #1. > > That's up to the end user. They might already have a single cat6 in the > walls and not want to run more cable. Then put a switch to our card, so that it can act as a pass-thru for ethernet, unless we make a NIC replacement too (that the NIC on the card can be shared between VGA and standard networking for Internet access). >>> Will it ask the Ethervideo box to create a new window (like xterm -C)? >>> >> No, it would be functioning as the whole display in VGA BIOS mode for >> boot and would be controlled by a driver after that. What it would do >> after boot would be totally controlled by the driver and the software >> using the driver just as it is with any other video card. > > It isn't a video card. It is an independent node on the Ethernet. The PC side emulates a video card. You need to make 2 devices for the above: First is sitting as an independent node on the Ethernet, and can do X and video decoding [the original goal of this list]. The second thing is a NIC+BIOS add-on card for PCI/PCIE, which emulates a VGA card/keyboard/mouse. Who wants to boot or install his PC over ethernet buys this card, otherwise it will be not required, as the kernel loads and networking is up, you can access the other box the same way. BTW: is it possible for the X box to open a new window when some PC boots up and display its console? This way you could make a setup which does not use our special hw X box, but a normal PC with X and when you equip your servers with the NIC/BIOS add-on, you get a KVM like thing. What do you say? _______________________________________________ Open-hardware-ethervideo mailing list [email protected] http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-hardware-ethervideo
