From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Feb 6 11:39:17 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4E95C1065673; Fri, 6 Feb 2009 11:39:17 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (unknown [IPv6:2a01:170:102f::2]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BAB718FC19; Fri, 6 Feb 2009 11:39:16 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.14.3/8.14.3) with ESMTP id n16BdBx0058474; Fri, 6 Feb 2009 12:39:15 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from oliver.fromme@secnetix.de) Received: (from olli@localhost) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.14.3/8.14.3/Submit) id n16BdB6b058473; Fri, 6 Feb 2009 12:39:11 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from olli) Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2009 12:39:11 +0100 (CET) Message-Id: <200902061139.n16BdB6b058473@lurza.secnetix.de> From: Oliver Fromme To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG, ale@FreeBSD.ORG In-Reply-To: <498C0BAE.5020803@FreeBSD.org> X-Newsgroups: list.freebsd-hackers User-Agent: tin/1.8.3-20070201 ("Scotasay") (UNIX) (FreeBSD/6.4-PRERELEASE-20080904 (i386)) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-2.1.2 (lurza.secnetix.de [127.0.0.1]); Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:39:15 +0100 (CET) Cc: Subject: Re: CFT: Graphics support for /boot/loader X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:39:17 -0000 Alex Dupre wrote: > Oliver Fromme ha scritto: > > Some of you might remember that I'm working on graphics > > support for our /boot/loader. > > Just a side question: are you going to improve also the splash(4) > support? Graphical loader is great, but unfortunately on amd64 the boot > splash screen is unusable. The problem is related to the fact that a 64bit kernel cannot use VESA BIOS functions. You should be able to use standard VGA modes though, which don't require VESA support. Anyway, there have been several ideas floating around to fix or work-around the VESA problem for amd64. One of them involves letting the loader prepare graphics mode (doing all the VESA stuff) and hand all the necessary information to the kernel, so the kernel only has to perform framebuffer access, but no VESA BIOS calls. It is my plan to try to look into that, but I would like to continue with the current work on the boot loader first. As soon as the graphics support in the loader is stable and "finished", I can start thinking about how to interface that graphics support with the kernel's syscons driver (which is a very sensitive piece of code). Best regards Oliver -- Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing b. M. Handelsregister: Registergericht Muenchen, HRA 74606, Geschäftsfuehrung: secnetix Verwaltungsgesellsch. mbH, Handelsregister: Registergericht Mün- chen, HRB 125758, Geschäftsführer: Maik Bachmann, Olaf Erb, Ralf Gebhart FreeBSD-Dienstleistungen, -Produkte und mehr: http://www.secnetix.de/bsd "File names are infinite in length, where infinity is set to 255 characters." -- Peter Collinson, "The Unix File System"