Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 08:53:39 +0930 From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> To: Jason Thorpe <thorpej@nas.nasa.gov>, Nick Hibma <nick.hibma@jrc.it> Cc: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, FreeBSD hackers mailing list <hackers@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: multi-user: multiple consoles in FreeBSD Message-ID: <19981023085339.H28824@freebie.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <199810221628.JAA06206@lestat.nas.nasa.gov>; from Jason Thorpe on Thu, Oct 22, 1998 at 09:28:12AM -0700 References: <199810221628.JAA06206@lestat.nas.nasa.gov>
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On Thursday, 22 October 1998 at 9:28:12 -0700, Jason Thorpe wrote: > On Thu, 22 Oct 1998 10:26:51 +0200 (MET DST) > Nick Hibma <nick.hibma@jrc.it> wrote: > >> With X it should be possible, but I don't know how. Any pointers would >> be appreciated. In text mode however I am unaware of any possiblities, >> largely lacking probably because of the fact that there are no >> possiblities to connect more than one keyboard and screen anyway at the >> moment. Up to now. > > NetBSD's wscons can handle multiple text displays, keyboards, mice, etc. > > The big problem is crappy PC hardware. If you plop more than one PCI VGA > device in your system, You Lose, because they both attempt to map themselves > in compatibility space so that the BIOS can talk to them. I don't understand if you're intending to say "in some cases". It's certainly not true generally. You can put as many PCI display boards into a machine as will fit, and with the appropriate software you can use them all at the same time. I'm currently using two heads with XI Graphics server, but will migrate to XFree86 as soon as the facility is available (4.0). > Some display controllers (notably, 3D accellerators) have a jumper > to disable VGA mode completely, but then you only get a memory > mapped frame buffer (if you're lucky :-) Hmm. I think this is your proviso. You specifically mean VGA compatibility. Well, yes, if you want a graphics board to conform to a standard which only allows one board, then you can only use one board. But there's more than just a frame buffer if you disable this feature. Greg -- See complete headers for address, home page and phone numbers finger grog@lemis.com for PGP public key To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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