Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 13:01:11 +0000 (GMT) From: "Soeren Schmidt" <sos@kmd-ac.dk> To: hackers@FreeBSD.org (FreeBSD hackers) Subject: Re: guest account: Yggdrasil information Message-ID: <199501091157.AA04595@dkuug.dk> In-Reply-To: <199501072206.AA14296@dkuug.dk> from "uucp@kmd-ac.dk" at Jan 7, 95 11:06:48 pm
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> >> It should be possible to get the 16-colour or mono server (our 16
> >> colour server is quite slow so the mono server is probably a better
> >> option) running on any VGA-compatible card at the standard 640x480 VGA
> >> resolution using the provided sample XF86Config file. The only bit that
> >> needs configuring to do this is the mouse protocol/device setting. That's
> >> the mode MS Windows will run in until you install a card-specific driver.
> >> To do anything much more adventurous is in my opinion doomed to failure.
> >
> >Actually, if you did the interface right, you wouldn't even need a
> >mouse! Just grab the server by the throat and demand all keystrokes.
> >Do your own keystroke-based windows navigation even. Write a window
> >manager-cum-GUI interface. But are you *really* sure you could get
> >that VGA screen up there 99 times out of 100? Let's say, as reliably
> >as SCO's seems to come up in VGA mode on totally weird and whacked out
> >hardware? I don't like SCO, but it definitely runs on a lotta shit!
> >
> >[and I suppose you could read that last sentence in various ways :-)]
>
> :-)
>
> I think the SCO server can use the BIOS to initialise video modes, so
> that would improve its success rate. It'd be nice if we could do the same.
We can, syscons supports all the "standard" VGA modes via the VGA
bios, it actually uses the bios's modetables. Either X can do the
same thing, or do it via syscons...
> I did say "VGA compatible". The generic driver in those Xservers
> shouldn't assume anything other than "standard VGA" (which I guess
> means register compatible with IBM's original VGA). I think the only
> problems I've heard of are with some P9000 based cards (probably using
> Weitek's W5x86 SVGA chip), but I'll see if I can follow that up.
It should work via the bios modetables, or it wouldn't work under DOS
either. I've not seen a setup where syscons cannot set the modes
correctly yet (but I'm sure I'll hear about some now :)
We have to restrict us to 640x480 16 color/mono for this framework to
work, but that should work al almost any (VGA) hardware, even laptops
etc....
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Soren Schmidt (sos@FreeBSD.org | sos@kmd-ac.dk) FreeBSD Core Team
So much code to hack -- so little time
..
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