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  • From: sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
  • To: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [BL] framebuffer
  • Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 16:59:15 +0000 (UTC)

Thanks to the kernel that David Moberg posted at www.geocities.com/davidjmoberg (along with other useful packages) I attempted to get Bl2 working with a framebuffer device.

mknod /dev/fd0 c 29 0 (first device, - if you have others 29 32, 29 64, etc. up to 8 devices)

Boot with the new kernel. This kernel does not have support for vfat (like BL3?) and I therefore have to mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /fd.
If I recompile I will add vfat support to avoid the -t msdos.


The kernel was supposedly patched to work with S3. It did not. 'You passed an undefined mode number' when I booted with loadlin and vga=0x307 (or just 0307, or 775)


I then copied the kernel to the test computer and it worked better with the Rendition chip which is VESA 2.0 PCI.

I chose a 1024 mode and it booted right into text mode with tiny letters, about 50 lines per screen, probably 132 columns. I have not tried 800x600 which is probably 100 columns and I hope less lines since this is hard to read on my 15" monitor.

I cannot resizecons now.

I dialed my bbs and it is displaying here in only 80x25 with small text,
which is not helpful. The resizecons approach gave me a full screen
with more rows and columns. Same problem with lynx.

What else do I need to change?


Then I tried to run links2 -g without defining a mode (svgalib mode).


'Cannot open GPM mouse'

I loadedt hemouse gpm -t ps2.

Still cannot open the GPM mouse.
I can see the mouse cursor move when I move the mouse.


I have not tried the X server yet.
The vesafb.tar.gz package contains some modules (for which kernel?) and xfbdev which requires libm.so.5.


The mdacon.o in there issmaller than the one for SW7.1.

Is this file taken from Slackware 4.0 or did you compile it, David?

I was expecting to install the XFBDev.tgz package from Slackware 7.1 - does this xfbdev program do something different from that server?


fbset in this same package tells me my resolution and H and V frequencies.
I have not tried setting modes with it yet as I don't know how - David said it would not work with S3 but maybe it will with the Rendition chip.

This is bitmapped text and looks nicer than the 132x50 I got from using vga=ask on VESA 1.2 cards, but it needs some fixing (and a larger monitor). I will try 800 resolution instead.

------
I copied over libm.so.1 (two files, symlink included) from BL3 to Bl2 so that I could run xfbdev with its required dependencies. I already had Bl2 running with Xvesa and all the fonts for X.

xfbdev produced a black screen with very narrow colored strip at the top, attempts tochange consoles made no difference to this, and I could not even reboot, just power off and on again.


So I rebooted in BL3. The problem of only seeing 80x25 (in smaller type) is probably something to do with the settings for Pine - I was okay until I hit pine. And lynx in Bl2 (which Idon't have in BL3). But lynx did not have these problems when I used resizecons, I don't think. Should check.

This time at 800 res I get about 100x37 columns/rows. No choice of any other number of rows like I had with resizecons. THere is an SVGAtext program which is supposed to offer many more choices. But this choice is reasonable and produces nice looking text. I don't see any way to get
80x34, which was somewhat easier to read on a 14 or 15" monitor.

At first the Welcome to BL3, first four lines, remained at screen top eventhoug I entered other commands but now that I dialed it has gone away.

fbset tells me the resolution again.

xfbdev, after I made fb0, tells me:
Fatal server error - could not open default cursor font 'cursor'.

Is this something I can add to BL3 easily?

I could not try links2 in fb mode because Steven compiled it to work only with X. (So I don't know if it cannot find the gpm mouse from SW 4.0).



Without being able to use fbset, I have to choose between 800x600 with 100x37 text, or 1024x768 with 132x50 text. With resizecons and Xvesa I can choose rows and columns separately, and X resolution separately from rows and columns.

I usually choose 1280 to browse with Opera because of all the wide websites (tho Opera does offer a shrink to fit option) and 80x25 for normal text work.



However, my three framebuffer cards don't work well with resizecons, svgalib, and/or Xvesa, so framebuffer is the only real option here. This card is the only one of three I tested that works at all in Xvesa. Two cards won't work with svgalib (would zgv and seejpeg work with fb instead?). This card won't work with resizecons.


Any ideas on how to fix all the above problems with
1) links2 -g can't find GPM mouse
2) BL2 xfbdev crashes
3) BL3 xfbdev can't find cursor font


I may try on my other two fb-capable cards. Anyone else want to get involved? It was not that complicated. Just
1) download the bzImage kernel from David's site and gunzip it.
2) edit the batchfile you use for booting with loadlin to use this new kernel (bzImage) and at the end add vga=771 (or 0x303? 0303? 303?)
(or other numbers for modes other than 800x600x256 colors)
3) after booting mknod /dev/fb0 c 29 0 (makes the device)
4) you should see smaller text and more of it

5) If you are in BL2 copy over libm.so.5.* from BL3

6) Get and unpackage vesafb.tar.gz which producesa bunch of modules (Sw4.0?) and fbset and xfbdev (needs libm.so.5 - or round up a later version of xfbdev)

7) ./xfbdev - see if it crashes like it did for me, or produces X, or complains about no cursor in BL3

8) if you have links2 from delilinux in Bl2 try links2 -g and see if it can't open GPM mouse

I will report back if the matrox or voodoo cards work any differently and if I get fbset to change resolutions on the fly.

keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org




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