Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005, David Moberg wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "sindi keesan" <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
>
> > But xfbdev has the same problems that Xvesa does with 8-bit color
> > and S3 cards work fine with Xvesa (and usually also with svgalib
> > and resizecons) so there is not a lot of point in making S3 cards
> > work with framebuffer unless you like the looks of the text mode
> > better.  It also comes with a little penguin during boot.
>
> OK. S3 support was why I compiled that kernel. It looks like it doesn't
> work, I will eventually remove the bzImage from my website. S3 cards work
> fine with Xvesa?? I thought Xvesa only worked with VESA 2.0 and later?

Xvesa appears to work fine with everything EXCEPT most VESA 2.0 (it works 
with one of my three PCI cards and one of two AGP cards so far) and Chips 
and Technologies on two laptops.  Your kernel worked nicely with the two 
PCI VESA 2.0 cards that did not work with Xvesa so it is useful and should 
not be removed, however you might want to compile it to be more like BL2 
(handle vfat and cdrom) since computers with VESA 2.0 generally have 
enough RAM.

> > > > THese cards produce nicer looking 132x50 than does resizecons, and
> > > > also 100x37, but not 80x37 (unless I get fbset to work with matrox).
> > >
> > > Does it not work with matrox? For matrox cards, you need to boot normally,
> > > without a framebuffer, then load the matroxfb modules.
> >
> > I was able to use the matrox card with vesafb kernel.
>
> I should have said, "Does _fbset_ not work with matrox cards?"

I have not tried the matrox card except with vesafb.  I don't know how to 
use fbset yet but will attempt to try the matrox card with matroxfb 
instead of your kernel.

Why did you include mdacon in the package?  Slackware already has it.
And what is vfb.o?

> > fbset
> > probably won't work but xfbdev worked and the text modes worked. I
> > don't have a kernel to use with the matrox card.  Some day.  I
> > ought to finish learning to print with pbmtolj first.
>
> Why doesn't my kernel work with matrox? Does the driver crash?

YOur vesafb kernel does work with matrox, so does xfbdev.  Matrox is the 
best of these cards in that respect, and does not work with Xvesa so 
should be used with framebuffer.

I did not try it with matroxfb or fbset yet.


I thought I needed to compile a different kernel for matrox.  YOu said to 
'boot normally' which I am guessing means the non-framebuffer kernel.

Then load the matroxfb module.  I will try that maybe tomorrow.

> > > > > The fb cursor offline was a rectangle alternating between dark
> > > > > and medium bright but online it is bright all the time (at least
> > > > > after exiting pine - did not pay attention before this).
> > >
> > > Is this with the framebuffer? Does it actually switch resolutions on you?
> > Yes this is the framebuffer cursor.  When it is on a word it is
> > reverse (light on dark).  Does what switch resolutions?  I cannot
> > switch after booting like I could with resizecons.  But I don't
> > have the matrox kernel.
>
> So when it goes into 80x25 mode, the fonts don't get any bigger? They're
> the same size, only everything's in an 80x25 box?

When I direct-dial the bbs and ssh from there to another shell account and 
use Pine the fonts stay exactly the same size and are located in a smaller 
box, and after pine it stays that way.  If I dial the ISP and use kermit 
to ssh directly to the second shell account instead, the fonts are the 
same size but the box fills the whole screen.



> > > > The vesafb.tar.gz package contains some modules (for which kernel?)
> > >
> > > 2.2.16. The custom one I made.
> > Different size mdacon.o.gz from what I found at Slackware 7.1,
> > maybe a later version of the same driver.
>
> Or different options. There were a bunch of optional things I selected
> for mine.

Different options for mdacon?  Did you get the latest source code?  I had 
asked someone in Prague if he could add a scroll buffer and fix the 
underlines and bold (for lynx and dosemu wordperfect).

> > I meant xfbdev and fbset.  The former requires libm.so.1 so I
> > copied that from BL3.
>
> Neither are. The original xfbdev I had was built against libc5, in
> a crude way. The new one is statically built against uClibc (I'm
> repeating myself, I know) and fbset is built the same way. The fbset
> isn't even the real thing, it's a tiny version of busybox. If you rename
> it to busybox you'll see the standard busybox screen.

That explains why when I type fbset --help I get something about busybox 
and almost no help.

> > And it would need a configuration file but this one does not?
>
> Correct.

xfbdev gives a list of options which appear to substitute for config file.
I was not able to change the resolution but I don't know what I am doing.

Is this xfbdev the same as Kdrive?

> > Why do people make things larger with no added functionality?
>
> You've got that backwards: the larger one came first, then the code
> was rewritten to be smaller.

Unlike Windows which just gets bigger.


> > Okay.  I also have, somewhere, an ATI card with uses the aty-something driver.
> >
> > > > ATI framebuffer cards need a different kernel from matroxfb and
> > > > vesafb so I can't try that one yet with framebuffer.
> > >
> > > I thought I put that in my kernel .config.
> >
> > Does that mean you compiled for matrox or you suggested how to
> > compile?  I won't be compiling kernels for a while.  Your config
> > file and kernel and patch and instructions are all in one place
> > waiting for me.
>
> I selected both the ATI and Matrox drivers. At least, I thought I
> chose ATI. I might have removed it. Whatever's in that config.txt
> on my website is what's there. Matrox is a module, included with
> vesafb.tar.gz. Insmod all the fbcon modules, then matroxfb and you
> should have a matrox framebuffer.

Do the fbcons have something to do with low-level drivers, mono, 2bpp etc?

How would I use ATI as framebuffer?  I did not see an aty* module.
I downloaded but did not look at the config file.  They tend to confuse me 
and I am confused enough for one day trying to read man pages.

> > If the new xfbdev fixes the mouse and works with all three cards
> > (one of which did not work with it) then we are set.  But I got the
> > impression xfbdev does not work with all cards, same as Xvesa.

xfbdev had nothing to do with the gpm mouse, which still does not seem to 
cooperate with links2 but it could be this odd mouse.  I am using a test 
computer built of leftovers.  We already changed the IDE cable, tried 
nearly all our drives to get FreeDOS to accept one ,and the CD-ROM drive 
works in DOS but not linux.  Will try links2 with fb on the ATI maybe.
First we need to put linux onto it.  AGP ATI card.


> Xfbdev should work with any card that has a working framebuffer driver
> loaded. vesafb is the main problem, its support appears to be the same
> or roughly equivalent as/to Xvesa's.


xfbdev worked with 2 of three cards, which were the 2 cards NOT supported 
by Xvesa.  So they are not that equivalent, though they do both choke on 
8-bit color.

 >
> > Was the S3 patch supposed to let you use vga=ask or just xfbdev?  I
> > did not try the latter. Let's see if a better computer works better
> > with S3 and patched kernel.
Nope.

> Xfbdev, and by extension framebuffer. vga=ask is a different kernel
> option.

I may find the energy to try the matrox with normal kernel and modules 
tonight.  This is not how one should spend the second nice spring day 
after a very long winter.

> David
> --