Baslinux mailing list

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

On Wed, 7 Mar 2007, mikkel meinike wrote:
> Lee Forrest wrote:
>
> > Is using svga actually smaller than using tinyX (kdrive)
> > servers?
>
> I have not hired about tinyX (kdrive) before. BL3 comes with xvesa and
> the wouldn't work with my machine (the Compaq AVGA chip) then I tried
> with XSVGA and that wouldn't work ether, Then I had to use the VGA16
> server and that worked, but in compare to that the SVGAlib is much
> better.
>
> /Mikkel

Delilinux links2 can run in either X or svgalib mode.
Without a window manager (in 640x480x32K).

Xvesa plus links2 -g:  %MEM      0.4 Xvesa 0.9 links2

non-X (svgalib) links2 -g:  %MEM     1.2 links2 
For 8-bit color  it is               1.1 links2

Lower resolutions/color depths use less memory.

BL3 links2 only runs in X.

Total memory is 256M, so links2 8-bit in svgalib uses 2.8MB, and
in Xvesa (32K color depth) 3.3MB.   .5MB difference.  On a computer with 
3-5MB RAM this might make a difference, but DOS would be better there 
anyway.  I can run lynx with a viewer in 3MB RAM.

Xvesa and xfbdev don't work in 256 colors - do the other tinyX servers?

We have a 486 Compaq laptop that only does up to 256 colors.  It works 
with X SVGA (with special modelines) and svgalib but Xvesa only finds 
four colors (not 4-bit).

svgalib does not work with all video chips, but it was much easier to set 
up than X_SVGA with special modelines.   Some cards/chips will work with 
chipset VGA when chipset VESA fails.  That is what BL1 is based on (libvga 
4-bit 640x480).

Abiword unfortunately insists on at least 256 colors.  Is there an svgalib 
wordprocessor?

Sindi