Framebuffer still "EXPERIMENTAL"?

Framebuffer still "EXPERIMENTAL"?

[Joerg Pommnitz]

Hello Listees,
yesterday I compiled 2.5.38 for the first time and noticed that the
framebuffer option is still marked "EXPERIMENTAL". Well, I know for sure
that I used the VESA-FB 3 years ago to get X running on a strange laptop
graphic chip, so it is at least that long available (actually I think it
got introduced for the Sparc port somewhen in 1995??). 

I think it's about time to promote the framebuffer code to a full fledged
kernel feature. Comments?

Regards
  Jörg

=====
-- 
Regards
       Joerg


__________________________________________________________________

Gesendet von Yahoo! Mail - http://mail.yahoo.de
Möchten Sie mit einem Gruß antworten? http://grusskarten.yahoo.de

Re: Framebuffer still "EXPERIMENTAL"?

[jbradford]

> Hello Listees,
> yesterday I compiled 2.5.38 for the first time and noticed that the
> framebuffer option is still marked "EXPERIMENTAL". Well, I know for sure
> that I used the VESA-FB 3 years ago to get X running on a strange laptop
> graphic chip, so it is at least that long available (actually I think it
> got introduced for the Sparc port somewhen in 1995??). 
> 
> I think it's about time to promote the framebuffer code to a full fledged
> kernel feature. Comments?

I've noticed a bug with it, but haven't had time to investigate more fully, infact it might not be a kernel bug, but I suspect that it is.  I don't usually use the framebuffer, (I prefer the standard text mode).

On a standard Slackware 8.1 install, (kernel 2.4.18), on a machine with an ATI graphics card, and with the framebuffer enabled, if you type clear, then fill the screen with text so that it scrolls, (e.g. do a find /), the top four lines where the penguin used to be do not scroll, they just keep the text that is originally put there.  If you press shift-pageup, and then shift-pagedown, it fixes it.

If anybody has got the time to look in to this, I'll post more details.

John.

Re: Framebuffer still "EXPERIMENTAL"?

[Ken Moffat]

On Fri, 27 Sep 2002 jbradford@dial.pipex.com wrote:

> > Hello Listees,
> > yesterday I compiled 2.5.38 for the first time and noticed that the
> > framebuffer option is still marked "EXPERIMENTAL". Well, I know for sure
> > that I used the VESA-FB 3 years ago to get X running on a strange laptop
> > graphic chip, so it is at least that long available (actually I think it
> > got introduced for the Sparc port somewhen in 1995??). 
> > 
> > I think it's about time to promote the framebuffer code to a full fledged
> > kernel feature. Comments?
> 
> I've noticed a bug with it, but haven't had time to investigate more fully, infact it might not be a kernel bug, but I suspect that it is.  I don't usually use the framebuffer, (I prefer the standard text mode).
> 
> On a standard Slackware 8.1 install, (kernel 2.4.18), on a machine with an ATI graphics card, and with the framebuffer enabled, if you type clear, then fill the screen with text so that it scrolls, (e.g. do a find /), the top four lines where the penguin used to be do not scroll, they just keep the text that is originally put there.  If you press shift-pageup, and then shift-pagedown, it fixes it.
> 
> If anybody has got the time to look in to this, I'll post more details.
> 
> John.

 Normal operation. Either switch to a different tty, or set a font.

There does seem to be a bug in your mailer, though (excessive line
length) :->

Ken
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/
> 

-- 
 Out of the darkness a voice spake unto me, saying "smile, things could be
worse". So I smiled, and lo, things became worse.

Re: Framebuffer still "EXPERIMENTAL"?

[jbradford]

> > > Hello Listees,
> > > yesterday I compiled 2.5.38 for the first time and noticed that the
> > > framebuffer option is still marked "EXPERIMENTAL". Well, I know for sure
> > > that I used the VESA-FB 3 years ago to get X running on a strange laptop
> > > graphic chip, so it is at least that long available (actually I think it
> > > got introduced for the Sparc port somewhen in 1995??). 
> > > 
> > > I think it's about time to promote the framebuffer code to a full fledged
> > > kernel feature. Comments?
> > 
> > I've noticed a bug with it, but haven't had time to investigate more fully,
> > infact it might not be a kernel bug, but I suspect that it is.  I don't
> > usually use the framebuffer, (I prefer the standard text mode).
> > 
> > On a standard Slackware 8.1 install, (kernel 2.4.18), on a machine with an
> > ATI graphics card, and with the framebuffer enabled, if you type clear, then
> > fill the screen with text so that it scrolls, (e.g. do a find /), the top
> > four lines where the penguin used to be do not scroll, they just keep the
> > text that is originally put there.  If you press shift-pageup, and then
> > shift-pagedown, it fixes it.
> > 
> > If anybody has got the time to look in to this, I'll post more details.
> > 
> > John.
> 
> Normal operation. Either switch to a different tty, or set a font.

Hmmm, if that's normal operation, surely it's a bug?

Infact, why not use the wasted space to the right of the penguin for something useful - I.E. a status line, like on old terminals, showing disk and serial port activity!?

> There does seem to be a bug in your mailer, though (excessive line
> length) :->

I guess maybe it's time for me to move away from using 'mail' from the command line for my day to day E-Mail needs :-(.  Already, I have to use elm when I need the quoting capabilities so lacking from my favourite mailer :-).

John.

Re: Framebuffer still "EXPERIMENTAL"?

[Ken Moffat]

On Sat, 28 Sep 2002 jbradford@dial.pipex.com wrote:

> > 
> > Normal operation. Either switch to a different tty, or set a font.
> 
> Hmmm, if that's normal operation, surely it's a bug?
>
 Only if you don't need to set a font anyway to be able to see your
desired character set !
 
> Infact, why not use the wasted space to the right of the penguin for something useful - I.E. a status line, like on old terminals, showing disk and serial port activity!?
> 
 That space is reserved for more penguins! Think SMP, or perhaps a P4 with
hyperthreading! But seriously, once you've configured your machine
correctly the penguin doesn't stay around for long, so the space is not
available for a status line.

> > There does seem to be a bug in your mailer, though (excessive line
> > length) :->
> 
> I guess maybe it's time for me to move away from using 'mail' from the command line for my day to day E-Mail needs :-(.  Already, I have to use elm when I need the quoting capabilities so lacking from my favourite mailer :-).
> 
> John.
> 
 Nothing wrong with doing it the hard way, I s'pose <g>

Ken
-- 
 Out of the darkness a voice spake unto me, saying "smile, things could be
worse". So I smiled, and lo, things became worse.