[parisc-linux] Graphics support

[parisc-linux] Graphics support

[Graham Donaldson]

Hi,

	I notice PA-RISC Linux has X11 working now, but I gather that is via
the STI?  Is that correct?  Would that make it pretty slow?

	I just wondered if you could give me any information on the status
of a proper graphics driver for PARISC Linux, it seems HP is being funny
about letting people have the docs for their chipsets maybe?  Also though I
wanted to consider whether use would be made of HP's colour recovery
technology?  From what I have read, currently in HPUX you must compile your
apps to support the Colour Recovery extension.  However, would it be
possible for this to be inbuilt somehow into the XServer when a proper
driver exists for it?  Many of the lower end workstations only have an 8bit
framebuffer but do support Colour Recovery, and with apps like gnome and gtk
making extensive use of high colour graphics, it seems a shame to not use
this probably under utilised HP technology.

Thanks for reading,

Graham Donaldson
Technical Consultant

Email: 	graham_donaldson@psl-dist.co.uk
Tel:      01706 898285
Fax: 	01706 898200

PSL - Partner Services 
'The partner of choice for the provision of quality IT services to UK and
Ireland channel partners'

Re: [parisc-linux] Graphics support

[Grant Grundler]

Graham Donaldson wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> 	I notice PA-RISC Linux has X11 working now, but I gather that is via
> the STI?  Is that correct?  Would that make it pretty slow?

STI is just the interface to present text on the graphics head.
Frame Buffer driver actually, iirc.

> 	I just wondered if you could give me any information on the status
> of a proper graphics driver for PARISC Linux, it seems HP is being funny
> about letting people have the docs for their chipsets maybe?

Funny? That's a very polite way of putting it.
TCD doesn't seem to be interested in publishing those docs.

grant

> Also though I
> wanted to consider whether use would be made of HP's colour recovery
> technology?  From what I have read, currently in HPUX you must compile your
> apps to support the Colour Recovery extension.  However, would it be
> possible for this to be inbuilt somehow into the XServer when a proper
> driver exists for it?  Many of the lower end workstations only have an 8bit
> framebuffer but do support Colour Recovery, and with apps like gnome and gtk
> making extensive use of high colour graphics, it seems a shame to not use
> this probably under utilised HP technology.
> 
> Thanks for reading,
> 
> Graham Donaldson
> Technical Consultant
> 
> Email: 	graham_donaldson@psl-dist.co.uk
> Tel:      01706 898285
> Fax: 	01706 898200
> 
> PSL - Partner Services 
> 'The partner of choice for the provision of quality IT services to UK and
> Ireland channel partners'
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> parisc-linux mailing list
> parisc-linux@lists.parisc-linux.org
> http://lists.parisc-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/parisc-linux

Grant Grundler
parisc-linux {PCI|IOMMU|SMP} hacker
+1.408.447.7253

Re: [parisc-linux] Graphics support

[Jbit of Plasma]

 >>	I notice PA-RISC Linux has X11 working now, but I gather that is via
 >>the STI?  Is that correct?  Would that make it pretty slow?
 > STI is just the interface to present text on the graphics head.
 > Frame Buffer driver actually, iirc.


Yeah, X11 uses the framebuffer driver, it's quite fast (faster then I expected anyway)

 >>	I just wondered if you could give me any information on the status
 >>of a proper graphics driver for PARISC Linux, it seems HP is being funny
 >>about letting people have the docs for their chipsets maybe?
 > Funny? That's a very polite way of putting it.
 > TCD doesn't seem to be interested in publishing those docs.


I assume this includes the 712 gfx chipset (the "artist" chip, iirc)
Wonder why they don't want to release any infomation? Is there any unoffical infomation, a proper X driver should make it faster.

 >>Also though I
 >>wanted to consider whether use would be made of HP's colour recovery
 >>technology?  From what I have read, currently in HPUX you must compile your
 >>apps to support the Colour Recovery extension.  However, would it be
 >>possible for this to be inbuilt somehow into the XServer when a proper
 >>driver exists for it?  Many of the lower end workstations only have an 8bit
 >>framebuffer but do support Colour Recovery, and with apps like gnome and gtk
 >>making extensive use of high colour graphics, it seems a shame to not use
 >>this probably under utilised HP technology.

Sorry to ask, but I couldn't seem to find any docs on it, whats "Colour recovery"?

Thanks
--jbit



_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

Re: [parisc-linux] Graphics support

[andi]

> Sorry to ask, but I couldn't seem to find any docs on it, whats "Colour recovery"?

Color recovery is a strange but cool 8bit truecolor technology. Data is
dithered to the framebuffer in a special way (there is a recommented
alogorithm provided by HP). Then the hardware de-dithers it and you
really see millions of different colors on the screen. Using X11 the
application needs to support it (ImageMagick is the only one I know).

NextStep 3.3 supports color recovery globally and the applications do
not need to have special support, it just works and looks nearly like
true color.

The advantage is that you can save video ram and blitting is very fast
because of the small amount of data.


andi