From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Jon Smirl Subject: Re: [Dri-devel] Re: DRM and pci_driver conversion Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 14:02:04 -0700 (PDT) Sender: linux-fbdev-devel-admin@lists.sourceforge.net Message-ID: <20031025210204.30378.qmail@web14913.mail.yahoo.com> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Return-path: Received: from sc8-sf-mx1-b.sourceforge.net ([10.3.1.11] helo=sc8-sf-mx1.sourceforge.net) by sc8-sf-list1.sourceforge.net with esmtp (Cipher TLSv1:DES-CBC3-SHA:168) (Exim 3.31-VA-mm2 #1 (Debian)) id 1ADVbr-0003gL-00 for ; Sat, 25 Oct 2003 14:06:07 -0700 Received: from web14913.mail.yahoo.com ([216.136.225.240]) by sc8-sf-mx1.sourceforge.net with smtp (Exim 4.24) id 1ADVXx-0004sC-BF for linux-fbdev-devel@lists.sourceforge.net; Sat, 25 Oct 2003 14:02:05 -0700 In-Reply-To: Errors-To: linux-fbdev-devel-admin@lists.sourceforge.net List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To: Linus Torvalds Cc: Jon Smirl , Eric Anholt , kronos@kronoz.cjb.net, Kernel Mailing List , linux-fbdev-devel@lists.sourceforge.net, dri-devel , Jeff Garzik , Egbert Eich --- Linus Torvalds wrote: > Quite frankly, I'd much rather see a low-level graphics driver that does > _two_ things, and those things only: > > - basic hardware enumeration and setup (and no, "basic setup" does not > mean "mode switching": it literally means things like doing the > pci_enable_device() stuff. > > - serialization and arbitrary command queuing from a _trusted_ party (ie > it could take command lists from the X server, but not from untrusted > clients). This part basically boils down to "DMA and interrupts". This > is the part that allows others to wait for command completion, "enough > space in the ring buffers" etc. But it does _not_ know or care what the > commands are. > > Then, fbcon and DRI and X could all three use these basics - and they'd be > _so_ basic that the hardware layer could be really stable (unlike the DRI > code that tends to have to upgrade for each new type of command that DRI > adds - since it has to take care of untrusted clients. So DRI would > basically use the low-level driver as a separate module, the way it > already uses AGP). > Linus, why don't you refuse updates from these projects until this is sorted out? Your proposal is exactly what it needed. For a year now I have been poking at these issues and making very little progress. I do know that all of the pieces needed already exist; but without some incentive there is very little reason to rearchitect the existing code. Personally I'm working on a standalone version of Mesa (OpenGL). This would allow us to write a 3D hardware based windowing system in response to the ones on the Mac and MS Longhorn. But instead of working on a windowing system I've spent all of my time trying to help sort out the video device drivers. ===== Jon Smirl jonsmirl@yahoo.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/ ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: The SF.net Donation Program. Do you like what SourceForge.net is doing for the Open Source Community? Make a contribution, and help us add new features and functionality. Click here: http://sourceforge.net/donate/