From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Otto Solares Subject: Re: [PATCH] neofb patches Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 19:18:16 -0600 Sender: linux-fbdev-devel-admin@lists.sourceforge.net Message-ID: <20040430011816.GC26704@guug.org> References: <20040428002037.GE22495@guug.org> <1083112565.20473.10.camel@gaston> <20040428070832.GA23411@guug.org> <1083147416.18416.24.camel@thor.asgaard.local> <20040428163730.GA24448@guug.org> <1083191201.18413.73.camel@thor.asgaard.local> <20040429010725.GD24584@guug.org> <1083243672.18413.148.camel@thor.asgaard.local> <20040429175201.GA26608@guug.org> <1083280337.8281.181.camel@thor.asgaard.local> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable 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 (Exim 4.30) id 1BJMf9-0003kP-P9 for linux-fbdev-devel@lists.sourceforge.net; Thu, 29 Apr 2004 18:17:59 -0700 Received: from guug.galileo.edu ([168.234.203.30] helo=guug.org) by sc8-sf-mx1.sourceforge.net with esmtp (Exim 4.30) id 1BJMf7-0007zz-4y for linux-fbdev-devel@lists.sourceforge.net; Thu, 29 Apr 2004 18:17:57 -0700 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <1083280337.8281.181.camel@thor.asgaard.local> Errors-To: linux-fbdev-devel-admin@lists.sourceforge.net List-Unsubscribe: , List-Id: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , List-Archive: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" To: Michel =?iso-8859-1?Q?D=E4nzer?= Cc: Benjamin Herrenschmidt , Linux Frame Buffer Device Development On Fri, Apr 30, 2004 at 01:12:17AM +0200, Michel D=E4nzer wrote: > On Thu, 2004-04-29 at 19:52, Otto Solares wrote: > > On Thu, Apr 29, 2004 at 03:01:13PM +0200, Michel D=E4nzer wrote: > > > On Thu, 2004-04-29 at 03:07, Otto Solares wrote: > > > > On Thu, Apr 29, 2004 at 12:26:41AM +0200, Michel D=E4nzer wrote: > > > >=20 > > > > > A small low-level driver could handle this, which both the frameb= uffer > > > > > device and the DRM use. Linus has proposed this approach, and I m= ust say > > > > > I like it. > > > >=20 > > > > That should be fbdev without fbcon. > > >=20 > > > I'm not sure that works: keep in mind that the DRM works on other OSs > > > than Linux, and even on Linux some people may want to use the DRM > > > without a framebuffer device. Neither should be a problem with a mini= mal > > > base driver which does nothing more than hardware resource management > > > and arbitration. > >=20 > > Differents OSs have differents sources for DRM kernel side so > > that's not a problem nor will affect others OSs than linux. >=20 > Nope. Most of the code in the DRI CVS drm module is shared between OSs. > Most of the shared code is hardware specific though, so if you change > the interface to the hardware, either all the OSs will have to provide > the new interface, or the code can no longer be shared, which would get > us back to the code duplication horrors. I'd very much like to avoid > that. I don't see your point, nothing prevents using the shared code, the idea is not to change the interface, just to have a single graphics layer that handle that same interface. I know it could be a pain to duplicate the fbdev into the cvs drm module, but with proper file separations there could live the fbdev's drm code. > > Yes, a minimal driver would do the work _NOW_. >=20 > Why wouldn't it in the future? Because we need a single and unified graphics layer for linux in the very same way like the sound and input layers exists now. A proper graphics layer based on fbdev_sysfs + libraries like the ones Ben or Jon are working on + dri + hotplug + hal + udev + dbus + a good graphics servers (based on the unified layer) + toolkits =3D a chance for linux to compete in the future with longhorn and OSX. The graphics layer I am describing here is low-level and must contain the basics needed for a graphics server. I am working on one but i'm sure it would be useful to any Xserver like the xserver from fd.o. -otto ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: Oracle 10g Get certified on the hottest thing ever to hit the market... Oracle 10g.=20 Take an Oracle 10g class now, and we'll give you the exam FREE.=20 http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=3D3149&alloc_id=3D8166&op=3Dclick