From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Pavel Machek Subject: Re: [Linux-fbdev-devel] Generic VESA framebuffer driver and Video card BOOT? Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 21:08:46 +0200 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org Message-ID: <20041020190846.GA21315@elf.ucw.cz> References: <41740384.5783.12A07B14@localhost> <41763777.26324.1B3B684C@localhost> Mime-Version: 1.0 Return-path: Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <41763777.26324.1B3B684C@localhost> List-Id: Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-fbdev-devel@lists.sourceforge.net Hi! > > > Open Firmware may be a 'nicer' solution, but I guarantee that if the > > > vendors started supporting that it would be just a bug ridden as any 16- > > > bit real mode BIOS code. For the Video BIOS the code always works for > > > what it is tested for. Some vendors spend more time testing the VBE BIOS > > > side of things fully (if they are smart they have licensed our VBETest > > > tools for this purpose). Unfortunatley some vendors do not test this > > > stuff thoroughly and it has problems. But the same testing issues would > > > exist whether the firmware was written as a 16-bit x86 blob or as an Open > > > Firmware blob. > > > > Actually that 16-bit x86 blob can access any PC hardware, and that's > > where the stuff gets hard. > > Yes, but there is only a very small set of PC hardware features you need > to implement, and most BIOS'es only look at those things for timing > purposes. Unfortunately there is no standard for how BIOS'es do internal > timing and delay loops, so we emulate them all (8253 timers, speaker > ports and CMOS time/date support ;-). Hmm, that does not seem that bad. Did you need to emulate interrupt controller, too? That one seemed most scary to me. Pavel -- People were complaining that M$ turns users into beta-testers... ...jr ghea gurz vagb qrirybcref, naq gurl frrz gb yvxr vg gung jnl!