From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Sean D'Epagnier Subject: Multihead support Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2006 03:35:04 -0600 Message-ID: <20060806093504.GA30519@inferno.domain.actdsltmp> References: <170385E48B041543AC99CCD09E325AD1952C32@mail.elevenonline.com.au> Reply-To: linux-fbdev-devel@lists.sourceforge.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from sc8-sf-mx1-b.sourceforge.net ([10.3.1.91] helo=mail.sourceforge.net) by sc8-sf-list1-new.sourceforge.net with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1G9f1U-0007lH-9n for linux-fbdev-devel@lists.sourceforge.net; Sun, 06 Aug 2006 02:34:16 -0700 Received: from mercury.lunarpages.com ([216.227.217.101]) by mail.sourceforge.net with esmtps (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256) (Exim 4.44) id 1G9f1S-0004mE-2D for linux-fbdev-devel@lists.sourceforge.net; Sun, 06 Aug 2006 02:34:16 -0700 Received: from 71-208-204-50.hlrn.qwest.net ([71.208.204.50] helo=localhost) by mercury.lunarpages.com with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1G9f2w-0002SQ-KZ for linux-fbdev-devel@lists.sourceforge.net; Sun, 06 Aug 2006 02:35:46 -0700 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <170385E48B041543AC99CCD09E325AD1952C32@mail.elevenonline.com.au> List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: linux-fbdev-devel-bounces@lists.sourceforge.net Errors-To: linux-fbdev-devel-bounces@lists.sourceforge.net To: linux-fbdev-devel@lists.sourceforge.net I think multihead support is slightly broken with fbdev. I have multihead working with nvidiafb and matroxfb. I had to patch the kernel to get console text to update on the non-active vt. In userspace programs, I know how to register signal handlers to notify a program when it gains or loses the active vt, but I don't think there is a way to correctly detect when a framebuffer device becomes visible or hidden. The FBIOGET_CON2FBMAP ioctl provides a means to find which fbdev devices is mapped to a given console, but as far as I know to do the reverse lookup (find the vt attached to a given fbdev) can't be done. There are really 3 states a vt can be in: 1. active/visible 2. inactive/visible (only applies to multihead) 3. inactive/invisible If it were possible to register a signal handler for visible changes the same way as active changes, this would fix the problem. Xorg for example won't run on /dev/fb0 and allow me to run something else on /dev/fb1 I have in my own programs written hacks to poll con2fb, at a timed interval. This is a terrible solution, and it has a high probability of corrupting the screen output (until refresh) I think in the future this will be come a bigger concern as x11 is slowly being separated from the hardware, and it will become useful to run multiple sessions of x11. I would like to discuss all possible solutions, and hopefully implement a simple working solution. Thanks, Sean D'Epagnier ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys -- and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV