Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2016 15:25:10 +0100 From: Niclas Zeising <zeising@freebsd.org> To: Anil Gulati <gulati.au@gmail.com>, freebsd-x11@freebsd.org Subject: Re: What are the criteria for contributing to development and testing? Message-ID: <56C5D446.2080509@freebsd.org> In-Reply-To: <CABb3=2t5HnGyRqUhP1vU%2Bp=0efi-Fv5mLERzx71kKu38PPoDvA@mail.gmail.com> References: <CABb3=2t5HnGyRqUhP1vU%2Bp=0efi-Fv5mLERzx71kKu38PPoDvA@mail.gmail.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 2016-02-17 16:07, Anil Gulati wrote: > Dear FreeBSD-X11, > > My thread on FreeBSD forums base system > https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/55054/ helped me establish that buying > an Intel NUC or System 76 with 5th Gen Broadwell Intel i3/i/5/i7 would be a > no go for X11 on FreeBSD https://wiki.freebsd.org/Graphics > > Is it possible for me to contribute to the development and testing of > driver support to get these chips working with the Intel HD Graphics 6000 > 6100 etc? > > And if I go for a 6th Gen Skylake Intel i3/i5/i7 is it possible and > appropriate to contribute to development and testing on Skylake before > Haswell or Broadwell support is finished? > > One thing worries me on Skylake is that I read that the Skylake chipset > "retires VGA support" > > > Does this mean I can't even get console working on Skylake? I'm not sure if > Linux has support for Skylake yet either? Can I even install FreeBSD if I > can't see console? > Hi! All help is much needed. Have you started with looking at the code? The wiki article https://wiki.freebsd.org/Graphics/Update%20i915%20GPU%20driver%20to%20Linux%203.8 has information regaring the kernel bits, and the link you cited above has information about the ports bits as well as general status. It is probably also a good idea to have a fleeting knowledge of the FreeBSD kernel in general. The developer's handbook as well as the book "The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System (2nd ed)" might be good starting points. The current work, kernel vise, is to get the code from the Linux 3.8 kernel ported to FreeBSD (all modern GPU code are ported from FreeBSD, we don't have the manpower to redo all that work). This will include support for Haswell GPUs. Once this is done, we will look into porting the code from later Linux kernels, which means support for even newer GPUs. Skylake is the most recent GPU, as far as I know. I'm not even sure it's supported on Linux yet, and it won't be supported in FreeBSD before the code needed is in the Linux kernel. However, X still works using the VESA and/or frame buffer module. You won't be getting graphics acceleration, but it should be enough for regular desktop use and development. I hope this gives you somewhere to start, don't hesitate to write to the list again if you have further questions or other things you want to discuss. We are all doing this on our spare time though, so sometimes it takes a little while before we have the time to reply. Best regards! -- Niclas
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?56C5D446.2080509>