Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Thu, 25 Jun 1998 04:48:26 -0400
From:      "Gary Palmer" <gpalmer@FreeBSD.ORG>
To:        Thomas Valentino Crimi <tcrimi+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Cc:        freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: NetBSD (and FreeBSD) video support 
Message-ID:  <1210.898764506@gjp.erols.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 24 Jun 1998 17:53:27 EDT." <ApYLJLu00UM210Jso0@andrew.cmu.edu> 

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Thomas Valentino Crimi wrote in message ID
<ApYLJLu00UM210Jso0@andrew.cmu.edu>:
>   What is the issue with the E2&3 cards, AlphaLinux has some (albiet
> funky) amount of support meaning we could do the same.  I'm actually
> tempted to give it an attempt as uninitatied as I am with doing kernel
> drivers, nevermind never having used NetBSD.  Has anyone looked into
> this on either the Free- or Net BSD side?  Can FreeBSD convince Digital
> to get the full specs on these TGA cards?  They are VERY nice cards and
> would make would X server proud.

The TGA cards are the only(?) cards supported by NetBSD/Alpha for an
X server, so specs are available. Infact, I believe, since they are
bitmap cards and do not have a character blit engine (unlike VGA cards)
you have to have some intelligence in the kernel even to use them as
a text console...

At USENIX a friend and myself talked to the NetBSD ppl about the X server
problems and they are well aware of it. The main problem is exporting
bus_space functionality to userland (or some sort of kernel support
for userland processes accessing hardware directly). Its also a lot of
work, and may take a while to happen...

Gary
--
Gary Palmer                                          FreeBSD Core Team Member
FreeBSD: Turning PC's into workstations. See http://www.FreeBSD.ORG/ for info



To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-alpha" in the body of the message



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?1210.898764506>