[OpenBIOS] Re: [fb-d] Current States of LinuxBios on SiS 630

[Jeff Garzik]

Ollie Lho wrote:
> 
> Jeff Garzik wrote:
> >
> >
> > >         Finally, could you please put your source to the FreeBIOS CVS ??
> > > Usually we are unsure if our version matches yours, you know, things like
> > > this make a lot of trouble.
> >
> > Let me know if any SIS engineers need CVS commit permissions.  Ronald
> > and Johan (original STPC BIOS author) already have CVS commit
> > permission.
> >
> 
> Please put me (ollie at sis.com.tw) and K.M. (kmliu at sis.com.tw) on the list.

You need to get accounts on sourceforge (http://sourceforge.net/) and
let me know your sourceforge usernames..


> > > P.S. Jeff, could you review the sisfb for us ?? What are we missing from the
> > > driver for this special purpose ??
> >
> > I'm not sure about the oops yet, but with respect to VGA BIOS init:
> > I've been looking through it already to see if I can get the 6326 card
> > going with sisfb.
> >
> > The main thing that appears to be missing is memory configuration.  Just
> > like linuxbios and DRAM init, the video card's memory timings must be
> > setup, and video memory sized.  There are many parallels between what a
> > VGA BIOS does to initialize a video card, and what a PC BIOS does to
> > initialize a PC.
> >
> 
> For intergated VGA in SiS 630:
> 
>         dram timming of VGA == dram timming of System
>         dram sizing of VGS == How much you want, you get it.
> 
> > Beyond that, there may be other differences which are not immediately
> > apparent from my reading of the specs.  For example VGA emulation mode
> > may need to be initialized before VGA registers/functions work at all.
> >
> 
> What ?? Could you be more specific ??

Unfortunately no, the point is that the VGA BIOS is the place where OEMs
put all their customizations -- workarounds for hardware bugs, bug fixes
in legacy VGA emulation, etc.  Without seeing the VGA BIOS source code,
you cannot know whether the VGA BIOS simply initializes the card to text
mode and implements VESA support, or much much more.

	Jeff




-- 
Jeff Garzik              | Liberty is always dangerous, but
Building 1024            | it is the safest thing we have.
MandrakeSoft, Inc.       |      -- Harry Emerson Fosdick
-
To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo at freiburg.linux.de
with 'unsubscribe openbios' in the body of the message