framebuffer with thinkpads

[John D'Ausilio]

I'll leave this discussion on the list unless someone objects ...

The framebuffer is a kernel device which works with VESA 2.0 compliant video
hardware to isolate the details of card design from apps which use video.
Documentation can be found in the kernel source tree at Documentation/fb/.
You can utilize it for replacing the character-mode console, and also to
eliminate X setup! The console replacement is what I was interested in for
my TP .. as 770 owners are aware, the character-mode consoles use funky
fonts which I find tiring to look at all day. On the two desktops I have
running, I've been able to get a graphics console at 1024x768 and 1280x1024
with over 100 cols and 60 rows with a very nice font. I've also got the
XF86_FBDev server running on the (unsupported) Trio 3D machine in
1024x768x16, with very good performance (the other has a semi-supported SiS
chip so I kept the accelerated server).

I'm going to keep playing .. I'll report any success to the list

john

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Tootill [mailto:peter.tootill@beta.co.uk]
Sent: Monday, July 19, 1999 3:18 AM
To: linux-thinkpad@www.bm-soft.com
Subject: RE: framebuffer with thinkpads


Sounds interesting, Jon. I haven't come across it, what does it do??

Rgrds

Peter


-----Original Message-----
From: John D'Ausilio [mailto:john@sort.net]
Sent: 19 July 1999 03:49
To: linux-thinkpad@www.bm-soft.com
Subject: framebuffer with thinkpads


Has anyone else played with the kernel framebuffer stuff? I was installing
on an IBM box with a Trio 3D (unsupported in X), and ended up learning how
to use the framebuffer .. works good for X, and also gives a very nice
graphics console. I thought maybe this might be the answer to getting the
full screen working in text mode on my 770Z, but so far I only get black
screen until X comes up.

John