UVESAFB in kernel 2.6.24

[Mark]

Hey,

I just downloaded and installed the latest kernel rpm from koji [1]
but found out that uvesafb isn't enabled in the fedora kernels. Could
a kernel maintainer put the following value in the config-generc:

CONFIG_FB_UVESA=y

so that uvesafb is enabled in the next build?
more information about uvesafb can be found here [2].

Thanx,
Mark

[1] http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=30342
[2] http://dev.gentoo.org/~spock/projects/uvesafb/

[Bill Nottingham]

Mark (markg85(a)gmail.com) said: 
>  Hey,
>  
>  I just downloaded and installed the latest kernel rpm from koji [1]
>  but found out that uvesafb isn't enabled in the fedora kernels. Could
>  a kernel maintainer put the following value in the config-generc:
>  
>  CONFIG_FB_UVESA=y
>  
>  so that uvesafb is enabled in the next build?
>  more information about uvesafb can be found here [2]. 
Why wouldn't it be a module like (most) other framebuffers?

Bill

[Mark]

2008/1/8, Bill Nottingham <notting(a)redhat.com&gt;:
>  Mark (markg85(a)gmail.com) said:
>  > Hey,
>  >
>  > I just downloaded and installed the latest kernel rpm from koji [1]
>  > but found out that uvesafb isn't enabled in the fedora kernels. Could
>  > a kernel maintainer put the following value in the config-generc:
>  >
>  > CONFIG_FB_UVESA=y
>  >
>  > so that uvesafb is enabled in the next build?
>  > more information about uvesafb can be found here [2].
>
>  Why wouldn't it be a module like (most) other framebuffers?
>
>  Bill 
Well.. vesafb is also enabled with 'y' and because uvesafb is it's
successor it seems logical to me that it also gets enabled with 'y'
(not as a module but build in). Perhaps a good idea for fedora to add
a anaconda installer option that allows you to set the boot resolution
or add the option in the firstboot.

[Bill Nottingham]

Mark (markg85(a)gmail.com) said: 
>  > Why wouldn't it be a module like (most) other framebuffers?
>  
>  Well.. vesafb is also enabled with 'y' and because uvesafb is it's
>  successor it seems logical to me that it also gets enabled with 'y'
>  (not as a module but build in). Perhaps a good idea for fedora to add
>  a anaconda installer option that allows you to set the boot resolution
>  or add the option in the firstboot. 
AFAIK, we don't ship the tools for uvesafb, so it's a little late for
it to be a successor. How does it execute them if it's built-in, anyway?

Bill

[Mark]

2008/1/8, Bill Nottingham <notting(a)redhat.com&gt;:
>  AFAIK, we don't ship the tools for uvesafb, so it's a little
> late for
>  it to be a successor. How does it execute them if it's built-in, anyway?
>
>  Bill 
uvesafb just got included in the 2.6.24 which isn't even final yet so
it's not 'late'.. more early than late.

To execute.. Quote from [1]:
"add video=uvesafb:1024x768-32,mtrr:3,ywrap (or similar) to your
kernel command line"

About the question:
"But who wwould maintain the v86d userspace code package if we enabled the
driver?"

I'm willing to give it a shot with the help of someone that has
experience in making spec files. (i have the links to the (old)
handbooks.. just not the experience)

[1] http://dev.gentoo.org/~spock/projects/uvesafb/

[Bill Nottingham]

Mark (markg85(a)gmail.com) said: 
>  > AFAIK, we don't ship the tools for uvesafb, so it's a
> little late for
>  > it to be a successor. How does it execute them if it's built-in, anyway?
>  
>  uvesafb just got included in the 2.6.24 which isn't even final yet so
>  it's not 'late'.. more early than late. 
Sorry, meant 'too early', without the userspace part.

>  To execute.. Quote from [1]:
>  "add video=uvesafb:1024x768-32,mtrr:3,ywrap (or similar) to your
>  kernel command line" 
Right, but how does that work if built-in static? Is it relying
on initialization order vs. initramfs unpacking to find its userspace
component? Is it just spinning waiting for userspace?

>  About the question:
>  "But who wwould maintain the v86d userspace code package if we enabled the
>  driver?"
>  
>  I'm willing to give it a shot with the help of someone that has
>  experience in making spec files. (i have the links to the (old)
>  handbooks.. just not the experience)
>  
>  [1] http://dev.gentoo.org/~spock/projects/uvesafb/ 
This includes Yet Another Pasted In Copy of x86emu and lrmi. Ick. We
really need to get a single libx86 in the distro and have things using
it.

Bill

[Mark]

>  > To execute.. Quote from [1]:
>  > "add video=uvesafb:1024x768-32,mtrr:3,ywrap (or similar) to your
>  > kernel command line"
>
>  Right, but how does that work if built-in static? Is it relying
>  on initialization order vs. initramfs unpacking to find its userspace
>  component? Is it just spinning waiting for userspace? 
The readme says:

4. Installation & Usage
-----------------------
To configure, build and install v86d with the default settings,
run:

 # ./configure --default
 # make
 # make install

v86d isn't meant to be used in an interactive way. It should
be started and called by the kernel. If you want to see it in
action, build and load the uvesafb kernel module.

If you want to include v86d into an initramfs image,
misc/initramfs provides a minimal config parsable by
gen_init_cpio.

misc/initramfs says:
dir /dev 0755 0 0
nod /dev/console 0600 0 0 c 5 1
nod /dev/tty1 0600 0 0 c 4 1
nod /dev/zero 0600 0 0 c 1 5
nod /dev/mem 0600 0 0 c 1 1
dir /root 0700 0 0
dir /sbin 0755 0 0
file /sbin/v86d /sbin/v86d 0755 0 0


I think the module simply has to be included with initramfs
In general i'm not sure how this is supposed to work. only that it
solves my widescreen issue and that it's less difficult to use than
just vesafb (because that uses codes for the resolution while this one
uses a readable text (like 1280x800))

[Chuck Ebbert]

On 01/08/2008 09:30 AM, Mark wrote:
>  Hey,
>  
>  I just downloaded and installed the latest kernel rpm from koji [1]
>  but found out that uvesafb isn't enabled in the fedora kernels. Could
>  a kernel maintainer put the following value in the config-generc:
>  
>  CONFIG_FB_UVESA=y
>  
>  so that uvesafb is enabled in the next build?
>  more information about uvesafb can be found here [2].
>  
>  Thanx,
>  Mark
>  
>  [1] http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=30342
>  [2] http://dev.gentoo.org/~spock/projects/uvesafb/
>   
I can actually see a use for this: debugging video BIOS code could be much
easier.

But who wwould maintain the v86d userspace code package if we enabled the
driver?