Re: some console code checked in

[Marcus Brinkmann]

On Mon, Mar 18, 2002 at 05:35:42PM +0100, Niels Möller wrote:
> For the traditional serial console device, what happens is that the
> application uses terminfo escape sequences, the the terminal (i.e. the
> hardware box at the other end of the serial cable) interprets them.
> Here, the console and other OS-level code and drivers needs know
> nothing about the escape sequences, it just pasees them on.
> 
> But that's not the case I'm thinking of: I'm thinking of the case
> where somthing in the console-driver-software needs to interpret the
> escape sequences. I so no ugliness in doing the *reverse* terminfo
> translation here, i.e. mapping escape sequences back into reasonable
> driver primitives.

Do I add or remove confusion if I say that the console server should support
both models?  The generic part of the console server would then always pass
through without interpretation, the device specific part can either pass it
on further to the actual hardware, or interprets it and breaks it down into
hardware primitives like scrolling/filling etc.

> > [ console abstraction ]
> > [ virtual console 1 ] [ virtual console 2 ] ...
> > [ display driver ]
> > [ generic display driver escape sequence handling ]
> > [ display driver's support functions like scrolling ]
> 
> Ok, that looks reasonable. Perhaps I would have been less confused if
> you didn't use the same name "display driver" for the things in the
> middle and in the bottom box.

But that what it will look like in the actual code (maybe it helps to look
at the console code I checked in), because the display driver knows if this
specific hardware does its own interpretation or needs the interpretation by
the driver.

Do I make sense?

Thanks,
Marcus



-- 
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Marcus Brinkmann              GNU    http://www.gnu.org    marcus@gnu.org
Marcus.Brinkmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
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