Re: SVGA console

[Marco Gerards]

nisse@lysator.liu.se (Niels Möller) writes:

> Marco Gerards <metgerards@student.han.nl> writes:
> 
> > For better VGA support I want to add some features. First I'd like to
> > add modeline support. This is how SVGATextMode, Xfree, svgalib,
> > etc. setup a videomode. This is really easy to do, actually I already
> > have most code to configure the hardware.
> 
> I think modelines aren't well suited to humans, so they should
> probably be hidden somewhere within the driver.

Well, I think all available modelines should be in a file. This is
just to make it easy to add modelines for users who want to add
some. It is not required for users to do this, they don't even have to
know what it is all about.
 
> For configuration, it makes more sense to specify the resolution
> (either in rows, columns and character size, or directly in pixels),
> desired vertical update rate (frame rate), *optional* tweaks for the
> precise timing for syncing, vertical and horisontal blanking etc. And
> then let the driver calculate the appropriate figures for the
> hardware.

I thought about this, but it is not easy (or even possible all the
time) to do this.

Currently I have a modeline array with as many modelines as
possible. The user has to specify the horizontal and vertical refresh
rates(as a range) of the monitor (if nothing is specified a VGA
monitor is assumed). The dimensions to set are given by the console
server. The desired resolutions will be chosen like this:

If there is a modeline available that exactly matches the one used by
the console server, use that one. Else use a modeline that has bigger
dimensions than the console server, but the smallest one available. If
no modeline was found use the modeline that describes the biggest
dimensions (this sucks, only a part of the screen will be shown).

If there are multiple modelines that describe the same dimension that
was found use the one that has the highest refresh rate and is usable
on the configured monitor (or ofcourse, if no monitor was configured
on a VGA monitor).

By doing this the user has always the best resolution and refresh
rate, there should just be plenty of modelines (and fonts) available.

--
Marco