--- Linus Torvalds <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Quite frankly, I'd much rather see a low-level graphics driver that does > _two_ things, and those things only: > > - basic hardware enumeration and setup (and no, "basic setup" does not > mean "mode switching": it literally means things like doing the > pci_enable_device() stuff. > > - serialization and arbitrary command queuing from a _trusted_ party (ie > it could take command lists from the X server, but not from untrusted > clients). This part basically boils down to "DMA and interrupts". This > is the part that allows others to wait for command completion, "enough > space in the ring buffers" etc. But it does _not_ know or care what the > commands are. > > Then, fbcon and DRI and X could all three use these basics - and they'd be > _so_ basic that the hardware layer could be really stable (unlike the DRI > code that tends to have to upgrade for each new type of command that DRI > adds - since it has to take care of untrusted clients. So DRI would > basically use the low-level driver as a separate module, the way it > already uses AGP). >
Linus, why don't you refuse updates from these projects until this is sorted out? Your proposal is exactly what it needed. For a year now I have been poking at these issues and making very little progress. I do know that all of the pieces needed already exist; but without some incentive there is very little reason to rearchitect the existing code. Personally I'm working on a standalone version of Mesa (OpenGL). This would allow us to write a 3D hardware based windowing system in response to the ones on the Mac and MS Longhorn. But instead of working on a windowing system I've spent all of my time trying to help sort out the video device drivers. ===== Jon Smirl [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/ ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: The SF.net Donation Program. Do you like what SourceForge.net is doing for the Open Source Community? Make a contribution, and help us add new features and functionality. Click here: http://sourceforge.net/donate/ _______________________________________________ Dri-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/dri-devel
