On Mon, 15 Mar 1999, Jeremy Impson wrote:
> I understand that you cannot in general call BIOS functions from the
> kernel once it is in protected mode. Does anyone have any
> examples/experience of BIOS calls called either before going into
> protected mode? Or might it make more sense to customize LILO to do this?
> Any suggestions?
Sure, you can do this. The boot-time kernel video mode selection stuff,
for instance, is done through the VESA BIOS entrypoint (if not done with a
framegrabber driver directly). This only gets you into the right video
mode though, so you have to talk to the VGA controller directly for
everything else.
Generally, LCD controllers are pretty simple. It's not hard to talk to
them directly without BIOS. They don't tend to have all the proprietary
hidden magic that modern video cards do.
One problem with LCD controllers is they're often IO-mapped which means
SLOW.
--
"Love the dolphins," she advised him. "Write by W.A.S.T.E.."
