James> If it is the a PC system's only video board, it must do VGA. Huh? How do you propose to get a pee-cee's crappy bios firmware to talk to a console over Ethernet?
James> Yes, but a video board is a slave system, it must do what the main James> system requires. This isn't a video board that plugs into PCI/PCIe. It is a separate node on the Ethernet. Daniel> I do not know anybody who would like to configure his BIOS settings or Daniel> install operating system on an Ethernet attached display. That would be nice to have, but as above, it is not obvious to me how to accomplish this, unless you propose a "PC Weasel" type card with Ethernet instead of RS-232? (That would then talk to the Ethervideo box over Ethernet.) Am I missing something? Daniel> It is very Daniel> inefficient to focus on that, as everybody has a display today Actually a lot of computers are headless. Daniel> Maybe it would be better to re-clarify the requirements here again, if Daniel> it should lead to some product.. The requirements should be in the list archives. Is there something that isn't clear? James> That is out purpose here, to make a video card for users of open software. No, the Open Graphics list is trying to build a video card. The Ethernet Video list is trying to build a separate box that connects to the Ethernet. Basically an X11 terminal that can also decode video (e.g. mpeg). James> The requirements were fairly clear: a video card that is external to the James> system connected by a serial connection (Ethernet, USB-2, or IEEE-1394). USB is a crappy standard, and USB-2 is limited to IIRC 5m (about 15 feet). IEEE-1394 is much better than USB, but is also limited to 5m. 1394 can use repeaters, but that runs the cost up, and requires power. There was talk about a newer version of 1394 that would use cat6-ish wiring, same as recent Ethernet, and allow longer distances, did that ever get anywhere? Ethernet can go long distances, is inexpensive, and very common, so Ethernet is the clear winner. _______________________________________________ Open-hardware-ethervideo mailing list [email protected] http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-hardware-ethervideo
