---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2002 21:31:06 -0400 From: Kurt J. Lidl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Brian A. Seklecki <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: XFree86 Compiled on Sparc
On Tue, Jul 23, 2002 at 08:46:57PM -0400, Brian A. Seklecki wrote: > Does anyone know why the XFree86 4.2.0 xc/RELNOTE marks all the sun-related > drivers as Sparc-Linux only. Is there some linux-dependant code in them, or > are we simply not important enough >:} ? --- ...per the discussion below, I guess the question still stands: What's to keep the NetBSD/sparc people from working with the XFree86 folks to get the X4 sun* modules from working? It would be nice to standardize X servers. --- [snip] About two years ago, the Redhat guys wrote some new bus support routines, which extended the Xfree86 4.x code in a direction that was planned, but not yet implemented -- support of a bus other than PCI. Basically, they added a set of Sbus support routines for scaning the sbus space and attaching displays for the Xserver. In addition they donoted X server drivers for the following list of cards that you found: > --- > |sunbw2 (+) | Sun bw2 > |suncg14 (+) | Sun cg14 > |suncg3 (+) | Sun cg3 > |suncg6 (+) | Sun GX and Turbo GX > |sunffb (+) | Sun Creator/3D, Elite 3D > |sunleo (+) | Sun Leo (ZX) > |suntcx (+) | Sun TCX > Drivers marked with (+) are for Linux/Sparc only. These implement the XFree86 4.x software architecture (generic optimizations, completely loadable board/display drivers, etc), but do it for the Sbus. (I'm not sure if they can support simulataneous Sbus and PCI adaptors. You can get that kind of mix and match displays on the Starfire boards [aka Sun 3x00,4x00 class machines] with the right set of midplane cards.) So, it's not just a matter of #ifdef'ing a little code -- you need to write support for probing the sbus space for the XFree86 server, and then whack on the drivers a bit, probably. There's also a matter of impedence matching the device/ioctl support for the frame buffers under Linux with your OS. I don't believe that the task is impossible -- quite the contrary, I believe it is only a couple of weeks of solid work to make the Sbus stuff go, and then you have XFree86 4.x support for your platform.[*] I hope this long winded explanation helps. -Kurt [*] -- Note that the Sun GX/TurboGX (aka cg6) drivers do NOT support the limited acceleration that the board supports in hardware, so for this display card at least, a XFree 4.x server is almost certainly noticably slower than the Xsun server. _______________________________________________ Xpert mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/xpert