[GLLUG] FreeBSD console res

[Jo Dillon]

On 16 Sep 2002 at 10:32, Matt Graham wrote:
> The Linux VESA framebuffer support uses real-mode BIOS calls to set
> the screen resolution before the kernel is fully loaded, which is why
> you have to build VESA fb support into the kernel, not as a module. 
> The code's in /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/video.S .  These BIOS
> calls might not be accessible once the kernel's loaded and the system
> is totally in protected mode.


  *nods* I know, I just wonder how FreeBSD gets round this..does it
keep more of the real-mode/boot-time state hanging around so it can
do those BIOS calls at runtime?

> 
> However, the "fbset" utility on Linux might actually do something...
> or not.  "ioctl FBIOPUT_VSCREENINFO : Invalid argument" when I tried
> it, but then I'm using a SuSE-patched kernel on this machine with
> possibly non-standard framebuffer stuff.  Well, since the folks at MIT
> invented xterms, I use the virtual consoles to run "X -configure" and
> very little else.
> 

  No, it doesn't work on VESA consoles with either standard Linus or RedHat 
kernels (or for that matter the -ac's I've tried, which might amount to much the 
same thing). The invalid argument means VESA consoles don't do mode 
switching; it does work fine on accelerated ones.

-- 

	Jo