Hi Josh!
> i've cut the key bits out for back-reference. (btw, your .sig is kinda
> hefty :)
>=20
> > > so if it's a BIOS problem that can only be fixed by Dell, how were th=
ese guys
> > > able to do the fix? and why can't the open source guys (XFree or Lin=
ux kernel)=20
> > > seem to do the same?
> >=20
> > I've told people before: If you want it to work, write a non-BIOS setmo=
de.
> > I'll even give you tips if you try, but that is all I can do.=20
>=20
> ok, let me see if i'm following what you're saying. the XFree86 drivers =
don't
> use the BIOS or anything else - they rely on the kernel. the kernel, how=
ever,=20
> is relying on the BIOS to tell it what's going on. when the I8x0 video i=
nterface
> activates, it asks the BIOS which lies through its teeth.
No, the X Server is using the BIOS to set video modes. Since the video
chipset doesn't have any onboard memory, it needs to "steal" some of your
system memory. The BIOS does that for you (hence the term stolen memory).
However, if your BIOS steals only 1mb memory, it isn't enough to support
high resolution modes.
This isn't a problem since we allocate more memory by stealing some memory
in the kernel and then populating the card's page table with those pages.
The problem is that the BIOS don't know about those extra pages and when you
do a setmode, it checks whether there is enough memory, sees only 1mb and
then refuses to set the mode...
--=20
Regards
Abraham
I give you the man who -- the man who -- uh, I forgets the man who?
-- Beauregard Bugleboy
__________________________________________________________
Abraham vd Merwe - 2d3D, Inc.
Device Driver Development, Outsourcing, Embedded Systems
Cell: +27 82 565 4451 Snailmail:
Tel: +27 21 761 7549 Block C, Aintree Park
Fax: +27 21 761 7648 Doncaster Road
Email: abraham@2d3d.co.za Kenilworth, 7700
Http: http://www.2d3d.com South Africa
--tThc/1wpZn/ma/RB
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature
Content-Disposition: inline
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.4 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org
iD8DBQE8ttmkzNXhP0RCUqMRAnloAJ9oF5IOw1h4cWgNmkqCeDNo1N4kpACfU43W
48QvGOlyuBat5XPqzMvL/rA=
=y/Y0
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
--tThc/1wpZn/ma/RB--
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/