Re: Generic VESA framebuffer driver and Video card BOOT?

Kendall Bennett wrote:

I would assume however a serial port console would be fine for embedded machines until the framebuffer driver could come up anyway.

This would be an incorrect assumption.  Speaking as a developer of one said embedded system I must have video at boot and be able to dump critical kernel messages to the screen.

In the field, hooking up a serial cable to see why the unit doesn't boot requires the dispatch of a tech who would have open up the unit to get to the serial port.  This costs the end client lots of $$.  They don't like that.

By having video on boot the support person can tell the end user to look at the screen and read back any messages and then make the determination  if a tech dispatch is needed.

And its common practice to only have as many serial ports as the system needs during runtime.  During development you can dual purpose them but in the final system their may not be a serial port free (or even installed) to get that console info from.

-- 
Richard A. Smith




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