Re: Proposal for a low-level Linux display framework

On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 1:56 PM, Geert Uytterhoeven
[off-list ref] wrote:

On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 19:52, Alex Deucher [off-list ref] wrote:

quoted

While the DRM has historically targeted 3D acceleration, that is not a
requirement to use the DRM KMS modesetting API.  The current fb API
has no concept of display controllers or connectors or overlays, etc.
To match it to modern hardware, it needs a major overhaul.  Why create
a new modern fb interface that's largely the same as DRM KMS?  What if
we just consider the KMS API as the new fb API?  If there are any
inadequacies in the DRM KMS API we would be happy to work out any
changes.

I admit I didn't look for it, but does there exist a sample DRM KMS driver
for dumb frame buffer hardware with one fixed video mode?

Not at the moment.  However, there drivers for AMD, Intel, and nvidia
chips as well patches for a number of ARM SoCs that are in the process
of moving upstream.  Also, Matt Turner wrote a KMS driver for 3D labs
glint hardware that is pretty simple (single display controller,
single DAC, etc.), however it hasn't been merged upstream yet.
http://code.google.com/p/google-summer-of-code-2010-xorg/downloads/detail?name=Matt_Turner.tar.gz&can=2&qHis kernel git tree was on kernel.org so it's down at the moment,
hence the link to the tarball.

Alex