Bug 94896

Andrei <hhc@tut.by> wrote:
 > Where support VESA Modes for AMD64 kernel?

It's not possible to support it.

 > Why "options VESA" not worked  for AMD64?

Because FreeBSD/amd64 cannot perform calls to the VESA BIOS
functions (which are 32bit i386 code, not amd64).

 > How make videomode 1280x1024 or another?

I recommend you use Xorg for that.  Otherwise, if you
absolutely need VESA modes, you have to install 32bit
FreeBSD/i386.

 > Why only one mode 80x25 available?

Actually I think 80x50 should be possible with vidcontrol(1),
which is a standard mode that does not require VESA BIOS.

Best regards
   Oliver

-- 
Oliver Fromme,  secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing
Dienstleistungen mit Schwerpunkt FreeBSD: http://www.secnetix.de/bsd
Any opinions expressed in this message may be personal to the author
and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of secnetix in any way.

"To this day, many C programmers believe that 'strong typing'
just means pounding extra hard on the keyboard."
        -- Peter van der Linden

I don't want to sound like a complainer but there must still technically 
be a console based hi-res mode for AMD64 because I saw such a high res 
mode when I tried out Gentoo on my laptop.
I decided I didn't like Gentoo but aside from that point it proves that 
some how its possible for hi-res console even if no such code exists on 
FreeBSD AMD64.

Mike

I don't know what kind of "hi-res console mode" you have
seen on Gentoo, and I don't know what Gentoo might be doing
to enable such a thing.  Maybe they have implemented direct
support for certain graphics hardware (like KGI), or maybe
they switch to VESA mode before switching to amd64 mode.

However, there is no way to call the x86 VESA BIOS in amd64
("long") mode, because amd64 has no vm86 mode.  It does not
work, and Gentoo certainly doesn't do that either.

So, "options VESA" in the kernel (which is what this PR is
all about) does not make sense at all.

Best regards
   Oliver

-- 
Oliver Fromme,  secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing
Dienstleistungen mit Schwerpunkt FreeBSD: http://www.secnetix.de/bsd
Any opinions expressed in this message may be personal to the author
and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of secnetix in any way.

"What is this talk of 'release'?  We do not make software 'releases'.
Our software 'escapes', leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality
assurance people in its wake."

On Sun, Apr 09, 2006 at 07:05:14PM +0200, Oliver Fromme wrote:
> I don't know what kind of "hi-res console mode" you have
> seen on Gentoo, and I don't know what Gentoo might be doing
> to enable such a thing.  Maybe they have implemented direct
> support for certain graphics hardware (like KGI), or maybe
> they switch to VESA mode before switching to amd64 mode.
> 
> However, there is no way to call the x86 VESA BIOS in amd64
> ("long") mode, because amd64 has no vm86 mode.  It does not
> work, and Gentoo certainly doesn't do that either.

I don't know how Gentoo does it either, but I was thinking
about this the other day, and wondered how possible it might be
to write simple (non-fast) real-mode x86 emulator/interpreter
(which could perhaps be unloaded when finished), just for this
sort of thing.  It wouldn't need to emulate hardware, which is
what takes up a lot of complexity in systems like bochs, because
you want the emulated code to frob the real hardware: that's the
point.

I have a vague recollection that Sun (and Apple?, and DEC?) had
to do this sort of thing for their Sparc and PowerPC systems
when they started building PCI systems around their non-x86
processors.

Might even make ia32 systems neater, because you wouldn't need
to muck about with vm86 mode to get those jobs done.

-- 
Andrew

Comment 5 Tilman Keskinoz 2006-07-06 13:11:13 UTC

State Changed
From-To: open->closed

questions should go to the relevant Mailinglist. 

The Question has been answered by Oliver.