Would you support a new Unified Opensource RTG standart?

[arnljot]

>A little dig around shows driver code for the following in x.org

If you want search, you need look for drivers for Big Endian Systems.maybe PPC or so.
i look on a link and it include X86 files.

The GD5446 code(PicassoIV) seems like it will compile for ppc linux too. Look in the configure file.

xfree86 (xf86 or x86) is the name of the system regardless of cpu platform.

[Karlos]

Vesa is only a function set to open/close  a screen on a specific resolution.I guess to use it you need a X86 CPU.
but to give usefull speed you need a bitblit command for the GFX Card, that can copy blocks on the GFX Card fast and also a rectfill command.

VESA is more than just opening a screenmode. VESA 1.0 may have been limited to setting the resolution and timing, but remember it's currently at version 3 or something.

Check the VESA/AF standard. It specifies hardware accelerated rasterization of primitives, bit blitting and the usual gamut of 2D operations.

[Ratte]

Its allways nice to have a "new standard" ... but how much is it worth without support?
As far as I know, its ONLY NVidia with the latest generation of gfx-cards supporting Vesa3.0.
Most other cards are only Vesa2.0 (all ATI-cards / Matrox / SiS ..).

[KThunder]

vesa 2.0 had operations for querying cards for features as well as setup for video modes etc. vesa 3.0 has some 3d operations in hardware, but it is difficult to find info on3.0 for programming or card support.
I dont think 3.0 is in rom it is a program you setup and it has to support your card. there isnt any real reason it has to be x86 only or even isa/pci/agp/pcix

[Karlos]

Is it 3D acceleration in VESA 3 or just that it exposes accelerated operations in general?

I had the documentation here someplace. Never print anything out if you actually intend to read it :lol:

[Gulliver]

From Wikipedia (VESA BIOS Extensions):

VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE Core) 3.0 [Sep. 1998]

A superset of the VBE 2.0 standard. This standard adds refresh rate control, support for stereo glasses, improved multi-buffering support and other functions to the VBE 2.0 standard.

    * Triple Buffering. Allows high speed applications to perform multi-buffering with less screen flickering and without having to wait for the graphics controller.
    * Refresh Rate Control using GTF timings. This allows applications and operating system utilities to change the refresh rate in a standard way on all VBE 3.0 graphics controllers. Important for stereo applications, since when stereo is enabled, the user’s effective refresh rate is cut in half.
    * Stereo Page Flipping. When viewing an application using stereo glasses, software needs to page flip twice as often as normal, because it needs to generate separate images for each eye. This new feature allows stereo compatible software to display properly.
    * Hardware Stereo Sync. Allows stereo software to determine if there is a connector for stereo glasses on the user’s graphics card.

[arnljot]

Two good URLs on GPU coding which I found at the aros-exec.org board:

Understanding GPUs from the ground up

and from the same blog:

Notes about radeon display hardware

This is the source posting on aros-exec:
Two tutorials for coding ATI Radeon drivers

Worth mentioning I think, as he takes a developer step by step in how to initialize a Radeon PCI card on a x86 PCI bus.

The code won't be much help, but the knowhow which he shares is good.