Proposal for a low-level Linux display framework

[Alex Deucher]

On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 1:56 PM, Geert Uytterhoeven
<geert at linux-m68k.org> wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 19:52, Alex Deucher <alexdeucher at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 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&q=
His kernel git tree was on kernel.org so it's down at the moment,
hence the link to the tarball.

Alex