[RFC] Dropping Alpha sparse mapping support from X

[Bob Tracy]

On Fri, Sep 04, 2009 at 09:02:57AM +0100, Alan Hourihane wrote:
> On Thu, 2009-09-03 at 21:50 -0500, Bob Tracy wrote:
> > On Thu, Sep 03, 2009 at 05:25:29PM -0400, Lennart Sorensen wrote:
> > > On Thu, Sep 03, 2009 at 05:08:00PM -0400, Matt Turner wrote:
> > > > I'd like to drop support for non-BWX Alphas (EV4 and original EV5)
> > > > from X. These machines can't load/store to single bytes and require
> > > > special sparse memory mappings.
> > > > 
> > > > The code required to select which functions (sparse, dense) is
> > > > convoluted, adds an extra layer of indirection, probably gets close to
> > > > zero usage, and even less testing.
> > > > 
> > > > Does anyone use X on EV4 or EV5 (not EV56, EV56 has BWX)?
> > > 
> > > Well I have a few EV56's, so those are fine.  I think one machine I have
> > > is an EV5 or maybe even an EV4, but it only has 32MB of ram so it is
> > > totally useless as debian can't run on it.
> > > 
> > > So I personally wouldn't notice the change.  Anyone else out there?
> > 
> > Got a PWS 433au: EV56.  Proposed change would have no impact here.
> 
> I do have a Multia (21066 CPU) with the 21030 graphics chip which was
> used to write the DEC TGA driver, so we'd lose that, but I'm not sure
> how many people are still using the TGA's.

I've got a working TGA I can use for testing if push comes to shove, but
I replaced it with a Radeon RV200 QW [Radeon 7500] ages ago.  Wouldn't
use the TGA again except as a last resort: truly a case of "bad breath
is better than no breath."

--Bob