Re: How about running X on top of something else?

On Tue, Mar 25, 2003 at 11:31:27PM +0100, Christoph Egger wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> In the beginning of Linux, graphics meant either X or svgalib. If you 
> use both at the same
> time, you can easily crash the graphics card and make the system unuseable.
> 
> This fact was the start, when GGI (http://www.ggi-project.org/) was 
> brought up.
> But it was discarded by the linux kernel developers in a big flamewar in 
> 1997/1998.
> That caused the project to loose many users and developers and it was 
> believed to die.
> 
> (Ironically, fbdev is getting more and more into the shape of KGI in 
> recent development
> linux kernels... - What has changed the kernel developer's mind?)

fbdev was needed for console on some architectures, that is why it went
into the kernel. The only thing it really does is do all the mode
switching/setup things, and just enough acceleration to have a
reasonably fast text console (and draw the penugin logo) The 2.5.x fbdev
has actually fewer (but more generic) accel hooks than the 2.4.x had.
Also, fbdev was already in the kernel when GGI did not exist yet.

Friendly,

Sven Luther