Re: Intel i845GL graphics chip and Intel 82540EM GigaBit Ethernet?

Paul Gray wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Feb 2004, derek wrote:
>>Ah yes. GX260s all around at work, most of them.
>>The video though... I thought I saw in the BBC help on the CD, though
>>that it didn't support the Intel chip.  Certainly, I've never managed to
>>get it to work.  Text only, no graphics. :-/
> 
> I have BBC's with the Intel driver for framebuffer and X patched, but
> could never get X to run in anything but solid blue and red.  If you like
> FB consoles though, fbset will get you a really nice resolution at the
> terminal, allowing you to have different resolutions on each console.
> 
> The problem is that these Intel video chipsets are the "winmodems" of
> video chips.  If you understand how they borrow memory from your system
> RAM, the analogy makes perfect sense (and consequently, why they're not
> vesa compliant).
> 
> It could be that the drivers in the 2.4.24 (now 2.4.25) have improved, but
> I haven't played with them since giving up on them in 2.4.22.

Ah. So Gene was a little off about the VESA compliance :).
Well, have no idea how good the 2.6 kernel support is.  Will have to
look around.  But as for various resolutions.  I do believe you could be
right about that.  It *did* give me a list of various resolutions to run
at.  Just, I thought that if it could manage that in framebuffer, it
would be able to draw graphics as well as letters.  Thus, I assumed I
was seeing something else I was unfamiliar with.

What about gigabit ethernet.  Worth giving up on something else?  Also,
is 2.6 being considered?  Would it offer any advantages?