Re: [OT] Crazy idea: Design open-source graphics chip

[Maciej W. Rozycki]

On Fri, 30 Jan 2004, Timothy Miller wrote:

> > Another reason to drop VGA then - money.
> 
> As soon as PC BIOS's don't require it, we can drop it.

 No PC BIOS recognizes a VGA.  The PC/AT firmware uses int 0x10 to
communicate with the console and as long as there is a handler there,
console output works.  Most systems will actually run without a handler,
too, but they'll usually complain to the speaker.  The handler is provided
by the ROM firmware of the primary graphics adapter.

 Old PC/AT firmware actually did recognize a few display adapters, namely
the CGA and the MDA which had no own firmware.  These days support for
these option is often absent, even though the setup program may provide an
option to select between CGA40/CGA80/MDA/none (the latter being equivalent
to an option such as an EGA or a VGA, providing its own firmware).

-- 
+  Maciej W. Rozycki, Technical University of Gdansk, Poland   +
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
+        e-mail: macro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, PGP key available        +
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