>>>>> "m" == Michael  <macallan18@earthlink.net> writes:

     m> implement native framebuffer drivers . . .  Such native
     m> drivers would allow XFree ( or anything else ) to use cards
     m> that aren't supported by OF...

yeah, the familiar Linux idea of ``do everything yourself.''  As I
understand it, this won't work.

GPUs need some code that runs on the main CPU to initialize them,
once, right after they get power.  This code is generally _not_
included in the ``native'' drivers in Windows EnTee or XFree86 or
matroxfb or whatever.  It doesn't need to be, because the BIOS or OF
does it once at power-on, and it never needs to be done again.

so, to do what you want, you need PeeCee video cards and an 8086
emulator to run the code on their BIOS chip.  There's such an emulator
in the Alpha's SRM console firmware, and I think XFree86's ``int10''
module might have one, or int10 might be PeeCee-only.  There are so
many quirks that the 8086 emulator in Alpha SRM firmware works only
with a short list of known-supported video cards, so it doesn't really
do exactly what you want since you already have such a list for the
Mac.

While I think this is the general case, there are exceptions.  Video
cards that are supported as second card in a dual-head configuration
might have enough initialization code in their drivers to run without
BIOS.  I stumbled upon some web page about nvidia's closed-source
driver that says you can flip an XF86Config option to either have
nvidia's .o and kernel module spin up the second card, or you can use
XFree86's int10 module and execute the second card's BIOS.  but the
problem applies only to the second card.  not sure how this works
exactly, how the BIOS is led to probe the second card but not the
first, but I guess they're pathologically-tolerant, desperate,
creative people, so good for them.

This information is based on a collection of scant facts and
assumptions, so I only hope it's correct.

anyway, if anyone's used XFree86's int10 support to get a PeeCee video
card working in a Mac (albeit only under X, not wscons, of course),
I'd be interested to hear about it.  I dunno if it's even
theoretically possible.

-- 
Le fascisme est la dictature ouverte de la bourgeoisie.
		-- Georg Dimitrov