Jonathan Stone wrote:
> 
> On Mar  6, 12:06pm, Chris Collins wrote:
> > If I have an unsupported framebuffer on an DECStation 5000/240 - Will I
> > get a console - or will I need to use a serial console or something
> > along those lines - IE:  Does/will character mode work?
> 
> >  According to the source code, it should print out a message saying
> >the console device is not supported and that it is switching to a
> >serial console.
> 
> Yup. That's what it should do.
> 
> FWIW, even Ultrix doesn't use the PROM console code wherever possible.
> I used it briefly on a 5000/240 while porting the V-kernel to that
> hardware about six(!)  years ago.  It's really, horridly slow. Seeing
> the PROM console scrolling on a PMAG-AA was enough to stop people
> from using the V-kernel.  It also plays heck with interrupt handling.
> And having the kernel go into the PROM to poll for keyboard I/O is
> just hideous.
judgeing by how slow the boot prom console is - I'd have to agree.

> 
> I decided it simply wasnt worth supporting PROM output on otherwise-
> unsupported graphics heads.  Just use a serial terminal, it's better.
> 
> My own preference for unsupported hardware is to say `ship me one and
> we'll see''.  The PMAG-C, and PMAG-D/E/F turn out to be not just
> undocumented but hideously complicated. A dumb truecolour TC
> framebuffer like the PMAG-J should be pretty simple to figure out.
Well, its actually a PMAG-JA according to the ultrix console driver.
I can't really send it to you though - I'm in Australia for a start -
and the machine belongs to the uni - not to me.

> It'd take me one to two days hacking to mmap() the board, figure out
> where the cursor chip and the screen dimensions are, and cut-and-paste
> together a console-compatible NetBSD driver.
Well, if you have any spec data or the like - I could probably hack one
together (which is the point of the exercise)
 
> Whether the Xconsortium X server works is another question: i dont
> think it has truecolour support at all.
Who wants the Xconsortium one - XFree works - All I have to do is get
the bastard to compile and run on pmax.

> Linux? Why bother when you can get a more stable, better supported
> BSD? I suppose there's no accounting for taste.
Bah - Some ppl have no idea do they? :)  Linux is a good OS - but this
is primarily an exercise in porting - not in making the machine stable
:)

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