Re: PCI graphics cards on Sun hardware

[Eduardo Horvath <eeh%NetBSD.org@localhost>]

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009, raymond.meyer%rambler.ru@localhost wrote:

> Are there any new developments in regard to running 3rd party PCI
> graphics cards on Sun hardware?
> 
> Last time I asked, I was told it didn't really work:
> 
> http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-sparc64/2008/04/07/msg000306.html
> 
> I have an old ATI rage128 PCI card that I would like to use for running
> X11 on Sun Ultra 10. What needs to be done to achieve this? Maybe it's
> possible to write a small fcode "driver" that gets loaded by OpenBoot
> firmware and sets the PCI card to be the system console?

The problem with graphics cards is that they require custom code in the 
boot firmware to do some initial configuration to make them usable that is 
usually considered propriatary information by the card vendor.  Unless you 
can get real FCode from ATI or you can get bootstrapping information from 
them you are unlikely to have much success writing a driver snippet, 
except maybe by reverse engineering it from the BIOS machine code on the 
card.  

Now OTOH ISTR some machines have some sort of on-board ATI chip, so I 
suppose it's always possible to get lucky and discover that the on-board 
FCode can properly initialize your board.

Eduardo