Which BIOS will OLPC have ?

On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 12:02:01PM -0400, Jim Gettys wrote:
> Don't tell me we know of something you don't ?

Oh I'm sure there is lots that you do

> http://git.kernel.org/git/?p=linux/k
ernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=blob;h=89c34b15f5d4f748de
01fdb76755b169c75af92d;hb=e60a48f5ab35737118e19bc965c640900a
842f02;f=drivers/video/geode/gxfb_core.c

Yes.. and I've read this code, and I've read the hardware
docs. This code
that does things like just return 16MB for frame buffersize
rather than
query it off the chipset...

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On Monday 05 June 2006 22:10, Alan Cox wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 12:02:01PM -0400, Jim Gettys
wrote:
> > Don't tell me we know of something you don't
?
>
> Oh I'm sure there is lots that you do
>
> > http://git.kernel.org/git/?p=linux/kern
el/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=bl
>
>ob;h=89c34b15f5d4f748de01fdb76755b169c75af92d;hb=e60a48f
5ab35737118e19bc96
> >5c640900a842f02;f=drivers/video/geode/gxfb_core.c
>
> Yes.. and I've read this code, and I've read the
hardware docs. This code
> that does things like just return 16MB for frame
buffersize rather than
> query it off the chipset...
>
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-- 
Does this mean we will need non-free code in the OLPC? I
certainly wouldn't 
like any closed source code for things like VESA emulation
and SMI/SMM .

Can we hack around the GX2 fbdev driver?

											Thanks.

											Yours truly,
											Sunny Sachanandani

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Alan Cox wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 12:02:01PM -0400, Jim Gettys
wrote:
> 
>>Don't tell me we know of something you don't ?
> 
> 
> Oh I'm sure there is lots that you do
> 
> 
>>http://git.kernel.org/git/?p=linux/k
ernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=blob;h=89c34b15f5d4f748de
01fdb76755b169c75af92d;hb=e60a48f5ab35737118e19bc965c640900a
842f02;f=drivers/video/geode/gxfb_core.c
> 
> 
> Yes.. and I've read this code, and I've read the
hardware docs. This code
> that does things like just return 16MB for frame
buffersize rather than
> query it off the chipset...

I think our hope is that we can fix this code. On saturday I
was loading 
this driver and getting display trash. Green display trash.
WIth any 
luck, we can move to non-trash in a bit.

ron

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On Mon, 2006-06-05 at 22:30 +0530, Sunny Sachanandani wrote:

> Does this mean we will need non-free code in the OLPC? 

Fundamentally, I don't know the answer to this question in
regards to
the BIOS at this moment, as I was trying to explain.

AMD has told me they will give us access to anything they
can; we just
don't know yet if we'll need to use parts in the emulation
layer that
they don't have the copyrights to and are able to
re-license.

> I certainly wouldn't 
> like any closed source code for things like VESA
emulation and
> SMI/SMM .
> 
> Can we hack around the GX2 fbdev driver?

The fbdev driver isn't an issue: it is part of the
solution.  It is a
normal Linux GPL kernel driver, and gets us away from
depending on VESA
emulation.  Then we won't need a VESA emulation module in
the BIOS.

Time will tell if there are other modules we need that
can't be
re-licensed.  I don't have that information right now.

Regards,
                            - Jim

-- 
Jim Gettys
One Laptop Per Child


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Not clear how large off screen memory we want to dedicate. 
I expect we
may want to do some tuning here, once we have some
experience.

The geode graphics can only touch stuff inside the window;
but memory to
memory copies aren't that expensive, so I'm not convinced
that we'll
want to dedicate the full 16Mb.
                           - Jim



On Mon, 2006-06-05 at 12:40 -0400, Alan Cox wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 12:02:01PM -0400, Jim Gettys
wrote:
> > Don't tell me we know of something you don't
?
> 
> Oh I'm sure there is lots that you do
> 
> > http://git.kernel.org/git/?p=linux/k
ernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=blob;h=89c34b15f5d4f748de
01fdb76755b169c75af92d;hb=e60a48f5ab35737118e19bc965c640900a
842f02;f=drivers/video/geode/gxfb_core.c
> 
> Yes.. and I've read this code, and I've read the
hardware docs. This code
> that does things like just return 16MB for frame
buffersize rather than
> query it off the chipset...
> 
-- 
Jim Gettys
One Laptop Per Child


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On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 11:11:59PM -0400, Jim Gettys wrote:
> Not clear how large off screen memory we want to
dedicate.  I expect we
> may want to do some tuning here, once we have some
experience.
> 
> The geode graphics can only touch stuff inside the
window; but memory to
> memory copies aren't that expensive, so I'm not
convinced that we'll
> want to dedicate the full 16Mb.

That isn't the problem. That driver just assumes a BIOS
setup, BIOS firmware,
BIOS emulated video PCI port (at least on the stuff here it
is emulated, there
is no real PCI device it is talking to), memory layout, PLL
setup, video 
layout etc.

Alan

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On Tuesday 06 June 2006 14:57, Alan Cox wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 11:11:59PM -0400, Jim Gettys
wrote:
> > Not clear how large off screen memory we want to
dedicate.  I expect we
> > may want to do some tuning here, once we have some
experience.
> >
> > The geode graphics can only touch stuff inside the
window; but memory to
> > memory copies aren't that expensive, so I'm not
convinced that we'll
> > want to dedicate the full 16Mb.
>
> That isn't the problem. That driver just assumes a
BIOS setup, BIOS
> firmware, BIOS emulated video PCI port (at least on the
stuff here it is
> emulated, there is no real PCI device it is talking
to), memory layout, PLL
> setup, video layout etc.
>
> Alan
>
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And that is our problem, isn't it? This PCI emulation code
might be 
proprietary.
-- 
											Thanks.

											Yours truly,
											Sunny Sachanandani

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On Tue, Jun 06, 2006 at 03:36:26PM +0530, Sunny Sachanandani
wrote:
> And that is our problem, isn't it? This PCI emulation
code might be 
> proprietary.

That seems to get us into the realm of speculation. I am
sure once Jim knows
what is publishable we will find out. 

Alan

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That's not what I meant.

The question is how much off screen memory we should
dedicate to the X
server?  16 meg feels like a lot to me, running at 16bpp.
                            Regards,
                                - Jim

On Tue, 2006-06-06 at 05:27 -0400, Alan Cox wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 11:11:59PM -0400, Jim Gettys
wrote:
> > Not clear how large off screen memory we want to
dedicate.  I expect we
> > may want to do some tuning here, once we have some
experience.
> > 
> > The geode graphics can only touch stuff inside the
window; but memory to
> > memory copies aren't that expensive, so I'm not
convinced that we'll
> > want to dedicate the full 16Mb.
> 
> That isn't the problem. That driver just assumes a
BIOS setup, BIOS firmware,
> BIOS emulated video PCI port (at least on the stuff
here it is emulated, there
> is no real PCI device it is talking to), memory layout,
PLL setup, video 
> layout etc.
> 
> Alan
> 
> --
> olpc-software mailing list
> olpc-softwareredhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/olpc-software
-- 
Jim Gettys
One Laptop Per Child


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Alan Cox wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 05, 2006 at 11:11:59PM -0400, Jim Gettys
wrote:
> 
>>Not clear how large off screen memory we want to
dedicate.  I expect we
>>may want to do some tuning here, once we have some
experience.
>>
>>The geode graphics can only touch stuff inside the
window; but memory to
>>memory copies aren't that expensive, so I'm not
convinced that we'll
>>want to dedicate the full 16Mb.
> 
> 
> That isn't the problem. That driver just assumes a
BIOS setup, BIOS firmware,
> BIOS emulated video PCI port (at least on the stuff
here it is emulated, there
> is no real PCI device it is talking to), memory layout,
PLL setup, video 
> layout etc.

And all I'm saying is that we can fix that. First, though,
I want to be 
booting a linuxbios-based kernel, and then kexec a test
kernel with the 
fbdev driver.

ron

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