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Xref: sserve comp.unix.sysv386:23771 comp.windows.x:45199 comp.os.linux:10083 comp.unix.bsd:5105 comp.os.mach:2150 comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc:21580 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:31245 Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386,comp.windows.x,comp.os.linux,comp.unix.bsd,comp.os.mach,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!umn.edu!csus.edu!netcom.com!hasty From: hasty@netcom.com (Amancio Hasty Jr) Subject: Re: Free software and the future of support for Diamond products Message-ID: <npzn8x+.hasty@netcom.com> Date: Tue, 15 Sep 92 14:33:43 GMT Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) References: <1992Sep10.130359.24767@cbnewsj.cb.att.com> <1992Sep11.124831.10108@crd.ge.com> <1992Sep12.035549.4743@zeos.com> Keywords: Diamond, free-software Lines: 44 In article <1992Sep12.035549.4743@zeos.com> kgermann@zeos.com (Ken Germann) writes: >In article <1992Sep11.124831.10108@crd.ge.com> davidsen@crd.ge.com (bill davidsen) writes: >>In article <1992Sep10.130359.24767@cbnewsj.cb.att.com>, dwex@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (david.e.wexelblat) writes: >> >>| Well, one of the responses to our Diamond mail survey was from Rick Kemp >>| at SCO. I quote: >>| >>| We have no plans on supporting their cards at anything but >>| 640x480 resolution. They have refused to tell us how their >>| cards work, and we have told all of our distributors to >>| discontinue carrying them (Gateway 2000 and Zeos). >>| >>| So we'll see. The fact that SCO is having trouble doesn't bode well >>| for our winning this battle. >> >> Interesting, since SCO has a stealth X driver in their directory on >>uunet. I have very little information about it beyond that. >>-- >The solution for the support of X/Windows in the Freeware arena or >any other arena would be to design a VESA based driver for these >software packages. It would greatly simplify the need to design >specific drivers for specific cards. Granted the VESA drivers may not >take advantage of the hardware specific to the card; but, there would >still be a driver available until someone changes their minds. >How difficult would it be to support a VESA based driver under Unix? >This would be a place to start. The problem is not in writing the driver but in setting the dot clock values on the card. Diamond uses a custom clock synthetizer. What this means is that other than the 640x480 you can't set the clock values for higher resolution, unless you sign a non-disclosure agreement with Diamond. As for being a VESA driver under Unix we write directly to the vga registers we don't use the BIOS. Amancio Hasty (386bsd/XFree86 hacker) > >-- >Ken Germann ZZZZ EEEE OO SSS ZEOS International, Ltd. >support@zeos.com INET Z E O O S Technical Support Dept. >uunet!zeos!support UUCP Z EE O O SS 530 5th Ave N.W. >800-228-5390 VOICE Z E O O S St. Paul, MN 55112 >612-633-7337 ZZZZ EEEE OO SSS FAX 612-633-4607