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Received: by minnie.vk1xwt.ampr.org with NNTP id AA6848 ; Fri, 15 Jan 93 10:37:10 EST Xref: sserve comp.unix.bsd:10000 comp.windows.x.i386unix:287 Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd,comp.windows.x.i386unix Path: sserve!manuel.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!news.cs.indiana.edu!att!cbnewsk!cbnewsj!dwex From: dwex@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (david.e.wexelblat) Subject: Re: xfree86 only works for root? Organization: AT&T Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1993 02:41:50 GMT Message-ID: <1993Jan16.024150.12519@cbnewsj.cb.att.com> References: <MfIsYa600WBMM8XVtb@andrew.cmu.edu> <1993Jan14.031340.17758@ucc.su.OZ.AU> <PCG.93Jan15174354@decb.aber.ac.uk> Lines: 41 In article <PCG.93Jan15174354@decb.aber.ac.uk> pcg@aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi) writes: > On 14 Jan 93 03:13:40 GMT, dawes@physics.su.OZ.AU (David Dawes) said: > > dawes> It is planned that the next release will support more than 64k of > dawes> memory for the mono server (on supported SVGA chipsets -- not > dawes> with the "generic" driver). > > Great news! I like the work by these XFree86 people a lot already, and > they continue having very nice ideas. > Why thank you (blush, bow :->). Actually, David Dawes deserves much of the credit here, the rest belonging to Davor Matic, who contributed changes to the frame-buffer code to make this work MUCH simpler. > dawes> The mono mode that is used is really a 16-colour mode (but only > dawes> using one of the 4 planes). > > Well, then it will not be too hard eventually to use the other planes, > or at least one of them, for overlays; or maybe to have *4* screens per > display. Or is this too greedy? :-) :-) The operative word is "eventually". The problem is that none of the MIT frame buffer code is written to work with more than one bit plane. It's easy to drop the monochrome on top of that VGA mode (you just tell the hardware to ignore the other bits). 16-color modes will require a new frame-buffer driver. One person has indicated that he is working on a 16-color driver. More than that I can't say, because I don't know. > -- > Piercarlo Grandi, Dept of CS, PC/UW@Aberystwyth <pcg@aber.ac.uk> > E l'italiano cantava, cantava. E le sue disperate invocazioni giunsero > alle orecchie del suo divino protettore, il dio della barzelletta -- David Wexelblat <dwex@mtgzfs3.att.com> (908) 957-5871 AT&T Bell Laboratories, 200 Laurel Ave - 3F-428, Middletown, NJ 07748 "The meaning of life? That's simple. Try to be happy, try not to hurt other people, and hope to fall in love." -- Mallory Keaton