[LinuxBIOS] RESEND: patch: fix the problem with CONFIG_CONSOLE_VGA not pulling in the emulator

[Corey Osgood]

Torsten Duwe wrote:
> On Friday 04 January 2008, ron minnich wrote:
>
>   
>> There's a harder problem. What if we're on a a system with a unichrome
>> and, for whatever reason, somebody drops in a different graphics card
>> and wants that to be the console? Of the set of devices that *could*
>> be the console, which one *should* be the console?
>>
>> For this latter case, in which there is a native non-option-ROM VGA
>> device and a VGA device with an option ROM, you are going to need to
>> leave the emulator in [...]
>>     
>
> True. Even those Epia-boards have a slot. Luc, or anyone else, have a board 
> with VGA and totally without PCI, AGP or the like? Or is this a ROM space 
> issue?

This is, I believe, a moot point. Saying that all boards have a PCI slot
doesn't mean that a user/developer wants to or has any intention of
using it. Think of situations where an embedded board is dropped into a
specialized case and sold as a project, for instance, the msntv2. The
board inside (rca rm4100) does have a PCI "slot", but no header, and the
case is designed such that pci cards are not meant to be used. In such a
case, there's no reason to include the rom emulator, increasing the size
(if ever so slightly), nor a reason to search for a video option rom,
increasing the boot time, if there is no rom to run.

BTW, thanks for getting back to this Luc, I know you're busy with the
new job. I apologize for the rather scalding response your patch has
had, these are the types of responses to patches this community does not
need, because we will scare away very experienced and good developers.

I think that we need a 3rd option, something like
CONFIG_NATIVE_VGA_INIT, to do what you want and skip the video option
rom search. I think that would make everyone happy ;)

-Corey