[coreboot] SeaBIOS and the Geode LX framebuffer

[Jordan Crouse]

On 09/10/08 11:19 +0100, Stephen Crocker wrote:
> Kevin O'Connor wrote:
> > On Mon, Oct 06, 2008 at 08:32:15AM -0600, Jordan Crouse wrote:
> >> On 04/10/08 21:59 -0400, Kevin O'Connor wrote:
> >>> I'm not an expert on VGA, but I think it may be possible to implement
> >>> a bare bones vgabios with only a couple of chip specific functions
> > [...]
> >> Not just a possibility - but a certainty.  Geode could be ported in a
> >> matter of hours. 
> > 
> > Hi Jordan,
> > 
> > I've spent some time taking a closer look at this.  The bochs vgabios
> > has a large number of in/out calls.  If the geode vga doesn't natively
> > emulate the legacy in/out ports then I think there is a fair amount of
> > work to port bochs vgabios to geode.

I apologize - I spend a lot of my time hacking on the graphics engine,
but I forgot all the other baggage that VGA brings with.

> I have been looking at the Geode LX databook and on page 303, it lists 
> the standard VGA I/O ports (3CC, 3C2, 3BA/3DA etc.) which I had 
> previously assumed were emulated in the VSA.  If they are indeed 
> implemented in hardware, it should be able to act as a standard VGA 
> device.  However, this would make me wonder what the VGA emulation VSA 
> is for.

The VSA is there primarily to trap 0x3c2 and to implement a few other 
extended functions.  There is a document on our developer-only website
that describes this, I have asked that we release it to the public.

> If they are software I/O ports implemented in the VSA, an alternative 
> would be to make an open-source VGA emulation module for OpenVSA. 
> Unfortunately, my resources are too limited to attempt this task.

Especially considering that OpenVSA itself needs a lot of work.

> Just as a matter of curiosity, what is the licensing issue surrounding 
> the VGA emulation code?  I understand that it is not open-source but is 
> it available as a binary?

The VGA BIOS itself has licencing restrictions on it.  The VSA emulation
doesn't, but since we never planned on supporting VGA in the first place,
it was a non-starter.  The infrastructure is in place in the VSA code,
but the actual mode switching isn't.

Jordan
-- 
Jordan Crouse
Systems Software Development Engineer 
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.