new patch for kernel

[Jacek Konieczny]

On Mon, Feb 19, 2001 at 03:12:42PM +0100, Tomasz Kłoczko wrote:
> On Mon, 19 Feb 2001, Jacek Konieczny wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, Feb 19, 2001 at 02:11:13PM +0100, Tomasz Kłoczko wrote:
> > > BTW. Anyone found some information how to use FB if was kompiled to module
> > > ?
> > modprobe the_module
> > 
> > But this won't fork for VesaFB, as Vesa videomode can be only initialised
> > on startup (before the kernel enters protected mode). 
> 
> Know You why and/or is it bug or facture in current VesaFB code ?
It is not a bug. That is how it works.
VESA is a BIOS extension designed to be used from DOS, not multitasking OS
using i386 "protected mode". There are some VESA protected-mode extensions,
but they are not very reliable. 
In fact VESA-FB is a hack --- extension to the "VGA video-mode selection".
The latter uses standard PC BIOS calls to setup video modes on startup.
When the kernel is running VIDEO-BIOS practically is not available, and cannot
be raliably used.

Greets,
	Jacek