vesafb(4) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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VESAFB(4)            NetBSD/i386 Kernel Interfaces Manual            VESAFB(4)


NAME

     vesafb -- VESA framebuffer device driver for wscons


SYNOPSIS

     vesabios* at vesabiosbus?
     vesafb* at vesabios?
     wsdisplay* at vesafb? console ?

     options KVM86
     options VESAFB_WIDTH=640
     options VESAFB_HEIGHT=480
     options VESAFB_DEPTH=8
     options VESAFB_PM


DESCRIPTION

     vesafb provides support for framebuffer consoles on i386 display adapters
     which implement VESA BIOS extensions (VBE) 2.0 or above.  It is used
     within the wscons(4) console framework.  And its functions are available
     via the internal wsdisplay(4) interface.

     Since this interface is accessed via x86 BIOS calls, this driver only
     works on the i386 port.

     Supported kernel options:

     options KVM86
           Required for vesabios.  This enables the framework for running BIOS
           code in a virtual 8086 machine.

     options VESAFB_WIDTH=XXX
           Sets the width, such as 640 or 1024.  Default is 640.

     options VESAFB_HEIGHT=XXX
           Sets the height, such as 480 or 768.  Default is 480.

     options VESAFB_DEPTH=XX
           Sets the bits per pixel, such as 8 or 16.  Default is 8.

     options VESAFB_PM
           Enables the power management support by enabling the
           WSDISPLAYIO_SVIDEO and WSDISPLAYIO_GVIDEO ioctl implementations.
           This is not enabled by default, as in some cases it might cause the
           system to hang.  Tested on: ATI Radeon M9 (failed), NeoMagic 256AV
           (passed), VIA VT8623 (failed).


SEE ALSO

     wscons(4), wsdisplay(4)


HISTORY

     The vesafb driver appeared in NetBSD 4.0.


BUGS

     The vesafb driver attaches to the console very early in the i386 boot
     process; since consinit() is called before KVM86 is initialized, the
     vesafb_cnattach() function assumes that hardware is present.  This causes
     the console to be blank until the vesafb driver attaches.

     vesafb does not support VBE 1.2 and below, as they do not provide support
     for linear framebuffers.

     options VESAFB_PM may cause some systems to hang.

NetBSD 5.2                      August 16, 2006                     NetBSD 5.2