nanogui: Question: Devel. of new display/touchpanel driver
Subject:
Re: Question: Devel. of new display/touchpanel driver
From:
Jordan Crouse ####@####.####
Date:
23 Apr 2001 14:16:11 -0000
Message-Id: <01042308162002.21846@cosmic>
On Monday 23 April 2001 05:01, Marc R. Wetzel mentioned:
> Hi,
>
> what's the best starting point for develping a new display driver.
>
> I finished a "homebrewed" lcd display adapter card (isa-bus) driving a
> 240x128 blue/white lcd based on the T6963 controller from Toshiba
> yesterday.
>
> I'd like to develop a driver for this kind of device. My target hardware is
> a MZ104 board (this is a cool device around the MZLINUX processor) + a
> flash disk.
u should be able to run directly on the framebuffer. You probably don't want
to go through the trouble of developing a new Microwindows display driver:
It is time consuming and difficult. The best thing you can do is get your
framebuffer running.
I know a few people that have used the MZ104 succesfully, so I know you can
do it.
> I first tried to use the framebuffer and then svgalib device ( I have a
> normal vga-card connected, for debugging purposes) but I failed because of
> missing devices like /dev/mem
> and /proc, and too because named was not running.
I would stay away from the svgalib device. But if you have framebuffer
support enabled, you shouldn't even need /proc. (on an offtopic note: You
should almost always use /proc, I have not yet encountered a situation where
/proc was unnessasary - You can enable it in the kernel configuration). If
you start up your device and you can see Tux the penguin in the left hand
corner, your framebuffer is working correctly. Then you should be able to
run any microwindows application from the shell prompt.
> What should I do first, to get a _minimal_ running configuration ?
In the kernel make sure that you turn on the Incomplete and Experimental
drivers flag (first item), and then you turn on VESA framebuffer support in
the console drivers area. These are the minimal things you need to run
Microwindows (you will also need to enable your system specific drivers and
devices).
> I also got some problems with the compile flags: Which of them are
> exclusive ?
> Can I compile for more than one graphics hardware (e.g. x11 and svga ???)
Not in the same tree. But stick with the framebuffer, and you will be able
to run on virtually every type of hardware.
> And now... I'd like to say: As far as I can see... Very good work; keep on
> !!
Thanks for giving us a shot. Good luck!
Jordan
--
-- embed this! http://www.microwindows.org --
