[gentoo-user] scrollback using framebuffer

On 11/14/09, Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sunday 15 November 2009 00:12:26 Maxim Wexler wrote:
>
> Yes, use vesa. It's slow at high res, but works.
>
> The nvidia framebuffer does not work with nvidia-drivers

Yeah, I found that out just after mailing the above. But now that I'm using vesa
how do I enable scrollback? 'fbcon=scrollback:128' in the grub kernel
line doesn't work. It's enabled in the kernel and works fine without
the fb, if that matters.

mw

On Sunday 15 November 2009 05:19:41 Maxim Wexler wrote:
> On 11/14/09, Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Sunday 15 November 2009 00:12:26 Maxim Wexler wrote:
> >
> > Yes, use vesa. It's slow at high res, but works.
> >
> > The nvidia framebuffer does not work with nvidia-drivers
>
> Yeah, I found that out just after mailing the above. But now that I'm using
> vesa how do I enable scrollback? 'fbcon=scrollback:128' in the grub kernel
> line doesn't work. It's enabled in the kernel and works fine without the
> fb, if that matters.

It JustWorked for me. My relevant settings:

CONFIG_FB=y
CONFIG_FB_BOOT_VESA_SUPPORT=y
CONFIG_FB_CFB_FILLRECT=y
CONFIG_FB_CFB_COPYAREA=y
CONFIG_FB_CFB_IMAGEBLIT=y
CONFIG_FB_VESA=y
CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK=y
CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_SIZE=256

I have no settings for scrollback on the kernel command line, just this to set
the resolution etc:

vga=0x37D ywrap mtrr:4

--
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com

>
> CONFIG_FB=y
> CONFIG_FB_BOOT_VESA_SUPPORT=y
> CONFIG_FB_CFB_FILLRECT=y
> CONFIG_FB_CFB_COPYAREA=y
> CONFIG_FB_CFB_IMAGEBLIT=y
> CONFIG_FB_VESA=y
> CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK=y
> CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_SIZE=256

Identical to mine.

> I have no settings for scrollback on the kernel command line, just this to
> set
> the resolution etc:
>
> vga=0x37D ywrap mtrr:4

Sure about this? 0x37D is not a recognized mode. Are you missing some
punctuation?

my line is: video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x318. Is this syntax
correct? There seems to be a variety out there. Mine only scrolls a
few lines, doesn't matter If I give scrollback 128 or 256k. But there
are no errors, so I must be doing something right. Tried ypan too, no
luck.

mw

On Tuesday 17 November 2009 07:48:21 Maxim Wexler wrote:
> > CONFIG_FB=y
> > CONFIG_FB_BOOT_VESA_SUPPORT=y
> > CONFIG_FB_CFB_FILLRECT=y
> > CONFIG_FB_CFB_COPYAREA=y
> > CONFIG_FB_CFB_IMAGEBLIT=y
> > CONFIG_FB_VESA=y
> > CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK=y
> > CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_SIZE=256
>
> Identical to mine.
>
> > I have no settings for scrollback on the kernel command line, just this
> > to set
> > the resolution etc:
> >
> > vga=0x37D ywrap mtrr:4
>
> Sure about this? 0x37D is not a recognized mode. Are you missing some
> punctuation?

Nope, that's exactly how it is in grub. I have a 1920x1440 screen and I get as
many 8x8 characters as can fit

I got the 0x37D parameter by the table shown with vga=ask

> my line is: video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x318. Is this syntax
> correct? There seems to be a variety out there. Mine only scrolls a
> few lines, doesn't matter If I give scrollback 128 or 256k. But there
> are no errors, so I must be doing something right. Tried ypan too, no
> luck.

And I get 32k worth of scrollback. There's a setting for this in menuconfig:

Device Drivers -> Graphics support -> Console display driver support

what is yours set to?

I must admit, the fb situation is very confusing and the Documentation
directory seems to be a mixture of old, new, wrong and just flat out obsolete
stuff. One has to read the code to find out what is supported it seems

--
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com