[wplug] Installfest: SPARCstation IPX

[Bryan J. Smith]

Drew from Zhrodague <drew at zhrodague.net> wrote:
> Suns, in general, ouput their console to the framebuffer if the
> keyboard is plugged in. It does have a text mode, but these
> machines assume a fixed-frequency monitor,

It has a "text mode" but _only_ when the kernel sets up the 1152x900
framebuffer with 12x22 font, etc... so it can display it.  From the
standpoint of how PC technicians assume a "text mode" works, it's
_nothing_ of the sort.  That was the point I was trying to make.

Or to flip this, to make an analogy to PC/Linux, the kernel _must_
have a 3 digit VGA= line for anything to display on the monitor. 
There is _no_ 16-bit PC BIOS providing the Color80 (B8000h) or Mono80
(B0000h) "text" modes that automagically take a text array and output
the bytes as pixels.  It only works in an "All Points Addressable"
(APA) mode.

> unless you plug-in a decent multisync (anything after 1998,
> really) monitor.

Yes, the 1152x900 at 66Hz mode is rather exacting.

> Otherwise, you'll need a Sun/Mac modem cable to see the output 
> from the serial port.

Correct.  That's why I said skip the framebuffer/keyboard altogether.

> Don't the IPXs have a built-in framebuffer?

Yes.  But that doesn't mean the kernel is setting it up proper.  ;)
The kernel _must_ drive it the second the OpenBoot firmware hands off
control.

The OpenBoot firmware does not provide any mode where the kernel can
just dump text into the framebuffer and OpenBoot will render the text
in the 12x22 font at 1152x900.  The _kernel_ does that itself.

This is unlike the PC BIOS which has modes where the kernel can dump
text into the framebuffer, and it will automagically create and
display them using 9x16 fonts at 640x400 (VGA Color80).


-- 
Bryan J. Smith   Professional, Technical Annoyance
b.j.smith at ieee.org    http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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     Fission Power:  An Inconvenient Solution