-----Original Message----- From: xfree86-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:xfree86-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mike A. Harris Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 10:24 PM To: xfree86@xxxxxxxxxxx Subject: RE: Possible Petition - RE: Can't start X with I830M chipset, 8MB preallocated video RAM On Fri, 19 Dec 2003, Don Knecht wrote: >Well, I don't know how much good it would do, the i830 and current BIOS >work fine with windows XP and with a commercial x-server, ( I tried a >Summit LX demo from xi graphics), so THEIR,(NOT MINE) argument is likely to be that >the developers just need to fix the driver and/or xfree86.......i >noticed the Xaccel server wants no help from the kernel apg, that apg is >provided by their server, maybe that's a clue to someone as how xi does >it? You are missing the point. No I didn't....see posted reply to the list under the thread "Can't start X with I830M chipset, 8MB preallocated video RAM" in which I said, "Maybe the anser is to get intel to pressure dell and gateway to quit F***'n Around with the bios on these laptops, by the time the developers figure out how to get it working the mfg's change the bios and it quits working.... .....BTW as a non-coder, I'd like to thank all developers for their Work on xfree86, keep up the good work!" The driver is NOT broken. It is the BIOS that is broken. It is theoretically _possible_ to *work around* this broken BIOS limitation inside the video driver, yes. And that is what the Windows drivers do, and what the XiG X server likely does as well. So, how then did the Windows driver and XiG driver "work around" this issue? Simple, because Intel themselves created the Windows driver and they have the specifications and in depth knowledge of their own video hardware and motherboard chipsets, so they have everything they need to have in order to make their video hardware work on any platform they want it to work on. Intel can "Make It Happen(TM)" because it is THEIR HARDWARE to begin with. Along that line, I was searching for info on the problem and found A couple users on different forums who had similar problems with gateway and Dell, one of the posts suggested that not allowing the user to adjust the amount of video memory in the bios may violate some intel license issue? If it works also on XiG drivers, then Intel has given XiG their hardware specifications probably under NDA, or has given XiG the information that XiG required in order to work around this problem. It is not possible to fix these types of problems without 100% cooperation from the hardware vendors in question, and anyone thinking XFree86 developers can pull random technical specifications out of their ass or something are in a fantasy cloud. That said, I'm told the XFree86 in CVS head has a workaround for this issue which works on some Intel hardware, and that might include the hardware in question above. However, if it does not work around the broken BIOS bug induced problem, then don't complain to XFree86 developers, complain to your hardware vendor(s). I have and continue to do so...... They have our source code, we don't have theirs. I agree, XFree developers are working with their hands tied, intel could Make a lot more friends by helping out.....gateway and dell could give a s%#t.........or at least that's the impression I've been given by gateway's Tech support. My letters to gateway have been pleas to have the original, Working, but probably also screwed-up BIOS image restored....they claim they "can't".....i also told them that xwindows worked fine before they upgraded the bios and now it don't...... -- Mike A. Harris _______________________________________________ XFree86 mailing list XFree86@xxxxxxxxxxx http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/xfree86 _______________________________________________ XFree86 mailing list XFree86@xxxxxxxxxxx http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/xfree86
