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VGA(4)		      DragonFly Kernel Interfaces Manual		VGA(4)

NAME

vga, vesa -- generic video card interface

SYNOPSIS

options VESA options VESA_DEBUG=N options VGA_KEEP_POWERON_MODE options VGA_NO_FONT_LOADING options VGA_NO_MODE_CHANGE options VGA_DEBUG=N options VGA_WIDTH90 device vga0 at isa? port ?

DESCRIPTION

The vga driver is a generic video card driver which provides access to video cards. This driver is required for the console driver syscons(4). The console driver will call the vga driver to manipulate video hardware (changing video modes, loading font, etc). The vga driver supports the standard VGA video cards. In addition, the driver can utilize the VESA BIOS Extension if the video card supports it. VESA support can either be statically included in the kernel or can be loaded as a separate module. In order to statically link the VESA support into the kernel, the VESA option (see below) must be defined in the kernel configuration file. The vesa module can be dynamically loaded into the kernel using kldload(8).

DRIVER CONFIGURATION

Kernel Configuration Options The following kernel configuration options (see config(8)) can be used to control the vga driver. These options provide compatibility with certain VGA cards. VGA_DEBUG=N Set the VGA support debug level to N. The default value is 0, which suppresses all debugging output. A value of 2 gives maximum verbosity. VGA_KEEP_POWERON_MODE This option keeps the initial mode's register set- tings for switching back to it from another mode. VGA_WIDTH90 This option enables 90 column modes: 90x25, 90x30, 90x43, 90x50, 90x60. These modes are not always supported by the video card and the display. It is highly likely that LCD display cannot work with these modes. The following options will remove some features from the vga driver and save kernel memory. VGA_NO_FONT_LOADING This option removes font loading from the driver. Note that if you use this option and still wish to use the mouse on the console then you must also use the SC_ALT_MOUSE_IMAGE option. See syscons(4). VGA_NO_MODE_CHANGE This option prevents the driver from changing video modes. The following options add optional features to the driver. VESA Add VESA BIOS Extension support to the driver. If the VGA card has the VESA BIOS Extension 1.2 or later, this option will utilize it to switch to high resolution modes. VESA_DEBUG=N Set the VESA support debug level to N. The default value is 0, which suppresses all debugging output. A value of 2 gives maximum verbosity.

EXAMPLES

Your kernel configuration should normally have: device vga0 at isa? port ? The following line should be included in the kernel configuration file in order to enable the VESA BIOS Extension support. options VESA If you do not want VESA support included in the kernel, but want to use occasionally, do not add the VESA option. And load the vesa module as desired: kldload vesa

SEE ALSO

vgl(3), syscons(4), config(8), kldload(8), kldunload(8)

STANDARDS

Apple, IBM, Motorola, "Common Hardware Reference Platform: I/O Device Reference", Appendix A: VGA Programming Model, p. 195, ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/rs6000/technology/spec/chrp/. Video Electronics Standards Association, VESA BIOS Extension (VBE).

HISTORY

The vga driver first appeared in FreeBSD 3.1.

AUTHORS

The vga driver was written by Soren Schmidt <sos@FreeBSD.org> and Kazutaka Yokota <yokota@FreeBSD.org>. This manual page was written by Kazutaka Yokota. DragonFly 4.3 December 14, 2009 DragonFly 4.3

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