Re: [Linux-fbdev-devel] Query on framebuffer implementations

[James S. <jsi...@tr...>]

> Maybe all the graphic support is implemented in the boot loader itself.

Correct. I haven't looked at lilo's code but I have seen a few bootloaders
for embedded devices. They all implement the graphics chip itself. For
lilo you supply a line vga=some_mode_number. Since lilo runs in real mode
it most likely calls the BIOS to set the video mode. It uses this value to
see if it should use VESA extended BIOS calls or classic vga BIOS calls to
set the video mode. Try asking for a vga text mode when running vesafb or
vice versa and you will never see your display. For the ix86 platform this
info is extracted from the BIOS and passed to the kernel after it enters
protect mode.