Re: [linuxdc-dev]Status of LinuxDC / 3D drivers

[M. R. B. <mr...@0x...>]

* Micah Dowty <mi...@yo...> on Mon, Mar 18, 2002:

> Hi Everybody,
>=20
> I'm an embedded systems enthusiast, linux geek, and author of the PicoGUI=
 (http://picogui.org) GUI architecture for embedded systems.
>=20
> Last thursday I saw a friend's dreamcast boot linux, compile and run Pico=
GUI. It was so cool I got my own 2 days later, and found a broadband adapte=
r on eBay.
>=20

Cool.  Have any links to binaries or images?

> I'm interested in helping with Linux on the Dreamcast, but since I mainta=
in PicoGUI and attend college i don't have time to maintain a distro myself=
. So I was quite happy to find the LinuxDC project seemingly alive and well=
 :)

Alive, but I'm not so sure about well :P.  Adrian's been actively fixing bu=
gs
and cracking hardware, Paul and I have been busy with the 2.5 restructuring
work for our parent project, LinuxSH (linuxsh.org), which hasn't hit the
LinuxDC tree yet.

>=20
> Most of all, I'd like to be able to run PicoGUI fast on the dreamcast, an=
d port games like BZflag. This requires having a driver for the tile accele=
rator under linux. Wading through all the "31337 haxor"-isms surrounding co=
nsole game development, it looks like there's plenty of information on the =
PowerVR chip available. So I would just need to know where this driver goes.
>=20
> I'm not sure I'm up for writing a complete OpenGL layer on top of the Pow=
erVR, but I'd like to at least put together a kernel module and/or userspac=
e library that lets applications use the accelerator. Is there a standard f=
or doing this that doesn't require X?
>=20

I don't know of any other kernel-level interfaces for direct access to
graphic accelerators besides DRI/DRM (dri.sourceforge.net) and /dev/opengl,
which is used to access the 3D features of certain SGI machines (see the
SGI OSS MIPS port).  Currently DRI/DRM requires X.

Paul started a DRM module in CVS, but it was only the initial boilerplate
needed to get it to compile, nothing specific.  You're more than welcome to
develop your own implementation or finish the DRM module - it's entirely up
to you.  Any form of TA access for userland under Linux would be a good
thing, official or not :P.

Please let us know what you come up with.  If you can even develop a basic
patch that adds any functionality to the kernel, we'll grant you SF develop=
er
access for CVS, etc.

Thanks,

M. R.