On Sun, Feb 06, 2022 at 03:03:43AM -0500, Felix Miata wrote:
Thomas Zimmermann composed on 2022-01-06 09:59 (UTC+0100):
thanks for all the feedback you sent in.
You're welcome. Are you looking for any more in particular?
I put Tiwai's simpledrm 5.16.5-7.g8e500f5-default on an old Dell Optiplex GX320 with Radeon Xpress 200/1100 graphics, 2.0GHz Core2Duo and no UEFI. Immediately after Grub (not Grub2) gets the initrd loaded, the screen pauses 30 seconds to report (in 80x25 BIOS mode):
Probing EDD (edd=off to disable)... ok undefined video mode number: 317 Press <ENTER> to see video modes available... <list of 80 column modes F00-F07>
Maybe you can do what asked here, boot in one of the supported modes, and provide kernel log (preferably attach to a bug report) together with a kernel log of the kernel that worked for you.
This doesn't happen with 5.15.12 (newest kernel installed prior to 5.16.5). When it proceeds after the pause, it's in gargantuan text BIOS 80x25 mode for a very long time before KMS finally engages the display's native mode, or the mode specified by video=. Adding edd=off to kernel cmdline is unhelpful. I tried checking other modes available, selecting one (133) before proceeding, which produced some seriously ugly text, though space saving compared to 80x25.
Why is simple DRM preventing use of a standard vesafb mode in the time before KMS engages? Is something else needed in the initrd or on kernel cmdline to enjoy
In most cases it is not.
traditional vesafb modes like vga=0x317 & vga=794 prior to KMS engagement?
If the mode worked previously and now it does not it is a regression in communicating supported modes with the BIOS which may be caused by simpledrm, other kernel changes, BIOS settings, and BIOS changes. It's something worth diagnosing.
Is it possible to get KMS to engage much earlier?
Maybe I need a reminder why simpledrm in the first place? :p
Because the fbdev interface is broken by design and cannot be fixed without breaking all software using it. Then you couuld either create a fbdev 2.0 or declare something else that already exists like drm the fbdev 2.0 Thanks Michal