Re: Repeat the Ending

Geert Uytterhoeven (Geert.Uytterhoeven@cs.kuleuven.ac.be)
Mon, 9 Jun 1997 13:24:56 +0200 (MET DST)


On Sun, 8 Jun 1997, Aaron Tiensivu wrote:
>Ah.. console patches.. how I love thee.
>I've been collecting these for quite a while.
>I'm still using the fast_opost patch that was around a year ago
>or so, and I remember it being rejected for some reason. I don't remember why.
>
>I've got a bastardized kernel running the latest 'multi-line' patch posted
>yesterday, and the fast_opost patch. Very very snappy. Most notable is doing
>a PageUp with 'less' on a big file (like a pre-patch).
>
>So, what I'm mainly curious about, is why the fast opost didn't make it in?
>I might hack a bit of the console some more and see what I can do.
>
>Stuff like this reminds me of the "TurboST" and the like that was around
>on the old Atari ST to speed up the GDI and text routines.. the originals
>were written (fairly poorly) in C, and a few guys made equiv. assembly
>versions of them and it made the ST quite a cruiser for its day. Showing
>a bit of my history here. :)

We could use a redesign of the console system. Things I'd like to see:

- separation between generic console stuff and low-level (VGA) stuff
- scrollback on all VCs, using a decent implementation (i.e. not depending
on VGA features, since they're of no use to me)

The way GGI does it (using the `scroller' interface) could be a start (but GGI
isn't perfect neither, for machines without a hardware text mode).

If you want to know more about the machines without VGA text mode, please let
me know.

Greetings,

Geert

--
Geert Uytterhoeven                     Geert.Uytterhoeven@cs.kuleuven.ac.be
Wavelets, Linux/m68k on Amiga          http://www.cs.kuleuven.ac.be/~geert/
Department of Computer Science -- Katholieke Universiteit Leuven -- Belgium