Various questions about video drivers

Hello,
I have some questions related to development of video drivers:

  • Double buffered screen:

In the case where the system really provides 2 distinct video memory
spaces for the video buffers, when the call to SDL_Flip() is done: does
the video driver have to change the (SDL_Surface) videomode->pixels to
points to the correct video RAM ? This is what I do in the Atari Xbios
video driver, because it is the only way for the application to write in
the correct buffer. I did not see any info about this in the header files,
nor in the docs.

  • SDL as a backend for Mesa:

Mesa can use svgalib, ggi, x11 as drawing backends. SDL uses Mesa
functions to create OpenGL rendering contexts in some video drivers. Could
it be possible to write a SDL backend for Mesa ? And could it be possible
to use SDL with the same Mesa as an OpenGL video driver (is it clear ?):

I would like to setup a video mode with SDL, using Mesa as OpenGL driver,
and Mesa using same SDL to do OpenGL rendering on screen (see recursion there
?).

  • Screen with fixed size:

When you have a video output that has a fixed width, height and bpp; does
the video driver report that fixed dimensions, or only the part of it that
was asked by the _SetVideoMode() ? i.e. if I have a fixed 640x480
framebuffer, should the driver always report a 640x480 surface (and SDL
will take care of it), or a for example the smaller 320x240 or 400x300
asked surface ?

Thanks in advance for the meaningful answers.

PS: for Sam, did you receive my patches I sent you last week (mainly
related to Atari drivers)? I would like to see them applied.–
Patrice Mandin
WWW: http://membres.lycos.fr/pmandin/
Programmeur Linux, Atari
Sp?cialit?: D?veloppement, jeux

Hello,
I have some questions related to development of video drivers:

  • Double buffered screen:

In the case where the system really provides 2 distinct video memory
spaces for the video buffers, when the call to SDL_Flip() is done: does
the video driver have to change the (SDL_Surface) videomode->pixels to
points to the correct video RAM ? This is what I do in the Atari Xbios
video driver, because it is the only way for the application to write in
the correct buffer.

Yes, this is the correct method.

  • SDL as a backend for Mesa:

Mesa can use svgalib, ggi, x11 as drawing backends. SDL uses Mesa
functions to create OpenGL rendering contexts in some video drivers. Could
it be possible to write a SDL backend for Mesa ? And could it be possible
to use SDL with the same Mesa as an OpenGL video driver (is it clear ?):

I would like to setup a video mode with SDL, using Mesa as OpenGL driver,
and Mesa using same SDL to do OpenGL rendering on screen (see recursion there
?).

I don’t know if anybody has done it, but you might be able to hack it together.

  • Screen with fixed size:

When you have a video output that has a fixed width, height and bpp; does
the video driver report that fixed dimensions, or only the part of it that
was asked by the _SetVideoMode() ? i.e. if I have a fixed 640x480
framebuffer, should the driver always report a 640x480 surface (and SDL
will take care of it), or a for example the smaller 320x240 or 400x300
asked surface ?

Yes, report the fixed framebuffer size and SDL will center the video mode
presented to the application in the real fixed framebuffer.

PS: for Sam, did you receive my patches I sent you last week (mainly
related to Atari drivers)? I would like to see them applied.

No, I didn’t see them. Can you resend?

Thanks,
-Sam Lantinga, Software Engineer, Blizzard Entertainment

Dans l’article <mailman.1038987062.19735.sdl at libsdl.org>, “Sam Lantinga”
a tapot? avec ses petits doigts:

PS: for Sam, did you receive my patches I sent you last week (mainly
related to Atari drivers)? I would like to see them applied.

No, I didn’t see them. Can you resend?

I first sent them to slouken(at)libsdl(dot)org (on 11/26/2002), then I
resent them this time to slouken(at)devolution(dot)com (on 12/04/2002).
Maybe it should be useful to have a mail address to send patches to, like
patches(at)libsdl(dot)org.–
Patrice Mandin
WWW: http://membres.lycos.fr/pmandin/
Programmeur Linux, Atari
Sp?cialit?: D?veloppement, jeux