Framebuffer HOWTO

Alex Buell

2010-08-05, version 1.3

Revision History
Revision v1.32010-08-05
Converted to DocBook from LinuxDoc
Revision v1.22000-01-22
Last public release
Revision v1.11999-07-22
With some additional information
Revision v1.01999-06-07
First public release

This document describes how to use the framebuffer devices in Linux with a variety of platforms. This also includes how to set up multi-headed displays.


Table of Contents
1. Contributors
2. What is a framebuffer device?
3. What advantages does framebuffer devices have?
4. Using framebuffer devices on x86 platforms
4.1. What is vesafb?
4.2. How do I activate the vesafb drivers?
4.3. What VESA modes are available to me?
4.4. Got a Matrox card?
4.5. Got a Permedia card?
4.6. Got an ATI card?
4.7. Which graphic cards are VESA 2.0 compliant?
4.8. Can I compile vesafb as a module?
4.9. How do I modify the cursor
5. Using framebuffer devices on m68k platforms
5.1. Atari platforms
5.2. Amiga platforms
6. Using framebuffer devices on PowerPC platforms
7. Using framebuffer devices on Alpha platforms
7.1. What modes are available?
7.2. Which graphic cards can work on Alpha?
8. Using framebuffer devices on SPARC platforms
8.1. Which graphic cards can work on the SPARC
8.2. Configuring the framebuffer devices
9. Using framebuffer devices on MIPS platforms
10. Using framebuffer devices on ARM platforms
10.1. Netwinders
10.2. Acorn Archimedes
10.3. Other ARM ports (SA7710s et. al.)
11. Using multi-headed framebuffers
11.1. Introduction
11.2. Feedback
11.3. Contributors
11.4. Standard Disclaimer
11.5. Copyright Information
11.6. What hardware is supported?
11.7. Commercial support
11.8. Getting all the stuff
11.9. Getting Started
11.10. Summary
11.11. Other Notes and Problems
11.12. Appendix A. Octave "" script
11.13. Appendix B. Bourne Shell "" script
12. Using / Changing Fonts
13. Changing Console Modes
14. Setting up the X11 FBdev driver
15. How do I convert XFree86 mode-lines into framebuffer device timings?
16. Changing the Linux Logo
17. Looking for further information

Copyright � 1999—2010 Alex Buell, GNU Free Documentation Licence (GFPL)

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. A copy of the licence can be retrieved from the Free Software Foundation.