Re: Framebuffer and Kernel Issues

["Greg Grotsky" <spikeygg@hotmail.com>]

So, I've been doing some more research on the framebuffer issue and for some
reason when I boot to a kernel that I have compiled the thing complains
that /dev/fb0 is not a valid device.  I've compiled the kernel including 
with
Y for YES the options for framebuffers and console fb but it still doesn't
work.  I even took the stock Debian 64bit 2.6.9 kernel and built it without 
a
make config.  So everything is a module, but it still doesn't work.

I've found something interesting though.  I downloaded a piece of software
called fbset which is supposed to allow you to switch fb settings on the 
fly.
I tried it out on my self-compiled kernel and it gave me this:

# fbset
open /dev/fb0: No such device

When it works (on the default kernel) it looks like this:
# fbset

mode "1024x768-76"
   # D: 78.653 MHz, H: 59.949 kHz, V: 75.694 Hz
   geometry 1024 768 1024 768 32
   timings 12714 128 32 16 4 128 4
   rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,8/24
endmode

Now, I thought maybe the other default kernel has extra stuff on it so I
booted to it and checked the loaded modules and I saw that it had these
installed:
vesafb                  7480  0
cfbcopyarea             3968  1 vesafb
cfbimgblt               3136  1 vesafb
cfbfillrect             4224  1 vesafb
fbcon                  39648  0
font                    8960  1 fbcon

So I booted back to my own kernel and loaded these modules (no problems
loading) but I still, according to the system, don't have a /dev/fb0.  I can
do a 'ls /dev/fb*" and see fb0 through fb7 but it still says that they don't
exist.

# ls -la /dev/fb*
crw-rw----  1 root video 29, 0 Feb 11 08:22 /dev/fb0
crw-rw----  1 root video 29, 1 Feb 11 08:22 /dev/fb1
crw-rw----  1 root video 29, 2 Feb 11 08:22 /dev/fb2
crw-rw----  1 root video 29, 3 Feb 11 08:22 /dev/fb3
crw-rw----  1 root video 29, 4 Feb 11 08:22 /dev/fb4
crw-rw----  1 root video 29, 5 Feb 11 08:22 /dev/fb5
crw-rw----  1 root video 29, 6 Feb 11 08:22 /dev/fb6
crw-rw----  1 root video 29, 7 Feb 11 08:22 /dev/fb7

It seems like I need to do something with the kernel but I've tried almost
everything in the kernel config options and have been unable to get
framebuffers working.  Does anyone know how to fix this issue?

BTW: I'm using an Nvidia FX5700 Ultra, though it shouldn't matter cause it
works in the default kernel.

Thanks,

-Greg