Text Mode mixed with X.org ATI Drivers

[Palhoto]

Hi,

I was wondering if it is possible to get an x86 to boot and stay in 80x25 hardware text mode and be able to switch to the xorg ati driver, only when startx is called upon. How can it be done? I'm currently lost coming previously from a NVidia proprietary driver setup which used to work in this manner. Now I'm using an ATI card with the X.org drivers using modeset. My modeset understanding is quite messed up.

Any pointers are appreciated. Thanks.

[eccerr0r]

The problem is that likely the OSS driver is written in a way to depend on KMS - where the kernel changes video modes (honestly this is the right way to do things - the video hardware is hardware, and the kernel should be the driver that changes video modes.)

The nvidia driver does the video mode change in userspace via requiring setuid root to change video modes. This I think is an ugly way to do things. This is the same for the ATI proprietary drivers, requiring root as well to change modes.

What is specifically the problem with it changing to a graphical "text" mode? Is it causing mode issues? is it too slow (it shouldn't be that slow...) You can select a graphical 80x25 mode if you want, too, using the usual fbcon driver I believe.

I didn't find it way too slow and since I have it start up in X11 anyway it's moot. The Intel driver also requires KMS as well and has the same issue.
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Intel Core i7 2700K/Radeon R7 250/24GB DDR3/256GB SSD
What am I supposed watching?

[Palhoto]

[eccerr0r]

Whoops, trying to be a bit more clear here: fbcon and kms are different drivers, but they use the same API/interface to select modes.

You can use fbset to change modes in the command like using sys-apps/fbset, or the usual console mode boot command line options work (or options if you load in the KMS driver post-boot).

I've found kms fbcon to work fairly well, most of them exceeded my expectations for speed, that I just use KMS for those machines that need it for X11. It works just fine for fixing things when X11 breaks... Not the usual 80x25 but good enough.
_________________
Intel Core i7 2700K/Radeon R7 250/24GB DDR3/256GB SSD
What am I supposed watching?

[Palhoto]