What is gxfb?

This is a graphics framebuffer driver for AMD Geode GX2 based processors.

Advantages:

  • No need to use AMD’s VSA code (or other VESA emulation layer) in the BIOS.

  • It provides a nice large console (128 cols + 48 lines with 1024x768) without using tiny, unreadable fonts.

  • You can run XF68_FBDev on top of /dev/fb0

  • Most important: boot logo :-)

Disadvantages:

  • graphic mode is slower than text mode…

How to use it?

Switching modes is done using gxfb.mode_option=<resolution>… boot parameter or using fbset program.

See Documentation/fb/modedb.rst for more information on modedb resolutions.

X11

XF68_FBDev should generally work fine, but it is non-accelerated.

Configuration

You can pass kernel command line options to gxfb with gxfb.<option>. For example, gxfb.mode_option=800x600@75. Accepted options:

mode_option

specify the video mode. Of the form <x>x<y>[-<bpp>][@<refresh>]

vram

size of video ram (normally auto-detected)

vt_switch

enable vt switching during suspend/resume. The vt switch is slow, but harmless.

Andres Salomon <dilinger@debian.org>