> Like it or not, there is a need to be able to handle very large,
> contiguous allocations of physical memory. Frame grabbers and 3D
> drivers both currently use either the "bigphysarea" patch which will
> never make it into the kernel, or simply use "mem=XX" to reserve some
> RAM for other applications. Occasional some people come up with other
> good uses for big chunks of RAM, which aren't easily implemented in
> other ways.
Just to add an example: the SCI (IEEE standard) cards from Dolphin
Interconnects has a need for this as well. (Cards used for memory
mapping. For large areas it is essential to be able to allocate a large
portion of physical memory). These are also used in the wulfkit stuff from
Scala.
> If people are agreeable to this, I'll send a patch towards Linus. Let's
> put an end to the hacks like bigphysarea for frame grabbers or using
> mem=XX to reserve memory for 3D GLX drivers.
It would be very nice to have in the standard kernel IMO.
Mads
--
Mads Bondo Dydensborg. madsdyd@challenge.dk
Faced with the prospect of rereading this book, I would rather have my brains
ripped out by a plastic fork
- Charles Cooper, ZD net, in review of B@TSOT by Bill Gates.
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