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https://github.com/atomicobject/vmwarefb_openstep

VMWareFB OpenStep display driver -- run OpenStep and NeXTStep in VMWare in high color and high res
https://github.com/atomicobject/vmwarefb_openstep

Last synced: 10 months ago
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VMWareFB OpenStep display driver -- run OpenStep and NeXTStep in VMWare in high color and high res

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README 

          
== VMWareFB OpenStep Display Driver for VMWare



The code here may be used/distributed under the terms of the standard

XFree86 license.



Note: This project is no longer actively maintained. If you're

interested in taking ownership of this code, contact David Crosby

(crosby@atomicobject.com).



== Overview



VMWareFB is an OpenStep display driver written to support the virtual

display hardware in VMWare. It was originally written and tested against

VMWare Workstation 3.0 on Linux, Windows 2000 and Windows XP.



The driver works very well on Linux, especially in full screen mode.

There are some problems with initialization of the device on Windows XP,

but once running, it seems very stable.



Support for other versions of VMWare is unknown. Please report any

experiences with the Express and Server versions.



== Building the Source



VMWareFB can be built using Project Builder on NextStep 3.3. It will

NOT compile on OpenStep! Make sure to build for a i386 architecture

if compiling on a non-Intel architecture.



== Installation



You can download a precompiled driver as a compressed config from

  http://github.com/atomicobject/VMWareFB_OpenStep/downloads



The VMWare Display Driver installs just like any other OpenStep

display driver. The quick-start method is:



 1. Open /NextAdmin/Configure.app and remove the current display driver.

    Save. Confirm the warnings. Quit.

 2. Double-click on VMWareFB.config, and confirm the installation

    (or update) of the driver.

 3. Select the Display tab. The Add Display Devices... panel should pop

    up automatically (if not, click Add). "VMWare Display Adapter"

    should automatically be detected. Click Add.

 4. Click Select to choose your display resolution. All the modes

    are shown as 32-bit depth, but the actual depth used will depend

    on the host system on which VMWare is running. The driver has only

    been successfully tested at a maximum of 1280x1024x32bpp. Higher

    resolutions should work, though.

 5. Save and reboot. YOU MAY NEED TO REBOOT TWO OR THREE TIMES IF

    OPENSTEP CRASHES. Let it reboot, rather than powering off and

    on the virtual machine when it crashes. When it eventually boots

    successfully, it should be stable.



== Known Issues



 * Panics on startup. Occasionally, usually after first installing

   the driver, OpenStep will crash with a panic just after the driver

   finishes initializing. The specific crash is usually a problem

   with "pmap_remove_range 2". These crashes have rarely occurred on

   Linux or Windows 2000. On Windows XP the crashes happen _very_ often

   (every cold power on). After one or two reboots it does work,

   even on XP.



   Once booted up OpenStep seems to run just fine. It is recommended

   that you use the Suspend and Resume to start and stop the VM.



 * No Acceleration. This driver does not use the command FIFO in the

   VMWare device to accelerate updates of the screen. On Windows, and in

   a window on Linux uses a "trace" mode in VMWare to update the

   display. This method is inherently slow and occasionally leaves bits

   of graphical garbage on the screen which do get cleaned up and don't

   affect operation of the virtual machine. But performance is generally

   acceptable.



   On Linux in fullscreen mode updates go directly to the video hardware,

   and these performance and visual problems don't happen.



 * Limitations on host color depth. OpenStep (or at least this driver)

   can only handle 12/16, 15/16 or 24/32 depth/bits-per-pixel. Because

   the VMWare display must run at the same depth as the host, this

   limitation may require you to change the display properties of the

   host. On Linux, this usually involves running X at 15 or 24 bpp.

   On Windows, 32 and 15 depth should always work, 24 or 16 depth might,

   depending on the specific video hardware (whether 24bpp is actually

   3 bytes per pixel or 4, and if 16 uses a 555 or 565 color weight).



   The driver will give up if it finds itself on an unsupported depth,

   and the Default VGA driver will be used. The reason will be logged.



   8-bit pseudocolor mode is currently unsupported.



== Supported Video Modes



As of 1.1.0, Video modes now supported (all @60Hz, with color space RGB:888/32):



  480 x  640

  600 x  800

  768 x 1024

  864 x 1152

  720 x 1280

  768 x 1280

  800 x 1280

  960 x 1280

  1024 x 1280

  768 x 1366

  900 x 1440

  1200 x 1600

  1050 x 1680

  1080 x 1920

  1200 x 1920

  1440 x 2560

  1600 x 2560

  1773 x 2364



== Authors



* David Crosby (crosby@atomicobject.com)

* Bill Bereza (bereza@atomicobject.com)

* © 2002-2011 {Atomic Object}[http://www.atomicobject.com]

* More Atomic Object {open source}[http://www.atomicobject.com/pages/Software+Commons] projects



== Credits



* This work wouldn't have been possible without Laurent Julliard and his website describing how to install OpenStep in VMWare: http://www.moldus.org/~laurent/GNUstep/OS42_Install.html

* Alex and Jeremy at VMware (http://www.vmware.com) were great resources for any questions we had.

* Thanks to Andreas Grabher and others at www.nextcomputers.org for rounding up knowledge and submitting the patch for increased video mode support above 1024x768.

* Valley City Linen (http://www.vcl.com) funded the development of this driver.