# Simple framebuffer support

## musv

Hi there,

today I made a kernel update and found:

 *Quote:*   

> Mark VGA/VBE/EFI FB as generic system framebuffer (X86_SYSFB)
> 
> CONFIG_X86_SYSFB:
> 
> Firmwares often provide initial graphics framebuffers so the BIOS,
> ...

 

Didn't find any documentation, how to use that thing. Does anybody know more about it?

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## 666threesixes666

hi here is the documentation you request. 

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Framebuffer

basically its a high resolution console for booting.  makes it so you can actually see some stuff going on.  looking at that wikipedia link of the subject gives a bunch of information on frame buffers.

if you want support i suggest posting information from 3.4 collection section of this page. https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Troubleshooting

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## musv

Sorry, but maybe I was something misunderstood. I didn't ask for framebuffer generally. The above described options are new in the kernel and I didn't find a documentation how to use the simple fb driver, e.g. to specify the resolution via boot commandline.

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## 666threesixes666

https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/devicetree/bindings/video/simple-framebuffer.txt

yeah that documentations pretty useless.

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## mimosinnet

I am also upgrading the kernel and I am not sure what to do with this option. I set it as 'y', as it suggests.

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## s4e8

simplefb is dev side's code change, provide no adavantage over vesafb/efifb, and increase kernel size. Always disable it if possible.

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## mimosinnet

Thanks!   :Very Happy:   :Smile:   :Very Happy: 

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## VoidMage

 *s4e8 wrote:*   

> simplefb is dev side's code change, provide no adavantage over vesafb/efifb, and increase kernel size. Always disable it if possible.

 

 :Rolling Eyes: 

Well, I don't know. That "move console completely into userspace" goal, while wacky, does have a few potential benefits for average users.

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## Aquous

 *s4e8 wrote:*   

> simplefb is dev side's code change, provide no adavantage over vesafb/efifb, and increase kernel size. Always disable it if possible.

 You couldn't be more wrong. simplefb is a replacement for vesafb that retains the fb resolution set by grub2, hence, if you use proprietary AMD/NVIDIA GPU drivers enabling simplefb will give you a native-resolution console rather than the ugly 80x25 one (assuming you use grub2, have set it to use a native resolution framebuffer, and are booting with GFXPAYLOAD=keep).

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## TomWij

Thank you for sharing this; I'll try it soon as it seems promising, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

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