Re: multiboot information structure flags are confusing me

[Christoph Plattner]

So VBE can be used as "library functionality" for kernel booted
from GRUB (via multiboot spec) to use VESA calles without 
switching to real mode, or is it only for the booting itself.

Bye
Christoph


"Yoshinori K. Okuji" wrote:
> 
> At Thu, 14 Feb 2002 08:46:37 +0100,
> Christoph Plattner wrote:
> > What is VBE in GRUB ?
> 
> VBE stands for VESA BIOS EXTENSION which provides a simple interface
> for graphics, video, and audio devices. When we are talking about VBE
> in GRUB, we mean only the graphics part of the specification. Because
> VBE requires real mode environment to get/set some information, the
> Multiboot Specification 0.6.9x defines how a boot loader should
> supports VBE and how such information should be passed to an OS image.
> 
> This is a bit similar to the video mode selection support in Linux,
> but the main difference is that a boot loader changes graphics mode
> and an OS image can request a preferred resolution/depth in a more
> fuzzy way instead of just specifying a magic number.
> 
> Okuji

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