Resurrecting the vax lcg framebuffer driver?

[Björn Johannesson <rherdware%yahoo.com@localhost>]

Hello list.

I recently got my hands on a Vaxstation VLC. Sadly I discovered that the builtin framebuffer was not supported by NetBSD...
I found the driver that Blaz Antonic wrote way back in 2004. (Why was this never committed?)
With some minor changes I got it compiling under -current. After a few more knits I got it working-ish.
This is the dumb framebuffer driver.

Two problems remain:
1) It doesn't want to be console (No clue about this)
2) The (soft) cursor leaves behind copies of itself when scrolling (and other times)
It was not immediately clear to me how to solve this. 

If someone wants to try it I have put it here http://pastebin.com/VudRkFcV

To use copy the file to sys/arch/vax/vsa/lcg.c
Un-comment the lines about lcg0 in GENERIC
Both of them
Build the kernel
Turn on ttyw0 in /etc/ttys
Boot with a connected serial console (S3 in the up position)

If your keyboard goes nuts during boot "SET BFLG 1" in the prom console.
This will make the kernel ask about root/swap but will make the keyboard work. (Why?)

I also tried to get the accelerated version working but had less luck there.

It can be found here:
http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-vax/2004/06/14/0002.html
with a change here
http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-vax/2004/06/14/0003.html

I got it to attach and not panic the kernel. No output to the screen though, except the cursor.
Which is in the right place for a login prompt...
You can login and the cursor moves. When the cursor comes to the last line it does not scroll the screen though, just the last line...

If anyone has more clues than me feel free to fill me in. :) (Blaz, are you still reading this list?)
The accelerated version looks really nice with color support and loadable fonts. It would be a shame if it was lost IMO.

Thanks to tnn@ for being patient with my questions.

/Björn