[Open-graphics] bootstrapping the video mode

[Timothy Miller]

On 8/3/06, Nicolas Boulay <nicolas.boulay at gmail.com> wrote:
> That's the first step. After you have to deal with the fact : is it
> more important to have a dedicated controler that could be tricky to
> use, or general processing unit less specialised but more versatil so
> easier to programm ?
>
> For example, you could use the coprocesseur interface of the LEON to
> add some specific instruction. If a 32 cpu is to big, 8 bits one could
> do the job. Some ASM programm still exist for it.

What I think we need is something very small and not fancy that fits
into the 3S4000 and takes up about as much space as the VGA controller
would have anyhow.  We could try to imitate an existing instruction
set, but I think that might be a handicap.

Also, as I learned in the Advanced Computer Architecture course I just
took last quarter, it's bad to design around an instruction set.
Let's design an architecture, and then make an instruction set that
implements it most trivially.