VIA OpenChrome KMS Support Is Nearly Done

James Simmons has written a status update to the OpenChrome development list concerning his ongoing work towards enabling kernel mode-setting (KMS) support for VIA hardware with this community-maintained VIA Linux project.

James says that the Linux KMS support for his VIA work is basically done; all of the core code support is in place and VIA KMS is working over VGA. LVDS and other connectors aren't yet working in the VIA KMS world, but James says that it will be easier to do now that the core changes have been made.

Additionally, the OpenChrome X.Org driver still hasn't been updated to play well in a KMS world and to respect the mode-setting being done in the kernel. James right now is deciding whether or not to tackle the output support for other connectors or to first get the xf86-video-openchrome driver playing well.

James's brief status update can be found in this mailing list message. It looks like it will still be a few more Linux 3.x kernel releases before we could see the VIA KMS support merged into the mainline kernel.