nanogui@linuxhacker.org

Hello,
    I seem to be "missing" some part of the big picture for
MicroWindows, and it all centers around /dev/fb0.  As I understand it,
this windowing system "works" with a frame buffer, which is a Linux
character device, following the VESA 2.0 specification of a frame
buffer.  This frame buffer is configurable in terms of bitplane
dimensions and color depth.  The code of the driver itself is stored in
libmwdrivers.a, and the /dev/fb0 "character file" is created with the
mknod command, if not already available.
    When executing nano-X from the microwin/src/bin directory,  a rather
significant message is produced:

Error opening /dev/fb0: No such device. Check kernel config
Cannot initialise screen

    For further details on my system:
it has an Intel Pentium Processor, over 100Mb of RAM, the ATI 3D Rage
II+ 215GTB Mach 64 video card, which uses the PCI bus, and some benign
monitor from Hyundai that apparently handles a fair variety of display
modes.  Running RedHat distribution, a fresh build of Linux 2.2.12.  
    various frame buffer character special files listed:
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root            3 /dev/fb -> fb0
crw-r--r--   1 root     root      29,   0 /dev/fb0
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root            8 /dev/fb0current -> /dev/fb0
crw-r--r--   1 root     root      29,  32 /dev/fb1
crw-r--r--   1 root     root      29,  64 /dev/fb2
crw-r--r--   1 root     root      29,  96 /dev/fb3
...(on up to fb7)

    A few thoughts occur to me as to why I am faced with the message
shown above.  First, This powerful, late-model graphics card does not
work with the offered frame buffer architecture.  That seems unlikely,
and perhaps even an errant hypothesis.  Second, that I need to somehow
register or interface /dev/fb0 with the /usr/lib/libmwdrivers.a library,
which is where I am assuming the frame buffer drivers are actually
implemented.  Third, that there is some step missed from the
installation process, which I only understand to be the "make install"
as root from the microwin/src directory, something implied, beyond the
makefile rules.  

    Please help my fire up the ol' frame buffer here.  I'm so eager to
contribute, I just need to get my bearings.

-Joe Solinsky
jcsky@visi.com
Plymouth, MN