comparison DOCS/video.html @ 1987:c4dbfa55d873

reviewed for release

1986:b1d663f54725

<P><B><A NAME=2.2.1>2.2.1. Video output devices</A></B></P>

<TABLE BORDER=0>

<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B>General:</B></P></TD><TR>

<TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD VALIGN=top>x11</TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD>X11 with optional SHM extension</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>xv</TD><TD></TD><TD>X11 using overlays with the Xvideo extension (hardware YUV & scaling)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>gl</TD><TD></TD><TD>OpenGL renderer, so far works only with:
<UL><LI>all cards with Utah-GLX
<LI>Matrox cards with X/DRI >=4.0.3
<LI>Radeon with X/DRI CVS</UL></TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>dga</TD><TD></TD><TD>X11 DGA extension</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>fbdev</TD><TD></TD><TD>Output to general framebuffers</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>svga</TD><TD></TD><TD>Output to SVGAlib</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>sdl</TD><TD></TD><TD>
&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>1.1.7:</CODE> supports software scaling<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>1.1.8:</CODE> supports Xvideo (hardware scaling/fullscreen)<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>1.2.0:</CODE> supports AAlib (-vo aa is very recommended, see below!)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>ggi</TD><TD></TD><TD>similar to SDL</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>aa</TD><TD></TD><TD>textmode rendering with AAlib</TD><TR>

<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B>Card specific:</B></P></TD><TR>

<TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD VALIGN=top>mga</TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD>Matrox G200/G400 hardware YUV overlay via the mga_vid device</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>xmga</TD><TD></TD><TD>Matrox G200/G400 overlay (mga_vid) in X11 window<BR>
(<I>Xv emulation on X 3.3.x!</I>)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>syncfb</TD><TD></TD><TD>Matrox G400 YUV support on framebuffer (obsoleted, use mga/xmga)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>3dfx</TD><TD></TD><TD>Voodoo2/3 hardware YUV (/dev/3dfx) support (not yet tested, maybe
broken)</TD><TR>

<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B>Special:</B></P></TD><TR>

<TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD VALIGN=top>png</TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD>PNG files output (use -z switch to set compression)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>pgm</TD><TD></TD><TD>PGM files output (for testing purposes or ffmpeg encoding)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>md5</TD><TD></TD><TD>MD5sum output (for MPEG conformance tests)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>odivx</TD><TD></TD><TD>OpenDivX AVI File writer (use -br to set encoding bitrate) (<B>WITHOUT SOUND</B>!)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top>null</TD><TD></TD><TD>Null output (for speed tests/benchmarking)</TD><TR>
</TABLE>

<P>NOTE: <I>check the following subsections for details and requirements!</I></P>

<P>Here are some notes about SDL out in <B>MPlayer</B>.</P>



<P><TABLE BORDER=0>
<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B>There are several commandline switches for SDL:</B></P></TD><TR>
<TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD>-vo sdl:name</TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD>
specifies sdl video driver to use (ie. aalib, dga, x11)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>-ao sdl:name</TD><TD></TD><TD>specifies sdl audio driver to use (ie. dsp,
esd, arts)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>-noxv</TD><TD></TD><TD>disables Xvideo hardware acceleration</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>-forcexv</TD><TD></TD><TD>tries to force Xvideo acceleration</TD><TR>

<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B>SDL Keys:</B></P></TD><TR>

<TD></TD><TD>F</TD><TD></TD><TD>toggles fullscreen/windowed mode</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>C</TD><TD></TD><TD>cycles available fullscreen modes</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>W/S</TD><TD></TD><TD>mappings for * and / (mixer control)</TD><TR>

</TABLE></P>

<P><B>KNOWN BUGS:</B></P>
<P><UL><LI>Keys pressed under sdl:aalib console driver repeat forever. (use -vo aa !)

whatever.  And don't forget to register your UniVBE ;))</P>

<P>The FBdev output takes some additional parameters above the others:</P>

<P><TABLE BORDER=0>
<TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD>-fb</TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD>
specify the framebuffer device to use (/dev/fd0)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>-fbmode</TD><TD></TD><TD>mode name to use (according to /etc/fb.modes)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>-fbmodeconfig</TD><TD></TD><TD>	config file of modes (default /etc/fb.modes)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>-monitor_hfreq</TD><TD></TD><TD ROWSPAN=3>IMPORTANT values, see example.conf</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>-monitor_vfreq</TD><TD></TD><TR>		
<TD></TD><TD>-monitor_dotclock</TD><TD></TD><TR>
</TABLE></P>

<P>If you want to change to a specific mode, then use</P>

<P><CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;mplayer -vm -fbmode (NameOfMode) filename</CODE></P>

ASCII renderer. There are LOTS of programs already supporting it, like Doom,
Quake, etc. MPlayer contains a very usable driver for it.
If ./configure detects aalib installed, the aalib libvo driver will be built.</P>

<P><TABLE BORDER=0>
<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B>You can use some keys in the AA Window to change rendering options:</B></P></TD><TR>
<TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD>1</TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD>decrease contrast</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>2</TD><TD></TD><TD>increase contrast</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>3</TD><TD></TD><TD>decrease brightness</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>4</TD><TD></TD><TD>increase brightness</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>5</TD><TD></TD><TD>switch fast rendering on/off</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>6</TD><TD></TD><TD>set dithering mode (none, error distribution, floyd steinberg)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>7</TD><TD></TD><TD>invert image</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>a</TD><TD></TD><TD>toggles between aa and mplayer control)</TD><TR>

<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B>The following command line options can be used:</B></P></TD><TR>

<TD></TD><TD>-aaosdcolor=V</TD><TD></TD><TD>change osd color</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>-aasubcolor=V</TD><TD></TD><TD>change subtitle color</TD><TR>
<TD COLSPAN=3></TD><TD><P><I>where V can be: (0/normal, 1/dark, 2/bold, 3/boldfont, 4/reverse, 5/special)</P></TD><TR>
	      
<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B>AAlib itselves provides a large sum of options.
Here are some important:</P></B></TD><TR>

<TD></TD><TD>-aadriver</TD><TD></TD><TD>set recommended aa driver (X11, curses, linux)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>-aaextended</TD><TD></TD><TD>use all 256 characters</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>-aaeight</TD><TD></TD><TD>use eight bit ascii</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD>-aahelp</TD><TD></TD><TD>prints out all aalib options</TD><TR>
</TABLE></P>

<P>NOTE: the rendering is very CPU intensive, especially when using AA-on-X
(using aalib on X), and it's least CPU intensive on standard,
non-framebuffer console. Use SVGATextMode to set up a big textmode,

1987:c4dbfa55d873

<P><B><A NAME=2.2.1>2.2.1. Video output devices</A></B></P>

<TABLE BORDER=0>

<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>General:</B></P></TD><TR>

<TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>x11</TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>X11 with optional SHM extension</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>xv</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>X11 using overlays with the Xvideo extension (hardware YUV & scaling)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>gl</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>OpenGL renderer, so far works only with:
<UL><LI>all cards with Utah-GLX
<LI>Matrox cards with X/DRI >=4.0.3
<LI>Radeon with X/DRI CVS</UL></TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>dga</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>X11 DGA extension</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>fbdev</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Output to general framebuffers</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>svga</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Output to SVGAlib</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>sdl</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>
&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>1.1.7:</CODE> supports software scaling<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>1.1.8:</CODE> supports Xvideo (hardware scaling/fullscreen)<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>1.2.0:</CODE> supports AAlib (-vo aa is very recommended, see below!)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>ggi</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>similar to SDL</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>aa</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>textmode rendering with AAlib</TD><TR>

<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Card specific:</B></P></TD><TR>

<TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>mga</TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Matrox G200/G400 hardware YUV overlay via the mga_vid device</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>xmga</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Matrox G200/G400 overlay (mga_vid) in X11 window<BR>
(<I>Xv emulation on X 3.3.x!</I>)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>syncfb</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Matrox G400 YUV support on framebuffer (obsoleted, use mga/xmga)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>3dfx</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Voodoo2/3 hardware YUV (/dev/3dfx) support (not yet tested, maybe
broken)</TD><TR>

<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Special:</B></P></TD><TR>

<TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>png</TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>PNG files output (use -z switch to set compression)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>pgm</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>PGM files output (for testing purposes or ffmpeg encoding)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>md5</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>MD5sum output (for MPEG conformance tests)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>odivx</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>OpenDivX AVI File writer (use -br to set encoding bitrate) (<B>WITHOUT SOUND</B>!)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD VALIGN=top><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>null</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Null output (for speed tests/benchmarking)</TD><TR>
</TABLE>

<P>NOTE: <I>check the following subsections for details and requirements!</I></P>

<P>Here are some notes about SDL out in <B>MPlayer</B>.</P>



<P><TABLE BORDER=0>
<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>There are several commandline switches for SDL:</B></P></TD><TR>
<TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-vo sdl:name</TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD>
<FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>specifies sdl video driver to use (ie. aalib, dga, x11)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-ao sdl:name</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>specifies sdl audio driver to use (ie. dsp,
esd, arts)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-noxv</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>disables Xvideo hardware acceleration</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-forcexv</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>tries to force Xvideo acceleration</TD><TR>

<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>SDL Keys:</B></P></TD><TR>

<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>F</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>toggles fullscreen/windowed mode</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>C</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>cycles available fullscreen modes</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>W/S</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>mappings for * and / (mixer control)</TD><TR>

</TABLE></P>

<P><B>KNOWN BUGS:</B></P>
<P><UL><LI>Keys pressed under sdl:aalib console driver repeat forever. (use -vo aa !)

whatever.  And don't forget to register your UniVBE ;))</P>

<P>The FBdev output takes some additional parameters above the others:</P>

<P><TABLE BORDER=0>
<TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-fb</TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD>
<FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>specify the framebuffer device to use (/dev/fd0)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-fbmode</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>mode name to use (according to /etc/fb.modes)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-fbmodeconfig</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>	config file of modes (default /etc/fb.modes)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-monitor_hfreq</TD><TD></TD><TD ROWSPAN=3><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>IMPORTANT values, see example.conf</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-monitor_vfreq</TD><TD></TD><TR>		
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-monitor_dotclock</TD><TD></TD><TR>
</TABLE></P>

<P>If you want to change to a specific mode, then use</P>

<P><CODE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;mplayer -vm -fbmode (NameOfMode) filename</CODE></P>

ASCII renderer. There are LOTS of programs already supporting it, like Doom,
Quake, etc. MPlayer contains a very usable driver for it.
If ./configure detects aalib installed, the aalib libvo driver will be built.</P>

<P><TABLE BORDER=0>
<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>You can use some keys in the AA Window to change rendering options:</B></P></TD><TR>
<TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>1</TD><TD>&nbsp;&nbsp;</TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>decrease contrast</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>2</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>increase contrast</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>3</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>decrease brightness</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>4</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>increase brightness</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>5</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>switch fast rendering on/off</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>6</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>set dithering mode (none, error distribution, floyd steinberg)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>7</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>invert image</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>a</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>toggles between aa and mplayer control)</TD><TR>

<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>The following command line options can be used:</B></P></TD><TR>

<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-aaosdcolor=V</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>change osd color</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-aasubcolor=V</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>change subtitle color</TD><TR>
<TD COLSPAN=3></TD><TD><P><I><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>where V can be: (0/normal, 1/dark, 2/bold, 3/boldfont, 4/reverse, 5/special)</P></TD><TR>
	      
<TD COLSPAN=4><P><B><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>AAlib itselves provides a large sum of options.
Here are some important:</P></B></TD><TR>

<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-aadriver</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>set recommended aa driver (X11, curses, linux)</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-aaextended</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>use all 256 characters</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-aaeight</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>use eight bit ascii</TD><TR>
<TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>-aahelp</TD><TD></TD><TD><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>prints out all aalib options</TD><TR>
</TABLE></P>

<P>NOTE: the rendering is very CPU intensive, especially when using AA-on-X
(using aalib on X), and it's least CPU intensive on standard,
non-framebuffer console. Use SVGATextMode to set up a big textmode,