Version 0.14 May 16th 1998

Linus (bless him) has incorporated the dynamic console code into the kernel
from 2.1.80 (ish) so I've retired the kernel diffs from this point. The 
MDA_CONSOLE #ifdef is now replaced by an #ifdef for kernel version 2.1.82 or 
higher and you can select to have the mono as a console driver or not at 
insmod time.

The module should not automatically detect the amount of memory the card
has (Thanks to Javier Vizcaino of Madrid for this). If this doesn't work 
then you can specify the amount of memory (in K) on the insmod command line. 
This should remove the need for those people with 4K cards to muck about with
the source code.

See the README file for details of the command-line options.

Added uninstall target to the Makefile.

Incorporated a bug fix from Mike Muise that fixes a problem with scrolling
after a cursor move.

Version 0.13 December 26th 1997

Yes, I have nothing better to do on Boxing day.

A contributed programs update:

David Woodhouse sent me new diffs for the console in kernel 2.1.71.
I've tested this on 2.1.76. Sorry this took so long David but I had to
merge your changes with mine and test the whole lot again.

Michael Weber send me an updated mdatools that works with bash 2.0.
Also please note Michael's new email address: bytewurm@rising-systems.de

Thanks guys.

I've also changed the configure script so that it the kernel version from the
kernel source directory. This eliminates the annoying restriction where you
had to be running the same version of the kernel as you were building for.


Version 0.12 23rd November 1997

My original IBM MDA card finally gave up the ghost (sob). I managed
to get hold of a Hercules card and it gave me some trouble at first so I've 
made some mods to the driver to get it to work with my combination of card and
motherboard. I don't think this will break anyone else's setup but please let
me know if it does.

Added read operations so you can `cat /dev/mono`. Don't know why you would
need this but I thought I'd add it just the same.

Code changes to allow it to work on kernels 2.1.60 and above.


Version 0.11 May 17th 1997

Not a lot really, just some mods to make it work better with 2.1.x kernels.
This means you may get warnings when compiling against a 2.0.x kernel. It 
just didn't seem worth the obfuscation caused by loads of #ifdefs to get a
totally clean compile against both.

You will need modutils-2.1.34 or higher to use this against the more recent
kernels. If you see any strange errors during insmod the get this package 
(see the kernel Documentation/changes.txt for the location).

Oh, and a kernel patch sent to me by David Woodhouse <dwmw2@cam.ac.uk> that
lets you use the mono monitor as the console. You'll need to compile the 
module with symbol MDA_CONSOLE defined and patch the kernel with the included 
file 2.1.3x-dynamic-console.diff. This neat patch sends all the kernel 
output to the mono monitor so you can see panic messages and such 
even while running X-Windows. Thanks David.


Version 0.10 24th December 1996

Made it work with v2.1.x kernels by replacing direct memory writes with
readw/writew and readb/writeb. This works fine for v2.0 kernels but may
break for v1.2 kernels. Please mail me if this is a problem for you.

Fixed the hardware scrolling ghost by looking into the newer kernel 
sources for the "right" way to do it. BTW this doesn't make any difference
on my IBM card but it may help you. Please let me know.

Incorporated mdatools. A useful shell-script by Michael "Bytewurm" Weber,
this saves oodles of typing. See the mdatools directory for info.

Added some words about running top on the secondary monitor. see README


Version 0.9 22nd June 1996

Fixed boldface display. I only noticed this when the new "top" in procps-1.01
didn't display properly!
Updated referenced to 1.3 kernels to read 2.0.
Added some help about compiling.

Version 0.8 25th April 1996

Minor mods to the Makefile to allow it to compile on 1.3.80+ kernels.
Small code cleanups so that it compiles cleanly with -Wall using gcc 2.7.2.
Mention of 4K boards in the README as some people have trouble with them.
Automatic Major number detection with script to install.
Hercules graphics version from Jeff Epler included.


Version 0.7 21st July 1995

Jon Knox lent me "Programmers Guide to PC & PS/2 Systems" by Richard Wilton.
I've now got hold of some of the information I have been after for a while.
6845 detection is included. I haven't included any fancier detection (eg. for
Hercules etc. because I have no access to any other hardware).


Version 0.6 18th July 1995

Added some vt100 escape sequence support. you can now do

    top>/dev/mono

unfortunately you can't do 

    top>/dev/mono& 

and expect it to keep running. I suspect that this is because /dev/mono is not
a tty and therefore doesn't detach from the console.
 
Included <linux/autoconf.h> to allow people using CONFIG_MODVERSIONS to
compile mda "out-of-the-box".


Version 0.5 9th July 1995

Added support for Backspace and DEL characters 'cos someone wanted to use
gdb on the mono monitor and it looks better if you can delete characters.
Changed major device number to 31. the iBCS2 emulator uses device number 30
so I moved it up one. If this software gets more common I may apply for
a "legal" device number -- and we'll all have to change it again!


Version 0.4 6th July 1995

Fixed a stupid scrolling bug.


Version 0.3 4th July 1995

Added hardware assisted scrolling. This is now *much* faster.


Version 0.2 4th July 1995

Allow /dev/mono to be opened by multiple users. This means that the output
can get scrambled by unsynchronised writes by different processes but it
is just *too* useful to be able to use >/dev/mono 2>/dev/mono.

Version 0.1 3th July 1995

First incarnation as a kernel loadable module.
