[PLUG] QXGA T60 - EDID hardware reprogramming, the code (2)

[Keith Lofstrom]

On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 11:00:05AM -0800, Keith Lofstrom wrote:
...
> I'm still partial to a program that does this, if we can do
> so safely.  BTW, the proper I2C port is 0x60, not 0xA0 per
> the previous email.
...

I have been digging into X driver code and the libddc library
learning how to do EDID programming.  It looks doable, though
I've had to dig pretty deep, and the X folks mostly stopped
writing documententation in the early 1990s ... :-(

This morning it occured to me:  although reprogramming screens
with only software is a nice capability to have, it is a dangerous
tool in the hands of idiots.  Especially the evil idiots who write
or propagate viruses.  Zeroing out EDID can Really Screw Up many
laptops, and many desktop displays as well.  Perhaps this is not
a capability I want to help facilitate, after all. 

Especially if the graphics drivers operate partly in user space. 
Perhaps somebody with far more X chops than I wants to make sure
that graphics drivers are written so that this CAN'T happen.  I
don't know how windoze graphics drivers work, but this seems
like just the kind of security-bypassing shortcut that a
"video-game-friendly" graphics driver might permit.

Back to the hardware/cable approach!

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs