Radeon and xorg

[Panix]

Can anyone help me out?

I was planning on reading about subjects relating to this.

I've read up and discovered so many varieties to write up or edit an xorg file. Then I discovered that the 'traditional' xorg file is being discarded or somewhat changed(?) to integrate HAL?

I want to be more knowledgeable when editing the xorg file since I'm having so many problems with my laptop which has an older Radeon graphics chip (Radeon 9000). Imho, the support is poor (sorry, that is just what I think). I've visited bug sites and it seems ATI and distro developers didn't put much priority into addressing these concerns. The same issues seem to persist throughout version changes. This is my initial reaction, take it for what you will. But, I want to learn the how/why/what to edit so that I could try addressing the issue myself. I've already read a bit so maybe (if I'm lucky) I have a good head start.

I guess I am mostly wondering if there are good links you know of or good sites you know of at the top of your head that you could suggest.

I can't mix config files, right? For e.g., an ATI/xorg.conf file for Ubuntu would be totally different than one used for Fedora? They are distro-specific or are there a lot of similarities? Seems like they can be quite different.

I hope this post isn't boring.

Thanks for reading and providing any helpful links.

[pingufunkybeat]

The distro should play no role. They all use the same X (other than the version and some patches). The graphics card will play the largest role.

If you're using open drivers, you should try running without any xorg.conf, and then adding the one or two options you actually need.

If you're using binary blobs, you should use their utilities to auto-generate a working xorg.conf.

[Panix]

Originally Posted by pingufunkybeat

The distro should play no role. They all use the same X (other than the version and some patches). The graphics card will play the largest role.

If you're using open drivers, you should try running without any xorg.conf, and then adding the one or two options you actually need.

If you're using binary blobs, you should use their utilities to auto-generate a working xorg.conf.

Okay, thanks. But, if 3D (desktop effects) causes the OS to crash upon boot or crash upon enabling, how would I handle that?

Also, which settings configurations are required or optimized for having (HD) video (both DVD)? Is it mostly certain software that needs to be downloaded or are there some settings needed in xorg.conf as well?

[rohcQaH]

Originally Posted by Panix

But, if 3D (desktop effects) causes the OS to crash upon boot or crash upon enabling, how would I handle that?

"desktop effects" are handled by your window manager, not Xorg. xorg.conf can't help you there, unless you wish to globally disable composite or 3D for everything.

Originally Posted by Panix

Also, which settings configurations are required or optimized for having (HD) video (both DVD)?

none, the default settings are chosen to be suitable for the average user. You do need a media player and possibly a gfx driver that provides video acceleration. None of those require specific settings in xorg.conf (unless you wish to manually enable beta-features in your driver).

[pingufunkybeat]

Exactly. A vanilla xorg without any configuration file should let you do everything you need to do.

If it doesn't, then there is a problem with your drivers, or with your software.

It might help if you told us which drivers you have and which xorg.

[Panix]

Originally Posted by pingufunkybeat

Exactly. A vanilla xorg without any configuration file should let you do everything you need to do.

If it doesn't, then there is a problem with your drivers, or with your software.

It might help if you told us which drivers you have and which xorg.

In sidux, it's:

Section "Device"
       Identifier      "Device 0"
       Driver          "radeon"
       BoardName       "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV250 [Mobility FireGL 9000]"
       BusID           "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

I forget what it is in Ubuntu. I should include that in my post so I'll send a followup with that as well. It might be interesting to compare? Anyways, it should be similar, I think.

I believe the particular video card in my laptop, Thinkpad T41, has 32 MB of video memory.

The 'vanilla xorg' doesn't allow me to do anything. In Ubuntu, I cannot enable desktop effects AT ALL. In sidux, I can only use the Rendering setting for effects. OpenGL can not be used. I forget what my experience was in other distros. In Mandriva, I think I was able to enable desktop effects with the default vanilla xorg but maybe only one type worked.

Point is, I believe I need to edit/create xorg.conf with certain settings. But, I'm not sure what needs to be there.

[pingufunkybeat]

This doesn't tell me much, unfortunately.

You're using the open-source (radeon) driver, but I have no idea how old it is. There were many improvements in the last couple of years. How old is your Ubuntu?

With recent enough drivers, you should be able to run X on your card without any configuration and enable all the effects. You should try with a very recent linux distro and see what happens. Perhaps try the latest Fedora live CD or similar.

Point is, I believe I need to edit/create xorg.conf with certain settings.

No, I don't think this is what you need. What you need are recent enough drivers which actually work

[Panix]

Originally Posted by pingufunkybeat

This doesn't tell me much, unfortunately.

You're using the open-source (radeon) driver, but I have no idea how old it is. There were many improvements in the last couple of years. How old is your Ubuntu?

With recent enough drivers, you should be able to run X on your card without any configuration and enable all the effects. You should try with a very recent linux distro and see what happens. Perhaps try the latest Fedora live CD or similar.


No, I don't think this is what you need. What you need are recent enough drivers which actually work

No, no, no... :-( I disagree, unforunately.

I used the latest available open source driver!!!

I have tried with Live CDs/DVDs with the latest or very recent Ubuntu 9.10, sidux aether (latest version is out, though), Mandriva 2010 and OpenSUSE. Also, I have read on various forums with xorg.conf and ATI Radeon open source drive as the topic that you need to edit the config file to have desktop effects work properly. Imho, it sounds like 90%+ of people claim this. Try googling, I'm sure you'll come ot agree. I have googled so much, I'm getting a headache from it.

Anywya, the driver being used is the latest.

Ubuntu: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.99+git20090929.7968elfb-0Ubuntu1?

It's the latest, that's all I know.

[pingufunkybeat]

Yes, that should be recent enough.

I assume that you're also using the latest libdrm and mesa? Because 3d support is in mesa, not in the xorg-video-ati driver. This might explain the situation that XRender (2d acceleration) is working, but OpenGL (3d acceleration) isn't. What is the output of glxgears?

The only thing you really need for desktop effects in your xorg.conf is activating the "Composite" extension. I thought it was activated by default for r300-r500 class hardware, these days, but I might be wrong.

In any case, I'm running the r6xx drivers, which are much less mature, and the only thing I have in the xorg.conf file is the composite extension, and everything works like a charm.

[Panix]

I used the Xorg wiki, the Radeon wiki, several Ubuntu-related posts and other xorg/ATI/Radeon pages to no avail. The best I could get is the desktop opening with artifacts and flickering. Then the desktop would crash (tried to open Firefox).

I guess I'll wait until I install one of the operating systems since settings don't get wiped out (been using Live CDs). I have to modify partitions so I was holding out.

All I know is if I upgrade my video card for my desktop, I will go with NVIDIA! I've been mucking around with my laptop and the ATI card that uses open source drivers for a better part of several days. I won't say much more because it will come out negative and be insulting. Therefore, I'll refrain. I'll keep plugging away in the hope something I edit somehow is able to work without crashing. Back to the drawing board.