Can i obtain Xv support on my graphics integrated card?

[alelinuxbsd]

Can i obtain Xv support on my graphics integrated card?
Using only open source driver?

$ xvinfo

X-Video Extension version 2.2
screen #0
no adaptors present

$ lspci -nn | grep VGA

01:05.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: 
ATI Technologies Inc RS690 [Radeon X1200 Series][1002:791e]

$ dmesg | grep drm

[   58.375094] [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810
[   58.442131] [drm] Initialized radeon 1.30.0 20080528 for 0000:01:05.0 on minor 0
[   58.845130] [drm] Setting GART location based on new memory map
[   58.845823] [drm] Loading RS690/RS740 Microcode
[   58.912235] [drm:radeon_do_init_cp] *ERROR* Failed to load firmware!

[bridgman]

Some distros put the microcode into a separate package. No microcode = no acceleration.

[alelinuxbsd]

Now i found my microcode on the package:

firmware-linux-nonfree

...
* Radeon RS690 CP microcode (radeon/RS690_cp.bin)

I don't like much the idea to dirty my system with non free package.


X video extension

Playback and processing

Video playback programs that run under the X Window system, such as MPlayer, MythTV or xine, typically have an option to enable XVideo output. It is very advisable to switch on this option if the system GPU video-hardware and device drivers supports XVideo ? the speedup is very noticeable even on a fast CPU.

but i'm tempted.

[agd5f]

It's microcode that runs on the GPU. It provides the API used to program the 3D engine.

[bridgman]

If you don't want to use non-free microcode then you shouldn't really be using any PC hardware more recent than, say 30 years old. The *only* question is whether the microcode is already on the chip or is loaded by the drivers.

Have you disabled the CPU microcode loader already ?

[alelinuxbsd]

Ok i will tried that solution but i have one problem.

firmware-linux-nonfree
$ apt-cache search firmware-linux-nonfree
firmware-linux-free - Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel
i don't find it despite is present between the package for squeeze listed on the web.

I update my system every day.

$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list

#
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux testing _Squeeze_ - Official Snapshot amd64 NETINST Binary-1 20091222-21:46]/ squeeze main

#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux testing _Squeeze_ - Official Snapshot amd64 NETINST Binary-1 20091222-21:46]/ squeeze main

deb http://mi.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/debian/ squeeze main
deb-src http://mi.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/debian/ squeeze main

deb http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main


deb http://mi.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/debian/ squeeze contrib


deb http://mi.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/debian-multimedia/ testing main

if i see the link:
Download Source Package firmware-nonfree
i see this dependencies:
linux-support-2.6.31-1

Now i have:
$ uname -r
2.6.30-2-amd64

[domi]

Ok i will tried that solution but i have one problem.

firmware-linux-nonfree
$ apt-cache search firmware-linux-nonfree
firmware-linux-free - Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel
i don't find it despite is present between the package for squeeze listed on the web.

I update my system every day.

$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list


if i see the link:
Download Source Package firmware-nonfree
i see this dependencies:
linux-support-2.6.31-1

Now i have:
$ uname -r
2.6.30-2-amd64

You should add 'non-free' component in your sources.list. I.e. have lines like:

deb http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free

And I think your kernel is outdated. Upgrade with latest from squeeze.

All the best

[oibaf]

If you don't want to use non-free microcode then you shouldn't really be using any PC hardware more recent than, say 30 years old. The *only* question is whether the microcode is already on the chip or is loaded by the drivers.

That's not true, other cards/drivers are shipping free microcode (or other code running on the GPU), e.g. intel (inside src/render_program dir) and nouveau (nv40 announce, nv40 commit, nv50 announce, nv50 commit), as well as wireless card drivers as ath5k or b43 with OpenFWWF.

If you want to avoid firmware blobs you should use one of these cards.

[alelinuxbsd]

Ok now i add the correct repository from my mirror:
deb http://mi.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/debian/ squeeze non-free

$ xvinfo

X-Video Extension version 2.2
screen #0
Adaptor #0: "Radeon Textured Video"
number of ports: 16
port base: 63
operations supported: PutImage
supported visuals:
depth 24, visualID 0x21
number of attributes: 3
"XV_BICUBIC" (range 0 to 2)
client settable attribute
client gettable attribute (current value is 2)
"XV_VSYNC" (range 0 to 1)
client settable attribute
client gettable attribute (current value is 1)
"XV_HWPLANAR" (range 0 to 1)
client settable attribute
client gettable attribute (current value is 1)
maximum XvImage size: 2048 x 2048
Number of image formats: 4
id: 0x32595559 (YUY2)
guid: 59555932-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
bits per pixel: 16
number of planes: 1
type: YUV (packed)
id: 0x32315659 (YV12)
guid: 59563132-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
bits per pixel: 12
number of planes: 3
type: YUV (planar)
id: 0x30323449 (I420)
guid: 49343230-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
bits per pixel: 12
number of planes: 3
type: YUV (planar)
id: 0x59565955 (UYVY)
guid: 55595659-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71
bits per pixel: 16
number of planes: 1
type: YUV (packed)

$ dmesg | grep drm

188.387283] [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810
[ 188.454354] [drm] Initialized radeon 1.30.0 20080528 for 0000:01:05.0 on minor 0
[ 188.846204] [drm] Setting GART location based on new memory map
[ 188.847310] [drm] Loading RS690/RS740 Microcode
[ 188.913349] [drm:radeon_do_init_cp] *ERROR* Failed to load firmware!
[ 8581.942707] [drm] Setting GART location based on new memory map
[ 8581.943442] [drm] Loading RS690/RS740 Microcode
[ 8581.952139] [drm] Num pipes: 1
[ 8581.952148] [drm] writeback test succeeded in 1 usecs

[monraaf]

Yes it would be nice if AMD also made available the source code for the microcode, but right now I'll settle for some Evergreen accel code