Open-Source ATI Driver Achieves 3D Success

[bridgman]

There were also some suggestions on IRC about turning off some game options to match what the driver supported.

I imagine it was you posting on IRC so you already know this, but it might be useful to someone else

[legume]

I tried a while back and posted the results to the mailing list.

Alex said he needed to get some info on the pcie -> agp chip for my rv530.

Airlied fixed drm for AGP 5xx users yesterday so it now works for me :-)

[goffrie]

you'll need xorg-server from git too.
Good luck with that

Thanks a lot for the advice! With xorg-server from git (and tons of other things from git as well) everything works fine. Compiz works well, firefox scrolls smoothly, I get to enjoy (at least more than before of) my X1900GT on Linux!

[oibaf]

There were also some suggestions on IRC about turning off some game options to match what the driver supported.

I imagine it was you posting on IRC so you already know this, but it might be useful to someone else

Yes, I was. Just returned from a little holiday

Update for sauerbraten (thanks to adamk):

sauerbraten should then run with no shaders (otherwise you'll get an all grey screen):

sauerbraten -f0

the game should now work. To make it faster disable water refraction/reflection in the shaders tab in the in game options.

It also has some corruption problems (some wrong triangle flashing):

[Scias]

You can try it out from a live CD and if it works, you can try to install those Ubuntu packages on Debian unstable.

(sorry for my bad english)

Thanks !

I've tried your method, installed these packages (ati, mesa, etc...) ans updated my Xorg.conf directly on my installed Ubuntu.

With XAA Acceleration, there's no DRI or 3D Acceleration but the graphical interface is as or more faster than fglrx, the scroll is smooth also in Firefox !

Window resizing is much faster than fglrx (but not smooth).
However, With Composite enabled (metacity), scroll is a bit slower (as fglrx).
Xvideo seems working correctly. I've tested with a 720p video (the magnificient big buck bunny) and it's smooth, no tearing, no corruption, and with composite enabled. It takes less CPU than fglrx !! (~40% fullscreen with ati, 80%+ with fglrx).
I'll try if textured Xv works with ati.

My 2D games such as wormux or the gxmame emulator are working as faster than fglrx, but are taking less CPU than fglrx (The King of Fighters 98' : fglrx : ~80%, ati : ~35%).
3D games aren't working or are very slower than fglrx ! Nexuiz works (~3 FPS), others like Balazar crashes X.
Glxgears is working but not smoothly and takes 100% of CPU (320 FPS with ati | 950 FPS with fglrx).

With EXA acceleration, all is very very SLOW.
scrolling and resizing are very slow !!
Xv doesn't work (black video).
DRI and 3D are not enabled.
With composite, it's slower.

Here are some lines of Xorg.0.log :

Loading ati module

(II) LoadModule: "ati"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//ati_drv.so
(II) Module ati: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
compiled for 1.4.0.90, module version = 6.8.0
Module class: X.Org Video Driver
ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 2.0

Detection successful

(--) Chipset ATI Radeon XPRESS 200 5954 (PCIE) found

Setting Accel on EXA and loading

(**) RADEON(0): Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"
.....
(**) RADEON(0): Using EXA acceleration architecture
(II) Loading sub module "exa"
(II) LoadModule: "exa"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//libexa.so
(II) Module exa: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
compiled for 1.4.0.90, module version = 2.2.0
ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 2.0
....
(==) RADEON(0): Using accelerated EXA DownloadFromScreen hook

Loading DRI

(II) RADEON(0): [dri] Found DRI library version 1.3.0 and kernel module version 1.28.0
(II) RADEON(0): Direct rendering experimental on RS400/Xpress 200 enabled

Huh ?? Acceleration disabled or enabled at all ?

(==) RADEON(0): Backing store disabled
(WW) RADEON(0): Direct rendering disabled
(II) RADEON(0): EXA Composite requires CP on R5xx/IGP
....
(II) RADEON(0): Acceleration enabled
....
(II) AIGLX: Screen 0 is not DRI capable

At all, i'll delete fglrx and use ati with XAA Acceleration.
3D isn't important for me, i'll wait for a stable release, i just want a smooth GUI.
However, i'll try some options on my xorg.conf file.

[tormod]

(II) RADEON(0): [dri] Found DRI library version 1.3.0 and kernel module version 1.28.0

It seems you didn't install the updated drm kernel modules, it should say "1.29.0". dmesg|grep drm should show 20080610git.

[Scias]

It seems you didn't install the updated drm kernel modules, it should say "1.29.0". dmesg|grep drm should show 20080610git.

You were right.

I've removed all Xorg, mesa, dri, drm, ati.
I've retried all the steps by 0.
And now, it's working very well !!
But, i've still the drm version to 20060810 and drm radeon at 20080528...

scias@ORION-LINUX:~$ dmesg|grep drm
[ 64.514698] [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810
[ 64.520732] [drm] Initialized radeon 1.29.0 20080528 on minor 0
[ 65.259867] [drm] Setting GART location based on new memory map
[ 65.260017] [drm] Loading R300 Microcode
[ 65.260041] [drm] Num pipes: 2
[ 65.260049] [drm] writeback test succeeded in 1 usecs

But now, it's really working !!!! And With EXA acceleration !

scias@ORION-LINUX:~$ glxinfo
name of display: :0.0
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
...
OpenGL vendor string: DRI R300 Project
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI R300 20060815 x86/MMX+/3DNow!+/SSE2 NO-TCL
OpenGL version string: 1.3 Mesa 7.1 rc1
...
3 GLX Visuals
visual x bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer ms cav
id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro r g b a bf th cl r g b a ns b eat
----------------------------------------------------------------------
0x21 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x22 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x6d 32 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None

16 GLXFBConfigs:
visual x bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer ms cav
id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro r g b a bf th cl r g b a ns b eat
----------------------------------------------------------------------
0x6e 0 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x6f 0 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow
0x70 0 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x71 0 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow
0x72 0 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x73 0 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow
0x74 0 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x75 0 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow
0x76 0 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x77 0 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow
0x78 0 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x79 0 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow
0x7a 0 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x7b 0 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow
0x7c 0 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x7d 0 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow

Xorg.0.log

(II) LoadModule: "dri"

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions//libdri.so
(II) Module dri: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
compiled for 1.4.99.902, module version = 1.0.0
ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 1.0
(II) Loading extension XFree86-DRI
(II) LoadModule: "dri2"

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions//libdri2.so
(II) Module dri2: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
compiled for 1.4.99.902, module version = 1.0.0
ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 1.0
(II) Loading extension DRI2
(II) LoadModule: "ati"

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//ati_drv.so
(II) Module ati: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
compiled for 1.4.99.902, module version = 6.8.0
Module class: X.Org Video Driver
ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 4.0
(II) LoadModule: "radeon"

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//radeon_drv.so
(II) Module radeon: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
compiled for 1.4.99.902, module version = 4.3.0
Module class: X.Org Video Driver
ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 4.0

....

(II) RADEON(0): [dri] Found DRI library version 1.3.0 and kernel module version 1.29.0
(II) RADEON(0): Direct rendering experimental on RS400/Xpress 200 enabled

....

(**) RADEON(0): Using EXA acceleration architecture
(II) Loading sub module "exa"
(II) LoadModule: "exa"

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//libexa.so
(II) Module exa: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
compiled for 1.4.99.902, module version = 2.4.0
ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 4.0

...

(==) RADEON(0): Using accelerated EXA DownloadFromScreen hook

...

(II) RADEON(0): [DRI] installation complete
...
(II) RADEON(0): Direct rendering enabled
(II) RADEON(0): Render acceleration enabled for R300/R400/R500 type cards.
...
(II) RADEON(0): Acceleration enabled
...
(II) RADEON(0): Set up overlay video
(II) RADEON(0): Set up textured video
...
(II) AIGLX: enabled GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer
(II) AIGLX: enabled GLX_SGI_swap_control and GLX_MESA_swap_control
(II) AIGLX: enabled GLX_texture_from_pixmap with driver support
(II) AIGLX: Loaded and initialized /usr/lib/dri/r300_dri.so
(II) GLX: Initialized DRI GL provider for screen 0

glxgears is smooth with 800FPS and 20% CPU (fglrx : 970FPS and 100% CPU)

I've Xv and Textured Videos and they're working with Compiz ! (but Textured takes a lot of CPU):







3D games are working like Nexuiz (around 20 FPS in 640*480 lowest mode) :



Scrolls in Firefox are smooth, also with Compiz. GUI is smooth, window replacing is very smooth !!
The best, is to see that CPU is not longer needed, example the Compiz Cube with fglrx, is smooth but takes 100% of CPU, with radeon is very smooth and takes max 15% when there are a lot of windows.

there's no problem except a little with gksu. There's no instabilities.

I'm glad to see the improvements of xf86-video-ati, mesa, dri, drm and Xorg. It's close to the target of a good and performant driver. There's still a few steps for increasing 3D performance but i'm sure that one day, these problems will be resolved.

.... if only fglrx became OpenSource...

Thanks for your help ! Compiz is now my default window manager !

[bridgman]

Nice to see that XPress 200 really working...

[tormod]

But, i've still the drm version to 20060810 and drm radeon at 20080528...

Yes, this is because you didn't follow the instructions on the web site to download the libdrm source package corresponding to the libdrm2 binary package that you installed. I patched the date to easier identify if they are installed correctly. If you instead just downloaded drm sources from git for compiling modules, you'll get the old date.

[Scias]

Yes, this is because you didn't follow the instructions on the web site to download the libdrm source package corresponding to the libdrm2 binary package that you installed. I patched the date to easier identify if they are installed correctly. If you instead just downloaded drm sources from git for compiling modules, you'll get the old date.

Yeah, i had forgotten this step ! Thanks.
Now it's the good version, bug there's no additional improvement.

I've noticed that these xorg.conf lines :

Option "EnablePageFlip" "1"
Option "ColorTiling" "1"
Option "AccelDFS" "1"

give some small improvements with Compiz.

xf86-video-ati power !