GLAMOR 2D Tests On Ubuntu 17.04 With X.Org Server 1.19

With Ubuntu 17.04 having switched to X.Org Server 1.19 at the last minute, I ran some classic 2D tests from the Zesty Zapus to see how the 2D X11 performance has been impacted thanks to the GLAMOR optimizations that took place for the xorg-server 1.19 cycle.

Ubuntu 17.04 is packing the Linux 4.10 kernel, X.Org Server 1.19.3, and Mesa 17.0.1 as a much more capable graphics stack than Linux 4.8, X.Org Server 1.18.4, and Mesa 12.0.6 as found on Ubuntu 16.10. The Mesa bump is big and there's been lots of fixes, improvements to -modesetting and GLAMOR, better XWayland, PRIME synchronization, and more to happen during last year's 1.19 X.Org Server cycle.

While more tool-kits these days turn to OpenGL directly (or even experimental Vulkan rendering), I ran some of these classic 2D benchmarks just for getting an idea of the impact of the X.Org Server 1.19 GLAMOR changes though in turn this generic 2D acceleration library is also leveraging Mesa, in this case of testing the RadeonSI driver.

I ran these quick 2D tests for fun on a Radeon R9 270X card under both Ubuntu 16.10 and 17.04.




In many tests, there is noticeably better 2D X11 performance.

Some regressions though.


But overall nice improvements. More data via this OpenBenchmarking.org result file. But by this time next year, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS should be riding on GNOME Shell with Wayland and finally parting ways with an X.Org Server by default for the desktop.