[gentoo-user] radeon and framebuffer

[gentoo-user] radeon and framebuffer

[Aggelos]

Is it possible to have framebuffer on console with the ATI RV280
graphics card, while also getting 3D hardware acceleration when
switching to X?
I am asking this because according to
<http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_ATI_Drivers>
we must remove Support for framebuffer devices from the kernel.
Aggelos.


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Re: [gentoo-user] radeon and framebuffer

[Holly Bostick]

Aggelos schreef:
> Is it possible to have framebuffer on console with the ATI RV280 
> graphics card, while also getting 3D hardware acceleration when 
> switching to X? I am asking this because according to 
> <http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_ATI_Drivers> we must remove Support for
>  framebuffer devices from the kernel. Aggelos.

Looks like you didn't read the entry thoroughly; this quote is below the
screenshot of the kernel config specifying no framebuffer support:

"I have a Radeon 9500/9600 (not sure which) in a Dell Inspiron 8600 and
was able to compile support for the framebuffer devices. I used the
vesa-tng framebuffer device for getting  fbsplash to work. I am running
kernel 2.6.14-gentoo-r2. The program 'fglrxinfo' reports that I am
getting 3D hardware acceleration."

I myself have a 9800SE, and also use vesa-tng for fbsplash. Both
fbsplash/framebuffer and fglrx work fine; aside from the fb console
background, I can even play mplayer videos in the getty console, which
is also a framebuffer operation as far as I know. I have heard that
enabling the radeon framebuffer is a bad idea, though (it doesn't work
well with the fglrx drivers). But stick to vesa or vesa-tng, and you
should have no problems. I haven't, from 2.6.13 kernels up to my current
(2.6.15-r7), and with fglrx versions from 8.8.whatever to my current 8.22.5.

Hope this helps.
Holly
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Re: [gentoo-user] radeon and framebuffer

[Aggelos]

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Holly Bostick wrote:
> Aggelos schreef:
> 
>>Is it possible to have framebuffer on console with the ATI RV280 
>>graphics card, while also getting 3D hardware acceleration when 
>>switching to X? I am asking this because according to 
>><http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_ATI_Drivers> we must remove Support for
>> framebuffer devices from the kernel. Aggelos.
> 
> 
> Looks like you didn't read the entry thoroughly; 

Yes. You're right.

this quote is below the
> screenshot of the kernel config specifying no framebuffer support:
> 
> "I have a Radeon 9500/9600 (not sure which) in a Dell Inspiron 8600 and
> was able to compile support for the framebuffer devices. I used the
> vesa-tng framebuffer device for getting  fbsplash to work. I am running
> kernel 2.6.14-gentoo-r2. The program 'fglrxinfo' reports that I am
> getting 3D hardware acceleration."
> 
> I myself have a 9800SE, and also use vesa-tng for fbsplash. Both
> fbsplash/framebuffer and fglrx work fine; aside from the fb console
> background, I can even play mplayer videos in the getty console, which
> is also a framebuffer operation as far as I know. I have heard that
> enabling the radeon framebuffer is a bad idea, though (it doesn't work
> well with the fglrx drivers). But stick to vesa or vesa-tng, and you
> should have no problems. I haven't, from 2.6.13 kernels up to my current
> (2.6.15-r7), and with fglrx versions from 8.8.whatever to my current 8.22.5.

Did you compile vesa-tng as module or in the kernel (if it matters) ?

I use linux-2.6.15-reiser4-r1
(sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-2.6.15-r1
sys-kernel/reiser4-gentoo-sources-2.6.15-r1)

As far as I can see, I have to select
"<*> Support for frame buffer devices"
for "VESA VGA graphics support" to appear as an option.
If I choose <M> for Support for frame buffer devices, I don't have the 
VESA option available. Right?
Thanks.
Aggelos

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Re: [gentoo-user] radeon and framebuffer

[Aggelos]

Holly Bostick wrote:

> I myself have a 9800SE, and also use vesa-tng for fbsplash. Both
> fbsplash/framebuffer and fglrx work fine; aside from the fb console
> background, I can even play mplayer videos in the getty console, which
> is also a framebuffer operation as far as I know. I have heard that
> enabling the radeon framebuffer is a bad idea, though (it doesn't work
> well with the fglrx drivers). But stick to vesa or vesa-tng, and you
> should have no problems. I haven't, from 2.6.13 kernels up to my current
> (2.6.15-r7), and with fglrx versions from 8.8.whatever to my current 8.22.5.
> 
> Hope this helps.
> Holly

Could you tell me the options you are passing to the kernel at boot time 
(I am using grub) for the vesa-tng ?
Thanks.
Aggelos.


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Re: [gentoo-user] radeon and framebuffer

[Holly Bostick]

Aggelos schreef:
> Holly Bostick wrote:
> 
>> I myself have a 9800SE, and also use vesa-tng for fbsplash. Both 
>> fbsplash/framebuffer and fglrx work fine; aside from the fb console
>>  background, I can even play mplayer videos in the getty console, 
>> which is also a framebuffer operation as far as I know. I have 
>> heard that enabling the radeon framebuffer is a bad idea, though 
>> (it doesn't work well with the fglrx drivers). But stick to vesa or
>>  vesa-tng, and you should have no problems. I haven't, from 2.6.13 
>> kernels up to my current (2.6.15-r7), and with fglrx versions from 
>> 8.8.whatever to my current 8.22.5.
>> 
> Could you tell me the options you are passing to the kernel at boot 
> time (I am using grub) for the vesa-tng ?

Sure, sorry it took so long to get back to you; I've been busy in RL.

(from an old grub.conf backup; ignore the kernel version, as the options
don't change-- I just change the title as I upgrade).

 Gentoo_current (2.6.12-gentoo-r10)
        root (hd0,1)
        kernel /vmlinuz ro quiet root=/dev/hda5
video=vesafb:ywrap,mtrr:3,1280x1024-32@60
splash=silent,fadein,theme:livecd-2005.1 CONSOLE=/dev/tty1

It's pretty much exactly the same as the example on the Wiki
(http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_gensplash#GRUB_Example), except that with
the upgrade of splashutils, I now need mtrr:3 so that the splash comes
up in a timely fashion (there's an einfo in the ebuild about this iirc),
and of course changed for my system specs.

The only thing that gave me a problem is that I had to set
1280x1024-32@60 as my default resolution for vesa-tng in the kernel
config itself; you're not supposed to /have/ to, but if I didn't, I got
errors when using the livecd themes (no 8bpp pictures, which is correct,
since the livecd themes don't have 8-bit pictures, but this meant that
the drivers were for some reason defaulting to 8-bit if I didn't specify
32-bit in the kernel. Which according to another thread on this subject
is not correct behaviour-- if I specify 32-bit in the grub kernel line,
it's supposed to use that instead-- but that's what it did on my system
anyway. Specifying CONFIG_FB_VESA_DEFAULT_MODE="1280x1024-32@60" solved
the issue, since I don't like the Emergence theme, which does have 8-bit
pictures, so worked correctly in all cases).

Hope this helps,
Holly
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