[gentoo-user] Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[gentoo-user] Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[walt]

I'm seeing horrible performance from the xfce window manager (xfwm4) on
my main, everyday machine, but not on an older backup machine or on any
of the linux virtual machines I run on virtualbox.

The symptoms:  moving a window with the mouse is so slow as to be
painful, and the CPU usage (on one of four CPUs) jumps to 100% almost
immediately (xfwm4 is the culprit, see below).

If I open an xterm and run (for example) "/usr/bin/marco --replace",
this sluggish behavior returns to normal immediately.

After wasting hours on google I finally noticed that I had compiled
x11-wm/xfwm4 with the xcomposite useflag disabled, so I enabled it and
re-emerged xfwm4.

Now I can get decent performance from xfwm4, but only if first I turn on
compositing by running xfwm4-tweaks-settings.  (No, not by running the
puny and feeble xfwm4-settings app:  I need to invoke a "tweak" to make
xfce4 an acceptable Desktop Environment on my main desktop machine.

<official rant mode>
I remember going through this same frustration with gnome3, which was
(and is) unusable without installing the gnome-tweak-tool package and
using it to customize settings that I still don't understand.

(That's why I finally gave up on gnome3, and I may yet give up on xfce4
and go back to mate.)

Note that I'm not turning off <official rant mode> yet, but I should
mention that this machine is ~amd64 with ati-drivers-15.7 and vanilla
kernel 3.14.51.  (Same problem with gentoo-sources-3.18.19, BTW.)

Re: [gentoo-user] Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[Michel Catudal]

Le 2015-08-19 22:18, walt a écrit :
> I'm seeing horrible performance from the xfce window manager (xfwm4) on
> my main, everyday machine, but not on an older backup machine or on any
> of the linux virtual machines I run on virtualbox.
>
> The symptoms:  moving a window with the mouse is so slow as to be
> painful, and the CPU usage (on one of four CPUs) jumps to 100% almost
> immediately (xfwm4 is the culprit, see below).
>
> If I open an xterm and run (for example) "/usr/bin/marco --replace",
> this sluggish behavior returns to normal immediately.
>
> After wasting hours on google I finally noticed that I had compiled
> x11-wm/xfwm4 with the xcomposite useflag disabled, so I enabled it and
> re-emerged xfwm4.
>
> Now I can get decent performance from xfwm4, but only if first I turn on
> compositing by running xfwm4-tweaks-settings.  (No, not by running the
> puny and feeble xfwm4-settings app:  I need to invoke a "tweak" to make
> xfce4 an acceptable Desktop Environment on my main desktop machine.
>
> <official rant mode>
> I remember going through this same frustration with gnome3, which was
> (and is) unusable without installing the gnome-tweak-tool package and
> using it to customize settings that I still don't understand.
>
> (That's why I finally gave up on gnome3, and I may yet give up on xfce4
> and go back to mate.)
>
> Note that I'm not turning off <official rant mode> yet, but I should
> mention that this machine is ~amd64 with ati-drivers-15.7 and vanilla
> kernel 3.14.51.  (Same problem with gentoo-sources-3.18.19, BTW.)
>
>
>
>
That is strange, disabling this crap should bring sanity back. I have always thought that this was designed to slow down PCs that were too fast.

Joke aside,  You must be using the "free" video driver, no surprise there, it is junk. Since I could only get the so called free driver on my wife's ATI video I bought her an Nvidia card and installed the proprietary driver, now it works perfectly (with 
Mate, I don't really care for gnome 3 or xfwm)

-- 
For Linux Software visit
http://home.comcast.net/~mcatudal
http://sourceforge.net/projects/suzielinux/

Re: [gentoo-user] Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[wabenbau]

walt <w41ter@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm seeing horrible performance from the xfce window manager (xfwm4)
> on my main, everyday machine, but not on an older backup machine or
> on any of the linux virtual machines I run on virtualbox.
> 
> The symptoms:  moving a window with the mouse is so slow as to be
> painful, and the CPU usage (on one of four CPUs) jumps to 100% almost
> immediately (xfwm4 is the culprit, see below).

I'm using XFCE as DE and xfwm4 as WM. Since I bought a new GPU (Radeon
R7 250), I don't use compositing any more because it causes tearing
when I watch videos in fullscreen with 3840x2160. With this GPU I also 
had some random freezes when compositing was enabled. 

Beside this, performance is very good, regardless compositing is enabled
or disabled. Scrolling text or moving windows around is a bit faster and 
smoother with compositing enabled, especially when other windows are in 
the foreground.

With my old GPU (Radeon HD4550) I always had compositing enabled. 
Everything was smoother and I saw absolutely no glitches, but performance
was also good with compositing disabled, just not quite as smooth as with
compositing enabled.
 
> If I open an xterm and run (for example) "/usr/bin/marco --replace",
> this sluggish behavior returns to normal immediately.
> 
> After wasting hours on google I finally noticed that I had compiled
> x11-wm/xfwm4 with the xcomposite useflag disabled, so I enabled it and
> re-emerged xfwm4.
> 
> Now I can get decent performance from xfwm4, but only if first I turn
> on compositing by running xfwm4-tweaks-settings.  (No, not by running
> the puny and feeble xfwm4-settings app:  I need to invoke a "tweak"
> to make xfce4 an acceptable Desktop Environment on my main desktop
> machine.

As long as I use XFCE (many years) xfwm4-tweaks-settings is the program
to toggle compositing. It's just a name, what is the problem? :-)
Or do you mean, that you must enable compositing every time you start
XFCE? 

> <official rant mode>
> I remember going through this same frustration with gnome3, which was
> (and is) unusable without installing the gnome-tweak-tool package and
> using it to customize settings that I still don't understand.
> 
> (That's why I finally gave up on gnome3, and I may yet give up on
> xfce4 and go back to mate.)
> 
> Note that I'm not turning off <official rant mode> yet, but I should
> mention that this machine is ~amd64 with ati-drivers-15.7 and vanilla
> kernel 3.14.51.  (Same problem with gentoo-sources-3.18.19, BTW.)

I'm using stable xf86-video-ati and stable hardened-sources. I never used 
ati-drivers because I don't like to have proprietary software on my 
gentoo box. For me xf86-video-ati works well and has a sufficient 2D and 
3D performance. 

--
Regards
wabe

Re: [gentoo-user] Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[Mick]

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On Saturday 22 Aug 2015 03:08:41 wabenbau@gmail.com wrote:
> walt <w41ter@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I'm seeing horrible performance from the xfce window manager (xfwm4)
> > on my main, everyday machine, but not on an older backup machine or
> > on any of the linux virtual machines I run on virtualbox.
> > 
> > The symptoms:  moving a window with the mouse is so slow as to be
> > painful, and the CPU usage (on one of four CPUs) jumps to 100% almost
> > immediately (xfwm4 is the culprit, see below).
> 
> I'm using XFCE as DE and xfwm4 as WM. Since I bought a new GPU (Radeon
> R7 250), I don't use compositing any more because it causes tearing
> when I watch videos in fullscreen with 3840x2160. With this GPU I also
> had some random freezes when compositing was enabled.
> 
> Beside this, performance is very good, regardless compositing is enabled
> or disabled. Scrolling text or moving windows around is a bit faster and
> smoother with compositing enabled, especially when other windows are in
> the foreground.
> 
> With my old GPU (Radeon HD4550) I always had compositing enabled.
> Everything was smoother and I saw absolutely no glitches, but performance
> was also good with compositing disabled, just not quite as smooth as with
> compositing enabled.
> 
> > If I open an xterm and run (for example) "/usr/bin/marco --replace",
> > this sluggish behavior returns to normal immediately.
> > 
> > After wasting hours on google I finally noticed that I had compiled
> > x11-wm/xfwm4 with the xcomposite useflag disabled, so I enabled it and
> > re-emerged xfwm4.
> > 
> > Now I can get decent performance from xfwm4, but only if first I turn
> > on compositing by running xfwm4-tweaks-settings.  (No, not by running
> > the puny and feeble xfwm4-settings app:  I need to invoke a "tweak"
> > to make xfce4 an acceptable Desktop Environment on my main desktop
> > machine.
> 
> As long as I use XFCE (many years) xfwm4-tweaks-settings is the program
> to toggle compositing. It's just a name, what is the problem? :-)
> Or do you mean, that you must enable compositing every time you start
> XFCE?
> 
> > <official rant mode>
> > I remember going through this same frustration with gnome3, which was
> > (and is) unusable without installing the gnome-tweak-tool package and
> > using it to customize settings that I still don't understand.
> > 
> > (That's why I finally gave up on gnome3, and I may yet give up on
> > xfce4 and go back to mate.)
> > 
> > Note that I'm not turning off <official rant mode> yet, but I should
> > mention that this machine is ~amd64 with ati-drivers-15.7 and vanilla
> > kernel 3.14.51.  (Same problem with gentoo-sources-3.18.19, BTW.)
> 
> I'm using stable xf86-video-ati and stable hardened-sources. I never used
> ati-drivers because I don't like to have proprietary software on my
> gentoo box. For me xf86-video-ati works well and has a sufficient 2D and
> 3D performance.
> 
> --
> Regards
> wabe

Hmm ... interesting.  I have a PC with the Kaveri APU, which also uses the R7 
graphics engine, but compositing has no problems for general desktop usage 
(with two monitors).

00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] 
Kaveri [Radeon R7 Graphics] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Kaveri [Radeon R7 Graphics]
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 25
	Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Memory at f0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=8M]
	I/O ports at f000 [size=256]
	Memory at feb00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
	Expansion ROM at feb40000 [disabled] [size=128K]
	Capabilities: [48] Vendor Specific Information: Len=08 <?>
	Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
	Capabilities: [58] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [a0] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
	Capabilities: [100] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001 Rev=1 Len=010 <?>
	Capabilities: [270] #19
	Capabilities: [2b0] Address Translation Service (ATS)
	Capabilities: [2c0] #13
	Capabilities: [2d0] #1b
	Kernel driver in use: radeon

I don't know if your card is significantly different, but can share settings 
if you are interested.
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[wabenbau]

Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Saturday 22 Aug 2015 03:08:41 wabenbau@gmail.com wrote:
> > walt <w41ter@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > I'm seeing horrible performance from the xfce window manager
> > > (xfwm4) on my main, everyday machine, but not on an older backup
> > > machine or on any of the linux virtual machines I run on
> > > virtualbox.
> > > 
> > > The symptoms:  moving a window with the mouse is so slow as to be
> > > painful, and the CPU usage (on one of four CPUs) jumps to 100%
> > > almost immediately (xfwm4 is the culprit, see below).
> > 
> > I'm using XFCE as DE and xfwm4 as WM. Since I bought a new GPU
> > (Radeon R7 250), I don't use compositing any more because it causes
> > tearing when I watch videos in fullscreen with 3840x2160. With this
> > GPU I also had some random freezes when compositing was enabled.
> > 
> > Beside this, performance is very good, regardless compositing is
> > enabled or disabled. Scrolling text or moving windows around is a
> > bit faster and smoother with compositing enabled, especially when
> > other windows are in the foreground.
> > 
> > With my old GPU (Radeon HD4550) I always had compositing enabled.
> > Everything was smoother and I saw absolutely no glitches, but
> > performance was also good with compositing disabled, just not quite
> > as smooth as with compositing enabled.
> > 
> > > If I open an xterm and run (for example) "/usr/bin/marco
> > > --replace", this sluggish behavior returns to normal immediately.
> > > 
> > > After wasting hours on google I finally noticed that I had
> > > compiled x11-wm/xfwm4 with the xcomposite useflag disabled, so I
> > > enabled it and re-emerged xfwm4.
> > > 
> > > Now I can get decent performance from xfwm4, but only if first I
> > > turn on compositing by running xfwm4-tweaks-settings.  (No, not
> > > by running the puny and feeble xfwm4-settings app:  I need to
> > > invoke a "tweak" to make xfce4 an acceptable Desktop Environment
> > > on my main desktop machine.
> > 
> > As long as I use XFCE (many years) xfwm4-tweaks-settings is the
> > program to toggle compositing. It's just a name, what is the
> > problem? :-) Or do you mean, that you must enable compositing every
> > time you start XFCE?
> > 
> > > <official rant mode>
> > > I remember going through this same frustration with gnome3, which
> > > was (and is) unusable without installing the gnome-tweak-tool
> > > package and using it to customize settings that I still don't
> > > understand.
> > > 
> > > (That's why I finally gave up on gnome3, and I may yet give up on
> > > xfce4 and go back to mate.)
> > > 
> > > Note that I'm not turning off <official rant mode> yet, but I
> > > should mention that this machine is ~amd64 with ati-drivers-15.7
> > > and vanilla kernel 3.14.51.  (Same problem with
> > > gentoo-sources-3.18.19, BTW.)
> > 
> > I'm using stable xf86-video-ati and stable hardened-sources. I
> > never used ati-drivers because I don't like to have proprietary
> > software on my gentoo box. For me xf86-video-ati works well and has
> > a sufficient 2D and 3D performance.
> > 
> > --
> > Regards
> > wabe
> 
> Hmm ... interesting.  I have a PC with the Kaveri APU, which also
> uses the R7 graphics engine, but compositing has no problems for
> general desktop usage (with two monitors).
> 
> 00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
> [AMD/ATI] Kaveri [Radeon R7 Graphics] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
> 	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Kaveri [Radeon R7 Graphics]
> 	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 25
> 	Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
> 	Memory at f0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=8M]
> 	I/O ports at f000 [size=256]
> 	Memory at feb00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
> 	Expansion ROM at feb40000 [disabled] [size=128K]
> 	Capabilities: [48] Vendor Specific Information: Len=08 <?>
> 	Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
> 	Capabilities: [58] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint,
> MSI 00 Capabilities: [a0] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
> 	Capabilities: [100] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001
> Rev=1 Len=010 <?> Capabilities: [270] #19
> 	Capabilities: [2b0] Address Translation Service (ATS)
> 	Capabilities: [2c0] #13
> 	Capabilities: [2d0] #1b
> 	Kernel driver in use: radeon
> 
> I don't know if your card is significantly different, but can share
> settings if you are interested.

Hi Mick,

it seems that there are some differences (see below) but I'm interested 
in your settings anyway. Maybe they help me to make compositing usable
on my system, but actually I don't have much hope that this will be
the case.

Without composite, my system is rock stable and video playback is smooth.
First I missed the fancy window/menu shadows and the semi-transparency 
when moving/resizing windows, but now I'm also happy without these eye 
candies. The only thing that I'm still missing is the smooth scrolling
of window content. This is indeed a bit better with compositing enabled.

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Cape Verde PRO [Radeon HD 7750 / R7 250E] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: PC Partner Limited / Sapphire Technology Cape Verde PRO [Radeon HD 7750 / R7 250E]
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 29
	Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Memory at fdf80000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
	I/O ports at ae00 [size=256]
	[virtual] Expansion ROM at fdf00000 [disabled] [size=128K]
	Capabilities: [48] Vendor Specific Information: Len=08 <?>
	Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
	Capabilities: [58] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [a0] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
	Capabilities: [100] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001 Rev=1 Len=010 <?>
	Capabilities: [150] Advanced Error Reporting
	Capabilities: [200] #15
	Capabilities: [270] #19
	Kernel driver in use: radeon


--
Regards
wabe

[gentoo-user] Re: Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[walt]

On Tue, 25 Aug 2015 21:10:28 +0200
<wabenbau@gmail.com> wrote:

 	Kernel driver in use: radeon

<gigabytes snipped for readability>

Hi wabe.  This whole radeon thing is so confusing I thought I'd mention
one more very confusing detail that I had to fix before I got the open-
source ati/radeon driver to work correctly:

First I tried starting my X session with no xorg.conf file at all.
That didn't work but of course I can't remember now what went wrong.
(That was already more than 24 hours ago :)

Then I generated an xorg.conf in the old way using 'Xorg -configure'.
That file didn't work right either.

Then I finally realized that the generated xorg.conf had, in the
Section "Device" section, this line:

Driver	"radeon"

But that's not what we want.  To use the open-source ati driver I
changed that line to read:

Driver	"ati"

And that's when everything finally started to work perfectly.

One more thing that confused me:  the xf86-video-ati package doesn't
install any kernel modules.  It installs only these two files:

/usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/radeon_drv.so
/usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/ati_drv.so

but to use those files you need that Driver "ati" line in xorg.conf.
<sigh>

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[wabenbau]

walt <w41ter@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 25 Aug 2015 21:10:28 +0200
> <wabenbau@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>  	Kernel driver in use: radeon
> 
> <gigabytes snipped for readability>
> 
> Hi wabe.  This whole radeon thing is so confusing I thought I'd
> mention one more very confusing detail that I had to fix before I got
> the open- source ati/radeon driver to work correctly:
> 
> First I tried starting my X session with no xorg.conf file at all.
> That didn't work but of course I can't remember now what went wrong.
> (That was already more than 24 hours ago :)

It's good to know that I'm not the only one with a week memory. Every 
day I thank God for these little yellow post-it stickers. :-)

> Then I generated an xorg.conf in the old way using 'Xorg -configure'.
> That file didn't work right either.
> 
> Then I finally realized that the generated xorg.conf had, in the
> Section "Device" section, this line:
> 
> Driver	"radeon"
> 
> But that's not what we want.  To use the open-source ati driver I
> changed that line to read:
> 
> Driver	"ati"
> 
> And that's when everything finally started to work perfectly.

That's strange. What kind of GPU do you have? With my R7 250E I must 
use "radeon" as driver in xorg.conf. IIRC I also used the same config
for my old GPU (Radeon HD4550).

> One more thing that confused me:  the xf86-video-ati package doesn't
> install any kernel modules.  It installs only these two files:
> 
> /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/radeon_drv.so
> /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/ati_drv.so

That's ok. It's the same on my system. 

BTW: I don't use any kernel modules at all.
 
> but to use those files you need that Driver "ati" line in xorg.conf.
> <sigh>

Below you find my complete xorg.conf. Actually I don't know if my X 
would also work without the device section. What I remember is that 
I had trouble to get my keyboard working without the InputDevice 
section. But this is some years ago. Meanwhile I have a new keyboard 
and maybe I don't need a xorg.conf anymore.

I will test this soon, if I don't forget it. :-)


Section "InputDevice"
  Driver  	"kbd"
  Identifier  	"Keyboard[0]"
  Option 	"AutoRepeat"  	"500 2"
  Option 	"Protocol"  	"Standard"
  Option 	"XkbModel"  	"pc105"
  Option        "XkbLayout"     "de"
  Option        "XkbVariant"    "nodeadkeys"
EndSection

Section "Device"
  Identifier	"ATI-Card"
  Driver	"radeon"
EndSection


--
Regards
wabe

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[Mick]

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On Wednesday 26 Aug 2015 04:47:24 wabenbau@gmail.com wrote:
> walt <w41ter@gmail.com> wrote:

> > Then I generated an xorg.conf in the old way using 'Xorg -configure'.
> > That file didn't work right either.
> > 
> > Then I finally realized that the generated xorg.conf had, in the
> > Section "Device" section, this line:
> > 
> > Driver	"radeon"

This is the correct driver.


> > But that's not what we want.  To use the open-source ati driver I
> > changed that line to read:
> > 
> > Driver	"ati"

This is what I recall it used to be, but now it is "radeon".


> > And that's when everything finally started to work perfectly.
> 
> That's strange. What kind of GPU do you have? With my R7 250E I must
> use "radeon" as driver in xorg.conf. IIRC I also used the same config
> for my old GPU (Radeon HD4550).

I do not use a xorg.conf file with the Kaveri APU.  It just works with the 
following:

In /etc/portage/make.conf:

VIDEO_CARDS="radeon radeonsi"
FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"


In kernel (Linux 4.0.5-gentoo AMD A10-7850K Radeon R7, 12 Compute Cores 4C+8G) 
I have built:

CONFIG_PREVENT_FIRMWARE_BUILD=y
CONFIG_FIRMWARE_IN_KERNEL=y
CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE="radeon/kaveri_ce.bin radeon/kaveri_me.bin 
radeon/kaveri_mec2.bin radeon/kaveri_mec.bin radeon/kaveri_pfp.bin 
radeon/kaveri_rlc.bin radeon/kaveri_sdma.bin radeon/BONAIRE_uvd.bin 
radeon/BONAIRE_vce.bin"
CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE_DIR="/lib/firmware/"

CONFIG_FIRMWARE_MEMMAP=y

CONFIG_DRM_RADEON=y


Packages:

x11-base/xorg-server
     Installed versions:  1.16.4(23:51:45 19/02/15)(glamor ipv6 nptl suid udev 
xorg -dmx -doc -kdrive -minimal -selinux -static-libs -systemd -tslib -unwind 
-wayland -xnest -xvfb)

media-libs/mesa
     Installed versions:  10.3.7-r1(18:24:07 20/02/15)(bindist classic dri3 
egl gallium gbm gles2 llvm nptl opencl r600-llvm-compiler udev vdpau -debug -
gles1 -openmax -openvg -osmesa -pax_kernel -pic -selinux -wayland -xa -xvmc 
ABI_MIPS="-n32 -n64 -o32" ABI_PPC="-32 -64" ABI_S390="-32 -64" ABI_X86="64 -32 
-x32" KERNEL="linux -FreeBSD" VIDEO_CARDS="radeon radeonsi -freedreno -i915 -
i965 -ilo -intel -nouveau -r100 -r200 -r300 -r600 -vmware")

x11-drivers/xf86-video-ati
     Installed versions:  7.5.0(23:52:11 19/02/15)(glamor udev)

sys-kernel/linux-firmware
     Installed versions:  20150206(08:18:46 28/03/15)(-savedconfig)


When you install your kernel do not forget to run make firmware_install.


I am not sure if I have omitted anything of importance.  Please ask if you 
need additional information.
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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[gentoo-user] Re: Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[walt]

On Wed, 26 Aug 2015 09:36:59 +0100
Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wednesday 26 Aug 2015 04:47:24 wabenbau@gmail.com wrote:  
> > walt <w41ter@gmail.com> wrote:    
>   
> > > Then I generated an xorg.conf in the old way using 'Xorg
> > > -configure'. That file didn't work right either.
> > > 
> > > Then I finally realized that the generated xorg.conf had, in the
> > > Section "Device" section, this line:
> > > 
> > > Driver	"radeon"    
> 
> This is the correct driver.
> 
>   
> > > But that's not what we want.  To use the open-source ati driver I
> > > changed that line to read:
> > > 
> > > Driver	"ati"    
> 
> This is what I recall it used to be, but now it is "radeon".  

I just tried an experiment.  I started my xfce4 session twice, once
with Driver "radeon":

(II) LoadModule: "radeon"
[  4055.387] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/radeon_drv.so
[  4055.387] (II) Module radeon: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[  4055.387] 	compiled for 1.17.2, module version = 7.5.0
[  4055.387] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[  4055.387] 	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 19.0


and again with Driver "ati":

(II) LoadModule: "ati"
[  4444.981] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/ati_drv.so
[  4444.981] (II) Module ati: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[  4444.981] 	compiled for 1.17.2, module version = 7.5.0
[  4444.981] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[  4444.981] 	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 19.0

I grant you that tonight I don't see any difference in behavior between
the two "Driver"s, but I did yesterday.  But that was 24 hours ago when
the moon was in a different phase and my evil computer spirits were in
a bad mood, apparently.

As I said, I find this whole subject so confusing that I can't explain
anything about it, even to myself.

To answer wabe's question, lspci -k shows 

00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
[AMD/ATI] BeaverCreek [Radeon HD 6530D] Subsystem: Lenovo BeaverCreek
[Radeon HD 6530D] Kernel driver in use: radeon
	Kernel modules: radeon

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[Marc Joliet]

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Am Wed, 26 Aug 2015 09:36:59 +0100
schrieb Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com>:

> On Wednesday 26 Aug 2015 04:47:24 wabenbau@gmail.com wrote:
> > walt <w41ter@gmail.com> wrote:  
> 
> > > Then I generated an xorg.conf in the old way using 'Xorg -configure'.
> > > That file didn't work right either.
> > > 
> > > Then I finally realized that the generated xorg.conf had, in the
> > > Section "Device" section, this line:
> > > 
> > > Driver	"radeon"  
> 
> This is the correct driver.
> 
> 
> > > But that's not what we want.  To use the open-source ati driver I
> > > changed that line to read:
> > > 
> > > Driver	"ati"  
> 
> This is what I recall it used to be, but now it is "radeon".

From ati(4):

"ati  is  an  Xorg wrapper driver for ATI video cards.  It autodetects whether
your hardware has a Radeon, Rage 128, or Mach64 or earlier class of chipset,
and loads the radeon(4), r128(4), or mach64 driver as appropriate."

So I would say that it's not so much incorrect, as it is unnecessary.  Either
way, I let X decide which driver to load, and it always loads ati first (I only
have two xorg.conf.d files for keyboard and mouse devices).

Regarding the firmware settings, I'll just add for completeness:  I have *never*
had anything set in my kernel config regarding firmware, and my kernels have
always loaded the firmware all by themselves (both with and without an
initramfs):

% zgrep FIRMWARE /proc/config.gz 
CONFIG_PREVENT_FIRMWARE_BUILD=y
# CONFIG_FIRMWARE_IN_KERNEL is not set
CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE=""
# CONFIG_DRM_LOAD_EDID_FIRMWARE is not set
# CONFIG_FIRMWARE_EDID is not set
CONFIG_FIRMWARE_MEMMAP=y
# CONFIG_GOOGLE_FIRMWARE is not set
# CONFIG_TEST_FIRMWARE is not set
% dmesg |grep -i micro
[    3.685241] [drm] Loading RV730 Microcode

HTH
-- 
Marc Joliet
--
"People who think they know everything really annoy those of us who know we
don't" - Bjarne Stroustrup

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[wabenbau]

Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:

> I do not use a xorg.conf file with the Kaveri APU.  It just works
> with the following:

I deleted my xorg.conf and X is still working without any problems.

> In /etc/portage/make.conf:
> 
> VIDEO_CARDS="radeon radeonsi"

ditto.

> FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
 
I don't have such an entry. But nevertheless my firmware is installed 
there.
 
> In kernel (Linux 4.0.5-gentoo AMD A10-7850K Radeon R7, 12 Compute
> Cores 4C+8G) I have built:

Linux 4.1.6-hardened SMP PREEMPT AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 965 Processor AuthenticAMD

> CONFIG_PREVENT_FIRMWARE_BUILD=y

# CONFIG_PREVENT_FIRMWARE_BUILD is not set

> CONFIG_FIRMWARE_IN_KERNEL=y

ditto.

> CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE="radeon/kaveri_ce.bin radeon/kaveri_me.bin 
> radeon/kaveri_mec2.bin radeon/kaveri_mec.bin radeon/kaveri_pfp.bin 
> radeon/kaveri_rlc.bin radeon/kaveri_sdma.bin radeon/BONAIRE_uvd.bin 
> radeon/BONAIRE_vce.bin"

As I have a different GPU:

CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE="radeon/verde_ce.bin radeon/verde_mc.bin radeon/verde_me.bin radeon/verde_pfp.bin radeon/verde_rlc.bin radeon/verde_smc.bin radeon/TAHITI_uvd.bin amd-ucode/microcode_amd.bin"

> CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE_DIR="/lib/firmware/"
> 
> CONFIG_FIRMWARE_MEMMAP=y

ditto.

> CONFIG_DRM_RADEON=y

ditto. 

I have also configured:

CONFIG_DRM_RADEON_USERPTR=y
 
IIRC this option is only available in newer kernels.

> Packages:
> 
> x11-base/xorg-server
>      Installed versions:  1.16.4(23:51:45 19/02/15)(glamor ipv6 nptl
> suid udev xorg -dmx -doc -kdrive -minimal -selinux -static-libs
> -systemd -tslib -unwind -wayland -xnest -xvfb)

ditto.
 
> media-libs/mesa
>      Installed versions:  10.3.7-r1(18:24:07 20/02/15)(bindist
> classic dri3 egl gallium gbm gles2 llvm nptl opencl
> r600-llvm-compiler udev vdpau -debug - gles1 -openmax -openvg -osmesa
> -pax_kernel -pic -selinux -wayland -xa -xvmc ABI_MIPS="-n32 -n64
> -o32" ABI_PPC="-32 -64" ABI_S390="-32 -64" ABI_X86="64 -32 -x32"
> KERNEL="linux -FreeBSD" VIDEO_CARDS="radeon radeonsi -freedreno -i915
> - i965 -ilo -intel -nouveau -r100 -r200 -r300 -r600 -vmware")

ditto, but these USE flags are different on my system:

openmax openvg osmesa pax_kernel pic xa xvmc 
-bindist -gles2 

The r600-llvm-compiler USE-flag isn't available on my system.
 
> x11-drivers/xf86-video-ati
>      Installed versions:  7.5.0(23:52:11 19/02/15)(glamor udev)

ditto.

> sys-kernel/linux-firmware
>      Installed versions:  20150206(08:18:46 28/03/15)(-savedconfig)

I haven't installed sys-kernel/linux-firmware but 
x11-drivers/radeon-ucode instead.

I've downloaded the microcode for my AMD CPU direct from AMD homepage.

> When you install your kernel do not forget to run make
> firmware_install.

As I haven't configured CONFIG_PREVENT_FIRMWARE_BUILD, I never done this. 

> I am not sure if I have omitted anything of importance.  Please ask
> if you need additional information.

THX a lot for your information. There are some differences between our
configurations. I'm very busy atm but when I have more time I will check
it out.

--
Regards
wabe

[gentoo-user] Re: Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[walt]

On Sat, 22 Aug 2015 04:08:41 +0200
<wabenbau@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm using XFCE as DE and xfwm4 as WM. Since I bought a new GPU (Radeon
> R7 250), I don't use compositing any more because it causes tearing
> when I watch videos in fullscreen with 3840x2160. With this GPU I
> also had some random freezes when compositing was enabled. 
> 
> Beside this, performance is very good, regardless compositing is
> enabled or disabled. Scrolling text or moving windows around is a bit
> faster and smoother with compositing enabled, especially when other
> windows are in the foreground.
> 
> With my old GPU (Radeon HD4550) I always had compositing enabled. 
> Everything was smoother and I saw absolutely no glitches, but
> performance was also good with compositing disabled, just not quite
> as smooth as with

I forgot about xf86-video-ati until you mentioned it, so I just emerged
it and (I think) made all the changes needed to reconfigure Xorg to use
it instead of fglrx.

Maybe I'm just too tired right now to think straight, but the error
messages I see in Xorg.log tell me that my video chip is not supported.

But, in the process of switching to xf86-video-ati and then back again
to fglrx I noticed this error message from xfwm4:

"Error opening /dev/dri/card0: No such file or directory"

Correct, I have no /dev/dri directory.  Do you have one?

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[bitlord]

On Sat, 2015-08-22 at 19:08 -0700, walt wrote:
> On Sat, 22 Aug 2015 04:08:41 +0200
> <wabenbau@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > I'm using XFCE as DE and xfwm4 as WM. Since I bought a new GPU
> > (Radeon
> > R7 250), I don't use compositing any more because it causes tearing
> > when I watch videos in fullscreen with 3840x2160. With this GPU I
> > also had some random freezes when compositing was enabled. 
> > 
> > Beside this, performance is very good, regardless compositing is
> > enabled or disabled. Scrolling text or moving windows around is a
> > bit
> > faster and smoother with compositing enabled, especially when other
> > windows are in the foreground.
> > 
> > With my old GPU (Radeon HD4550) I always had compositing enabled. 
> > Everything was smoother and I saw absolutely no glitches, but
> > performance was also good with compositing disabled, just not quite
> > as smooth as with
> 
> I forgot about xf86-video-ati until you mentioned it, so I just
> emerged
> it and (I think) made all the changes needed to reconfigure Xorg to
> use
> it instead of fglrx.
> 
> Maybe I'm just too tired right now to think straight, but the error
> messages I see in Xorg.log tell me that my video chip is not
> supported.
> 
> But, in the process of switching to xf86-video-ati and then back
> again
> to fglrx I noticed this error message from xfwm4:
> 
> "Error opening /dev/dri/card0: No such file or directory"
> 
> Correct, I have no /dev/dri directory.  Do you have one?
> 
> 
For radeon (free driver) you need to configure more than Xorg, check
wiki article about radeon driver [1], It needs in kernel support, also
most cards especially "newer" (>=r600) need proprietary firmware.


[1] https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Radeon 

[gentoo-user] Re: Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[walt]

On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 05:53:37 +0200
bitlord <bitlord0xff@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sat, 2015-08-22 at 19:08 -0700, walt wrote:

> > I forgot about xf86-video-ati until you mentioned it, so I just
> > emerged
> > it and (I think) made all the changes needed to reconfigure Xorg to
> > use
> > it instead of fglrx.
> > 
> > Maybe I'm just too tired right now to think straight, but the error
> > messages I see in Xorg.log tell me that my video chip is not
> > supported.

> For radeon (free driver) you need to configure more than Xorg, check
> wiki article about radeon driver [1], It needs in kernel support, also
> most cards especially "newer" (>=r600) need proprietary firmware.
> 
> 
> [1] https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Radeon 

An excellent wiki page, thanks.  It tells me that my video chip should
be supported so I'll go back and follow all the steps this time.  I'd
like to avoid the proprietary ati driver if I can.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[Fernando Rodriguez]

On Sunday, August 23, 2015 2:25:47 PM walt wrote:
> On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 05:53:37 +0200
> bitlord <bitlord0xff@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Sat, 2015-08-22 at 19:08 -0700, walt wrote:
> 
> > > I forgot about xf86-video-ati until you mentioned it, so I just
> > > emerged
> > > it and (I think) made all the changes needed to reconfigure Xorg to
> > > use
> > > it instead of fglrx.
> > > 
> > > Maybe I'm just too tired right now to think straight, but the error
> > > messages I see in Xorg.log tell me that my video chip is not
> > > supported.
> 
> > For radeon (free driver) you need to configure more than Xorg, check
> > wiki article about radeon driver [1], It needs in kernel support, also
> > most cards especially "newer" (>=r600) need proprietary firmware.
> > 
> > 
> > [1] https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Radeon 
> 
> An excellent wiki page, thanks.  It tells me that my video chip should
> be supported so I'll go back and follow all the steps this time.  I'd
> like to avoid the proprietary ati driver if I can.

I had nothing but trouble with the free driver with a kabini APU. Hibernate 
would give a black screen on resume. The "Dim screen after an inactive period" 
(whatever it's called) would dim it further until the backlight turns off 
everytime the period elapses. And a lot of programs like the adobe flash plugin 
and other players, and games would show video that I may have watched even 
days before but it's still on video memory when started.

The only problem I've had with the proprietary driver (which may be realted to 
your problem) is that if you use a premptive kernel it causes a LOT of errors 
to be written to the syslog which makes the desktop very unresponsive. That's 
because it calls functions that should not be called with preemption enabled. 
If that's your problem you'll see errors on the syslog and I posted a patch 
that disables preemption before calling those functions. It's on a VLC bug 
(cause at first I tought it was a VLC related) and I recently noticed that I 
still get the errors if I switch between X sessions with CTRL-ALT-Fx so it's 
incomplete but it makes things much better. I will update it and post it on 
the right bug when I get around it.


-- 
Fernando Rodriguez

[gentoo-user] Re: Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off? [FIXED]

[walt]

On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 20:08:55 -0400
Fernando Rodriguez <frodriguez.developer@outlook.com> wrote:

> On Sunday, August 23, 2015 2:25:47 PM walt wrote:
> > On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 05:53:37 +0200
> > bitlord <bitlord0xff@gmail.com> wrote:
> >   
> > > On Sat, 2015-08-22 at 19:08 -0700, walt wrote:  
> >   
> > > > I forgot about xf86-video-ati until you mentioned it, so I just
> > > > emerged
> > > > it and (I think) made all the changes needed to reconfigure
> > > > Xorg to use
> > > > it instead of fglrx.
> > > > 
> > > > Maybe I'm just too tired right now to think straight, but the
> > > > error messages I see in Xorg.log tell me that my video chip is
> > > > not supported.  
> >   
> > > For radeon (free driver) you need to configure more than Xorg,
> > > check wiki article about radeon driver [1], It needs in kernel
> > > support, also most cards especially "newer" (>=r600) need
> > > proprietary firmware.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > [1] https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Radeon   
> > 
> > An excellent wiki page, thanks.  It tells me that my video chip
> > should be supported so I'll go back and follow all the steps this
> > time.  I'd like to avoid the proprietary ati driver if I can.  
> 
> I had nothing but trouble with the free driver with a kabini APU.
> Hibernate would give a black screen on resume. The "Dim screen after
> an inactive period" (whatever it's called) would dim it further until
> the backlight turns off everytime the period elapses. And a lot of
> programs like the adobe flash plugin and other players, and games
> would show video that I may have watched even days before but it's
> still on video memory when started.

Ironically, the free driver works better than the proprietary driver on
this (desktop) machine.  The high CPU usage with xfwm4 is fixed and all
other video-related functions (like playing video files) work as well
as they did before.

Power-saving features like the ones used by your kabini introduce a
huge amount of complexity -- I'm amazed that anyone ever got the free
driver to work with those chips.  The only way I got it to work on this
machine was to ignore all those dozens of optional steps in the wiki
and use the simplest possible configuration -- still so complex that I
gave up last night in frustration.  This morning brought me better luck.

> The only problem I've had with the proprietary driver (which may be
> realted to your problem) is that if you use a premptive kernel it
> causes a LOT of errors to be written to the syslog which makes the
> desktop very unresponsive. That's because it calls functions that
> should not be called with preemption enabled. If that's your problem
> you'll see errors on the syslog and I posted a patch that disables
> preemption before calling those functions. It's on a VLC bug (cause
> at first I tought it was a VLC related) and I recently noticed that I
> still get the errors if I switch between X sessions with CTRL-ALT-Fx
> so it's incomplete but it makes things much better. I will update it
> and post it on the right bug when I get around it.

The reason I use mpv instead of VLC is that the video performance is
better on this machine.  Now that I'm using a different driver I'll
give VLC another try.

BTW thanks for submitting the bug fixes.