xf86-video-ati 6.9.0 Released

[phoronix]

Phoronix: xf86-video-ati 6.9.0 Released

The xf86-video-ati 6.8.0 driver was released back in February, and today version 6.9.0 has been released, which is coming just a day after its 6.9.0-rc2 release. Version 6.9.0 of this ATI driver adds improved EXA render support for R100/200 graphics cards, EXA render support for R300/400/500 graphics processors, and Textured Video support through X-Video for R100-500 graphics processors...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=NjU0OQ

[diverse_izzue]

That is great, especially the Xv support.

Help as to how to install this in Ubuntu Hardy would be most welcome!

[colo]

Does r2xx's EXA-performance now catch up with the old XAA way of doing things?

[d2kx]

I can only speak for R500, but there, EXA is way faster than XA with xf86-video-ati.

[Vighy]

Does r2xx's EXA-performance now catch up with the old XAA way of doing things?

Let me test, and I will tell you :-D

an xorg-server-1.4.2 is enough, to take advantage of the exa improvements? or I should use one from git?

[yoshi314]

it's pretty cool that the releases are happening more often. that's probably due to ati's documentation, which allows to achieve more in shorter time.

an xorg-server-1.4.2 is enough, to take advantage of the exa improvements? or I should use one from git?i use stable xorg-server and git version of driver and it works with exa all the time, so there should be no problems.

[Vighy]

it's pretty cool that the releases are happening more often. that's probably due to ati's documentation, which allows to achieve more in shorter time.

Or maybe because now Alex works for ATi :) and can use ALL their documentation, if I'm not wrong, even the docs not released yet. but this is my supposition.


i use stable xorg-server and git version of driver and it works with exa all the time, so there should be no problems.
Ok! thanks for the info :)

[bridgman]

I think "Alex working for ATI and not having to do all this in his spare time" probably makes a difference too :D

That said, I think he is still using quite a bit of his spare time as well...

Having Dave work for Red Hat rather than doing all this in his spare time doesn't hurt either.

[yoshi314]

still the documentation team feels pretty under-staffed, judging by documentation release frequency.

can you say exactly how many people are working on docs?

[bridgman]

Right now it's Alex and myself writing the docs that get released publicly. Alex focuses on "what info is needed to write a driver", I focus on "what is safe to release", and we work it out. With each generation of GPU we get more help from the HW/SW devs though... for 5xx the docs had to be pretty much written from scratch; for 6xx Alex was able to pick up some larger, more useful chunks of docco, and for 7xx and future it should get even easier.

For 7xx I'm hoping we can just prepare a "delta doc" since 7xx doesn't have the wrenching architectural changes we saw with 6xx.

The problem with tossing a lot of staff onto documentation is that you really need some specialized skill combinations to make it work effectively; unless everyone involved has a good sense of IP issues you end up just writing a lot of stuff that then has to get ripped out or rewritten by someone else. Anyways, we're nearly cuaght up now (basically had to document the last 5 years of chip development in <1 year); keeping up with development going forward will be *much* easier.

[Melcar]

That is great, especially the Xv support.

Help as to how to install this in Ubuntu Hardy would be most welcome!

I think it will eventually be pushed as an update.

[bridgman]

Yep... AFAIK the distros prefer to wait for a release before pushing something as an update; now they can go ahead.

[Kano]

Well maybe release a 6.9.1 with 48xx support soon.

[d2kx]

I don't think Ubuntu updates graphic drivers, correct me if I'm wrong.

[Kano]

Well Intrepid will use it I guess or something newer.

[rvdboom]

Yep... AFAIK the distros prefer to wait for a release before pushing something as an update; now they can go ahead.

Is there any minimum X server, Mesa and drm version required to compile this driver?
I get a "legacy_crtc.c no member named 'crtc'" message when trying compile it with Slackware 12.1 system, which uses standard librdrm 2.3.0 and Mesa 7.0 along woth xserver 1.4. I have read that this was due to old libdrm headers.

[Melcar]

I don't think Ubuntu updates graphic drivers, correct me if I'm wrong.


They don't update the binary drivers, but as far as the FOSS ones, well, Intel updates make it through every once in a while, so I don't see why this would be any different.

[Vighy]

Mhh strange behaviour on my r200 with EXA.

It's better than what it was with xorg-server-1.3.0, now with xorg-server-1.4.2 and xf86-video-ati-6.9.0 it's usable, made exception for some pages with firefox!

yep! this is strange! with exa everything is fine, but when it comes to use firefox I becomes bad! Some pages are smooth, some other (like http://www.gentoo-wiki.com ) are incredibly slow! in scrolling and in swtiching to another desktop when they are displayed.

how could it be?

I had to revert back to XAA.

ah another issue!! when I watch videos on full screen, the movie doesn' expand to the maximum possible, but it stays like the monitor shorter on the right!

this happens both with EXA and XAA.

[kmolazz]

Is there any website with instructions on how to install this?
I have googled for it but couldn't find any :confused:
regards,
Carlos

[d2kx]

To install the driver with Ubuntu:

## Install common build tools like gcc
sudo apt-get -y install build-essential
## Install dependencies to build the driver
sudo apt-get -y build-dep xserver-xorg-video-ati
## Remove current ati driver
sudo apt-get -y purge xserver-xorg-video-ati
## Download the newest driver
wget http://ftp.x.org/pub/individual/driver/xf86-video-ati-6.9.0.tar.bz2
## Extract the driver archive
tar xvjf xf86-video-ati-6.9.0.tar.bz2
## Go to the drivers' directory
cd xf86-video-ati/
## Configure the drivers' makefiles
./configure --prefix=/usr
## Build the driver
make
## Install the driver
sudo make install

I hope it will help you or someone else.

[agd5f]

Mhh strange behaviour on my r200 with EXA.

It's better than what it was with xorg-server-1.3.0, now with xorg-server-1.4.2 and xf86-video-ati-6.9.0 it's usable, made exception for some pages with firefox!

yep! this is strange! with exa everything is fine, but when it comes to use firefox I becomes bad! Some pages are smooth, some other (like http://www.gentoo-wiki.com ) are incredibly slow! in scrolling and in swtiching to another desktop when they are displayed.

how could it be?


what version of firefox? IIRC firefox went out of it's way to do things it's own way to be fast in non-accelerated cases, but that ends up being slow in cases where decent accel is present.

Also for maximum EXA performance, you'll want xserver master.


ah another issue!! when I watch videos on full screen, the movie doesn' expand to the maximum possible, but it stays like the monitor shorter on the right!

this happens both with EXA and XAA.

Sounds like an issue with your movie player. I suspect it's not xinerama compliant. It probably assumes one head and only queries the dimensions of one of your screens.

[Kano]

That was the stupid way, but ok ;) I would begin with

apt-get source xserver-xorg-video-ati

Btw. it is already in sid, should be easy to compile that for hardy. I would use pbuilder.

[kmolazz]

To install the driver with Ubuntu:

## Install common build tools like gcc
sudo apt-get -y install build-essential
## Install dependencies to build the driver
sudo apt-get -y build-dep xserver-xorg-video-ati
## Remove current ati driver
sudo apt-get -y purge xserver-xorg-video-ati
## Download the newest driver
wget http://ftp.x.org/pub/individual/driver/xf86-video-ati-6.9.0.tar.bz2
## Extract the driver archive
tar xvjf xf86-video-ati-6.9.0.tar.bz2
## Go to the drivers' directory
cd xf86-video-ati/
## Configure the drivers' makefiles
./configure --prefix=/usr
## Build the driver
make
## Install the driver
sudo make install

I hope it will help you or someone else.

Thanks! I'm on openSUSE but it should be the same no? Just have to ignore the apt-get and sure i have those things installed.
regards,
Carlos

[Vighy]

what version of firefox? IIRC firefox went out of it's way to do things it's own way to be fast in non-accelerated cases, but that ends up being slow in cases where decent accel is present.

Also for maximum EXA performance, you'll want xserver master.


firefox 2.0.0.14... is there a way to tell firefox (even at compile time) to do fast with accel? :)

Ok I will wait for xserver master to enter some sort of snapshot pre 1.5 (as if i understood well, this 1.4.99.902 isn't as well as master from git).


Sounds like an issue with your movie player. I suspect it's not xinerama compliant. It probably assumes one head and only queries the dimensions of one of your screens.

Well no, I'm not in a xinerama situation, I'm with single head and when I ask gmplayer to put a movie in full screen, it works as always but the video occupies just 4/5 of the monitor.

If I provide you Xorg.0.log and an image of the issue would it be better?

[agd5f]

firefox 2.0.0.14... is there a way to tell firefox (even at compile time) to do fast with accel? :)


not sure.


Ok I will wait for xserver master to enter some sort of snapshot pre 1.5 (as if i understood well, this 1.4.99.902 isn't as well as master from git).



Well no, I'm not in a xinerama situation, I'm with single head and when I ask gmplayer to put a movie in full screen, it works as always but the video occupies just 4/5 of the monitor.

If I provide you Xorg.0.log and an image of the issue would it be better?

Yes. post your xorg log somewhere. Still sounds like gmplayer is getting bad geometry. Is video window only maximizing to a smaller area or is the app taking the whole area and the video showing up on part of it? Do other video apps work?

[Vighy]

not sure.

Argh firefox! :)


Yes. post your xorg log somewhere. Still sounds like gmplayer is getting bad geometry. Is video window only maximizing to a smaller area or is the app taking the whole area and the video showing up on part of it? Do other video apps work?

Right, the second! it makes all the screen black and only the movie is visible but it's shown just on part of it...

Here it is Xorg.0.log: http://vighy.altervista.org/Xorg.0.log

I couldn't take a screenshot of the issue!
If I ask to gimp to grab the screen it just gets the black borders! the rest of the image is exactly what i'm playing in that moment! If I resize the videoand move it, in the image taken from gimp is shown just what's in corrispondence of the video resized! and not was shown on the screen when I took the screenshot!

is this the effect of an overlay?

[agd5f]

Here it is Xorg.0.log: http://vighy.altervista.org/Xorg.0.log


link doesn't seem to work.


is this the effect of an overlay?


yes. the overlaid data is mixed with the graphics stream during scan out. It's not actually copied to the visible framebuffer.

[Vighy]

link doesn't seem to work.
yep, it works, but you have to paste it in the address bar... since clicking on it has some strange behaviour :)
strange altervista


yes. the overlaid data is mixed with the graphics stream during scan out. It's not actually copied to the visible framebuffer.
mhh I think some confision is arising in my mind... so Textured Video uses an overlay?
How can I understand if Xvideo and TexturedVideo are working?

Please forgive my confusion/ignorance :)
and thanks :)

[Loris]

How can I understand if Xvideo and TexturedVideo are working?

just run:

$ xvinfo

By the way, it smells like X11 video output to me. :D
Could you try running mplayer with the -vo (video output) option, or setting the equivalent options in gmplayer?

mplayer -vo x11 $FILE_NAME
and
mplayer -vo xv $FILE_NAME

Now, I'm off reading your Xorg.0.log.

(Edit)

Ok, read it all, and it seems I can't spot a single XVideo-related issue in there. XVideo-overlay and Textured video seem to be correctly initialized. I'm really curious to read your xvinfo output.

[agd5f]

yep, it works, but you have to paste it in the address bar... since clicking on it has some strange behaviour :)
strange altervista


Ah ok. got it. looks like you start with 1024x768 and then you switch to another larger mode. I suspect your app uses some mechanism that doesn't update the size after a mode switch. Does full screen work ok at 1024x768?


mhh I think some confision is arising in my mind... so Textured Video uses an overlay?


You card supports both overlay and textured video.


How can I understand if Xvideo and TexturedVideo are working?

Please forgive my confusion/ignorance :)
and thanks :)

xvinfo will show you the available adapters. you have to specify which port you want to use in your video app. some video apps will take the first one by default which is the overlay.

[steefjeqv]

To install the driver with Ubuntu:

## Install common build tools like gcc
sudo apt-get -y install build-essential
## Install dependencies to build the driver
sudo apt-get -y build-dep xserver-xorg-video-ati
## Remove current ati driver
sudo apt-get -y purge xserver-xorg-video-ati
## Download the newest driver
wget http://ftp.x.org/pub/individual/driver/xf86-video-ati-6.9.0.tar.bz2
## Extract the driver archive
tar xvjf xf86-video-ati-6.9.0.tar.bz2
## Go to the drivers' directory
cd xf86-video-ati/
## Configure the drivers' makefiles
./configure --prefix=/usr
## Build the driver
make
## Install the driver
sudo make install

I hope it will help you or someone else.

Thanks, works like a charm on Ubuntu Studio 64 bit with a Sapphire X550.

Greetings,
Steven

[panda84]

How to install latest driver in Fedora.

The procedure is quite simple:
- go to this page:
http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/packageinfo?packageID=95
- click on the most up-to-date release for your version (e.g. for Fedora 9 is 6.8.0-18.fc9, for Fedora 8 is 6.8.0-4.fc8)
- in the next page click on the "Download" link appropriate for your architecture (i386, x86_64, ppc and so on)
- open up /etc/X11/xorg.conf in a text editor as root
- add the following line in «Section "Device"»

Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"

- reboot or restart X
- if you want to be sure of the success take a look at Xorg.0.log, there should be some lines like these:

(II) EXA(0): Driver registered support for the following operations:
(II) Solid
(II) Copy
(II) Composite (RENDER acceleration)
(II) UploadToScreen
(II) DownloadFromScreen


Bye,
Diego


NOTE: 6.8.0-18.fc9 is really close to 6.9.0 according to the changelog:

* Thu Jun 26 2008 Dave Airlie <airlied@redhat.com> 6.8.0-18
- update to latest git 6.8.192 beta

[d2kx]

Alex/agd5f,

are there any plans to make EXA the default in future xf86-video-ati releases?

[Vighy]

Ah ok. got it. looks like you start with 1024x768 and then you switch to another larger mode. I suspect your app uses some mechanism that doesn't update the size after a mode switch. Does full screen work ok at 1024x768?
Ehm no... it takes all the screen but part of the movie fall off of the screen... as if the resolution was bigger (exactly the opposite that happens at lager modes)

just run:
By the way, it smells like X11 video output to me. :D
Could you try running mplayer with the -vo (video output) option, or setting the equivalent options in gmplayer?


You card supports both overlay and textured video.
xvinfo will show you the available adapters. you have to specify which port you want to use in your video app. some video apps will take the first one by default which is the overlay.

I use Xv. What does Xv stand for? TexturedVideo or VideoOverlay?
xvinfo tells me I have both (as expected) but selectin them is just a matter of picking up X11 or Xv?

[bridgman]

Vighy, Xv is just a way of passing video information to the driver in a "less processed" form so that the driver and GPU can do more of the work. Xv can be implemented using either video overlay or textured video. I don't know for sure what Xv stands for, but I bet it's "X video" :D

In fglrx only one Xv port is exposed, and x.conf / amdpcsdb settings determine whether that Xv port uses overlay or textured video. In radeon multiple Xv ports are exposed - one using overlay and a bunch using textured video - and the player app determines which port to use (typically based on input from the user).

X11 is a different way of passing video data to the driver, and OpenGL is yet another way of passing video data to the driver. There are more ways, but you get the idea.

D2kx, I saw this question come up before. I believe agd5f's answer at the time was that since a 1.5-ish server was needed to get great EXA performance it probably wouldn't make sense to default to EXA until a newer X server was already being used on most systems. Now that 6.9 is out my guess is that you'll see EXA become the default in git pretty soon.

[Vighy]

Vighy, Xv is just a way of passing video information to the driver in a "less processed" form so that the driver and GPU can do more of the work. Xv can be implemented using either video overlay or textured video. I don't know for sure what Xv stands for, but I bet it's "X video" :D

In fglrx only one Xv port is exposed, and x.conf / amdpcsdb settings determine whether that Xv port uses overlay or textured video. In radeon multiple Xv ports are exposed - one using overlay and a bunch using textured video - and the player app determines which port to use (typically based on input from the user).

X11 is a different way of passing video data to the driver, and OpenGL is yet another way of passing video data to the driver. There are more ways, but you get the idea.


Yep, I always get an idea when you write... that's why I would like you to answer me here (http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11077) :D :p

Btw now I understood the port mechanism and told to mplayer to use TexturedVideo. This is confirmed by the ability to take a screenshot of it with gimp XD. http://vighy.altervista.org/videoStrangeFullScreen.png (again you need to paste it in the address bar of the browser to open it. edit: strange altervista behaviour.. you can just click and see the screenshot!)

But the problem still remains and now you can have an idea of how it looks! (as already told, using 1024x768 gives the opposte problem: some part of the movie falls off of the screen)

[agd5f]

Can you test with a movie app other than gmplayer? Like totem for example?

[panda84]

With 6.9.0 and EXA enabled I get way much better scrolling in Epiphany 2.22 and Konqueror 4.0.82 (almost KDE 4.1 beta 2) but not in Firefox 3 (or at least I cannot get the difference).
With both Epiphany and Konqueror Xorg CPU usage no longer goes 100% when scrolling a web page rapidly, now it sticks to 20%, maximum 30%.

Does anybody have a vague idea why?

[bridgman]

I don't know for sure, but I imagine the difference is simply that EXA adds some more useful acceleration capabilities so Ephiphany and Konqueror are using the GPU's 3D engine to do most of the work rather than relying on software/CPU.

[panda84]

I don't know for sure, but I imagine the difference is simply that EXA adds some more useful acceleration capabilities so Ephiphany and Konqueror are using the GPU's 3D engine to do most of the work rather than relying on software/CPU.

Thank you for the explanation! So I should probably blame on Firefox not being so integrated with Linux in general...

[Vighy]

Can you test with a movie app other than gmplayer? Like totem for example?

Ehm.. ops... it was my fault: with another player worked properly:o:o:o

but could V-sync be useful? if so, how could I set it?

[agd5f]

Ehm.. ops... it was my fault: with another player worked properly:o:o:o

but could V-sync be useful? if so, how could I set it?

there's no support for sync to vblank with textured video yet.

[panda84]

Thank you for the explanation! So I should probably blame on Firefox not being so integrated with Linux in general...

Disabling "Continuous scrolling" in Firefox makes scrolling way much faster, so these drivers definitely bettered my "visual experience" in Linux!

Thank you ATi / radeon developers!

[yoshi314]

question - where should i complain if i get no display on vt switch ( to text console ) and "non preset mode" error on my lcd? also, sometimes on after a couple vt switches my pc locks up with black screen and caps lock and scroll lock leds are blinking.


is it more of a kernel bug, or x.org bug? i use xf86-video-ati, and uvesafb for fb, and i'm not sure which one is to blame.

[agd5f]

File a bug on freedesktop bugzilla:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org

[yoshi314]

i *think* i got it - i had to enforce 60hz refresh rate in uvesafb driver. still, that remains to be extensively tested.