X.Org 7.4, Mesa 7.1 In Ubuntu 8.10

[phoronix]

Phoronix: X.Org 7.4, Mesa 7.1 In Ubuntu 8.10

Since last night's release of Ubuntu 8.10 Alpha 2 we have been trying out this latest work from the Canonical camp. While many Linux desktop users would just shrug off X.Org 7.4 as not being too relevant to them -- considering there aren't that many new blatant features -- if you're a faithful Phoronix reader you should already know about much of the recent driver work (especially on the ATI side) and Mesa advancements along with X Server fixes.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=12602

[Louise]

I really love the Phoronix articles. They are always good and very detailed.

I always click on a few banners, when I have read a good article.

[mmmbop]

Phoronix: X.Org 7.4, Mesa 7.1 In Ubuntu 8.10

Meh. If you want new features, use Fedora when it's released. If you want stability, use Fedora after it has been out a few months. If you have no idea who does the actual coding, use Fedora after is has been out a few months and call it Ubuntu.

[StefanHamminga]

You can bitch all you want about Ubuntu's coding (or according to you lack of it), but fact is they've contributed greatly to the current popularity of linux which is, in my opinion, just as valuable! (It makes linux a more interesting platform to develope drivers for, for instance)

[Kano]

The article is so positive about ATI that it hurts for 2 reasons:

a) It seems the ATI support is only good for newer cards like R500 based ones. For my RV410 card (X700 SE) the new drivers are even worse. Flickering with every xrandr command (about 4 times per xrandr - without options!) - and even without executing xrandr manually several apps trigger it too.

b) fglrx has packages, thats fine but does not work with the used Xserver, funny isnt it... The intrepid target is there since 8-6.

[StefanHamminga]

b) fglrx has packages, thats fine but does not work with the used Xserver, funny isnt it... The intrepid target is there since 8-6.

Indeed, my HD2600Pro finally works with the 2.6.26 kernel in intrepid, but while the driver loads now it appears the new xorg included won't work with the FGLRX driver... I guess the Intrepid devs don't work with ATI stuff and the ATI guys work with Redhat 9 or something like that...

[bridgman]

Right now the open source driver devs tend to focus on new & unreleased distros while the closed source devs tend to focus on distros which either have been released or are about to be released. The fglrx driver supports up to Ubuntu 8.04 right now; if you want to use pre-release 8.10 (or Fedora 9 AFAIK) then you're better off with -ati or -radeonhd.

We don't have 3d engine support for your HD2600 in the open source drivers yet but that's what everyone is working on now.

EDIT - a number of people are reporting success with F9 by reverting the x server to an older version then running fglrx; might work with Intrepid but haven't seen anyone try it yet...

[Kano]

How about just adding Xserver 1.5 support?

[StefanHamminga]

Thanks (again) for the respondse, I'm sorry, my comment/annoyance was actually more directed to Ubuntu than ATI, I should have left out the redhat 9 comment. I would like to use the open source driver, but the lack of 3D support is a showstopper for me. I'll give downgrading Xorg a shot, but that will have to wait a bit (I want to create an image of my system fist, it is a HTPC setup with a mix & match of Ubuntu Intrepid, Netbook Remix and other components). Ultimate stability is not essential, but proper eye candy & smooth display is.

[bridgman]

How about just adding Xserver 1.5 support?

Problem is that an end user can't do that themselves. We are working on 1.5 and 2.6.26 support.

Thanks (again) for the respondse, I'm sorry, my comment/annoyance was actually more directed to Ubuntu than ATI, I should have left out the redhat 9 comment. I would like to use the open source driver, but the lack of 3D support is a showstopper for me. I'll give downgrading Xorg a shot, but that will have to wait a bit (I want to create an image of my system fist, it is a HTPC setup with a mix & match of Ubuntu Intrepid, Netbook Remix and other components). Ultimate stability is not essential, but proper eye candy & smooth display is.

Just curious, for an HDPC what is the attraction in running Intrepid rather than Hardy ? No criticism intended, just trying to understand the motivation.

Thanks,
JB

[StefanHamminga]

Motivation: I had a lot of trouble with my system running Hardy, especially the kernels. I know I could have tried to fix Hardy, but when I tried Intrepid and it seemed to solve my boot, harddrive recognition, wireless and usb problems at least, so I figured I'd rather solve 1 problem than all those...

PS. The 8.5 Intrepid packages seem to work fine on 2.6.26-4 now, just the pre release xorg left to go

[Kano]

The new Ubuntu packages work, just the way how the patch is applied is suboptimal. When you use the dkms way then you could boot older kernels too, that way you are limited to 2.6.26. In the rules the patch is applied for intrepid only not generic.