The State of Kernel Mode-Setting

[yoshi314]

it probably will come to all supported cards eventually.

it's not like their drivers are unmaintained, you know.

[Yfrwlf]

So how do we install this stuff on our own systems? We need to install a kernel module and a new driver then? Some places where we can download this software and install it on our own Linux systems would be nice.

[bridgman]

Check out Dave's blog at :

http://airlied.livejournal.com

[Yfrwlf]

Check out Dave's blog at :

http://airlied.livejournal.com

It requires Fedora? He says that's step number one. I can't install Linux software even though I'm using Linux? Well that blows. Guess Linux still needs some standardization/modularity improvements to undo all this distro lock-in crap.

Thanks any way though.

[elanthis]

It requires Fedora? He says that's step number one. I can't install Linux software even though I'm using Linux? Well that blows. Guess Linux still needs some standardization/modularity improvements to undo all this distro lock-in crap.

Thanks any way though.

Get over yourself, really. The instructions say that because that's what Dave uses and it's the easiest way to say "get all the latest stuff you need" that he knows works.

Obviously it works just fine on other distros. You just have to know how to grab the latest X and kernel and stuff for your distro, because Dave doesn't. Any "in development" version of your distro (e.g., Intrepid repos for Ubuntu) should be equivalent to "install Fedora Rawhide."

[bridgman]

Exactly. Dave works for RH, so Fedora is being used as an "extremely upstream" way to deliver new technology before the APIs are sufficiently stable for inclusion in the main Linux kernel tree. There is a chicken-and-egg problem here -- once code goes into the kernel the APIs can't be changed, but unless the code gets out to lots of users it's hard to tell if the APIs are right.

Pushing KMS out through Fedora gives a way to get the code into users hands without having to be sure the design is cast in stone.

[Yfrwlf]

What I wanted and was talking about and hoping for was a point, click, download, install, run, but I guess that's not available. Guess there was some miscommunication there.

[elanthis]

Yeah, unfortunately, even stable drivers aren't that easy, except for the proprietary ones that have put a huge amount of effort into their installers. In-development source-only stuff is going to necessarily be a bit of a chore to install. Just the usual.

If you run a development distro (rawhide, etc.) then sometimes someone will have RPMs of the kernel/mesa/xorg built somewhere (I think airlied used to do that for rawhide a couple years ago), but don't hold your breath waiting.

Once the code is considered "ready for wider testing" it'll probably end up in rawhide (or the respective dev tree of your distro of choice).

[hungerfish]

What I wanted and was talking about and hoping for was a point, click, download, install, run, but I guess that's not available.

You're absolutely right.

Has anyone tried this yet and got it to work?!
I'm having problems following David's 'instructions' mainly because I'm not a regular kernel/driver hacker.
I got his git repos, and built the rawhide kernel (which also runs..)
I also managed to build the libdrm from his repo.
But I don't quite know how to continue:

You need to build libdrm from the modesetting-gem branch, and
you need to build the ati driver against it.

How do I build the driver 'against' that specific libdrm?
Do I need to install it for the rawhide kernel and then build the driver + mesa?

Help!?