TTM, Radeon KMS Support Goes Into Linux 2.6.31

[phoronix]

Phoronix: TTM, Radeon KMS Support Goes Into Linux 2.6.31

Last week a pull request went in to bring support in the Linux 2.6.31 kernel for Radeon kernel mode-setting and TTM memory management. This initial work was proposed to enter the Linux kernel as a staging driver and then be setup as a proper Linux kernel driver in the next release, Linux 2.6.32. Linus Torvalds has criticized some of this Radeon kernel mode-setting work since there are some known bugs at this time (though at least it wasn't called untested crap), but nevertheless he went ahead and pulled in this new code prior to Linux 2.6.31-rc1. Cheers! There is now Intel and ATI Radeon kernel mode-setting support within the Linux kernel...

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

[Louise]

I am compiling the 2.6.31 right now, so I can try this on F11 and R500.

The only problem is that the fan on my R500 have a lot of resemblance to this fan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXEdq3UnnFE

So can anyone tell me, how I force it to the lowest possible power state, so I can unplug the fan?

[mendieta]

Excellent. BTW, what is a staging driver exactly? What limitation will this status imply in 2.6.31?

Thanks in advance!

[yoshi314]

Excellent. BTW, what is a staging driver exactly? What limitation will this status imply in 2.6.31?

Thanks in advance!

http://kerneltrap.org/Linux/Introduc...x_Staging_Tree the link is a bit outdated, but it is still partially true.

staging was originally a separate tree, now it resides in the kernel.

[mendieta]

http://kerneltrap.org/Linux/Introduc...x_Staging_Tree the link is a bit outdated, but it is still partially true.

staging was originally a separate tree, now it resides in the kernel.

Thanks, Yoshi. I followed the link. I still don't fully dig it. If this is residing in the kernel, how is it different from other drivers/components? To be specific, if someone want to access the new KMS or TTM in user space, can they just do it? If so, how is this different from being a proper driver/kernel component?

Many thanks!

[Xheyther]

Albeit it's a great news (I mean really great, pwned Nvidia lovers ). Will one day the radeonhd and the radeon drivers merged ? I guess that the work would have progressed faster if all the devs worked on the same code...

[bridgman]

I am compiling the 2.6.31 right now, so I can try this on F11 and R500. The only problem is that the fan on my R500 have a lot of resemblance to this fan;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXEdq3UnnFE

So can anyone tell me, how I force it to the lowest possible power state, so I can unplug the fan?

Hi Louise;

As far as I know the power state code has not yet been ported into the kernel, although it probably is high on the list after stability issues.

[Veerappan]

Cool. I'll give it the updated kernel/drivers/mesa a test drive tonight or tomorrow. At least this means that hopefully when Karmic Koala comes out I won't have to run as many (if any) git/beta modules in order to get this all to work. If we're really lucky, Mesa 7.6 will already be out, and all of this will be included by default (hoping for this, but if I have to compile a few things myself, I'll survive).

[tettamanti]

Thanks, Yoshi. I followed the link. I still don't fully dig it. If this is residing in the kernel, how is it different from other drivers/components?

staging was created to host drivers that are not suitable for inclusion in mainline kernel; the code there is either highly experimental and/or incomplete or just too ugly (as in 'derived from windows driver') to be considered for inclusion among "regular" drivers. Instead of letting the code rot in some obscure repository it was decided to gather it in a public place hoping that someone might clean it up.

To be specific, if someone want to access the new KMS or TTM in user space, can they just do it? If so, how is this different from being a proper driver/kernel component?

In case of radeon KMS/TTM the issue is not the quality of the code, but the userspace interface. The rule is that once an userspace interface has been shipped in a stable kernel it shall be supported indefinitely. In this case the developers feel that the interface might need some further tuning, so it cannot be considered stable yet; at the same time a wider exposure of the code is desired in order to shake out bugs in this fairly large piece of new code. 'staging' seems a good compromise.

HTH

[mendieta]

In case of radeon KMS/TTM the issue is not the quality of the code, but the userspace interface. The rule is that once an userspace interface has been shipped in a stable kernel it shall be supported indefinitely. In this case the developers feel that the interface might need some further tuning, so it cannot be considered stable yet; at the same time a wider exposure of the code is desired in order to shake out bugs in this fairly large piece of new code. 'staging' seems a good compromise.

HTH

It certainly does, thank you! Basically, the radeon, radeonHD folks or whoever else wants to start using those APIs now and report bugs, suggest improvements, etc, and when the driver goes official they switch to the official API. If things change a lot and they have to rewire a few things they can't go out and knock on Linus' door with a trick or treat face