Radeon Driver Gets Textured Video (Xv)

[siggma]

As others have posted, you need two things to get video and compiz working together -- the video needs to be generated in a form that a compositor can digest (Xv + TexturedVideo), and the compositor needs to be told to stop trying to draw a desktop in the same space that the video is playing. The second part is the challenge -- Vista does that nicely but I think everyone is still learning all the tricks to make Compiz and KDE play nice and not write over the video.

Thank you. That helps me understand what's happening.

The "ati" driver is just a wrapper around radeon and other drivers.
--snip--

I assume you're talking about changing OSes here ?

Yes, I'm running Ubuntu Gnome at the moment but would like to be able to run Xfce and KDE as well.

If so, the main issue is that we need to either figure out settings that will keep Compiz from stepping on the video window or make changes somewhere in the plumbing so that this happens automatically. It's not really a driver issue AFAIK but it is something we will probably have to work on anyways.

Thank you for responding.
I can't seem to find the radeon driver using the same git url as the ati and radeonhd. Id' love to try it. If you, or someone... can post the RADEON git url I'll compile up a copy and see how it works. A url that I think should have been in the announcement article on Feb 24th, or at least a link to a page containing a brief "here's how to try the driver" (hint, hint).

This is the URL I already downloaded and compiled:
git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/driver/xf86-video-radeonhd
and there is no source at:
git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/driver/xf86-video-radeon

So, unless the freedesktop radeon driver is named radeonHD (Huh?)...and someone is deliberately trying to confuse us all...

-Tom

[bridgman]

Sorry, the "radeon" driver is in the xf86-video-ati git tree. The "ati" driver is just a wrapper around radeon, rage128, and one or two other drivers.

[bulyst]

But things are not perfect on the Windows side either. The problem of a 1080P image only filling 90% of the monitor still happens, and has been reported by more than a few others on the net. Plus there don't seem to be Catalyst drivers for Win2K for the 690/X1250 so I have no way of adjusting anything, in particular the antialiasing or making the display size fit the physical screen (I know, PowerStrip... that's my next try).

I have experienced the same issue of image only filling 90% of my LCDTV in either windows XP Catalyst Driver or Linux Catalyst driver. (Radeonhd and ati opensource fill up the whole screen.) However, once I changed the refresh rate from default 60Hz to 50Hz, the image fills up the whole screen. It worked in both Windows and Linux Catalyst driver.
I noted that the problem only happened when connecting to my sharp LCDTV via HDMI cable.

Hope this help.

-Bruce

[mal13]

-siggma-

Yes, I'm running Ubuntu Gnome at the moment but would like to be able to run Xfce and KDE as well.


In terminal:
Kde= sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
Xfce= sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop
or get them from aptitude.

[siggma]

In terminal:
Kde= sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
Xfce= sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

Eww, thanks. I was hoping there was a meta install for them.

[siggma]

Sorry, the "radeon" driver is in the xf86-video-ati git tree. The "ati" driver is just a wrapper around radeon, rage128, and one or two other drivers.

I'll double check but If I recall that driver has no composite support yet, I'm watching Voyager in Vugly Vista at the moment . But you knew that. Which brings me back to the original beef.

1. Are their several different branches at ATI working on Linux dirvers?
2. Is there a specific reason we have composite support in fglrx but not in the OSS "radeon" driver?
3. If composite overlapping output is the issue, why not focus on one driver or the other first, then move support to the OSS or SIDEBAND driver.
4. We, including me, all have suggestions, wants, desires, projections, and expectations; it's very easy to be an arms-reach critic but no so easy to try to satisfy the demands of others.

Personally I'd rather see the support show up in the fglrx driver first since it's already got reasonable, albeit choppy, AIGLX compositing support and it includes additional tools for building and verifying the driver and it's supporting products. In my mind it also makes the most sense. But I'm not the developer and I don't see what the developer sees. So again, thanks for taking the time to personally respond. Your few words are both reassuring and useful.
-Tom

[bridgman]

I believe that the "radeon" driver has had composite support for a year or so.

[agd5f]

Which brings me back to the original beef.

1. Are their several different branches at ATI working on Linux dirvers?
2. Is there a specific reason we have composite support in fglrx but not in the OSS "radeon" driver?
3. If composite overlapping output is the issue, why not focus on one driver or the other first, then move support to the OSS or SIDEBAND driver.
4. We, including me, all have suggestions, wants, desires, projections, and expectations; it's very easy to be an arms-reach critic but no so easy to try to satisfy the demands of others.

When you say composite I assume you mean support for compiz. The composite extension is available on any recent X server and it can even be accelerated via EXA render acceleration. r1xx-r2xx radeons have full EXA render support. r3xx-r5xx only support limited operations (enough for rotation) right now. Compiz requires OpenGL (via AIGLX). Since there is no open 3D driver yet for r5xx+ hw, there is no way to accelerate it. Once we have a 3D driver, it (compiz) should just work.

[siggma]

When you say composite I assume you mean support for compiz. The composite extension is available on any recent X server and it can even be accelerated via EXA render acceleration. r1xx-r2xx radeons have full EXA render support. r3xx-r5xx only support limited operations (enough for rotation) right now. Compiz requires OpenGL (via AIGLX). Since there is no open 3D driver yet for r5xx+ hw, there is no way to accelerate it. Once we have a 3D driver, it (compiz) should just work.

My ignorance is showing...
Yes, I mean compiz but not just compiz., there are other uses for software and hardware compositing.

I wasn't aware 3d acceleration was missing in the fglrx driver. That explains the horizontal and vertical blocks on the edge of windows when I drag them around, which is only a minor annoyance at this point with the PCIe and a core duo. If that's how it looks without hw, it will be awesome with it.

Until then I'll just have to wait, I have no alternative but to bug people in various forums until I can understand my own ignorance. Then it's not ignorance anymore and I can wait in peace.

No thoughts on vidix?

-Tom

[NaterGator]

Tom,

I believe he was saying there is no r5xx+ acceleration in the opensource drivers (radeonhd). There should be 3d accel in fglrx.