This is excellent news. … I see us having to teach many of our users who have Intel Arrandale hardware how to update their kernels to custom built kernels in order to better use their PC’s graphics capabilities !!
Do you not believe that a generic kernel-desktop 2.6.38 will get the job done?
One of the thread entries in https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=29278 made reference to the solution(s) finding way into 2.6.37.1 (as in subsequent to 2.6.37) or in 2.6.38. There are a number of issues raised in that thread, and timing details with 11.4 may come into play here.
I for one believe that the solution(s) to the Intel Graphics will make the generic 2.6.38. I also think that we will see same in the Kernel HEAD repos. Custom compiling of kernels should not be the primary resolution should a simpler avenue become available. That being said, it is not that difficult of a process, as long as one remembers the details!
The -38 series has entered rc2 status (I downloaded/compiled/installed it earlier today - took a little over two hours; however, I am running a Celeron DC E1200, which is why it took so long). It is a little quicker in performance than the default MS5 kernel for x64 (same hardware, which includes AMD HD5450 Cedar Pro graphics; basically, Mobility hardware in desktop clothes used primarily for HTPC duty)… I’m using MS5’s default X (due to other issues, I have no plans to even attempt to compile Linux Catalysts against this kernel and distribution as it stands), hence I have no HW acceleration.
Well I also have updated to kernel 2.6.38-rc2 today and it works. I installed the latest nVIDIA driver, 260.19.36, the hard way.
- The long startup time for KDE 4.4.4 is gone and is back to normal. Yeah!lol!
- But, my USB 3 drive failed to Automount from my fstab file, a regression noted way back in 2.6.34. Boo!
I was able to mount the USB 3 drive as root from a terminal session.
So, one step forward and one step back though neither issue is a show stopper at this point or anything like that.
Thank You,
Updated to 2.6.38-rc2 early today. Smooth, and definitely quick! Confirm the long KDE startup times reduced, although the first (only the first) login (Gnome or KDE) seems to lag a bit longer. As with -rc1, suspension and hibernation function satisfactorily. USB and CD/DVD mounting in Nautilus (Gnome) and Dolphin(KDE) function correctly (although I do not have USB-3’s to test).
The -rc1 kernel kicked out errors vis-a-vis the avahi daemon, and this appears corrected. The only errors still appearing are failures with Apparmor at startup.
Perhaps unrelated, but screensaver and power management (display-dimming and automatic suspend) are non-functioning in KDE. Both features function correctly in Gnome, so I suspect the problem may lie within KDE 4.6 RC2.
On powermanagement, I suspect KDE are transitioning from hal to udev, whereas IIRC Gnome were free of hal at 11.3 release. Hal support in 11.3 was only retained for KDE.
Added the Factory Xorg repo (Index of /repositories/X11:/XOrg/openSUSE_Factory. All runs surprisingly well and error-free. Xorg is
615.451]
X.Org X Server 1.9.3
Release Date: 2010-12-13
615.451] X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
615.451] Build Operating System: openSUSE SUSE LINUX
615.451] Current Operating System: Linux linux-a7qx.site 2.6.38-rc2-12-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Jan 22 21:54:38 EST 2011 x86_64
615.451] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-rc2-12-desktop root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST9500325AS_6VE3ZHX6-part16 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST9500325AS_6VE3ZHX6-part9 splash=silent quiet showopts vga=0x317
615.451] Build Date: 22 January 2011 12:15:17PM
615.451]
615.451] Current version of pixman: 0.20.0
615.451] Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
615.451] Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
615.451] (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Sun Jan 23 11:36:30 2011
615.451] (==) Using config directory: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d"
615.451] (==) No Layout section. Using the first Screen section.
615.451] (**) |-->Screen "Default Screen" (0)
615.451] (**) | |-->Monitor "Default Monitor"
615.451] (**) | |-->Device "Default Device"
615.451] (==) Automatically adding devices
615.451] (==) Automatically enabling devices
615.451] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/" does not exist.
615.451] Entry deleted from font path.
615.451] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/OTF/" does not exist.
615.451] Entry deleted from font path.
615.452] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/misc/sgi" does not exist.
615.452] Entry deleted from font path.
615.452] (==) FontPath set to:
/usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/Type1/,
/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/URW/,
/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/
615.452] (==) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib64/xorg/modules/updates,/usr/lib64/xorg/modules"
615.452] (II) The server relies on udev to provide the list of input devices.
If no devices become available, reconfigure udev or disable AutoAddDevices.
615.452] (II) Loader magic: 0x7dc7a0
615.452] (II) Module ABI versions:
615.452] X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.4
615.452] X.Org Video Driver: 8.0
615.452] X.Org XInput driver : 11.0
615.452] X.Org Server Extension : 4.0
The Intel drivers :
615.455] (==) Matched intel as autoconfigured driver 0
615.455] (==) Matched fbdev as autoconfigured driver 1
615.455] (==) Matched vesa as autoconfigured driver 2
615.455] (==) Assigned the driver to the xf86ConfigLayout
615.455] (II) LoadModule: "intel"
615.456] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/intel_drv.so
615.456] (II) Module intel: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
615.456] compiled for 1.9.3, module version = 2.14.0
615.456] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
615.456] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 8.0
615.456] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev"
615.456] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so
615.457] (II) Module fbdev: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
615.457] compiled for 1.9.3, module version = 0.4.2
615.457] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 8.0
615.457] (II) LoadModule: "vesa"
615.457] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so
615.457] (II) Module vesa: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
615.457] compiled for 1.9.3, module version = 2.3.0
615.457] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
615.457] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 8.0
615.457] (II) intel: Driver for Intel Integrated Graphics Chipsets: i810,
i810-dc100, i810e, i815, i830M, 845G, 854, 852GM/855GM, 865G, 915G,
E7221 (i915), 915GM, 945G, 945GM, 945GME, Pineview GM, Pineview G,
965G, G35, 965Q, 946GZ, 965GM, 965GME/GLE, G33, Q35, Q33, GM45,
4 Series, G45/G43, Q45/Q43, G41, B43, B43, Clarkdale, Arrandale,
Sandybridge, Sandybridge, Sandybridge, Sandybridge, Sandybridge,
Sandybridge, Sandybridge
615.457] (II) FBDEV: driver for framebuffer: fbdev
615.457] (II) VESA: driver for VESA chipsets: vesa
615.458] (++) using VT number 7
and
615.778] (II) intel(0): Printing DDC gathered Modelines:
615.778] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1600x900"x0.0 110.40 1600 1664 1706 2000 900 903 906 920 -hsync -vsync (55.2 kHz)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "320x240" (doublescan mode not supported)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "400x300" (doublescan mode not supported)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "400x300" (doublescan mode not supported)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "512x384" (doublescan mode not supported)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "640x480" (doublescan mode not supported)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "640x512" (doublescan mode not supported)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "800x600" (doublescan mode not supported)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "896x672" (doublescan mode not supported)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "928x696" (doublescan mode not supported)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "960x720" (doublescan mode not supported)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "700x525" (doublescan mode not supported)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Not using default mode "1024x768" (doublescan mode not supported)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Printing probed modes for output LVDS1
615.778] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1600x900"x60.0 110.40 1600 1664 1706 2000 900 903 906 920 -hsync -vsync (55.2 kHz)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Modeline "1024x768"x60.0 65.00 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync (48.4 kHz)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Modeline "800x600"x60.3 40.00 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync (37.9 kHz)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Modeline "800x600"x56.2 36.00 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync (35.2 kHz)
615.778] (II) intel(0): Modeline "640x480"x59.9 25.18 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -hsync -vsync (31.5 kHz)
615.778] (II) intel(0): EDID for output VGA1
615.783] (II) intel(0): EDID for output HDMI1
615.784] (II) intel(0): EDID for output DP1
615.784] (II) intel(0): Output LVDS1 connected
615.784] (II) intel(0): Output VGA1 disconnected
615.784] (II) intel(0): Output HDMI1 disconnected
615.784] (II) intel(0): Output DP1 disconnected
615.784] (II) intel(0): Using exact sizes for initial modes
615.784] (II) intel(0): Output LVDS1 using initial mode 1600x900
615.784] (II) intel(0): Using default gamma of (1.0, 1.0, 1.0) unless otherwise stated.
615.784] (II) intel(0): Kernel page flipping support detected, enabling
615.784] (**) intel(0): Display dimensions: (380, 210) mm
615.784] (**) intel(0): DPI set to (106, 108)
615.784] (II) Loading sub module "fb"
615.784] (II) LoadModule: "fb"
615.784] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/libfb.so
615.784] (II) Module fb: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
615.784] compiled for 1.9.3, module version = 1.0.0
615.784] ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
615.784] (II) UnloadModule: "fbdev"
615.784] (II) Unloading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so
615.784] (II) UnloadModule: "fbdevhw"
615.784] (II) Unloading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so
615.784] (II) UnloadModule: "vesa"
615.784] (II) Unloading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so
615.784] (==) Depth 24 pixmap format is 32 bpp
615.784] (==) intel(0): VideoRam: 262144 KB
615.784] (II) intel(0): [DRI2] Setup complete
The only wrinkle is seen in Gnome desktop effects. While a tad improved over the straight MS5 versions, some work is needed. KDE, on the other hand, …
W O W !
Will continue to upgrade and pursue.
I have since followed you into the X.org factory repo (but with an AMD GPU), since I had already applied the new kernel.
Turns out there’s at least one nice surprise for us AMD GPU campers in the new X (in addition to the Intel and nV surprises).
OpenGL vendor string: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI R600 (CEDAR 68F9) 20090101 TCL DRI2
OpenGL version string: 2.1 Mesa 7.10
(No; the above is not a joke, or a misprint. For once, we have hardware acceleration for all AMD GPUs based on HD5xxx and less (at minimum); only HD6xxx; the leading edge of the bleeding edge, can’t use the FOSS driver yet.)
Bigger surprise - not even Ubuntu/Kubuntu Natty has gotten here yet.
And yes - KDE will use the acceleration (I’m still running MS5’s default KDE - 4.6 beta 2).
If you want to improve your X, and are running an AMD GPU, do give serious thought to the Factory X repo.
Not just Clarkdale/Arrandale, oldcpu.
Combining the new kernel with the Factory X.org repo has nice surprises for the AMD GPU camp, as I discovered earlier today (I had compiled/installed the new kernel yesterday; I followed up today with the new X.org).
There’s now hardware acceleration for HD5xxx and less (as opposed to X1K and less before) - my HD5450 lacked FOSS hardware acceleration before with MS5’s default X.org - it no longer does.
And being as the X and new kernel are the only post-MS5 changes, that has to be where the surprises came in.
This is great news. I replied to you in an other thread on this.
We have had users ask us on our forum a few times how to enable hardware HD acceleration with ATI graphics, and thus far they have not been given much of a response.
If there is any special setup required that would be an excellent topic for a brief guide . … ie may they need ATI’s proprietary graphic driver ? or is Radeon openSource driver enough ? Which applications (all ? some ? only one ? ) can use this HD (?) acceleration ? …
For example currently with nVidia the only apps that I know that can take advantage of the nVidia HD acceleration (referred to as VDPAU) are mplayer, mythtv, and kdenlive (although purportedly vlc and xine are working on it).
VLC normally can use AMD graphical acceleration because it doesn’t require a proprietary method - a straight install from either the VLC repo or Packman repo is generally all that is required.
However, I can’t install either VLC or mplayer due to dependency issues (and differing dependency issues in both cases), so I can’t test that out yet.
However, any other applications that normally suffer under lack of acceleration (not just desktop performance, such as kwin, but Flash even more than KDE) now no longer suffer.
In fact, where I typically had to resort to XRender to get decent KDE desktop performance with the proprietary driver, I’m staying with OpenGL and the OSS driver, and performance is better in KDE than it has ever been. Even (perhaps I should say especially) Flash is much better behaved.
I’m thinking now that we are talking different things. I suspect now that High Definition (HD) acceleration is different from the acceleration that you are referring to.
We can always switch to using Tumbleweed. Or, using /HEAD for kernel only upgrade.
Romanator
Kernel 2.6.38-rc2 has found its way into the Kernel/HEAD repos :
Index of /repositories/Kernel:/HEAD/openSUSE_11.3
and
Index of /repositories/Kernel:/HEAD/openSUSE_Factory
Both installed (via YAST) and tested.
Thanks for letting us know SeanMc98! 
Thats a good article. It makes it clear they are refering to 2D and 3D acceleration for radeon, and do not throw out a very loose general term ‘hardware acceleration’, as ‘hardware acceleration’ can mean different things to different people. They clearly are NOT talking about HD acceleration.
Thanks !
The open source projects for VIA graphics drivers were always good at distinguishing between 2D and 3D hardware acceleration. Getting 3D acceleration working took a long time mainly due to the Mesa driver (h/w specific) not being maintained at the time. VIA never managed to deliver working 3D acceleration in their open driver version, and appear to have given it up. Unfortunately, VIA’s own investment in linux was inadequate for the task. Intel has done very well by comparison.
True.
However, getting HD acceleration in hardware for video playback is harder than getting hardware acceleration for gaming due to not just patent issues, but the issue of Digital Rights Management (DRM), which is extremely exacerbated by the GPL (and nearly mandatory adherence to same, either partially or completely, by most distributions, including openSuSE). Even nVidia’s solution, while it does work to an extent, satisfies nearly nobody due to the binary-blob requirement and that said binary blob can (and often is, as binary blobs tend to be) be thrown off by changes elsewhere (such as Xorg or Mesa). Until that is solvable completely via FOSS, I will not consider it possible, even if a binary blob is used; especially considering how much heat AMD has taken over the years for the Linux Catalyst drivers.
I was referring specifically to desktop and 3D acceleration, in hardware, and without any sort of binary-blob anywhere in the case of AMD HD5xxx and earlier, and possibly AMD HD6xxx hardware as well.