Need help with integrated VIA UniChrome 2D/3D graphics setup.

English Hardware
1

Hi All

Hope someone can help.

I have a graphics card intergrated into my motherboard an ASUSAV266-MX the graphics card is a integrated VIA UniChrome 2D/3D graphics km400. I am running Opensuse 11.4 Gnome and I cannot get the best out of the graphics card compared when running Windows xp.

For example I cannot run Google earth or I cannot run Opensuse 12.1 with all the eyecandy that comes with it.

I can watch movies etc, but am limited because MP4 and MKV files are a problem , they a jumpy or out of sync , yes I have installed all the codecs necessary.

I did some surfing on the net and found this xf86-video-openchrome-latest.tar.bz2 but I do not know how to install it. Help.

I would like to know whether there is a fix or should I just buy a new Video Card for my PCI slot.

Thanks
rod;)

2

Forget it for this chip there are no 3d accelerated drivers available,
the manufacturer made none except for windows. I know what I speak
about, my wife had in her previous notebook such a chip. It is just
wasted time.
The best you can get is in fact the openchrome driver, binaries you can
find here:
http://software.opensuse.org (search openchrome)

The experience will be nowhere near the performance of the windows
drivers, everything based on opengl or composite will be near to unusable.

–
PC: oS 11.4 x86_64 | Intel Core i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.6.0 |
GeForce GT 420
Eee PC 1201n: oS 12.1 x86_64 | Intel Atom 330@1.60GHz | 3GB | KDE 4.8.1
| nVidia ION
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10 |
xf86-video-geode

3

I cannot help here because you are not able / willing to update to openSUSE:12.1:Update].

Using openSUSE 12.1 users should install following packages from home:jobermayr:

  • libllvm
  • libdrm
  • Mesa
  • xorg-x11-driver-video
  • drm-radeon-kmp-{flavor} together with kernel-{flavor} from openSUSE:12.1:Update

Then you can benefit from newest code and kernel modesetting (see also: [Phoronix] OpenChrome VIA KMS Has A Goal For This Summer](http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTA1OTg)).

Users doing so should provide feedback.

4

For gryphoninc, to learn a bit about the graphic drivers that are nominally available for VIA/Chrome, take a read here: http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/how-faq-forums/advanced-how-faq-read-only/438705-opensuse-graphic-card-practical-theory-guide-users.html#post2175088 …

I think jobermayr is referring to this repository for the experimental packages they recommend (don’t forget the feedback request):


http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/jobermayr/openSUSE_12.1/

The xorg-x11-driver-video in jobermayr’s repository, I note includes xf86-video-openchrome.tar.bz2

Looking inside the change history of tarball inside that rpm file I note:


2011-05-10  Bartosz Kosiorek  <gang65@poczta.onet.pl>

	Workaround EXA crash with new libcairo2 (#298)

	* src/via_accel.c: (viaExaPrepareComposite):

2011-05-08  Bartosz Kosiorek  <gang65@poczta.onet.pl>

	Fix cursor garbage after suspend/resume for Xserver 1.10 (#405)

	* src/via_video.c: (viaRestoreVideo):

2011-05-04  Bartosz Kosiorek  <gang65@poczta.onet.pl>

	Fix XAA displaying issues

	* src/via_accel.c: (viaInitXAA):

where it was last updated in May-2011. That is FAR from the Feb-2012 update noted above and below.

The [Phoronix] OpenChrome VIA KMS Has A Goal For This Summer](http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTA1OTg) link is interesting. It refers to the xf86-video-openchrome 0.2.905 driver with a Feb-2012 update, but based on the ‘change history’ one can not tell that the xf86-video-openchrome 0.2.905 driver is the driver in the
xf86-video-openchrome.tar.bz2 in the jobermayr xorg-x11-driver-video-7.6.99.git20120309.1709-3.1.src.rpm.

But for jobermayr, with respect, why would drm-radeon-kmp-{flavor} help a chrome/via hardware user ?

My guess is that any benefit would come from the newer Mesa, libllvm and libdrm, although I would be glad to learn more/otherwise.

But I am at most a rather basic average user on this … I simply looked inside some of the rpm/tarballs to see what I could read.

5

For gryphoninc, various users have packaged the xf86-video-openchrome-versions.tar.bz2 which for openSUSE-11.4 you can find reference here: software.opensuse.org: Search Results - but I do not see the latest xf86-video-openchrome 0.2.905 driver there .

For openSUSE-12.1 various users have packaged the xf86-video-openchrome-versions-tar.bz2 for openSUSE-12.1 which you can find reference here: software.opensuse.org: Search Results … and again, I do not see the latest xf86-video-openchrome 0.2.905 driver there.

My limit experience in updating to cutting edge graphic drivers from 3rd party repostories is I tend to break things more than I fix things. The most success I have had was in fact with the jobermayr repository, but that was with a different nouveau driver on a different openSUSE release.

Note I do not have chrome hardware.

6

I merged drm-openchrome in drm-next* tree: https://build.opensuse.org/package/files?package=drm-radeon&project=home%3Ajobermayr

  • This is Dave Airlie branch for the next kernel (ATM 3.4). He maintains the graphics drivers stack of the Linux kernel and in his repository all things related to graphics drivers [intel, nouveau, radeon, via, tdfx, …] get in there before Linus merges it in main tree. It is also the main development repository of radeon drivers (that is reason for package name “drm-radeon”).
7

I went to Index of /archive/individual/driver where the xf86-video-openchrome-0.2.905.tar.bz2 tarball is kept and I downloaded and extracted and looked at its change history. The change history is identical to the above.

I then looked at the dates for the earlier xf86-video-openchrome releases and noted:

  • xf86-video-openchrome-0.2.903.tar.bz2	18-Aug-2008 16:15 	410K	 

  • xf86-video-openchrome-0.2.903.tar.gz	18-Aug-2008 16:15 	559K	 

  • xf86-video-openchrome-0.2.904.tar.bz2	08-Oct-2009 16:40 	449K	 

  • xf86-video-openchrome-0.2.904.tar.gz	08-Oct-2009 16:40 	589K	 

  • xf86-video-openchrome-0.2.905.tar.bz2	10-Feb-2012 06:41 	497K	 

  • xf86-video-openchrome-0.2.905.tar.gz	10-Feb-2012 06:41 	609K

which confirms for me that jobermayr’s xorg-x11-driver-video rpm has the latest 0.2.905 tarball.

Many thanks to jobermayr ! :slight_smile:

8

Am 11.03.2012 02:16, schrieb jobermayr:
>
> Users doing so should provide feedback.
>
If you are looking for feedback: I can get access to the machine with
the VIA we gave away (my step son uses it with openSUSE 11.4 on it) and
update it to 12.1 with the packages you proposed to see the outcome.
I can do that earliest in one week and will post the feedback here, hope
that helps.

–
PC: oS 11.4 x86_64 | Intel Core i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.6.0 |
GeForce GT 420
Eee PC 1201n: oS 12.1 x86_64 | Intel Atom 330@1.60GHz | 3GB | KDE 4.8.1
| nVidia ION
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10 |
xf86-video-geode

9

To put my previous post noting that jobermayr’s xorg-x11-driver-video rpm has the latest 0.2.905 tarball for openchrome, I took a look at what is currently in place for chrome in the nominal openSUSE-11.4 and 12.1.

openSUSE-11.4:

I took a look at the inside of xorg-x11-driver-video-7.6-52.4.src.rpm (which is the openSUSE-11.4 version) and noted xf86-video-openchrome-someversion.tar.bz2 is NOT inside.

I note instead xorg-x11-driver-video-unichrome rpm (a 6-Dec-2009 version) comes with openSUSE-11.4.

openSUSE-12.1:

I then took a look at the inside of xorg-x11-driver-video-7.6.80.1.2.src.rpm (which is the openSUSE-12.1 version) and noted xf86-video-openchrome-someversion.tar.bz2 is NOT inside.

I note instead xorg-x11-driver-video-unichrome rpm (is a 23-May-2011 version) comes with openSUSE-12.1.

Conclusion

The openchrome driver that jobermayr has graciously packaged for openSUSE-12.1 does not nominally come with openSUSE-11.4/12.1 (at least I could not see it) and is definitely newer than the unichrome which comes with 11.4 and possibly newer than the unichrome that comes with 12.1 nominally.

Again, I don’t have chrome hardware.

10

Am 11.03.2012 13:16, schrieb oldcpu:
> CONCLUSION The openchrome driver that jobermayr has graciously
> packaged for openSUSE-12.1 does not nominally come with
> openSUSE-11.4/12.1 (at least I could not see it) and is definitely
> newer than the unichrome which comes with 11.4 and possibly newer
> than the unichrome that comes with 12.1 nominally.
>
That’s true and ever has been that way as long as I remember. To use the
openchrome driver one always had to use it from a third party
repository, that’s whay I pointed in my first post to
http://software.opensuse.org/ to search for it (not being aware of the
special jobermayr repo). In the past I installed the version from
X11:drivers:video

–
PC: oS 11.4 x86_64 | Intel Core i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.6.0 |
GeForce GT 420
Eee PC 1201n: oS 12.1 x86_64 | Intel Atom 330@1.60GHz | 3GB | KDE 4.8.1
| nVidia ION
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10 |
xf86-video-geode

11

Thanks,martin_helm, I have not wanted to update to Opensuse 12.1 because of this problem with my VIA PM400 chip . I will wait an see how you do thanks.

12

Thanks to everyone who answered , I will wait for feedback from martin_helm and see how he does. But anyway I will upgrade to 12.1 soon. Love opensuse would not go back to Windows.

thanks rod

13

I don’t know if anyone is still following this thread, but here goes:

A few days ago the openchrome project released version 0.3.0 of the openchrome
driver. It is supposed to be a major step forward, with all sorts of new
features and fixes. I was wondering if anyone has downloaded and tried the
driver. I downloaded the source code and compiled it, and replaced the old files
from my previous version (0.2.905) that martin helm built for me (my thanks
again). However, the system crashes when trying to start the xserver.
/var/log/xorg.0.log is blank when the system crashes, so no help from there.
Maybe I am doing something wrong with the installation. I tried the instructions
on the openchrome.org site, they didn’t quite work, so I just built the drivers
and replaced the existing files. The problem is the main library,
openchrome_drv.so (which is located in usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers), when I
replace that and reboot the system refuses to start the x server at all. Has
anyone used the drivers successfully? Any ideas on what I may be doing wrong?
I am using an old laptop with a VN896/P4M900 chipset

Thanks!

14

I have myself no longer any access to this kind of hardware, so cannot
really help. Just in case you get no good answer (which I do not know of
course, maybe the next post solves all your headache) you can search in
software.opensuse.org for the driver - only older versions are there at
the moment - and contact one of the persons who still build it, I would
guess that they do it because they have such hardware and maybe one of
them can give you a helping hand since they could be interested in
updating their packages for themselves.

–
PC: oS 12.2 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.4 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.8.5 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10

15

Hi
I’ve done a temporary update and it’s building here;
https://build.opensuse.org/package/show?package=xorg-x11-driver-video-openchrome&project=home%3Amalcolmlewis%3Abranches%3AX11%3ADrivers%3AVideo

I’ve enabled the publishing of the 12.1 version which I’m assuming you
require it for?

I have a CX700 VIA system, but it’s running headless as my SLES 11 SP2
server at present, but am in the process of cleaning up machines around
here for 12.2, so at present unable to test.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 3.0.34-0.7-default
up 12 days 21:22, 3 users, load average: 0.28, 0.69, 1.01
CPU Intel i5 CPU M520@2.40GHz | Intel Arrandale GPU

16

Am 11.08.2012 02:51, schrieb malcolmlewis:
> I’ve done a temporary update and it’s building here;
> https://build.opensuse.org/package/show?package=xorg-x11-driver-video-openchrome&project=home%3Amalcolmlewis%3Abranches%3AX11%3ADrivers%3AVideo
>
> I’ve enabled the publishing of the 12.1 version which I’m assuming you
> require it for?
>
> I have a CX700 VIA system, but it’s running headless as my SLES 11 SP2
> server at present, but am in the process of cleaning up machines around
> here for 12.2, so at present unable to test.
>
Update: The old Amilo La 1703 with Via chip we gave away long ago still
exists and is alive still running openSUSE, without guarantee it might
be that I can get it for testing the new driver during the next week (I
forgot which exact chip it had, I tested originally the 0.2.905 which I
built myself with it, I think to remember that it is a k8m890 but that
can be wrong).
I would then first give your 0.3 package a try to see what happens.

–
PC: oS 12.2 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.4 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.8.5 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10

17

Malcom,

Thanks a lot for your help. I tried the package you built for me but I still get the same behaviour (i.e. system crashes when starting X). I assume that there is something wrong with the driver itself. I will try to contact the guys at the openchrome project and see if they can help out - at least they will know that the driver does not work under some circumstances.

If anyone has a different experience or can think of something as a workaround, I would be glad to try it.

Thanks again guys for all your help!