X11 - radeon or radeonhd? (ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT)

[Adam K Kirchhoff]

On Fri, 2009-01-02 at 20:38 +0100, cpghost wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 02, 2009 at 01:42:38PM -0500, Adam K Kirchhoff wrote:
> > On Friday 02 January 2009 13:32:57 Ewald Jenisch wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I've got a PC (Dell) that came with a Radeon HD 2400 XT (RV610 chipset).
> > >
> > > Afaik there isn't 3D support yet with this card, so my primary goal is
> > > to get it working as far as 2D and speed is concerned (I don't want to
> > > go for "vesa" if at all possible)
> > >
> > >
> > > Which driver should I use for this card - radeon or radeonhd?
> > >
> > > Anything to consider besides having either "Driver radeon" or "Driver
> > > radeonhd" in the xorg.conf in order to get going?
> > >
> > > Thanks much in advance for any clue,
> > > -ewald
> > 
> > Either radeon or radeonhd should be fine.  Feature-wise, they are at the same 
> > level.  No other changes are required.
> > 
> > Very recently DRM support was added for those cards, giving them much faster 
> > 2D acceleration via EXA (without DRM support, only XAA is supported) and Xv 
> > support as well.  Unfortunately, this is limited to linux at the moment, but I 
> > *believe* Robert Noland has begun investigating how to port those changes 
> > over.
> 
> IIRC, it was related to having to use a more recent Xorg and MesaGL
> for the latest changes to work.  As soon as the ports freeze is over,
> I assume they would get merged in.

We're talking about the kernel modules here, not Xorg and Mesa.  The DRM
is necessary for EXA and Xv (as well as an updated DDX).  And based on
the conversations between Robert and the Linux/ATI folks, it is not as
simple as merging the changes in.  The new gart support necessary for
r600/r700 cards, for example, is completely linux specific, as I
understand it.

> I'm also hoping to see support for DRI and Xv and even 3D in RV780
> chipsets soon, esp. now that AMD has finally decided to release the
> RV600/700 specs to the public:
> 
> http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd_r600_oss_3d&num=1
> 
> -cpghost.


The specs are not yet available.  The only thing newly available is the
DRM and updated DDX.  The specs be available as soon as they finish
sanitizing the documents and get approval.  This will hopefully be
"soon". :-)

Adam



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