LinuxMCE Forums

General => Installation issues => Topic started by: nite_man on July 17, 2008, 04:37:59 pm

Title: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: nite_man on July 17, 2008, 04:37:59 pm
Hi,

According to wiki page (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Display_Drivers#ATI_Chipsets (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Display_Drivers#ATI_Chipsets)) ATI cards with the latest drivers should work well with UI2 with overlay and resolution 1080p. I have Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 with HDMI output on my MD. I installed those drivers after adding that MD and chose UI2 with overlay. Every works fine except Aspect Ratio window (that known issue) and displaying the list of Video files. I have about 50 movies with covers in the Video section. After pressing the button Video on the on-screen Orbiter the screen becomes black. It displays just frame on the top of the screen and rose cursor. Nothing more. Strange thing because the list of Pictures and playlists (there is no any image) are displayed fine. With UI1 and 1080p the list of video files is displayed.

Any idea why it happens and how to solve that?

Thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: totallymaxed on July 19, 2008, 01:09:16 am
Hi,

According to wiki page (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Display_Drivers#ATI_Chipsets (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Display_Drivers#ATI_Chipsets)) ATI cards with the latest drivers should work well with UI2 with overlay and resolution 1080p. I have Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 with HDMI output on my MD. I installed those drivers after adding that MD and chose UI2 with overlay. Every works fine except Aspect Ratio window (that known issue) and displaying the list of Video files. I have about 50 movies with covers in the Video section. After pressing the button Video on the on-screen Orbiter the screen becomes black. It displays just frame on the top of the screen and rose cursor. Nothing more. Strange thing because the list of Pictures and playlists (there is no any image) are displayed fine. With UI1 and 1080p the list of video files is displayed.

Any idea why it happens and how to solve that?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Michael,

We're using xorg-driver-fglrx_7.1.0-8.37 with ATI X1250 onboard chipsets sucessfully with UI2 + Overlay and we do not see the display issues your seeing. The only slight issue we see is that when we have any overlayed menus on screen the video frame rate of the movie behind it falls of considerably... but thats about it as dfar we can see.

Cheers

Andrew
Title: Re: Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: ogir on July 19, 2008, 12:58:08 pm
Hi Michael,

i had the same problem some days ago with a radeon 8000 series (i think it was a 8600). Anyway, i also had the blank screen. tried to resetup the MD, but for me, it didnt work.
The only thing that in fact worked was switching from the ATI to a GeForce (switched the aTI into the core, and the GeForce from Core to the MD).

Sorry, thats about all i can tell you.

Igor
Title: Re: Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: nite_man on July 20, 2008, 06:27:19 pm
Hi guys,

Thanks for your replays. Andrew, that problem seems also strange for me. Because the grid for the rest lists - Playlist, Pictures, Audio - is displayed correctly. Even they have thumbnails. Here is info from the logs:
- LaunchOrbiter.sh.log:

Code: [Select]
05      07/17/08 23:49:03.541           Using masked UI? YES <0x41001950>
01      07/17/08 23:49:04.227           qqq Pixmap_Create 0,0,1920,1080 transparent (reset), wmwindow 0x120000e <0x40800950>

Code: [Select]
05      07/15/08 21:29:06.316           Datagrid 5088.0.0.5176.3768 reseted! <0x40800950>
05      07/15/08 21:29:06.574           error_code==1 => ErrorText=='BadRequest (invalid request code or no such operation)' // bool X11wrapper::Pixmap_ReadFile(Window, const std::string&, Pixmap&, unsigned int&, unsigned int&, int&, int&) <0x40800950>
05      07/15/08 21:29:06.574           cannot read the file '/usr/pluto/orbiter/C52/dynamic object - 5088.0.0.2355.3767-18:72-0:0G:0.mask.xbm' // bool X11wrapper::Shape_PixmapMask_Copy(Window, const std::string&, Pixmap&, unsigned int, unsigned int, int) <0x40800950>
01      07/15/08 21:29:06.575           qqq Shape_PixmapMask_Copy ERROR! <0x40800950>

Igor, that clear solution to replace ATI by nVidia. But my MD has integrated graphical card :) So, I have to find solution.
Title: Re: Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: totallymaxed on July 20, 2008, 07:47:16 pm
Hi guys,

Thanks for your replays. Andrew, that problem seems also strange for me. Because the grid for the rest lists - Playlist, Pictures, Audio - is displayed correctly. Even they have thumbnails. Here is info from the logs:
- LaunchOrbiter.sh.log:

Code: [Select]
05      07/17/08 23:49:03.541           Using masked UI? YES <0x41001950>
01      07/17/08 23:49:04.227           qqq Pixmap_Create 0,0,1920,1080 transparent (reset), wmwindow 0x120000e <0x40800950>

Code: [Select]
05      07/15/08 21:29:06.316           Datagrid 5088.0.0.5176.3768 reseted! <0x40800950>
05      07/15/08 21:29:06.574           error_code==1 => ErrorText=='BadRequest (invalid request code or no such operation)' // bool X11wrapper::Pixmap_ReadFile(Window, const std::string&, Pixmap&, unsigned int&, unsigned int&, int&, int&) <0x40800950>
05      07/15/08 21:29:06.574           cannot read the file '/usr/pluto/orbiter/C52/dynamic object - 5088.0.0.2355.3767-18:72-0:0G:0.mask.xbm' // bool X11wrapper::Shape_PixmapMask_Copy(Window, const std::string&, Pixmap&, unsigned int, unsigned int, int) <0x40800950>
01      07/15/08 21:29:06.575           qqq Shape_PixmapMask_Copy ERROR! <0x40800950>

Igor, that clear solution to replace ATI by nVidia. But my MD has integrated graphical card :) So, I have to find solution.

Yes the ATI driver shipped with LinuxMCE-0710 has these problems (but in other respects works fine)... the fix is to use xorg-driver-fglrx_7.1.0-8.37 as this works 100% with all screenss rendering/displyaying correctly  under UI2 + Overlay. We are shipping MD's using AT-X1250 GPU's now.

Andrew
Title: Re: Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: nite_man on July 20, 2008, 10:22:57 pm
Quote
Yes the ATI driver shipped with LinuxMCE-0710 has these problems (but in other respects works fine)... the fix is to use xorg-driver-fglrx_7.1.0-8.37 as this works 100% with all screenss rendering/displyaying correctly  under UI2 + Overlay. We are shipping MD's using AT-X1250 GPU's now.

I install that driver and specify to use in xorg.conf:
Code: [Select]
root@moon50:~# dpkg -l|grep fglrx
ii  xorg-driver-fglrx                          7.1.0-8.37.6+2.6.22.4-14.9           Video driver for ATI graphics accelerators
Have a look, please, my xorg.conf. Maybe I missed something:
Code: [Select]
Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "XFree86 Configured"
        Screen    0     "Screen0"       0 0
        InputDevice     "Mouse0"        "CorePointer"
        InputDevice     "Keyboard0"     "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
        RgbPath         "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
        ModulePath      "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load    "dbe"
        Load    "extmod"
        Load    "record"
        Load    "xtrap"
        Load    "speedo"
        Load    "type1"
        Load    "glx"
        Load    "int10"
        Load    "v4l"
        Load    "dri"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Keyboard0"
        Driver          "keyboard"
        Option          "XkbLayout"             "us"
        Option          "XkbVariant"    "basic"
        Option          "XkbModel"              "pc105"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Mouse0"
        Driver          "mouse"
        Option          "Protocol"              "auto"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/input/mice"
        Option          "ZAxisMapping"  "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Monitor0"
        VendorName      "Unknown Monitor Vendor"
        ModelName       "Unknown Monitor Model"
        Modeline        "1920x1080" 148.5 1920 1960 2016 2200 1080 1082 1088 1125
        HorizSync       20-500
        VertRefresh     59-61
EndSection

Section "Device"
        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option         "NoAccel"                               # [<bool>]
        #Option         "SWcursor"                              # [<bool>]
        #Option         "ColorKey"                              # <i>
        #Option         "CacheLines"                    # <i>
        #Option         "Dac6Bit"                               # [<bool>]
        #Option         "DRI"                                   # [<bool>]
        #Option         "NoDDC"                                 # [<bool>]
        #Option         "ShowCache"                             # [<bool>]
        #Option         "XvMCSurfaces"                  # <i>
        Identifier      "Card0"
        #Driver         "vesa"
        Driver          "fglrx"
        VendorName      "Unknown Vendor Name"
        BoardName       "Unknown Board Name"
        Option          "LinearAlloc"           "16384"
        #BusID          "PCI:0:2:0"
#       Option          "NoDDC"                         "true"
        Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "true"
        Option "renderAccel" "true"
        Option "NoDDCValue"
        Option "UseEDID" "false"
        Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "true"
        Option "NoLogo" "true"
        Option "NoBandWidthTest" "true"
        Option "ModeValidation" "NoDFPNativeResolutionCheck, NoEdidMaxPClkCheck, NoMaxPClkCheck, AllowInterlacedModes, AllowNon60HzDFPModes"
        Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
        Option "UseEvents" "true"
        Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
        Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
        Option          "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Screen0"
        Device          "Card0"
        Monitor         "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Modes           "1920x1080"
                Virtual         1920 1080
        EndSubSection
        Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "true"
        Option "renderAccel" "true"
        Option "NoDDCValue"
        Option "UseEDID" "false"
        Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "true"
        Option "NoLogo" "true"
        Option "NoBandWidthTest" "true"
        Option "ModeValidation" "NoDFPNativeResolutionCheck, NoEdidMaxPClkCheck, NoMaxPClkCheck, AllowInterlacedModes, AllowNon60HzDFPModes"
        Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
        Option "UseEvents" "true"
        Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
        Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
        Option  "TVStandard"    "1080p"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
        Option  "AllowMouseOpenFail"    "true"
        Option  "BlankTime"             "0"
        Option  "StandbyTime"   "0"
        Option  "SuspendTime"   "0"
        Option  "OffTime"               "0"
        Option  "AIGLX"                 "Off"
EndSection
Section "Extensions"
        Option "Composite" "false"
        Option "RENDER" "true"
EndSection
Title: Re: Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: nite_man on July 21, 2008, 09:56:12 pm
Here is a screenshot with black area instead of list of video files - http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2690354230_6179cfac07.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2690354230_6179cfac07.jpg)
Title: Re: Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: totallymaxed on July 21, 2008, 10:13:32 pm
Quote
Yes the ATI driver shipped with LinuxMCE-0710 has these problems (but in other respects works fine)... the fix is to use xorg-driver-fglrx_7.1.0-8.37 as this works 100% with all screenss rendering/displyaying correctly  under UI2 + Overlay. We are shipping MD's using AT-X1250 GPU's now.

I install that driver and specify to use in xorg.conf:
Code: [Select]
root@moon50:~# dpkg -l|grep fglrx
ii  xorg-driver-fglrx                          7.1.0-8.37.6+2.6.22.4-14.9           Video driver for ATI graphics accelerators
Have a look, please, my xorg.conf. Maybe I missed something:
Code: [Select]
Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "XFree86 Configured"
        Screen    0     "Screen0"       0 0
        InputDevice     "Mouse0"        "CorePointer"
        InputDevice     "Keyboard0"     "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
        RgbPath         "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
        ModulePath      "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load    "dbe"
        Load    "extmod"
        Load    "record"
        Load    "xtrap"
        Load    "speedo"
        Load    "type1"
        Load    "glx"
        Load    "int10"
        Load    "v4l"
        Load    "dri"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Keyboard0"
        Driver          "keyboard"
        Option          "XkbLayout"             "us"
        Option          "XkbVariant"    "basic"
        Option          "XkbModel"              "pc105"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Mouse0"
        Driver          "mouse"
        Option          "Protocol"              "auto"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/input/mice"
        Option          "ZAxisMapping"  "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Monitor0"
        VendorName      "Unknown Monitor Vendor"
        ModelName       "Unknown Monitor Model"
        Modeline        "1920x1080" 148.5 1920 1960 2016 2200 1080 1082 1088 1125
        HorizSync       20-500
        VertRefresh     59-61
EndSection

Section "Device"
        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        #Option         "NoAccel"                               # [<bool>]
        #Option         "SWcursor"                              # [<bool>]
        #Option         "ColorKey"                              # <i>
        #Option         "CacheLines"                    # <i>
        #Option         "Dac6Bit"                               # [<bool>]
        #Option         "DRI"                                   # [<bool>]
        #Option         "NoDDC"                                 # [<bool>]
        #Option         "ShowCache"                             # [<bool>]
        #Option         "XvMCSurfaces"                  # <i>
        Identifier      "Card0"
        #Driver         "vesa"
        Driver          "fglrx"
        VendorName      "Unknown Vendor Name"
        BoardName       "Unknown Board Name"
        Option          "LinearAlloc"           "16384"
        #BusID          "PCI:0:2:0"
#       Option          "NoDDC"                         "true"
        Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "true"
        Option "renderAccel" "true"
        Option "NoDDCValue"
        Option "UseEDID" "false"
        Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "true"
        Option "NoLogo" "true"
        Option "NoBandWidthTest" "true"
        Option "ModeValidation" "NoDFPNativeResolutionCheck, NoEdidMaxPClkCheck, NoMaxPClkCheck, AllowInterlacedModes, AllowNon60HzDFPModes"
        Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
        Option "UseEvents" "true"
        Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
        Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
        Option          "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Screen0"
        Device          "Card0"
        Monitor         "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Modes           "1920x1080"
                Virtual         1920 1080
        EndSubSection
        Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "true"
        Option "renderAccel" "true"
        Option "NoDDCValue"
        Option "UseEDID" "false"
        Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "true"
        Option "NoLogo" "true"
        Option "NoBandWidthTest" "true"
        Option "ModeValidation" "NoDFPNativeResolutionCheck, NoEdidMaxPClkCheck, NoMaxPClkCheck, AllowInterlacedModes, AllowNon60HzDFPModes"
        Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
        Option "UseEvents" "true"
        Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
        Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
        Option  "TVStandard"    "1080p"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
        Option  "AllowMouseOpenFail"    "true"
        Option  "BlankTime"             "0"
        Option  "StandbyTime"   "0"
        Option  "SuspendTime"   "0"
        Option  "OffTime"               "0"
        Option  "AIGLX"                 "Off"
EndSection
Section "Extensions"
        Option "Composite" "false"
        Option "RENDER" "true"
EndSection


Heres a copy of an xorg.conf from a working AMD2 +4800 with ATI X1250 GPU;

Code: [Select]
# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "fglrx"
Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "true"
Option "renderAccel" "true"
Option "NoDDCValue"
Option "UseEDID" "false"
Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "true"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
Option "NoBandWidthTest" "true"
Option "ModeValidation" "NoDFPNativeResolutionCheck, NoEdidMaxPClkCheck, NoMaxPClkCheck, AllowInterlacedModes, AllowNon60HzDFPModes"
Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
Option "UseEvents" "true"
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
Modeline "1920x1080" 148.5 1920 1960 2016 2200 1080 1082 1088 1125
HorizSync 20-500
VertRefresh 59-61
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
Defaultdepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1920x1080"
Virtual 1920 1080
EndSubSection
Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "true"
Option "renderAccel" "true"
Option "NoDDCValue"
Option "UseEDID" "false"
Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "true"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
Option "NoBandWidthTest" "true"
Option "ModeValidation" "NoDFPNativeResolutionCheck, NoEdidMaxPClkCheck, NoMaxPClkCheck, AllowInterlacedModes, AllowNon60HzDFPModes"
Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
Option "UseEvents" "true"
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
Option "TVStandard" "1080p"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
  screen "Default Screen"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "glx"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "record"
Load "xtrap"
Load "speedo"
Load "type1"
Load "int10"
Load "v4l"
Load "dri"
EndSection
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "false"
Option "RENDER" "true"
EndSection

All the best

Andrew
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: nite_man on August 07, 2008, 05:47:48 pm
It seems that it was issue with display. I tested it on the real TV and it's ok :)
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: indulis on September 22, 2008, 07:47:28 pm
Andrew,

I have managed to manually install the fglrx driver successfully (fglrxinfo shows ATI, fgl_glxgears works).  Catalyst 8_9 version.

When I start Linuxmce orbiter, I get the menus, but once the photo slideshow starts, the menus disappear behind the photos.  They blink on, then the photo seems to overlay them.  I get into TV, and when I press the mouse right button I get glimpses of Mythtv behind the black screen- it blinks on then gets overlaid with black again.

Aaargh!  I've spent all weekend stuffing around with video drivers!!!!

I may try the older catalyst version.  Where did the download of this version of the driver come from?  Did you still have to blacklist the old fglrx driver?

Any other ideas?  What about glxinfo? Mine is still showing Mesa.  Could that be the problem?

PS I used your xorg.conf from this thread and used it, worked OK
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: indulis on September 25, 2008, 05:58:53 pm
OK I have now set up the machine as hybrid core/MD, and with the orbiter as the main GUI.  Now I am just getting X crashes at the end of the orbiter starting up.  This is using UI2, tomorrow I will set up again with UI1 but I'm sure this will work fine.

This is driving me crazy, but I don't want to give up on the ATI graphics when I am this close, and Andrew says that he has had the X 1250 video working fine. 

I've also turned off the "sideport" (dedicated graphics memory) on this motherboard, so it is back to using shared memory.

What's the best way to troubleshoot this- report it as a bug?  It'd be really good to get this going, but I am running out of patience, and will either go back to UI1 (and hope that UI3 and/or LinuxMCE 8.04 fix the problems), or buy an Nvidia graphics board. :'(

I've got the Xorg.0.log file with some crash info in it.  Note that the machine does not crash, just X.
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: tschak909 on September 25, 2008, 08:48:50 pm
*hmm* everybody hoping that the next release will fix the problems, nobody willing to actually help. Tired of all you people.

There is no UI3, there will never be a UI3 unless someone buckles down, takes charge, and hacks.

ATI support will happen, when someone takes on the task, and does the necessary script work to tie it into the AV Wizard.

If you people want it so much, then dig in and make it happen.

-Thom
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: indulis on September 26, 2008, 02:48:42 am
Thom,

Please don't <hmm> at me, I've been spending days trying out the various ATI drivers available, and methods to install, and documenting them in the forums as I can (and will put the resolution in the WIKI when I can and when it is back up).  Think you can call this digging in.  Or perhaps you haven't read the post in its entirety.

I'm not expecting UI3, I just know that there are issues with UI2 on ATI, and want to know what is the best path to getting them solved with the ATI video card.

If I didn't care, I'd just go into my BIOS, switch over to my Nvidia card (which I know works), and wipe my hands of it, saying "oh well its working for me, too bad for ATI support in LinuxMCE".  As it is I've spent probably 20 hours tying combinations of repository and ATI proprietary drivers and installing and reinstalling LinuxMCE (I am getting pretty good at that  ;D )

And I did ask about the best way to get the problem resolved- it is likely to be an interaction between the ATI drivers and the graphics functions being used in LinuxMCE (e.g. overlay order is not correct).  So at some point someone that knows the UI graphics programming in LinuxMCE has to talk to someone at ATI to figure out why it is crashing and not overlaying correctly.  And that is not me.  I can do scripting, documentation, testing, but if we want to fix this within the next 2 years (the time it would take me to become proficient to that depth) then this task is for someone else to do!

I am not asking for ATI support into LMCE as a seamless integration.  Just want it not to crash when I try to use it, and be able to use UI2 with the ATI video and be able to actually see behind the "wall of black" that keeps getting painted over the UI (my previous posts document this- the UI is definitely running, but it "flashes" on for 1/4 sec or so when I toggle between virt console 1 and VT 7), and then the screen goes black again.

ATI have been a pain in the past (I know based on my Mythtv experience), but deserve some support now as they have opened up most of their programming doc to the open source community!

PS I actually have an Nvidia graphics card-6200 but it is so slow on UI2 that if I want to use UI2 I would either use ATI X1250 on the motherboard or buy a new Nvidia card.
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: tschak909 on September 26, 2008, 03:10:21 am
if your nvidia 6200 is slow, something is incorrectly configured.

I've used Nvidia 6200's in the past up to 1080i, for installations. they are a little, but only a little slow for 1080p.

-Thom
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: colinjones on September 26, 2008, 03:39:39 am
Indulis - seriously, if you have the nVidia, use it. You are just going to cause yourself so much of a headache. The 6200 will be just fine. Have you troubleshooted the performance issue? Which driver does the xorg.conf file say it is using? Also, read through the Xorg.0.log file very carefully, as you may find some conflict that is causing a critical module not to load and so preventing various parts of hardware acceleration being used....

Have you gone to KDE and run glxgears? What rate do you get? BTW, what part is actually slow?
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: indulis on September 26, 2008, 03:52:38 am
Thom,

Thanks for that info on the 6200.  It was slow at UI2 with Alpha.

But I *do* want to get the ATI video working before I give up entirely.  As I see it, working on, reporting,. reproducing, and testing a problem is a contribution to what is a great project.

That and the fact that if I can get rid of another card that is another couple of watts saved!

Colin- yes I know I am causing myself grief, but if I can get the ATI working maybe the solution will help make LinuxMCE more applicable to more hardware.  The ATI drivers load up and fgl_glxgears gives me 500 fps.  If it didn't work AT ALL I'd just give up, but the frustrating thing is that I can see the UI there, there is just something else that paints black over the top of it!   So I get it see it for a flash then it vanishes! I suspect the photo screensaver.  It is sooo close to working.  I can even bodge my way into Mythtv and I can see flashes of the Mythtv main menu. 

What I will do tonight is reload from scratch, install the latest ATI drivers, and run in UI1 for a while, knowing that I can go to UI2 when I want some more pain and suffering.  I'll also put in a bug report.  If anyone picks it up I can go back to UI2.  Because I have gone as far as I can with it now (oh, apart from physically removing my Nvidia card from the system).  I'll also do a final check of my xorg.conf before I give up and go to UI1.

The rotten thing is that the photos that play on UI2 as the screensaver show that the ATI has great quality video.

And we really *should* do the right thing by ATI as they are doing a lot to open up their hardware to Linux.  If we can give them a leg up over Nvidia then maybe eventually Nvidia will hand over their device programming specs too.  If we all give up now we reward proprietary, and punish open source.  So it is worth a bit of pain and effort from me. 

Now if only I can get someone that knows the LinuxMCE graphics code to also buy into trying to fix the issue- or at least diagnose it to the point that we know if it should be raised as an ATI bug.  Because I am not going to become a graphics programmer.

Is there any way to turn off the photo screensaver?  At least I could narrow down the cause, as I don't think it is the main LinuxMCE UI, as that runs OK.

PS is there a quick and easy way to change from UI1 to UI2 without having to go through the AV wizard?  I am happy to edit system files!
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: colinjones on September 26, 2008, 06:38:42 am
Actually I meant when using the nVidia chipset. But no matter, I agree that in principle we should be trying to open up the hardware options and thus open source more generally.

Yes, there is a way to disable the PSS - can't remember what it is, but I'm sure disabling the device in the web admin would do just as well.

Sorry, can't help you with the UI1/2 question
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: nite_man on September 26, 2008, 08:37:36 am
Maybe I missed something but in my case ATI RadeonTM 1250 works pretty well with open source drivers. I just installed them using wiki page and that's it. Moreover, my friend tried proprietary ATI drivers to be able pass sound over HDMI. With sound is ok. But video is not visible. So, if you don't need sound use open source drivers.
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: indulis on September 26, 2008, 10:01:04 am
Thanks Michael- you used the instructions here on the LinuxMCE wiki, right? And UI2 worked- with alpha blending or overlay?
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Display_Drivers (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Display_Drivers)

But these are for the proprietary driver- fglrx, so where were the details you used for the open source "radeon" or "radeonhd" driver?


Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: nite_man on September 26, 2008, 12:01:03 pm
Thanks Michael- you used the instructions here on the LinuxMCE wiki, right? And UI2 worked- with alpha blending or overlay?
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Display_Drivers (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Display_Drivers)

But these are for the proprietary driver- fglrx, so where were the details you used for the open source "radeon" or "radeonhd" driver?

My mistake. Sure it's for fglrx. That box works fine with both UI1 and UI2 with overlay (no alpha blending). But with fglrx driver there is no sound over HDMI. So, to fix that we tried the latest ATI Catalyst. Not sure about the current status of that. But sound was passed via HDMI.
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: deffcon on November 28, 2008, 11:28:05 pm
Hi,

Recently bought an asus m2a-vm hdmi, now i had this md connected with vga no problems, i even managed ( this i will update in the wiki ) to install the ati 8.10 ( not the 8.11 because of an bug ) with all gui options in the v2 ui, but now connected the x1250 onboard hdmi with an hdmi cable to my new television an samsung le40a656a1fxxc, used the xorg.conf of Andrew earlier in this post, all good, bios screen, linux booting off diskless until loading the fglrx drivers, i get an black screen and my tv says searching for devices, this goes good, then my tv says searching for signals and this is the point where it goes wrong, my tv says after the searching for signals after 5 secs, NO SIGNAL, my tv isn't broken, if i connect my hp 8510P laptop with hdmi i get an image and what i said ealier all good until loading the fglrx drivers, am i missing something, oh for i forget, second senario, removed xorg.conf from /etc/X11 rebooted with /usr/pluto/bin/RebootWithAVWizard.sh noting happened, looked like my md is in sort of locked state of the video signal what i DONT have, if reset the md hard with the reset button on the machine all good back to square one, i get the AVWizard, checked DVI/HDMI, checked 1080P ( Tv is Full HD 1080P ) and 60 hz i get an picture but very distorted but the fonts are very readable better then with vga, guys help me out please.

Thnx in advance,

Dave
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: indulis on November 30, 2008, 10:08:15 am
More than likely the xorg.conf file which is being used does not match what your TV expects as an input, and/or the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file is not putting the video signal out of the HDMI connector.  LMCE has a (very) annoying habit of overwriting your own xorg.conf file with what it thinks is a good one, and it does this at reboot.  I have not figured out how to make it stop in a nice way, so I hacked the script that does this to instead copy your own working version of xorg.conf over the one in /etc/X11

In my opinion, this is an example of what I think is LMCE's biggest issue.  It was originally written for a single known hardware, software. and configuration setup, and is not that well suited to being let loose in a world of varied equipment and people and configurations.  Not because it has a major deficiency, but because the assumptions it makes about living on an appliance and the "LMCE knows better so I am going to reconfigure your display/mythtv etc for you" attitude makes it very hard for people to get it going when they hit problems with new hardware (e.g. different xorg.conf file required) or software or setup. 

A problem that would be minor and easily rectified in a plain Linux system (or one with Mythtv on it) turns into a long drawn out problem analysis which for me has often ended with finding out that LMCE was fiddling about behind the scenes with things which I had fixed.  So not only did I have to fix the original problem but also try to stop LMCE.

Anyway enough about that, here is the modified part of /usr/pluto/bin/Xconfigure.sh

Lines beginning with ->start indulis and finishing at the line @<- end indulis

Once you've finished modifying it, you can make your modifications to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.working and these will be copied at reboot to /etc/X11/xorg.conf instead of LMCE's idea of what a working xorg.conf looks like.  I had issues because the AV Wizard created an xorg.conf that drove my CRT monitor bats (out of frequency range I think).

First, copy the original file to /usr/pluto/bin/Xconfigure.sh.orig
Quote
sudo cp /usr/pluto/bin/Xconfigure.sh /usr/pluto/bin/Xconfigure.sh.orig

Then edit the /usr/pluto/bin/Xconfigure.sh file

Quote

#nVidia modeline, driver bug workaround
Modeline_640x480_60='"640x480" 25.18 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525'

. /usr/pluto/bin/pluto.func
. /usr/pluto/bin/Config_Ops.sh
. /usr/pluto/bin/Utils.sh
. /usr/pluto/bin/LockUtils.sh
. /usr/pluto/bin/X-Common.sh

#-> start indulis
# ConfigFile="/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
ConfigFile="/etc/X11/xorg.conf.dummy"
Output="VGA"
# copy back working xorg.conf instead
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.working /etc/X11/xorg.conf
#<- end indulis


DEVICECATEGORY_Video_Cards=125
DEVICEDATA_Setup_Script=189
DEVICEDATA_Connector=68
DEVICEDATA_TV_Standard=229


There may be a "nice" way to turn off the constant overwrite of xorg.conf but I couldn't find it.  I tried an "exit 0" at the beginning of the script but it did not work for me.  IMHO there should be a global setting which tells *ALL* of LMCE's background "rewrite your configuration file" scripts to back off.

Good luck!
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: nite_man on December 01, 2008, 01:51:28 pm
Strange. In my case I just installed  the latest fglrx, connected the ASUS P2-M2A690G to TV using HDMI cable and run AVWizard. I set 1080p resolution and UI2 with overlay (not transparent). That's it. After that  MD displayed video without any problems.
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: deffcon on December 01, 2008, 07:33:05 pm
Hi,

on what kernel are you running with the latest fgklrx.

Dave
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: seth on December 01, 2008, 08:09:04 pm
Question, as you have been down this road nite_man. Now you just followed the instructions in the wiki page mentioned here, or did you download something different, than what is available to apt-get ?

I ask, because my new motherboard has native ATI graphics. I wish to try this out, if it goes south, I have an Nvidia 7200 card I can install in the pci-e slot.

Thanks,

Seth
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: hari on December 01, 2008, 09:16:29 pm
When I start Linuxmce orbiter, I get the menus, but once the photo slideshow starts, the menus disappear behind the photos.  They blink on, then the photo seems to overlay them.  I get into TV, and when I press the mouse right button I get glimpses of Mythtv behind the black screen- it blinks on then gets overlaid with black again.
i'm having the same issue with an AMD780 integrated. Looks like either our window manager freaks out or overlay does not work.

br, Hari
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: tschak909 on December 01, 2008, 09:19:04 pm
the driver isn't applying the mask.

-Thom
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: indulis on December 02, 2008, 02:01:49 am
Thom,

if this is an ATI problem, what can we do to take the next step so that they fix their driver?  I would like to use the integrated Radeon on my motherboard (for tree hugging hippy reasons to save CO2, if no other).

How do we get sufficient information to show that it is their driver and get a test case for them to use to fix their driver?
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: tschak909 on December 02, 2008, 03:40:07 am
Good question, I've not interacted with ATI or NVIDIA on matters of their drivers... I will spend some time looking at our rendering classes to see if we can do a workaround.

-Thom
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: indulis on December 03, 2008, 12:41:17 am
Thom- it would be better to try to get ATI to fix their code, no?  So a testcase we could send to ATI would get this started. Let me know if you need a victim system with the problem, I can install a new LMCE on another partition with the ATI drivers.
Title: Re: [SOLVED] Integrated ATI RadeonTM 1250 and UI2 issue
Post by: hari on December 03, 2008, 12:53:52 am
I got an ATI based board for exact that reason. We also got a intel based TEO-X unit for testing. It is not that the core devs really liked the "go nvidia" recommendation. Tschak already gave pointers to the code sections in question. It would help if somebody could isolate the needed GL stuff and write a small reproducer with our needed functions.

A summary from danielk:
The X.org extensions the UI2 uses above the usual suspects are:
  XDamage
  XComposite
  XRender

The UI is rendered to an OpenGL surface and the video is rendered to
an XVideo surface, so both need to be supported with XComposite. Also,
OpenGL must support the GLX_RGBA_BIT render type; basically it needs
to support RGB buffers with an alpha channel. We don't need any alpha
for the XVideo since it's always on the bottom of the stack and has
full opacity.

XVideo must support buffers of at least 1920x1088. The 8 at the end
of 1088 is not a mistake; at least one driver for intel chips supported
"1920x1080" video frames, but this meant it couldn't play ATSC
1920x1080, video since the actual size of the video buffer is 1920x1088
due to the MPEG2 16x16 block size. XVideo also needs to respect the
dimensions of the video frame to use and the output frame in
XvShmPutImage, including negative x & y output position values (for
when the user zooms into the video) and support showing only a portion
of the input buffer (This is used, for instance, for bob deinterlacing
when the top half of the buffer is used for the even fields and the
bottom half of the buffer is used for the odd fields.) It doesn't matter
if only I420_PLANAR or YV12_PLANAR is supported for the video buffers,
but if both are advertised in the driver they should both work without
funky colors (Some ATI drivers pretend to support I420, but actually
always display the buffer as a YV12 buffer, so the U & V planes are
reversed when an application selects I420_PLANAR).

We currently use xcompmgr for the compositing, but I'm open to changing
this. What I really want, which we don't have with nvidia, is foolproof
V-Sync when using XComposite. Currently, if we turn try to enable
a video player's use of OpenGL V-Sync we actually lose V-Sync when
XComposite is in use. If we enable global V-Sync in the nVidia driver
we get a little judder when it works, and sometimes it doesn't work
at all.

Maybe we should split this off into the dev section.

best regards,
Hari