[ltp] Explore radeon(4) features, especially mergedfb and Metamodes.

[Alex Deucher]

On 8/22/06, Stefan Schmidt <stefan@sostec.de> wrote:
> Hello.
>
> On Tue, 2006-08-22 at 11:50, Alex Deucher wrote:
> > On 8/22/06, Stefan Schmidt <stefan@sostec.de> wrote:
> > >
> > >You mean something like this?
> > >
> > >Option "MonitorLayout" "LVDS, CRT"
> >
> > yes.
>
> Fine, i'll try this in the evening.
>
>
> > >Where do i have dead spots when i just clone the same desktop in
> > >different resolutions?
> >
> > You could is you were only using one monitor. say you were using a
> > 1024x768 LCD and a 1600x1200 monitor in clone mode.  if the viewport
> > of the smaller crtc was fixed and you disconnected the larger monitor,
> > you'd have areas you couldn't see.
> >
> > >
> > >Just to clarify. I'll like to see the same desktop i see on the
> > >Laptop-Panel (1400x1050) on the second monitor. In a different
> > >resolution. Maybe 1280x1024 or even 1600x1200.
> >
> > that works now, it's just that the smaller viewport scrolls to give
> > you access to the full desktop.
>
> Ok, i got your point now. :)
>
> I'm not talking about cutting the not viewable parts. I'm talking
> about have the _full_ desktop on the LCD and a resized and _full_
> clone of this on the second monitor.

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking for.  In Clone mode both
crtcs poin ta tthe same part of the frambuffer.  Let's say you have
one crtc at 1024x768 and one at 1600x1200.  Are you asking to have a
1024x768 desktop with the image scaled up on to 1600x1200 on the
larger head, or are you asking for a 1600x1200 desktop with the image
scaled down on the smaller head?  Either way the image is going to
look crappy on one head due to the scaling; plus I'm not even sure the
RMX unit can downscale.


>
> Just like a dualhead setup, but with the chance to switch between
> dualhead and pseuso-Xinerama via randr.

you can already switch between mergedfb clone and dualhead modes with
xrandr. just define some clone metamodes along with your dualhead
metamodes.  see the radeon man page.

>
> Is this possible?
>
> > >hmm, it is possible to use an selfcompiled radeon driver inside my
> > >debian xorg installation? If i need to compile xorg from scratch and
> > >place it next to my distro installation i'll never start to hack on
> > >it.
> >
> > you definitely can, it just depends how far you want to go.  you can
> > either hack on the source to the radeon driver provided by debian, or
> > you can build the radeon driver from git assuming you installed the
> > xorg devel packages.  the only problem with the git version is that it
> > may depend on features of the server that are not available in the
> > xserver shipped with debian. As such you'd have to make sure you were
> > using a fairly recent X server package.   That said, it's not that
> > hard to play with the development xserver/libs/etc. in parallel with
> > your current install.  I build and install the current git trees in
> > /usr/local/xorg and then I add /usr/local/xorg/lib to my ld.conf and
> > make /usr/bin/X a symlink that pionts to either /usr/local/xorg/bin/X
> > or the original X server provided by my distro.  switching between
> > devel and stable is a matter of changing the sym-link.
>
> Sounds not to hard. But i need some calm for such things.
>
> > >So i've to move the dockingstation at work to the right side of my
> > >monitor. ;)
> >
> > you can switch the initial orientation in your config file.
>
> Yes, that's what i do at the moment. But this means editing a config
> file or changing symlinks before a have a suitable setting. Moving the
> dockingstation is easier. :)
>
> > >Somebody plan to make used framebuffer size for mergefb dynamic?
> >
> > yes, this will be handled by the new xrandr
>
> Fine.
>
> > >Right. I'm still a bit confused with this names.
> >
> > most radeons have 2 crtcs (display controllers).  These controllers
> > can be sourced to one or more outputs.  Most radeons have the
> > following outputs: Primary DAC, Secondary DAC, LVDS controller, TMDS
> > controller, TV-out controller, and DVO port.  The DACs provide analog
> > output to drive a standard analog monitor.  LVDS
> > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LVDS) and TMDS
> > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMDS) are two types of digital
> > signalling.  It just happens that LVDS is usually used to connect
> > laptop panels and TMDS is usually used for DVI connections.  radeons
> > (and r128s as well) have cells for both types.  The DVO port is just a
> > digital output that can be attached to and external piece of hardware
> > like another DAC or TMDS controller, or a TV-encoder.  Many radeon
> > cards use the DVO port and an external TMDS chip to provide dual DVI
> > ports.
>
> Ah, that's the way apple make dual DVI available on the powerbooks. :)
>

the powerbooks and various thinkpads and dells with a DVI port use
LVDS + internal TMDS.

> Thanks for explanation.

no problem.

Alex

>
> > >Just as above, if i only need to recompile the radeon driver and put
> > >it in the right dir, i can give it some testing.
> >
> > let me know if you have any questions.
>
> I came back to this, once i have a working setup for compile and test
> the radeon driver.
>
> regards
> Stefan Schmidt
>
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (GNU/Linux)
> Comment: http://www.datenfreihafen.org/contact.html
>
> iD8DBQFE6y0WbNSsvd31FmURAvCzAKCVIpZcPhqyEt93g9YtlGnn1QhGwQCghMMO
> coFghL4bXr70B0UzuTB72GU=
> =3K7C
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>
>
>