Arch Linux

TheRob

Member

Registered: 2011-11-01

Posts: 13

GMA500 and EMGD

Hi Everybody!

I really wanna use arch on my laptop, but last time I tried it, it didn't have support for gma500 with emgd drivers.
So I'm wondering, are there other people like me with this nasty piece of hardware and still use arch with
the latest EMGD drivers (atm 1.8) ?

I realize I could always download the lastest drivers directly from intel but I'm not gonna do that as there are
easier ways,.... I'd just very much would like to run arch on my laptop.

//Robert

Shark

Member

From: /dev/zero

Registered: 2011-02-28

Posts: 686

Re: GMA500 and EMGD

Have you tried any of these?
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php? … _Search=Go

If you don't know how to install from AUR read this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AUR
and this:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Makepkg

Also read this:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GM … 500_Driver

Last edited by Shark (2011-11-01 17:32:38)

---

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau

Registered Linux User: #559057

TheRob

Member

Registered: 2011-11-01

Posts: 13

Re: GMA500 and EMGD

First off, thx for replying!

Yeah, I've read those, very outdated

Yes, I do know how to use aur... or I tend to
use yaourt but anyways,,, that's not the problem.

The problem was that everything I found for arch
regarding this was outdated, I guess I will have to
look for another distribution after all

Anyways, thx for helping!

//Robert

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: GMA500 and EMGD

Hi TheRob,

It's not quite what you're asking for, but simply adding "psb_gfx" into the MODULES section of /etc/mkinitcpio.conf and rebuilding the kernel creates a functional driver using KMS with kernel>=3.0. It does use the xf86-video-fbdev (which will need to be installed on your system), so the performance isn't optimal. But, with modern kernel versions (kernel>=3.1), it's very usable.

TheRob

Member

Registered: 2011-11-01

Posts: 13

Re: GMA500 and EMGD

Thx for the tip man! I never even thought of that...
...however, I need the hw acceleration that emgd gives, it plays 720p almost flawlessly!

Might be worth a try tho.

//Robert

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: GMA500 and EMGD

I made an error in my post above. There's no need to rebuild the kernel, just run "mkinitcpio -p linux" as root.

I haven't tried it yet, but I was under the impression that hardware acceleration was enabled through the method that I posted using vaapi. Maybe I'll give it a spin and see how well it works through mplayer2 and vaapi.

TheRob

Member

Registered: 2011-11-01

Posts: 13

Re: GMA500 and EMGD

If this gives as good a performance as EMGD then this would be the best solution so far.

Are u on a GMA500 also?

However, I haven't yet tried the new EMGD version 1.8 driver, (only tested 1.6) so
I want to test that at least to have some reference as to which driver performs
better.

If u do test the FBDEV driver then please let me know ur results

Thx for the dialog!

//Robert

TheRob

Member

Registered: 2011-11-01

Posts: 13

Re: GMA500 and EMGD

Okey,

I got the packages from for emgd 1.8 from here: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php? … _Search=Go

I had a dialog with sl1pkn07 and he was really nice and upgraded the packages and now I have them compiled and
installed

Now I get
"module ABI major version (8) doesn't match the server's version (11)"

Tried with ignorabi, then I get a signal 11.

Now from what I understand this driver only works with xorg-server 1.9 (?), I need to somehow get the whole xorg
system to the version 1.9...... how? Is this even possible?

Am I really the only one trying to use arch with a GMA500?

TheRob

Member

Registered: 2011-11-01

Posts: 13

Re: GMA500 and EMGD

@skottish

I tried the FBDEV driver, install was easy, works with latest xorg and all that is good.
I even got somekinda acceleration....
...however, glxgears gives ~400 fps where EMGD 1.6  gave ~1400 fps...

Anyways, using this atm, until I can get xorg downgraded!

Thx for the help!

//Robert

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: GMA500 and EMGD

@skottish

I tried the FBDEV driver, install was easy, works with latest xorg and all that is good.
I even got somekinda acceleration....
...however, glxgears gives ~400 fps where EMGD 1.6  gave ~1400 fps...

Anyways, using this atm, until I can get xorg downgraded!

Thx for the help!

//Robert

You're welcome.

I was curious to see how psb_gfx would perform under load, and as you already now, things were less than optimal. Here is the video specks:

 General
Unique ID                                : 136680227411839066456456465200513826341 (0x66D3A77EC02C29D4CE8EB80DDF543E25)
Complete name                            : XII.mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 2
File size                                : 3.66 GiB
Duration                                 : 2h 13mn
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 3 919 Kbps
Encoded date                             : UTC 2011-08-02 01:26:36
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v4.9.1 ('Ich will') built on Jul 26 2011 20:39:55
Writing library                          : libebml v1.2.1 + libmatroska v1.1.1

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : MPEG Video
Format version                           : Version 2
Format profile                           : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP                    : No
Format settings, Matrix                  : Default
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG2
Codec ID/Info                            : MPEG 1 or 2 Video
Duration                                 : 2h 13mn
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 3 087 Kbps
Width                                    : 720 pixels
Height                                   : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Original display aspect ratio            : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 29.970 fps
Standard                                 : NTSC
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.298
Stream size                              : 2.88 GiB (79%)

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : DTS
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Muxing mode                              : Header stripping
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 2h 13mn
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 754 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 722 MiB (19%)

There's nothing special here. This was from the official DVD, deinterlaced through libav, and stripped of everything that I didn't need.

The video played back flawlessly at it's native resolution using fbdev. When zoomed to fit the screen, things got to be not-so-enjoyable.

*** ANYWAY ***

I've never had a need to do what you're doing, so I'm just going to throw some ideas out. There are a number of Arch repos that hold back older versions of stuff. If you haven't already, look for the "Arch Rollback Machine" or something like that. I remember that http://schlunix.org/ kept older versions of stuff too. You may be able to hold back the X stack long enough with what once was official Arch packages while Intel takes more years to actually care enough for this on Linux. It only took them something like seven years to get the 915 driver in a usable state. That means that the wait may only be three years left!