You are not logged in.

#1 2013-08-21 16:06:54

totokaka
Member
Registered: 2012-12-03
Posts: 26

Bootsplash on a dual-head setup without KMS?

Hello!

I have been wanting to get a bootsplash working on my system, to get a feeling of a more polished system, but sadly I'm running the catalyst drivers for decent 3D game framerate, and it doesn't support KMS. It seemed like that would have been okay, and that for example plymouth could work through a framebuffer, but sadly I have dual-head with two different resolutions(1920x1200 and 1020x1280), and I couldn't get Uvesafb/v86d to work with that. I really want to get a bootsplash and I am willing to sacrafise some time to get it working. The main goal is just to get it working, but ideally I'd like it without any resolution changing or black flicker, as it's described here.  So Plymouth is my first-pick, as it looks "best".

So far I have tried Splashy, FBsplash and Plymouth, with different degrees of success:
FBsplash:
    Miscsplashutils(dependency) didn't build because freetype had been built without static linking(I don't know anything about this). I got it working with something I found in the comments though.
    But then FBsplash wouldn't build. And I gave it up.
Splashy:
    Installation worked(splashy-full) after I modified the PKGBUILD with some automake patches so it should work with automake 1.14. But when I booted it the screen was just flickering black
Plymouth:
    I got it installing, can't remeber if I needed some patches. And it worked, although only with a text-bootsplash. I also installed a framebuffer(Uvesafb/v86d) but that didn't work properly.
    The Plymouth loading anymation(spinfinity) continued into gdm.

I am willing to retry everything and clearify what doesn't work, and why.
Thanks to anyone who can help!

Last edited by totokaka (2013-08-21 16:21:23)

Offline

#2 2013-08-21 17:12:15

maroid
Member
Registered: 2013-05-11
Posts: 14

Re: Bootsplash on a dual-head setup without KMS?

Soon i'll get some time to investigate this topic, too. Im curious: How do other distros solve this? Of course, Ubuntu has its own exclusive solution again, but do you know what about other distros where you are free to install catalyst?

Offline

#3 2013-08-21 17:30:09

totokaka
Member
Registered: 2012-12-03
Posts: 26

Re: Bootsplash on a dual-head setup without KMS?

Great! I would love to have more people also looking into this.
I hope we find a solution

Offline

#4 2013-08-22 15:37:51

totokaka
Member
Registered: 2012-12-03
Posts: 26

Re: Bootsplash on a dual-head setup without KMS?

I asked this question on the plymouth mailing list, and I'm hoping for answers!

Offline

#5 2013-08-22 19:20:37

totokaka
Member
Registered: 2012-12-03
Posts: 26

Re: Bootsplash on a dual-head setup without KMS?

So I've been trying to get some development on this, and used most of the day to get uvesafb working.
It is working quite good, but I don't get the native resolution of the screen(1920x1200), I only get 1600x1200.
And my secound monitor is disabled, I suspect it's because the computer sends a resolution to big to both the screens, but it's really a a feature for me, as the terminal would be sideways on the secound monitor anyways.
During my testing I also came to a new idea: Have the framebuffer, X and GDM originally only start the main monitor, and then leave it up to gnome to enable it. that way I would only get the flicker between GDM and gnome-shell, which I will get anyway, because it seems like everything ignores X's rotation of the screens, or at least doesnt support sideways. However I didn't find a way to get this working, any ideas?

EDIT; My card is an HD6790, and as far as I can understand the GPU's bios is sending supported modes to uvesafb?

Last edited by totokaka (2013-08-22 19:22:52)

Offline

#6 2013-08-22 20:31:14

maroid
Member
Registered: 2013-05-11
Posts: 14

Re: Bootsplash on a dual-head setup without KMS?

wrong thread, sorry ^^

Last edited by maroid (2013-08-22 20:32:00)

Offline

#7 2013-08-23 14:34:11

totokaka
Member
Registered: 2012-12-03
Posts: 26

Re: Bootsplash on a dual-head setup without KMS?

I talked to halfline on #plymouth at freenode and he said this:
<halfline> you're kind of screwed
<halfline>  /dev/fb doesn't support dual head
<halfline> so you need kms
<halfline> it will of course clone across them
<halfline> but you're stuck with non-native resolutions then

So here is a list of my ideas to get this work:
1. Fake KMS. basically some kernel module or something that just answers KMS requests with a predefined solution
2. Only have one monitor during startup. the other could be enabled through the DM, or something
3. Find some other framebuffer. Idk if this exists.

Last edited by totokaka (2013-08-23 14:37:53)

Offline

#8 2013-09-07 07:42:42

totokaka
Member
Registered: 2012-12-03
Posts: 26

Re: Bootsplash on a dual-head setup without KMS?

Am I really the only one wanting to get this working?
I would be very happy if someone had an idea

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB