xorg-server 1.5.1 observations about performance and installation

skottish · 2008-10-12 15:14:16

I installed xorg-server 1.5.1 and after a couple of massive system wide failures, I got it running with a nVidia 8800GT using the 177.80 driver. I have a few observations to make about this build. First off, the memory usage went way down; something along the lines of 50-60MB of RAM at times! It takes up less space on the hard drive which is always useful. I also noticed a slight increase in the worlds greatest benchmark: glxgears. There's a new Mesa involved here too; that may be why.

Installing this build was a hassle. I enabled testing and upgraded the whole system just for fun, and this was the one thing that broke. And it broke badly. This is what needed to be done to make the system actually work:

The rgb path stuff in xorg.conf conflicts with the new xorg-server. More specifically, it doesn't mean anything to the new server. X failed with this option enabled:

Section "Files"
    RgbPath         "/usr/lib/X11/rgb"
EndSection

No problem, just read the logs and make a few corrections, right? If you can't type, you can't read the logs very conveniently! Both the keyboard and mouse were knocked out too. Well, only after I rebooted. It turns out that xf86-input-evdev is required to get the keyboard and mouse working. I didn't have this package installed before, so enabling testing didn't help.

With the above code removed from xorg.conf and xf86-input-evdev installed, everything is working better than ever... as far as I know.

haxit · 2008-10-12 16:05:56

Thanks for the observations. I cannot wait until arch repos release it officially and I will build it with ABS to be even faster

andre.ramaciotti · 2008-10-12 16:29:11

I've just commented that line and everything works fine, and I don't have xf86-input-evdev installed.

skottish · 2008-10-12 16:52:38

andre.ramaciotti wrote:

I've just commented that line and everything works fine, and I don't have xf86-input-evdev installed.

Wow. I got these four errors in Xorg.0.log. It must be the MS keyboard!

(WW) Warning, couldn't open module evdev
(II) UnloadModule: "evdev"
(EE) Failed to load module "evdev" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) No input driver matching `evdev'
(EE) config/hal: NewInputDeviceRequest failed
(II) config/hal: Adding input device Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000
(II) LoadModule: "evdev"

(WW) Warning, couldn't open module evdev
(II) UnloadModule: "evdev"
(EE) Failed to load module "evdev" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) No input driver matching `evdev'
(EE) config/hal: NewInputDeviceRequest failed
(II) config/hal: Adding input device Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000
(II) LoadModule: "evdev"

(WW) Warning, couldn't open module evdev
(II) UnloadModule: "evdev"
(EE) Failed to load module "evdev" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) No input driver matching `evdev'
(EE) config/hal: NewInputDeviceRequest failed
(II) config/hal: Adding input device Macintosh mouse button emulation
(II) LoadModule: "evdev"

(WW) Warning, couldn't open module evdev
(II) UnloadModule: "evdev"
(EE) Failed to load module "evdev" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) No input driver matching `evdev'
(EE) config/hal: NewInputDeviceRequest failed

Themaister · 2008-10-12 18:45:29

Built 1.5.1 today, and works pretty well here with my 8800GT card However, I also got the RgbPath error. When I commented it out, it ran just fine. However, is there simply another path I should use? And what is the effect of removing the RgbPath?

lucke · 2008-10-12 18:51:43

There's 1.5.1/1.5.2 in testing, if you're not aware of that.

skottish · 2008-10-12 19:36:13

Themaister wrote:

Built 1.5.1 today, and works pretty well here with my 8800GT card However, I also got the RgbPath error. When I commented it out, it ran just fine. However, is there simply another path I should use? And what is the effect of removing the RgbPath?

That's a very good question. My thoughts were just to remove it completely and see what happens. If something else didn't work, I probably broke it. So far things are working out alright. I haven't done anything major with 3D yet though.

babypuncher · 2008-10-13 01:25:03

Oddly enough (and kinda off topic), I had nothing but problems with it, and was --ignore'ing the updates with pacman. The biggest problem was really awful screen flicker (sis driver)

Dieter@be · 2008-10-26 11:08:31

I just tried it too. For some reason my environment (nvidia logo,compiz,tint,...) loaded *much* faster. I dont think I'm exagerating when i say it all went twice as fast. I also needed to install the evdev module because I have an external keyboard and had hotplugging on. Glxgears went from 3k fps to 3250.

Now I'll figure out how to get my dvorak layout back. For now 'setxkbmap dvorak' did the trick but my arrow keys are broken now.

UPDATE: I found http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=239092 . For now I can live without HAL and hotplugging devices, so I just added 'Option "AutoAddDevices" "off"' to my serverlayout and BAM my keyboard layout is back to what it should be. and my arrow keys work again. (I think I could remove the evdev package again if I wanted)
I also found this: http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/11357 didn't try it yet though.

Last edited by Dieter@be (2008-10-26 11:57:08)

Dieter@be · 2008-11-07 10:41:06

There is now a wiki page about the hotplogging stuff http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xor … otplugging

Arch Linux

#1 2008-10-12 15:14:16

xorg-server 1.5.1 observations about performance and installation

#2 2008-10-12 16:05:56

Re: xorg-server 1.5.1 observations about performance and installation

#3 2008-10-12 16:29:11

Re: xorg-server 1.5.1 observations about performance and installation

#4 2008-10-12 16:52:38

Re: xorg-server 1.5.1 observations about performance and installation

#5 2008-10-12 18:45:29

Re: xorg-server 1.5.1 observations about performance and installation

#6 2008-10-12 18:51:43

Re: xorg-server 1.5.1 observations about performance and installation

#7 2008-10-12 19:36:13

Re: xorg-server 1.5.1 observations about performance and installation

#8 2008-10-13 01:25:03

Re: xorg-server 1.5.1 observations about performance and installation

#9 2008-10-26 11:08:31

Re: xorg-server 1.5.1 observations about performance and installation

#10 2008-11-07 10:41:06

Re: xorg-server 1.5.1 observations about performance and installation

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