doc/en/dri-howto.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE guide SYSTEM "/dtd/guide.dtd">
<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/dri-howto.xml,v 1.45 2009/12/14 21:26:40 nightmorph Exp $ -->

<guide>
<title>Hardware 3D Acceleration Guide</title>

<author title="Author">
  <mail link="dberkholz"/>
</author>
<author title="Editor">
  <mail link="peesh"/>
</author>
<author title="Editor">
  <mail link="nightmorph"/>
</author>

<abstract>
This document is a guide to getting 3D acceleration working using the DRM with
Xorg in Gentoo Linux.
</abstract>

<!-- The content of this document is licensed under the CC-BY-SA license -->
<!-- See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5 -->
<license/>

<version>2</version>
<date>2011-03-01</date>

<chapter>
<title>Introduction</title>
<section>
<title>What is hardware 3D acceleration and why do I want it?</title>
<body>

<p>
With hardware 3D acceleration, three-dimensional rendering uses the graphics
processor on your video card instead of taking up valuable CPU resources
drawing 3D images. It's also referred to as "hardware acceleration" instead of
"software acceleration" because without this 3D acceleration your CPU is forced
to draw everything itself using the Mesa software rendering libraries, which
takes up quite a bit of processing power. While Xorg typically supports 2D
hardware acceleration, it often lacks hardware 3D acceleration.
Three-dimensional hardware acceleration is valuable in situations requiring
rendering of 3D objects such as games, 3D CAD and modeling.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>How do I get hardware 3D acceleration?</title>
<body>

<p>
In many cases, both binary and open-source drivers exist. Open source drivers
are preferable since we're using Linux and open source is one of its underlying
principles. Sometimes, binary drivers are the only option, especially if your
graphics card is so new that open source drivers have not yet been written to
support its features. Binary drivers include <c>x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers</c>
for nVidia cards and <c>x11-drivers/ati-drivers</c> for AMD/ATI cards.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>What is DRI?</title>
<body>

<p>
The <uri link="http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/">Direct Rendering
Infrastructure</uri>, also known as the DRI, is a framework for allowing direct
access to graphics hardware in a safe and efficient manner. It includes changes
to the X server, to several client libraries and to the kernel. The first major
use for the DRI is to create fast OpenGL implementations.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>What is the DRM and how does it relate to regular Xorg?</title>
<body>

<p>
The DRM (Direct Rendering Manager) is an <e>enhancement</e> to Xorg that adds 3D
acceleration for cards by adding the kernel module necessary for direct
rendering.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>Purpose</title>
<body>

<p>
This guide is for people who can't get direct rendering working with just Xorg.
The DRM works for the following drivers:
</p>

<ul>
  <li>3dfx</li>
  <li>intel</li>
  <li>matrox</li>
  <li>nouveau</li>
  <li>rage128</li>
  <li>radeon</li>
  <li>mach64</li>
  <li>sis300</li>
  <li>via</li>
</ul>

<p>
See the <uri link="http://dri.freedesktop.org/">DRI homepage</uri> for more info
and documentation.
</p>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Install Xorg and configure your kernel</title>
<section>
<title>Install Xorg</title>
<body>

<p>
Please read our <uri link="/doc/en/xorg-config.xml">Xorg Configuration
Guide</uri> to get Xorg up and running.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>Configure your kernel</title>
<body>

<p>
Probe for your chipset and enable just that one.
</p>

<pre caption="Checking your AGP chipset">
# <i>emerge pciutils; lspci | grep AGP</i>
# <i>00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03)</i>
<comment>(Your output may not match the above due to different hardware.)</comment>
</pre>

<p>
If your chipset is not supported by the kernel you might have some succes by
passing <c>agp=try_unsupported</c> as a kernel parameter. This will use Intel's
generic routines for AGP support. To add this parameter, edit your bootloader
configuration file!
</p>

<p>
Most, if not all, kernels should have these options. This was configured using a
standard <c>gentoo-sources</c> kernel.
</p>

<pre caption="Configuring the kernel">
# <i>ls -l /usr/src/linux </i>
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 2007-02-14 20:12 /usr/src/linux -> linux-2.6.18-gentoo-r4
<comment>(Make sure /usr/src/linux links to your current kernel.)</comment>
# <i>cd /usr/src/linux</i>
# <i>make menuconfig</i>
</pre>

<pre caption="make menuconfig options">
Processor type and features --->
&lt;*&gt; MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) support
Device drivers --->
   Graphics support --->
   &lt;M&gt; /dev/agpgart (AGP Support) --->
      <comment>(The agpgart option is not present on 64-bit kernels; just choose your chipset support.)</comment>
      &lt;M&gt; Intel 440LX/BX/GX, I8xx and E7x05 support
      <comment>(Enable your chipset instead of the above.)</comment>
   &lt;M&gt; Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 4.1.0 and higher DRI support) --->
      &lt;M&gt; <comment>(Select your graphics card from the list)</comment>
</pre>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>Compile and install your kernel</title>
<body>

<pre caption="Compiling and installing kernel">
# <i>make &amp;&amp; make modules_install</i>
</pre>

<p>
Don't forget to set up <path>grub.conf</path> or <path>lilo.conf</path> and run
<c>/sbin/lilo</c> if you use LILO.
</p>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Configure direct rendering</title>
<section id="configure_xorg">
<title>Configure Xorg.conf</title>
<body>

<p>
Open <path>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</path> with your favorite text editor and edit
it to enable DRI and GLX.
</p>

<pre caption="xorg.conf">
...
Section "Module"
  Load "dri"
  Load "glx"
  ...
EndSection
...
Section "Device"
  Driver "radeon"
  <comment>(Replace radeon with the name of your driver.)</comment>
  ...
EndSection
...
Section "dri"
  Mode 0666
EndSection
</pre>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>Changes to modules.autoload.d</title>
<body>

<p>
You will need to add the module name that your card uses to
<path>/etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6</path> to ensure that the module is
loaded automatically when the system starts up.
</p>

<pre caption="Editing /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6">
<comment>(Change module name as required.)</comment>
intel-agp
</pre>

<note>
If you compiled <c>agpgart</c> as a module, you will also need to add it to
<path>/etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6</path>.
</note>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Test 3D acceleration</title>
<section>
<title>Reboot to the new kernel</title>
<body>

<p>
Reboot your computer to your new kernel and login as a normal user. It's time to
see if you have direct rendering and how good it is. <c>glxinfo</c> and
<c>glxgears</c> are part of the <c>mesa-progs</c> package, so make sure it is
installed before you attempt to run these commands.
</p>

<pre caption="Testing rendering">
$ <i>startx</i>
<comment>(No need to load modules for your driver or agpgart, even if you compiled them as a module.)</comment>
<comment>(They will be loaded automatically.)</comment>
$ <i>glxinfo | grep rendering</i>
direct rendering: Yes
<comment>(If it says "No", you don't have 3D acceleration.)</comment>
$ <i>glxgears</i>
<comment>(Test your frames per second (FPS) at the default size. The number should be
significantly higher than before configuring DRM. Do this while the CPU is as idle as
possible.)</comment>
</pre>

<note>
FPS may be limited by your screen's refresh rate, so keep this in mind if
<c>glxgears</c> reports only about 70-100 FPS. <c>games-fps/ut2004-demo</c> or
other 3D games are better benchmarking tools, as they give you real-world
performance results.
</note>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>Get the most out of direct rendering</title>
<body>

<p>
If you want to set more features, for performance or other reasons, check out
the <uri link="http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/FeatureMatrix">feature
matrix</uri> on the DRI web site or the <uri
link="http://dri.sourceforge.net/doc/dri_driver_features.phtml">features
listing</uri> on Sourceforge.
</p>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Troubleshooting</title>
<section>
<title>It doesn't work. I don't have rendering, and I can't tell why.</title>
<body>

<p>
Try <c>modprobe radeon</c> before you start the X server (replace <c>radeon</c>
with the name of your driver). Also, try building agpgart into the kernel
instead of as a module.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>When I startx, I get this error: "[drm] failed to load kernel module agpgart"</title>
<body>

<p>
That's because you compiled agpgart into the kernel instead of as a module.
Ignore it unless you're having problems.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>I have a Radeon, and I want TV-Out.</title>
<body>

<p>
The drivers originally developed by the <uri
link="http://gatos.sf.net">GATOS</uri> project have been merged into Xorg's
codebase. You don't need anything special for TV-Out;
<c>x11-drivers/xf86-video-ati</c> will work just fine.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>
It doesn't work. My card is so incredibly new and cool that it isn't supported
at all.
</title>
<body>

<p>
Try out the binary drivers. For AMD cards, use <c>ati-drivers</c>; a listing is
at <uri>http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx</uri>. If those
don't support it, use fbdev. It's slow, but it works.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>I have a PCI card and it doesn't work.  Help!</title>
<body>

<p>
Edit <path>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</path>. In section "Device" enable ForcePCIMode.
</p>

<pre caption="Enabling ForcePCIMode">
Option "ForcePCIMode" "True"
</pre>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>References</title>
<section>
<body>

<ol>
  <li><uri>http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=46681</uri></li>
  <li><uri>http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=29264</uri></li>
  <li><uri>http://dri.freedesktop.org/</uri></li>
  <li><uri>http://www.retinalburn.net/linux/dri_status.html</uri></li>
</ol>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>Feedback</title>
<body>

<p>
With suggestions, questions, etc., e-mail <mail link="dberkholz"/>.
</p>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>
</guide>
1	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2	<!DOCTYPE guide SYSTEM "/dtd/guide.dtd">
3	<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/dri-howto.xml,v 1.45 2009/12/14 21:26:40 nightmorph Exp $ -->
4
5	<guide>
6	<title>Hardware 3D Acceleration Guide</title>
7
8	<author title="Author">
9	<mail link="dberkholz"/>
10	</author>
11	<author title="Editor">
12	<mail link="peesh"/>
13	</author>
14	<author title="Editor">
15	<mail link="nightmorph"/>
16	</author>
17
18	<abstract>
19	This document is a guide to getting 3D acceleration working using the DRM with
20	Xorg in Gentoo Linux.
21	</abstract>
22
23	<!-- The content of this document is licensed under the CC-BY-SA license -->
24	<!-- See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5 -->
25	<license/>
26
27	<version>2</version>
28	<date>2011-03-01</date>
29
30	<chapter>
31	<title>Introduction</title>
32	<section>
33	<title>What is hardware 3D acceleration and why do I want it?</title>
34	<body>
35
36	<p>
37	With hardware 3D acceleration, three-dimensional rendering uses the graphics
38	processor on your video card instead of taking up valuable CPU resources
39	drawing 3D images. It's also referred to as "hardware acceleration" instead of
40	"software acceleration" because without this 3D acceleration your CPU is forced
41	to draw everything itself using the Mesa software rendering libraries, which
42	takes up quite a bit of processing power. While Xorg typically supports 2D
43	hardware acceleration, it often lacks hardware 3D acceleration.
44	Three-dimensional hardware acceleration is valuable in situations requiring
45	rendering of 3D objects such as games, 3D CAD and modeling.
46	</p>
47
48	</body>
49	</section>
50	<section>
51	<title>How do I get hardware 3D acceleration?</title>
52	<body>
53
54	<p>
55	In many cases, both binary and open-source drivers exist. Open source drivers
56	are preferable since we're using Linux and open source is one of its underlying
57	principles. Sometimes, binary drivers are the only option, especially if your
58	graphics card is so new that open source drivers have not yet been written to
59	support its features. Binary drivers include <c>x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers</c>
60	for nVidia cards and <c>x11-drivers/ati-drivers</c> for AMD/ATI cards.
61	</p>
62
63	</body>
64	</section>
65	<section>
66	<title>What is DRI?</title>
67	<body>
68
69	<p>
70	The <uri link="http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/">Direct Rendering
71	Infrastructure</uri>, also known as the DRI, is a framework for allowing direct
72	access to graphics hardware in a safe and efficient manner. It includes changes
73	to the X server, to several client libraries and to the kernel. The first major
74	use for the DRI is to create fast OpenGL implementations.
75	</p>
76
77	</body>
78	</section>
79	<section>
80	<title>What is the DRM and how does it relate to regular Xorg?</title>
81	<body>
82
83	<p>
84	The DRM (Direct Rendering Manager) is an <e>enhancement</e> to Xorg that adds 3D
85	acceleration for cards by adding the kernel module necessary for direct
86	rendering.
87	</p>
88
89	</body>
90	</section>
91	<section>
92	<title>Purpose</title>
93	<body>
94
95	<p>
96	This guide is for people who can't get direct rendering working with just Xorg.
97	The DRM works for the following drivers:
98	</p>
99
100	<ul>
101	<li>3dfx</li>
102	<li>intel</li>
103	<li>matrox</li>
104	<li>nouveau</li>
105	<li>rage128</li>
106	<li>radeon</li>
107	<li>mach64</li>
108	<li>sis300</li>
109	<li>via</li>
110	</ul>
111
112	<p>
113	See the <uri link="http://dri.freedesktop.org/">DRI homepage</uri> for more info
114	and documentation.
115	</p>
116
117	</body>
118	</section>
119	</chapter>
120
121	<chapter>
122	<title>Install Xorg and configure your kernel</title>
123	<section>
124	<title>Install Xorg</title>
125	<body>
126
127	<p>
128	Please read our <uri link="/doc/en/xorg-config.xml">Xorg Configuration
129	Guide</uri> to get Xorg up and running.
130	</p>
131
132	</body>
133	</section>
134	<section>
135	<title>Configure your kernel</title>
136	<body>
137
138	<p>
139	Probe for your chipset and enable just that one.
140	</p>
141
142	<pre caption="Checking your AGP chipset">
143	# <i>emerge pciutils; lspci \| grep AGP</i>
144	# <i>00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03)</i>
145	<comment>(Your output may not match the above due to different hardware.)</comment>
146	</pre>
147
148	<p>
149	If your chipset is not supported by the kernel you might have some succes by
150	passing <c>agp=try_unsupported</c> as a kernel parameter. This will use Intel's
151	generic routines for AGP support. To add this parameter, edit your bootloader
152	configuration file!
153	</p>
154
155	<p>
156	Most, if not all, kernels should have these options. This was configured using a
157	standard <c>gentoo-sources</c> kernel.
158	</p>
159
160	<pre caption="Configuring the kernel">
161	# <i>ls -l /usr/src/linux </i>
162	lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 2007-02-14 20:12 /usr/src/linux -> linux-2.6.18-gentoo-r4
163	<comment>(Make sure /usr/src/linux links to your current kernel.)</comment>
164	# <i>cd /usr/src/linux</i>
165	# <i>make menuconfig</i>
166	</pre>
167
168	<pre caption="make menuconfig options">
169	Processor type and features --->
170	<*> MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) support
171	Device drivers --->
172	Graphics support --->
173	<M> /dev/agpgart (AGP Support) --->
174	<comment>(The agpgart option is not present on 64-bit kernels; just choose your chipset support.)</comment>
175	<M> Intel 440LX/BX/GX, I8xx and E7x05 support
176	<comment>(Enable your chipset instead of the above.)</comment>
177	<M> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 4.1.0 and higher DRI support) --->
178	<M> <comment>(Select your graphics card from the list)</comment>
179	</pre>
180
181	</body>
182	</section>
183	<section>
184	<title>Compile and install your kernel</title>
185	<body>
186
187	<pre caption="Compiling and installing kernel">
188	# <i>make && make modules_install</i>
189	</pre>
190
191	<p>
192	Don't forget to set up <path>grub.conf</path> or <path>lilo.conf</path> and run
193	<c>/sbin/lilo</c> if you use LILO.
194	</p>
195
196	</body>
197	</section>
198	</chapter>
199
200	<chapter>
201	<title>Configure direct rendering</title>
202	<section id="configure_xorg">
203	<title>Configure Xorg.conf</title>
204	<body>
205
206	<p>
207	Open <path>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</path> with your favorite text editor and edit
208	it to enable DRI and GLX.
209	</p>
210
211	<pre caption="xorg.conf">
212	...
213	Section "Module"
214	Load "dri"
215	Load "glx"
216	...
217	EndSection
218	...
219	Section "Device"
220	Driver "radeon"
221	<comment>(Replace radeon with the name of your driver.)</comment>
222	...
223	EndSection
224	...
225	Section "dri"
226	Mode 0666
227	EndSection
228	</pre>
229
230	</body>
231	</section>
232	<section>
233	<title>Changes to modules.autoload.d</title>
234	<body>
235
236	<p>
237	You will need to add the module name that your card uses to
238	<path>/etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6</path> to ensure that the module is
239	loaded automatically when the system starts up.
240	</p>
241
242	<pre caption="Editing /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6">
243	<comment>(Change module name as required.)</comment>
244	intel-agp
245	</pre>
246
247	<note>
248	If you compiled <c>agpgart</c> as a module, you will also need to add it to
249	<path>/etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6</path>.
250	</note>
251
252	</body>
253	</section>
254	</chapter>
255
256	<chapter>
257	<title>Test 3D acceleration</title>
258	<section>
259	<title>Reboot to the new kernel</title>
260	<body>
261
262	<p>
263	Reboot your computer to your new kernel and login as a normal user. It's time to
264	see if you have direct rendering and how good it is. <c>glxinfo</c> and
265	<c>glxgears</c> are part of the <c>mesa-progs</c> package, so make sure it is
266	installed before you attempt to run these commands.
267	</p>
268
269	<pre caption="Testing rendering">
270	$ <i>startx</i>
271	<comment>(No need to load modules for your driver or agpgart, even if you compiled them as a module.)</comment>
272	<comment>(They will be loaded automatically.)</comment>
273	$ <i>glxinfo \| grep rendering</i>
274	direct rendering: Yes
275	<comment>(If it says "No", you don't have 3D acceleration.)</comment>
276	$ <i>glxgears</i>
277	<comment>(Test your frames per second (FPS) at the default size. The number should be
278	significantly higher than before configuring DRM. Do this while the CPU is as idle as
279	possible.)</comment>
280	</pre>
281
282	<note>
283	FPS may be limited by your screen's refresh rate, so keep this in mind if
284	<c>glxgears</c> reports only about 70-100 FPS. <c>games-fps/ut2004-demo</c> or
285	other 3D games are better benchmarking tools, as they give you real-world
286	performance results.
287	</note>
288
289	</body>
290	</section>
291	<section>
292	<title>Get the most out of direct rendering</title>
293	<body>
294
295	<p>
296	If you want to set more features, for performance or other reasons, check out
297	the <uri link="http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/FeatureMatrix">feature
298	matrix</uri> on the DRI web site or the <uri
299	link="http://dri.sourceforge.net/doc/dri_driver_features.phtml">features
300	listing</uri> on Sourceforge.
301	</p>
302
303	</body>
304	</section>
305	</chapter>
306
307	<chapter>
308	<title>Troubleshooting</title>
309	<section>
310	<title>It doesn't work. I don't have rendering, and I can't tell why.</title>
311	<body>
312
313	<p>
314	Try <c>modprobe radeon</c> before you start the X server (replace <c>radeon</c>
315	with the name of your driver). Also, try building agpgart into the kernel
316	instead of as a module.
317	</p>
318
319	</body>
320	</section>
321	<section>
322	<title>When I startx, I get this error: "[drm] failed to load kernel module agpgart"</title>
323	<body>
324
325	<p>
326	That's because you compiled agpgart into the kernel instead of as a module.
327	Ignore it unless you're having problems.
328	</p>
329
330	</body>
331	</section>
332	<section>
333	<title>I have a Radeon, and I want TV-Out.</title>
334	<body>
335
336	<p>
337	The drivers originally developed by the <uri
338	link="http://gatos.sf.net">GATOS</uri> project have been merged into Xorg's
339	codebase. You don't need anything special for TV-Out;
340	<c>x11-drivers/xf86-video-ati</c> will work just fine.
341	</p>
342
343	</body>
344	</section>
345	<section>
346	<title>
347	It doesn't work. My card is so incredibly new and cool that it isn't supported
348	at all.
349	</title>
350	<body>
351
352	<p>
353	Try out the binary drivers. For AMD cards, use <c>ati-drivers</c>; a listing is
354	at <uri>http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx</uri>. If those
355	don't support it, use fbdev. It's slow, but it works.
356	</p>
357
358	</body>
359	</section>
360	<section>
361	<title>I have a PCI card and it doesn't work. Help!</title>
362	<body>
363
364	<p>
365	Edit <path>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</path>. In section "Device" enable ForcePCIMode.
366	</p>
367
368	<pre caption="Enabling ForcePCIMode">
369	Option "ForcePCIMode" "True"
370	</pre>
371
372	</body>
373	</section>
374	</chapter>
375
376	<chapter>
377	<title>References</title>
378	<section>
379	<body>
380
381	<ol>
382	<li><uri>http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=46681</uri></li>
383	<li><uri>http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=29264</uri></li>
384	<li><uri>http://dri.freedesktop.org/</uri></li>
385	<li><uri>http://www.retinalburn.net/linux/dri_status.html</uri></li>
386	</ol>
387
388	</body>
389	</section>
390	<section>
391	<title>Feedback</title>
392	<body>
393
394	<p>
395	With suggestions, questions, etc., e-mail <mail link="dberkholz"/>.
396	</p>
397
398	</body>
399	</section>
400	</chapter>
401	</guide>