open source radeon ati driver?

[pedora]

I'm just wondering if anyone else uses hardware that must use the open source ati / radeon driver. I have a Thinkpad T41 and I seem to be able to enable 3D desktop effects but even though I can check 'composite' (plus XRender or OpenGL), I'm not sure if everything is working or enabled. I don't see windows 'bend' or anything like that.

At least, nothing crashes, though. In Ubuntu Karmic 9.10, I have to edit xorg.conf and even then, I haven't been able to enter/find a combination of xorg settings that allows me to use desktop effects without major problems. If I use XAA acceleration, it soon crashes the entire desktop system and I need a hard restart. If I use EXA, I can have effects running but it doesn't repaint properly and constantly flickers like mad.

I have some screen 'corruption' or artifacts (not sure what to call it) with 3D effects enabled checked in Fedora 12 but at least I don't get a crash that requires a power off/on. Kudos for Fedora being the only recent distro so far that allows some sort of operation of desktop effects on my old laptop.

My main reason for this post, though, is if anyone can tell me what the status is or what the general experience is using the open source radeon driver in Fedora 12. Especially for older ATI cards like the Radeon 9000 (my card). I've noticed a lot of posts regarding newer ATI proprietary drivers (fglrx) but nothing yet regarding the open source radeon driver. Does anyone have an experience to report regarding a similar configuration to mine? Just curious.

Anyway, many thanks for any input or info which would be both interesting and potentially helpful.

[BrandonD]

I use the radeon driver though I have a newer card. I cannot enable desktop effects, or at least not with OpenGL and compositing with XRender was useless (horribly slow). I have not tried wobbly windows or anything so I cannot comment on that.

I can say that the reason I am not using the fglrx driver for compiz and all that is because I could not get fullscreen video to display with acceptable quality. There was really bad screen tearing so I gave up. I'd rather have fullscreen video that a desktop cube. Especially now since I don't have TV.

[XenoPL]

@Pedora first run "glxinfo | grep -i renderer" from the console it should tell you if 3D accel is ok. For my Radeon 9550 it says "Mesa DRI R300 (RV350 4153) 20090101 x86/MMX/SSE2 TCL DRI2".
If transluency works (transparent windws while moving etc...) desktop effects are on, the cube and wobbly windows weren't enabled by default, in the past you had to check corrsponding boxes in "Enable desktop effects" window. I' got no idea how it works now, I don't use Gnome.
For KDE, it's all in "Control Center"/Desktop/All effects tab.

@BrandonD, what GPU, if it's RadeonHD 2xx0/3xx0/4xx0 you have to install mesa-experimantal drivers. IIRC it worked somehow, but some display corruption may occur here and there, this packed has"experimental " in its name after all.
R300-500 should work just fine.

[pedora]

Originally Posted by XenoPL

@Pedora first run "glxinfo | grep -i renderer" from the console it should tell you if 3D accel is ok. For my Radeon 9550 it says "Mesa DRI R300 (RV350 4153) 20090101 x86/MMX/SSE2 TCL DRI2".
If transluency works (transparent windws while moving etc...) desktop effects are on, the cube and wobbly windows weren't enabled by default, in the past you had to check corrsponding boxes in "Enable desktop effects" window. I' got no idea how it works now, I don't use Gnome.
For KDE, it's all in "Control Center"/Desktop/All effects tab.

@BrandonD, what GPU, if it's RadeonHD 2xx0/3xx0/4xx0 you have to install mesa-experimantal drivers. IIRC it worked somehow, but some display corruption may occur here and there, this packed has"experimental " in its name after all.
R300-500 should work just fine.

I am using the Live CD of Fedora 12 Beta, KDE version, i686 disc.

Here's the info:

[liveuser@localhost ~]$ glxinfo | grep -i renderer
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI R200 (RV250 4C66) 20090101  TCL DRI2

Compositing with XRender is enabled. I then ran the command you provided.

Here's a slight mod to the command in case it provides any useful info:

[liveuser@localhost ~]$ glxinfo | grep -i opengl
OpenGL vendor string: Tungsten Graphics, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI R200 (RV250 4C66) 20090101  TCL DRI2
OpenGL version string: 1.3 Mesa 7.7-devel
OpenGL extensions:

I changed the effects setting to OpenGL.

[BrandonD]

Originally Posted by XenoPL

@BrandonD, what GPU, if it's RadeonHD 2xx0/3xx0/4xx0 you have to install mesa-experimantal drivers. IIRC it worked somehow, but some display corruption may occur here and there, this packed has"experimental " in its name after all.
R300-500 should work just fine.

It is an HD4870 with the R770 chipset. I found this little article on Phoronix that seems to praise the experimental drivers you mention. I installed them but found that enabling desktop effects is still ungodly slow. I'll take a look at the wiki and see if I can fix it and I'll report back.

Brandon

UPDATE: Compositing with OpenGL is working and is quite smooth. I am having a few more artifacts that before, but they do not mess with my productivity.

[XenoPL]

Originally Posted by pedora

I am using the Live CD of Fedora 12 Beta, KDE version, i686 disc.

Here's the info:

[liveuser@localhost ~]$ glxinfo | grep -i renderer
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI R200 (RV250 4C66) 20090101  TCL DRI2

Compositing with XRender is enabled. I then ran the command you provided.

Here's a slight mod to the command in case it provides any useful info:

[liveuser@localhost ~]$ glxinfo | grep -i opengl
OpenGL vendor string: Tungsten Graphics, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI R200 (RV250 4C66) 20090101  TCL DRI2
OpenGL version string: 1.3 Mesa 7.7-devel
OpenGL extensions:

I changed the effects setting to OpenGL.

Your 3D accel is ok, now you can play with varoius plugins from "all effects tab". Just remember more effects bigger performance hit.