Slackware and Slackware derivatives on fit-pc2

vtailor
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Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:54 pm

Slackware and Slackware derivatives on fit-pc2

Post by vtailor »

It turns out that stock Slackware kernels run the psb_gfx driver quite well. All you have to do is figure out how to make it work. This is coming from 3.2.13-smp, but I also have a Linux partition devoted to the very latest Zenwalk distribution, with its 3.4.8 kernel.

Here are the tricks: (1) Use pcmanfm or thunar to go to /lib/modules/3*/kernel/drivers.

(2) Go to gpu/stub, and rename poulsbo.ko so that it doesn't load at all. All these years, and the poulsbo.ko module has been crashing the psb_gfx.ko module.

(3) Install the fbdev_drv.so suited to your system. In the case of RIPLinuX, fbdev_drv.so is included. In the case of Slackware 14 also known as slackware-current on the mirrors, the 'extra' directory contains a pre-compiled fbdev_drv.so that you run installpkg on. Do not run 'Xorg -configure' in vanilla slackware or absolutelinux. The basic Xorg driver will take care of this for you. Running xsetup on RIPLinuX yields an xorg.conf in /etc/X11 that needs to be edited for correct resolution and maybe for 'fbdev', rather than 'vesa'.

(4) Restart with 'video=1366x768' on the kernel command line of the grub or grub2 loader. This causes psb_gfx to construct a framebuffer with that built-in resolution and a /dev/dri that talks to mesa for direct rendering.

Those are the basics. Trying to get the full 1920x1024 resolution on the monitor means making the 1100 mhz cpu overwork, whereas the 'ondemand' frequency-ladder driver provides all kinds of entertainment as you watch it shift back and forth between 600 mhz and 1100 mhz on the Zenwalk and absolutlinux frequency meters. Someone with a 1600 mhz and two threads cpu should run this setup to verify.

This setup assumes a DVI-X monitor with an HDMI to DVI-X cord running from the fit-pc2.

You may find that google-chrome does a better job on flash videos than firefox, perferrably not in full screen. You may find that running the latest mplayer with the mplayer-plugin in the 'extra' directory gives you very good full-screen performance. As of right now, I get much better streaming video performance in Linux than in Windows 7 on the same machine. In Zenwalk, the chrome browser I installed runs the peacekeeper benchmark, complete with bouncing glass ball, baloon bombers, and rides down the river. So what if the score is ridiculously low. And, the alsa sound is very, very good.

vtailor
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Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:54 pm

Re: Slackware and Slackware derivatives on fit-pc2

Post by vtailor »

I saw the hint about poulsbo.ko in some internet forum several years ago, then forgot about it until I bought my latest fit-pc2. The 'video=1366x768' is a simplification of a hint I found on a freedesktop.org forum. I also tested and adopted psb_gfx on my Cedarview desktop, shifting back and forth between the Cedarview and the fit-pc2 to verify and simplify the kernel command line. In other words, this works on the Cedarview in almost exactly the same way, with extraneous differences caused by bios settings removed.

vtailor
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Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:54 pm

Re: Slackware and Slackware derivatives on fit-pc2

Post by vtailor »

I have one more piece of information for you: At the moment, totem seems to be the least responsive streaming video player, and recent xine is the most responsive. In fact, in RIPLinuX, which doesn't use mesa, I am getting full screen streaming video with full motion, few or no dropped frames, excellent, and full sound (xine lets you specify surround sound downmixing to analog stereo). I don't run mplayer on RIPLinuX, but mplayer on Zenwalk refuses to go full screen. (Xine may not want to unlock from the screen if you run it full screen, however. Something to do with an absence of threads.)

RIP is a nuisance to install, and its assumed kernel command line is wrong and has to be changed, but it does seem to have an advantage in running even streaming flash, full speed in non-maximized screen, vesa-like, but much better than Windows 7 in streaming flash video.

vtailor
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Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:54 pm

Re: Slackware and Slackware derivatives on fit-pc2

Post by vtailor »

One more thing. Doing something like

/sbin/modprobe drm vblankoffdelay=7

in rc.modules has a noticeable effect on graphics responsiveness on the fit-pc2. I mean that things snap into place. From what this does on a Cedarview platform, I'd say it does not completely eliminate full-screen streaking, but there is a very noticeable reduction.

Someone who knows the drm kernel module and its mates might want to do some experimenting with this on a psb_gfx system.

vtailor
Posts: 229
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:54 pm

Re: Slackware and Slackware derivatives on fit-pc2

Post by vtailor »

As long as we're at it, and I am sure this works in all forms of Linuxes:

Make sure that the bios is set on optimum default settings, even though this uses an extra 128 megabytes of ram. Put the frequency ladder of your choice on "performance". The "ondemand" frequency ladder is cute, but we are talking pulling out the stops here. Even Windows 7 has a "performance" setting, well worth using if you relish lipsync on flash. Depending on who is sending you flash video, you could get excellent part-screen, somewhat slow full-screen with lipsync, or completely garbled video; the difference reflects the generosity policy of the sender, whose policy will change with Time.

gabrielh
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Re: Slackware and Slackware derivatives on fit-pc2

Post by gabrielh »

Thank you for providing detailed guide. I think other users will find this guide useful for their needs.
Gabriel Heifets

Fit-PC2/3/IntensePC support.

vtailor
Posts: 229
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:54 pm

Re: Slackware and Slackware derivatives on fit-pc2

Post by vtailor »

I have another observation: I was running an Ivybridge desktop with the base pentium plus two threads as a television settop box with a pure HDMI connection. And, I saw the fit-pc2 style of flash streaming going on under Linux. Since this is happening with a faster cpu, it is strange that it would act exactly the same way as the base fit-pc2 when the HDMI audio channel is engaged. In fact, on this Ivybridge system, when the HDMI audio channel switches into use, the graphics blinks. Which implies that streaming flash is doing things that either switch HDMI audio (and its SPDIF cousin) on and off while running (hence clicking sound under Windows) or repeatedly engage the Linux screen saver.

I am passing this on to this forum because I think that the gma500 z510 may be more "fit" than people have been led to believe. Maybe someone can figure out what is really going on.

One more thing: "Full" resolution is a meaningless concept in the psb_gfx scheme of things. The psb_gfx works on a virtual resolution that is accepted by the monitor. As an example, my television set has a preferred resolution of 1360x766, that is 1360 not 1366, in both HDMI and VGA mode, and the 'video=1360x766' on the kernel command line (in Ivybridge) does the trick for "full" resolution. The same observation applies to Windows 7, even when the Windows 7 Intel driver keeps putting up an error message about less than optimal monitor resolution.

vtailor
Posts: 229
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:54 pm

Re: Slackware and Slackware derivatives on fit-pc2

Post by vtailor »

Suggestion for action:

The /etc/adobe/mms.cfg file in Linux has a number of settings that simply are not documented for "non administrators". It is quite possible that someone with macromedia flash administrator knowledge and experience could find the magic settings that make streaming flash video work well in Linux. There is a similar mms.cfg file in Windows which has levels of security protection on it that I have not yet learned how to overcome as a mere administrator. It could well be that there is a magic setting in this mms.cfg file that makes flash work better with a combination SPDIF-to-analog and DVI-D output.

vtailor
Posts: 229
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:54 pm

Re: Slackware and Slackware derivatives on fit-pc2

Post by vtailor »

At the moment, I am experimenting with the fit-pc2i z510 version on theory based on observations of an Ivybridge desktop with an HDMI cable to television. Specifically, the Ivybridge suddenly became much more responsive under Windows when I removed the realtek audio driver, and the OS immediately installed its own HDMI sound driver. The equivalent action on the fit-pc2i z510 is to put it in SPDIF mode by plugging in to the SPDIF and not the headphone jack and see what happens by playing with presence/absence of realtek sound driver. Since almost nothing these days in the US uses an SPDIF audio input, but there are a few SPDIF outputs on things, the trick is to get an SPDIF to analog converter to emulate an SPDIF audio device for the system. If this works, I should get a noticeable and measurable improvement in Windows 7 responsiveness, and possibly from Linux as well.

As it is, using the magic resolutions built in to the EMGD for Windows and latest Linux kernel firmware, I get tantalizing improvements in streaming flash performance. More later.

I got rid of the spdif analog converter and went back to using the headphone jack on the z510. I also experimented with the Slackware 13.37 single-cpu kernel on the theory that it was written for the z510 and its bios. I augmented the system with the very latest firefox download and the google-chrome from Absolute Linux 14 (adding chrome pam libs from the /l directory). This with the sqlite demon, hald and dbus for picture stability and interoperability of browsers gives a respectable Peacekeeper benchmark of 352. See following post for further details.

The main problem with the newest Slackwares, as with Windows 8, is that they add overhead that slows down the system.
Last edited by vtailor on Wed Nov 14, 2012 12:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

vtailor
Posts: 229
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:54 pm

Re: Slackware and Slackware derivatives on fit-pc2

Post by vtailor »

I posted information about my base fit-pc2 in the Windows 7 section of these forums.

The "magic" resolutions are as follows: 1024x600, 1280x720, and 1360x766. With these resolutions, depending on the monitor used, the psb_gfx driver (minus the poulsbo driver interference) suddenly yields really intense 3dgfx and noticeable video acceleration, even using the non-Ubuntu fbdev_drv.so graphics driver. The 1024x600 resolution was obviously designed for tablets and other netbooks, but it displays, even on a 1920x1024 dvi-d monitor. Unfortunately, there is no obvious improvement in performance at this resolution. If you have any tablet monitors handy, you might try 1024x600 yourself to compare results.

Lipsync is a function of the streaming flash server. A relatively continuous flash stream usually gives optimal lipsync. If the server is only sending, say, 50% of the Time, the lipsync begins correct at the beginning of the cycle, and slowly starts to lag. Maybe this means something.

And, of course, I posted elsewhere that the standard Realtek Windows 7 or Windows 8 sound driver works driving a pair of analog computer speakers when installed in Vista mode and set to quadrophonic rear speakers. Somehow, it doesn't seem to matter that sound is left to right under Windows. Even the Windows sounds adapt.
Last edited by vtailor on Wed Nov 14, 2012 1:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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