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hardware acceleration not working on Linux 
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Joined: 2016-11-19 17:34:41
Posts: 10
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Hello,

using Cool VL -nicely - on different laptops and different distributions, even with hardware acceleration -finally- setup, I still can't use hardware acceleration in Coolviewer.
And when I try to select some of the available Graphics settings, they appear as deselect the next time I open the Graphics setting.

I don't know where to look for.
I see that the GPU class is set to 2.
Also, there is more available graphical memory, but I don't know where to hardcode set it.

laptop with AMD HD2600 + ubuntu 10.04LTS LucidLynx + proprietary drivers : working
laptop with AMD HD2600 + bodhi linux 2.4 + no proprietary drivers : not working ( normal )
laptop with intel HD4400 + puppy linux ( different versions ) with intel drivers : not working


I'm sending logs that I think are intersting . I'll send other ones if needed.
can you help me ?


Attachments:
File comment: extract of startup log , and after graphics settings are changed.
coolvlviewer_logs-extract.txt [3.6 KiB]
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2016-11-19 18:25:26
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Joined: 2009-03-17 18:42:51
Posts: 5523
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Linux Open Source drivers are notably incomplete and utterly slow. Just never use them for anything 3D rendering related. Use exclusively the proprietary drivers for both ATI and NVIDIA cards.

Intel iGPUs (and in a lesser measure, AMD iGPUs) are insufficiently powerful to properly run a SL viewer: forget about using them too.

The strict minimum to run today's viewers (at moderate fps rate, and with advanced lighting model off) would be a Nvidia 8800 GT, with Nvidia proprietary drivers. ATI's HD 2600 might not even be a proper match for a 8800 GT, even though it was supposed to compete with the latter...


2016-11-19 21:29:07
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Joined: 2016-11-19 17:34:41
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I'm not expecting much. but I want to be sure to use to the best, what I currently have.
I have Hardware acceleration on, at Xorg level. But there is something not working at SL level. DO I need to tweak one the SL configuration file for graphics card ? I saw a list. An I think maybe my GPU was renamed. to AMD ofr example, and the name in the file could have been changed from ATI to AMD ?

I really want to understand why even ticking basic shaders is accepted, then removed.
I'm sure the card can at least do that.


2016-11-19 23:20:46
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Joined: 2009-03-17 18:42:51
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areca18@ wrote:
I'm not expecting much. but I want to be sure to use to the best, what I currently have.
You reported "laptop with AMD HD2600 + ubuntu 10.04LTS LucidLynx + proprietary drivers : working", so just use that configuration...

Quote:
I have Hardware acceleration on, at Xorg level. But there is something not working at SL level. DO I need to tweak one the SL configuration file for graphics card ? I saw a list. An I think maybe my GPU was renamed. to AMD ofr example, and the name in the file could have been changed from ATI to AMD ?
Your card is in the list, and even for cards not in it, the viewer runs a benchmark test and classifies the card from its results, so there is nothing needed to make the viewer recognize any particular card. Note also that this identification only really matters for the *default* settings as initialized on viewer *first* run. You may, however, always override these defaults from the Preferences floater, Graphics tab and your chosen settings will be kept until the card identification changes (which could happen if you change the driver from an Open Source one to proprietary one, for example).

Quote:
I really want to understand why even ticking basic shaders is accepted, then removed.
I'm sure the card can at least do that.
This depends on what the OpenGL *driver* advertizes as being its supported features (e.g., if it lacks shaders support, then the basic shaders will be greyed out) at run time, not on the graphics card type/model/brand.

Quote:
Also, there is more available graphical memory, but I don't know where to hardcode set it.
Under Linux, the VRAM detection is somewhat tweaky: it relies on the parsing of the /var/log/Xorg.0.log or /var/log/Xorg.1.log file (depending whether the $DISPLAY environment variable is reporting :0 or :1 respectively), in search for a ': (VideoRAM ?|Memory): (%d+) kB' regular expression (e.g.: "NVIDIA(0): Memory: 4194304 kBytes"). If your driver, for whatever reason, does not produce such a file or dumps the VRAM amount in a different way, then the detection fails.
In case the Xorg.0.log (or Xorg.1.log) file is not produced, you may trick the viewer by making up one of your own, and putting in it a string that will be recognized as a VRAM report (e.g. "HD 2600: Memory: 524288 kBytes" for 512MB VRAM).
In case the memory amount is reported differently, in an existing Xorg.0.log file (": VRAM: nnn Mb", for example), please let me know and I'll add a search for the proper string in next releases.


2016-11-20 09:06:43
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Joined: 2016-11-19 17:34:41
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Quote:
Under Linux, the VRAM detection is somewhat tweaky: it relies on the parsing of the /var/log/Xorg.0.log or /var/log/Xorg.1.log file (depending whether the $DISPLAY environment variable is reporting :0 or :1 respectively), in search for a ': (VideoRAM ?|Memory): (%d+) kB' regular expression (e.g.: "NVIDIA(0): Memory: 4194304 kBytes"). If your driver, for whatever reason, does not produce such a file or dumps the VRAM amount in a different way, then the detection fails.
In case the Xorg.0.log (or Xorg.1.log) file is not produced, you may trick the viewer by making up one of your own, and putting in it a string that will be recognized as a VRAM report (e.g. "HD 2600: Memory: 524288 kBytes" for 512MB VRAM).
In case the memory amount is reported differently, in an existing Xorg.0.log file (": VRAM: nnn Mb", for example), please let me know and I'll add a search for the proper string in next releases.


Here is what I get:

AMD / Ubuntu 10.04 with proprietary drivers
(--) PCI:*(0:1:0:0) 1002:9581:1179:ff00 ATI Technologies Inc M76 [Radeon Mobility HD 2600 Series] rev 0, Mem @ 0xd0000000/268435456, 0xfc000000/65536, I/O @ 0x00002000/256, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072

AMD/XenialPup64 no proprietary drivers
[ 48.610] (--) PCI:*(0:1:0:0) 1002:9581:1179:ff00 rev 0, Mem @ 0xd0000000/268435456, 0xfc000000/65536, I/O @ 0x00002000/256, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072

intel HD4400 GPU/XenialPup64 (not sure if the driver is correctly installed ( think not )
[ 41.232] (--) PCI:*(0:0:2:0) 8086:0a16:103c:213e rev 11, Mem @ 0xd0000000/4194304, 0xc0000000/268435456, I/O @ 0x00003000/64, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072


2016-11-20 15:40:10
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Joined: 2009-03-17 18:42:51
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These are not proper memory amount reports, but only mappable memory address ranges (for frame buffers & Co)... If that's the only info you got, it's no surprise that viewers cannot get the VRAM amount from your system. What X server are you using ??? It doesn't look like Xorg, neither XFree86.


2016-11-20 19:20:23
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Joined: 2016-11-19 17:34:41
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the X server seems like a good starting point to look at.
I'm not sure if this is sufficient info to determine which X server it is :

on puppy linux

Xorg -version

X.Org X Server 1.15.1
Release Date: 2014-04-13
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 3.2.0-37-generic i686 Ubuntu
Current Operating System: Linux puppypc26060 3.14.20 #1 SMP Wed Oct 22 22:28:14 BST 2014 i686
Kernel command line: initrd=initrd.gz pmedia=usbflash BOOT_IMAGE=vmlinuz
Build Date: 16 April 2014 01:40:08PM
xorg-server 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2 (For technical support please see http://www.ubuntu.com/support)


on puppy64 (from Xorg.0.log)
X.Org X Server 1.18.3
Release Date: 2016-04-0
[ 48.589] X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
[ 48.589] Build Operating System: Linux 3.13.0-86-generic x86_64 Ubuntu
[ 48.589] Current Operating System: Linux puppypc22548 4.6.3 #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Jun 27 19:59:25 BST 2016 x86_64
[ 48.589] Kernel command line: initrd=initrd.gz pmedia=usbflash BOOT_IMAGE=vmlinuz
[ 48.589] Build Date: 18 May 2016 01:07:07AM
[ 48.589] xorg-server 2:1.18.3-1ubuntu2.2 (For technical support please see http://www.ubuntu.com/support)


on Ubuntu 10.04 (from Xorg.0.log)
X.Org X Server 1.7.6
Release Date: 2010-03-17
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.42-37-generic i686 Ubuntu
Current Operating System: Linux computer 2.6.32-74-generic #142-Ubuntu SMP Tue Apr 28 10:02:35 UTC 2015 i686
Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-74-generic root=UUID=e0127db5-720c-4a65-8bab-b997550cc251 ro quiet splash
Build Date: 11 April 2013 01:18:49PM
xorg-server 2:1.7.6-2ubuntu7.12 (For technical support please see http://www.ubuntu.com/support)


This is the default X server shipped with the Ubuntu and Puppy. Is it a specific version for Ubuntu flavors of Ubuntu, or is it Xorg ?

xorg-server 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2
xorg-server 2:1.18.3-1ubuntu2.2


grep -i video /var/log/Xorg.0.log gives nothing
grep -i memory /var/log/Xorg.0.log gives nothing

is it the Xorg shipped with Ubuntu based distributions that is flawed ( at least for the memory analysis part) ?


2016-11-20 22:56:18
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Joined: 2009-03-17 18:42:51
Posts: 5523
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Weird... You'll have to ask your distro maker why there is no report of the video RAM in X + graphics driver output into Xorg.log...

I'll add an override environment variable (allowing to specify the amount of VRAM "manually") for such cases, in next releases.


2016-11-20 23:49:30
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Joined: 2016-11-19 17:34:41
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I'll check how the Ubuntu family deals with the video RAM in Xorg.

In the meantime, I may as well switch to a distro that does it straight out of the box.
which distro do you use, to build, and play?


2016-11-21 08:09:51
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Joined: 2009-03-17 18:42:51
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I'm currently using PCLinuxOS (Mandriva fork, itself a RedHat fork).

In the meant time (till next Cool VL Viewer release) you could also append a line to your Xorg log to work around the issue; as "root", create a new /etc/X11/xinit.d/vram_tweak file containing:
Code:
#!/bin/bash

# adjust for graphics card actual VRAM amount, in kB
mem_kb=524288
# select log file name according to X display in use
xorg_log="/var/log/Xorg.0.log"
if echo $DISPLAY | grep "1" &>/dev/null ; then
 xorg_log="/var/log/Xorg.1.log"
fi
# add a fake VRAM memory report to the Xorg log if needed
if ! grep Memory $xorg_log &>/dev/null ; then
 echo "TWEAK: Memory: $mem_kb kB" >>$xorg_log
fi
Then make that file executable and restart X.


2016-11-21 09:02:28
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