Radeon HD 3650 AGP and Trisquel 4.0
I am a member!
Hello everyone,
I downloaded the Trisquel 4.0 beta a while ago and installed it on a spare-parts machine that used an ancient integrated SiS graphics chip. It worked just fine, except in terms of rendering speed - drawing was rather slow, with a single Youtube video essentially halting the machine. This is rather a problem when you want to write OpenGL programs.
Recently, I decided to see how using a real graphics card would affect things, so I tried using a Sapphire ATi Radeon HD 3650 AGP 8x card (with 512MB of DDR2 RAM) that I happened to have lying around. Before I did, though, I tried installing the gNewSense 3.0 beta to see how it was coming along. It after installing it successfully and playing about with it for a while, I put the new card in and then tried to re-install Trisquel 4.0.
The problem is that my monitor now turns off with a "No input signal" message after selecting any option from the initial CD menu (the one with the Install/Try without changes/etc options). However, gNewSense 3.0 and Trisquel 3.0 both work fine.
I'm thinking that Trisquel 4.0 must have updated the support for ATi cards since 3.0, but the new code doesn't expect cards such as mine to be AGP. It's an unusual card, I'll admit - and, if the official Windows drivers are anything to go by, it's a rather awkward attempt to fit a PCIe-shaped peg into an AGP-shaped hole.
So, would the developers be interested in attempting to verify and fix this (possible) bug in order to increase hardware support? If so, how can I help? If not, can anyone point me in the direction of a "decent" AGP card with which to fix up this machine? "Decent" here is defined as "it's not as terrible as SiS integrated graphics and can do some OpenGL stuff."
Since I'm here, I might as well ask a related question: How well do the newest Intel integrated graphics chips (such as the Intel Integrated GMA 4500MHD) perform using Free drivers? I've been wanting to learn about shaders for a while, but currently my only options are MacOSX, Windows, or using non-free GNU/Linux drivers. I was looking into getting a new laptop anyway, so any information here would be useful.
Thanks for any responses.
I am a translator!
AFAIK the free Intel drivers are relatively current and perform well...though integrated graphics are not the best. Trisquel 4.0 includes deblobbed ATI and Nvidia drivers so 2D rendering should work, but not 3D. I don't know why your monitor won't work with Trisquel 4.0, though. Could you paste the contents of your xorg.conf file for us to see?
Have you tryed to boot with the safe option on the live CD?
Have you set your BIOS plug and play to disabled?
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Quiliro Ordóñez
593(2)340 1517 / 593(9)821 8696
Even The Troops Are Waking Up
ACTA – Un acuerdo que puede garantizar la crucificción de
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I am a member!
Hello all,
I am currently unable to access the machine mentioned since it has been moved out of the way whilst I repair another computer for my father, but to answer your questions:
Have you tryed to boot with the safe option on the live CD?
Yes, it has no effect. The screen is still blank.
Have you set your BIOS plug and play to disabled?
I have not checked this yet. I will try it when I have time.
Could you paste the contents of your xorg.conf file for us to see?
There is no xorg.conf file - the CD cannot get past the first Install/Boot for first HD screen. To clarify:
- The machine can install and run gNewSense 3.0 using the integrated SiS graphics chip.
- The machine can install and run Trisquel 3.0 using the integrated SiS graphics chip.
- The machine can install and run Trisquel 4.0 using the integrated SiS graphics chip.
- The machine can install and run gNewSense 3.0 using the AGP ATi card.
- The machine can install and run Trisquel 3.0 using the AGP ATi card.
- The machine cannot install Trisquel 4.0 using the AGP ATi card.
Since gNewSense uses older libraries than Trisquel does, I am therefore inclined to think that the problems lie with the new deblobbed ATi driver used by Trisquel 4.0 not working correctly for the AGP version of the Radeon HD 3650.
gNewSense is probably using generic display drivers for the card and thus not having any issues, whilst Trisquel is detecting that it is an ATi card, attempting to use the new, deblobbed drivers, but then floundering because the card is not using a PCIe interface as it expects.
Sadly, I am no expert at driver programming, and so I'm unlikely to be able to be of much help in terms of identifying which aspect of the ATi driver source code is causing the issue.
It is very difficult to read your email because all of it appears in one
line. I went to check on it in the forum:
http://trisquel.info/es/forum/radeon-hd-3650-agp-and-trisquel-40
There is another case where it gets to the mail with bad format but, unlike
yours, that one is not in good format in the forum:
http://trisquel.info/es/forum/problemas-con-repositorios-de-trisquel-35-64-bits
About your problem:
2010/8/14 <name at domain>
> Hello all,I am currently unable to access the machine mentioned since it
> has been moved out of the way whilst I repair another computer for my
> father, but to answer your questions: Have you tryed to boot with the safe
> option on the live CD?Yes, it has no effect. The screen is still blank. Have
> you set your BIOS plug and play to disabled?I have not checked this yet. I
> will try it when I have time. Could you paste the contents of your xorg.conf
> file for us to see?There is no xorg.conf file - the CD cannot get past the
> first Install/Boot for first HD screen. To clarify:The machine can install
> and run gNewSense 3.0 using the integrated SiS graphics chip.The machine can
> install and run Trisquel 3.0 using the integrated SiS graphics chip.The
> machine can install and run Trisquel 4.0 using the integrated SiS graphics
> chip.The machine can install and run gNewSense 3.0 using the AGP ATi
> card.The machine can install and run Trisquel 3.0 using the AGP ATi card.The
> machine cannot install Trisquel 4.0 using the AGP ATi card.Since gNewSense
> uses older libraries than Trisquel does, I am therefore inclined to think
> that the problems lie with the new deblobbed ATi driver used by Trisquel 4.0
> not working correctly for the AGP version of the Radeon HD 3650. gNewSense
> is probably using generic display drivers for the card and thus not having
> any issues, whilst Trisquel is detecting that it is an ATi card, attempting
> to use the new, deblobbed drivers, but then floundering because the card is
> not using a PCIe interface as it expects. Sadly, I am no expert at driver
> programming, and so I'm unlikely to be able to be of much help in terms of
> identifying which aspect of the ATi driver source code is causing the issue.
>
Login as a user un the console (Ctrl+Alt+F1).
Check copying the vesa configuration:
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.vesa /etc/X11/xorg.conf
and restart the desktop manager:
sudo invoke-rc.d gdm restart
Tell us if video is ok then.
--
Saludos/Greetings
Quiliro Ordóñez
593(2)340 1517 / 593(9)821 8696
Even The Troops Are Waking Up
ACTA – Un acuerdo que puede garantizar la crucificción de
internet
Estas son opiniones personales y no representan la posición de ninguna
organización.
> Login as a user un the console (Ctrl+Alt+F1).
> Check copying the vesa configuration:
> sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.vesa /etc/X11/xorg.conf
> and restart the desktop manager:
> sudo invoke-rc.d gdm restart
>
> Tell us if video is ok then.
>
>
Another possibility is to start on safe video mode with the CD.
--
Saludos/Greetings
Quiliro Ordóñez
593(2)340 1517 / 593(9)821 8696
Even The Troops Are Waking Up
ACTA – Un acuerdo que puede garantizar la crucificción de
internet
Estas son opiniones personales y no representan la posición de ninguna
organización.