[Bug 20454] The use of EXA freezes my Xserver on an RV350 card.

Thu Apr 16 00:10:43 PDT 2009

http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=20454

--- Comment #36 from Simon Groot Bramel <simon at grootbramel.net>  2009-04-16 00:10:43 PST ---
And I can add a very unspecific suspicion.

Over the last days, X froze frequently as it did with the cairo-dock (no mouse
move, no shutdown possible).
This happened since I'd been using compiz 0.8.2. I think the problem described
in the last comment was (as well) caused by either compiz or X or KDE...

However, I switched back to XAA. And then I realized a very funny thing which I
quite don't get: Watching a video with kaffeine (xine output) using xshm as
output option, the CPU load had been MUCH MORE than now using xv output and
XAA.

Only with xshm and EXA I had been able to use the compositing effects on a
video window. My thought was that only xshm would use the GPU for video
decoding. This does not seem to be true, though. At least the reduced CPU load
(on xv output and XAA) indicates a better use of the ressources, doesn't it?
The video also seemed to be playing more fluently. 

I can't see the video while using alt/tab (ring switcher) and I can not zoom
into a video, but I can WATCH it with reduced CPU load more fluently and that
is what counts, isn't it?

summary:
We unfortunately do not seem to be able to log what exactly locks up the GPU
sometimes on my system. It could have been the cairo-dock, but not only that
one, cause the problem occured without the cairo-dock as well.

Of course, EXA is better for compositing and zooming into videos but in my case
stability has a higher priority.

Thank you!

And if you happen to want me to test some patches or so, just give me a hint. I
would be glad to be able to support your marvelous work with this driver, even
if I could only help a tiny tiny bit.

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