5000 series card questions

[Mark Knecht]

On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 8:54 AM, Dave Witbrodt <dawitbro at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> On 04/09/2010 11:01 PM, Mark Knecht wrote:
>>
>> OK - I found a 5770-based card for a reasonable price so I've got it
>> in the machine and will work to start it up with X tomorrow.
>>
>> thanks for your guidance.
>
> Sorry I missed this thread until now.  I bought a HD 5750 card solely for
> the purpose of helping test out the "radeon" Linux driver Evergreen support.
>
> I had success with KMS (kernel mode setting) right from the appearance of
> Evergreen support in early February if I used a DVI cable.  (Using a VGA
> cable with a keyboard/video/mouse switching device cause problems with black
> screens for me on Evergreen, though the same KVM device works fine with
> earlier Radeon cards.)
>
> Be advised that I upgraded my monitor soon after buying the HD 5750, and the
> manufacturer only provided VGA and HDMI inputs on the monitor. Using the
> HDMI cable, I get a problem where a pink or purplish line appears on the
> left side of the screen as soon as the kernel KMS kicks in (way before the X
> server loads), and the onscreen display of my monitor reports 1922x1200
> (instead of the 1920x1200 resolution it is physically capable of).  This
> vertical line really does not interfere with using the Evergreen card --
> either in a fullscreen virtual terminal or in X -- but I am paranoid about
> it, and I have chosen not to leave the HD 5750 installed permanently until
> this mode setting issue gets resolved.  (I have been reinstalling my older
> HD 4850 card after each round of testing with the HD 5750.)
>
> Also, be advised that if you use userspace mode setting (UMS) instead of
> KMS, you will not be able to switch back and forth between the X server and
> the virtual terminals.  This works fine with KMS though, so if you have a
> new enough kernel, and a DVI connection to your monitor, all should be good
> for you with a new 5770.  No acceleration for games & graphics yet, but
> definitely usable.
>
>
> HTH,
> Dave W.
>

Dave,
   Thanks. Those are very good inputs. I'm using KMS on an Intel Gfx
box so I'll reacquaint myself what I did there. I'll also look at 1
monitor instead of two, DVI vs VGA adapter, etc. Good stuff.

   I tried starting X this morning for the first time and that made me
realize I probably want the radeonhd driver and not the plain radeon?
(ATI HD 5770 on the box) However the radeonhd feature list looks like
early days:

http://wiki.x.org/wiki/radeonhd%3Afeature

   I think the other thing right now is to understand exatly what
version of xorg is required, and then what kernel config options are
required to do it right. If you want to post any info about that it
would be helpful. In the meantime I just need to go do some reading
and see what the Wiki says.

Thanks,
Mark