No Device Node and .ko files for xf86-video-ati

[Chen, Simon]

Hello,

I am trying to integrate the xf86-video-ati 7.4.0 for an external AMD Radeon E8860 onto an embedded system. I have enabled the kernel configuration flag for ATI Radeon, and I have installed the xf86-video-ati successfully without any dependency errors. However, the embedded OS does not seem to use the graphics card upon start time. In the Xorg.0.log file that I've attached, the OS was able to load out a .so for the driver. However, it later complains about a missing dev/dri/card0 device node. After doing some research into how this device node gets made, it seems udev or atleast some kind of init-script is responsible for executing a modprobe in the Linux filesystem to search for driver .ko files. It extracts a device ID from this driver .ko and tries to match it with the device ID's from the external hardware detected on the board. So far it seems the OS is capable of detecting the graphics card, and this is evident when I do "$ lspci -k." After matching the device IDs, a device node is supposed to be created and associated with the driver and hardware. The OS however is missing the appropriate .ko's and the MODALIAS device ID.

My question is...is this process executed anywhere in the xf86-video-ati installation package? I've read that drivers can be implemented either as a kernel built-in or as kernel modules. In the case with the xf86-video-ati driver however, I am a bit confused as to which category it falls under. The necessity for a device node and a .ko file seems to presume that the xf86-video-ati is supposed to be modularized, and yet the installation package has no script that sets these up.

-Simon
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