Xorg...log shows it is defaulting to using VESA..not ati radeon

[gwalther]

The xorg log shows that there is a error (EE) just after listing all the ati radeon cards and then proceeds to use VESA.
(my card is listed)

The error message is "no such file or dir"../dev/dri/card0.

I have tried dCore trusty  on two computers, a laptop and desktop, both with radeon video cards, with same result...defaults to using VESA

Both computers will run Tinycore 4 using xorg 7.6 and Tinycore 5.0 using xorg7.7 and successfully load the radeon module.  I checked and file .../dev/dri/card0 exists in those instances.

Is it a newer version of Xorg that is used in dCore that is causing this behavior perhaps, or is it something else.  Has anyone got the radeon module to load with dCore?  Was the file.... /dev/dri/card0 created?

I download xorg-all....following the instructions in the README

[gwalther]

Answering my own issue...in Tinycore I use firmware-radeon.tcz...
Maybe it is not loaded by xorg-all in dCore?   Could firmware-radeon be in firmware-all?

[Jason W]

Ok, I see there is a discrepency in the firmware packages between Core and dCore.  Probably explains my lack of acceleration with Intel video.

WIll fix immediately.

[gwalther]

Oh your good!  Will give it a test when you are ready.

[Jason W]

Radeon seems to be in the Debian/Ubuntu package firmware-linux-nonfree.

Please test and let me know.  Other firmware packages are available separate via the Debian repo.

In that case, prebuilt firmware packages may not be necessary.  We can see if that is so.

[gwalther]

Used sce-import -r -b to get firmware-linux-nonfree...
Manually moved ..firmware-linux-nonfree to top of sceboot.lst
reboot.....no change .../dev/dri/card0...still not created ....xorg reverts to using VESA
confirmed that radeon firmware req'd was in..lib/firmware/radeon

Tried on laptop as well...same result..no go

Compared dmesg and xorg log  with non-working dcore and working tinycore:

working systems have alot of [drm] messages in dmesg...non-working dcore does not
non-working dcore xorg log shows error after listing of cards for radeon moduel
EE open /dev/dri/card0: no such file

Seems like something is missing other then firmware...agpgart..maybe
In working system dmesg contains agpgart references lines that do not show in non-working systems

[gwalther]

After a little more looking and comparing dcore to tiny core Xorg's, I think the dcore equivalent to Tinycore's ...graphics-KERNEL.tcz...(drm files)  maybe missing and/or the dri files found in the xorg-7.5-3d.tcz extension.   Going to do more looking.

[Jason W]

There is a graphics-3.16.6-tinycore package in dCore.

[gwalther]

Solved...combination of firmware and graphics-3.16.6 did the trick.  Xorg now uses radeon driver not VESA.

Suggest the README-X-Desktop.txt be modified to include note about
possible needing to download ... graphics-3.16.6 ...and video card firmware...or maybe all video related firmware should be included in xorg-all

Makes a noticeable difference

[Jason W]

I vote for video firmware to be included in xorg-all, hence it's name.  That way no one else has to try to figure out the right individual packages.

[Jason W]

Actually, it appears that firmware needs to be kernel specific.  Of course, anyone correct me if I am wrong.  In this case, I will make firmware packages with the prefix firmware-* for dCore, and ignore the Debian ones.  The Debian ones may work, but we will use the Tinycore ones to be sure.  I will get to this soon.

[curaga]

No, the firmware is hw-specific for most devices, only some wireless firmware keeps changing the format and thus depending on kernel version. Even in that wireless case, installing all the files won't harm, as they have different filenames.

[Jason W]

Ok, thanks for clearing that up.  I hardly use firmware myself so not a subject I have spent much time on. 

[gwalther]

Jason....the radeon video firmware looks like it is included in wireless.sce according to wireless.sce.lst.  The one my video card needs is /lib/firmware/radeon/R520_cp.bin...something to note.

[Jason W]

Ok, I will check it out.