Problem with radeon driver and Xorg

Question

Hoping someone can help with this problem.
I would like to try and use the open source ati driver over the proprietary fglrx driver, however when I use this driver and I try to test my Xorg configuration it enters into X without any problems (mouse cursor appears and is functional) but when I Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to exit back to the console my screen resolution is completely distorted so that I can't read anything.  I can enter commands and can only use a reboot command to get it functional again.  I do not have this problem with the fglrx driver.
I have a Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop with an ATI Mobility X1400 graphics card.
Here is my xorg.conf if it helps:
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "X.org Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
Section "Files"
RgbPath "/usr/share/X11/rgb"
ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "GLcore"
Load "dbe"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "xtrap"
Load "freetype"
Load "drm"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
HorizSync 30.0 - 130.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 100.0
EndSection
Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
### [arg]: arg optional
#Option "NoAccel" # [<bool>]
#Option "SWcursor" # [<bool>]
#Option "Dac6Bit" # [<bool>]
#Option "Dac8Bit" # [<bool>]
#Option "BusType" # [<str>]
#Option "CPPIOMode" # [<bool>]
#Option "CPusecTimeout" # <i>
#Option "AGPMode" # <i>
#Option "AGPFastWrite" # [<bool>]
#Option "AGPSize" # <i>
#Option "GARTSize" # <i>
#Option "RingSize" # <i>
#Option "BufferSize" # <i>
#Option "EnableDepthMoves" # [<bool>]
#Option "EnablePageFlip" # [<bool>]
#Option "NoBackBuffer" # [<bool>]
#Option "DMAForXv" # [<bool>]
#Option "FBTexPercent" # <i>
#Option "DepthBits" # <i>
#Option "PCIAPERSize" # <i>
#Option "AccelDFS" # [<bool>]
#Option "DDCMode" # [<bool>]
#Option "IgnoreEDID" # [<bool>]
#Option "DisplayPriority" # [<str>]
#Option "PanelSize" # [<str>]
#Option "ForceMinDotClock" # <freq>
#Option "ColorTiling" # [<bool>]
#Option "VideoKey" # <i>
#Option "RageTheatreCrystal" # <i>
#Option "RageTheatreTunerPort" # <i>
#Option "RageTheatreCompositePort" # <i>
#Option "RageTheatreSVideoPort" # <i>
#Option "TunerType" # <i>
#Option "RageTheatreMicrocPath" # <str>
#Option "RageTheatreMicrocType" # <str>
#Option "ScalerWidth" # <i>
#Option "RenderAccel" # [<bool>]
#Option "SubPixelOrder" # [<str>]
#Option "ShowCache" # [<bool>]
#Option "DynamicClocks" # [<bool>]
#Option "VGAAccess" # [<bool>]
#Option "ReverseDDC" # [<bool>]
#Option "LVDSProbePLL" # [<bool>]
#Option "AccelMethod" # <str>
#Option "DRI" # [<bool>]
#Option "ConnectorTable" # <str>
#Option "DefaultConnectorTable" # [<bool>]
#Option "DefaultTMDSPLL" # [<bool>]
#Option "TVDACLoadDetect" # [<bool>]
#Option "ForceTVOut" # [<bool>]
#Option "TVStandard" # <str>
#Option "IgnoreLidStatus" # [<bool>]
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "radeon"
VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc"
BoardName "Radeon Mobility X1400"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Option "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps" "true"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1680x1050" "1440x900" "1280x800" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "DRI"
Group "video"
Mode 0666
EndSection

Answer 1

It is very possible to have direct rendering on YOUR card (r5xx) with the radeon(ati) driver, but you need a lot of packages that are still in testing, and it is a somewhat daunting task to sort through everything.
Most importantly, you need x-server 1.5 and mesa 7.1+
The packages that you need & are newer than core/extra are (all can be had from testing, except libgl):
mesa >= 7.1
xf86-input-evdev 2.0.4
xf86-video-ati >= 6.9.0
xorg-server >= 1.4.99.906
libgl >= 7.1  ** has to be built from a with ABS/pkgbuild, because you need to add r300 & radeon dri-drivers in the configure **
I have an x1650 (rv535) and have been running the radeon driver WITH direct rendering since JULY, and the performance is very good. I can run compiz without skipping a beat (while playing WOP), 2800FPS on glxgears, and ** play video WITHOUT TEARING **!!
Please read a lot of what's going on in this forum:
http://www.phoronix.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=43 (open source ati/amd)
I hope this gives you some hope that it can be done.
Fight the good fight FOSS for ALL!
BTW, the radeon(ati) driver is better than radeonhd for our cards!!!
Last edited by Execute_Method (2008-11-19 00:19:30)