Support for VIA EPIA M-Series

cozmic · n00b Joined: 15 Apr 2003 Posts: 1

Anyone have experience with this hardware, like usb2/firewire/gfx and audio support using gentoo?

matt2413 · n00b Joined: 12 Apr 2003 Posts: 48

^b as I'm interested in one of these too

Matt

yngwin · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 2:31 pm Post subject:

The Dutch Linux Magazine recently had a review of the Epia M9000 and wrote that it's a nice board, that there are linux drivers, but VIA seems confused about open source. (They used Alan Cox' code for their V4L driver, but didn't publish the source code.) There also is a Linux support forum.

lazarusrat · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 3:18 pm Post subject:

The audio works fine for me with Alsa, though I'm just doing cheap-speaker stereo. Can't say anything about the 5.1 type stuff.
The video is a pain. There are four different drivers available from Via. Two require kernel modules, two don't. They're all binary. The two that require kernel modules supposedly have better performance for things like mplayer or watching DVDs. The others are pretty much just enough to give you X. For the kernel module ones, you've got to compile your kernel with gcc 2.9x and manually edit the symbols in the drivers so that they match your /proc/ksysms. For the other ("slim") drivers, good luck getting them to work under Gentoo. I've yet to see a successful report of anyone doing so.
I don't know about USB 2.0 or firewire. The board has 2 USB ports on the backplane, and headers for 2 more. I believe the headered ones are 2.0, while the ones on the backplane are not, but don't quote me on that. The backplane ones work fine, I've had a joypad, an HP printer, a digital camera, and a Zaurus cradle in them without any problems. I've never hooked the USB or firewire headers up to anything.
For video, you can also use the xfree vesa driver and get sucky performance and low resolutions.
Another forum to check out is http://linitx.org.

henke · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 4:34 pm Post subject:

See this thread at the Via support forums for more info

I have an EPIA M6000. I'm not satisfied with the Linux support.

Some people are having problems with usb 2.0. Last I heard the mantainer of the ehci module is not getting any documentation from Via so there is no telling when this will be fixed. (usb 1.1 seems to work fine.)

GCC can't optimize code for the Via processors since the required documentation has not been released to the developer community.

Via supplies official binary drivers for Debian, RedHat and SuSE. I'm using the vesa graphics driver and it's pretty bad. I don't have the time right now to fiddle around with the binary driver. Of course no documentation has been released. There is a group at Via that is working on a new driver that will supposedly be open sourced. Don't know when (if? Damn I'm paranoid

) that will happen since there has been no info released for a while

To quote the Cluetrain Manifesto

henke · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2003 9:15 pm Post subject:

It seems I spoke to soon...

There is now support for the CLE266 graphics chipset in xfree CVS!

I still say Via has a communication problem since this hasn't been reported by anyone at Via yet

lazarusrat · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2003 9:37 pm Post subject:

Well, a step in the right direction at any rate.
henke, have you had a chance to try it out yet?
This appears to be the newest version of the "slim" driver (released 3/21, which is the modification date of all the files in the .zip attachment in bugzilla), with source included this time.
Guess I know what I'll be doing tonight if I have time.

henke · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2003 10:38 pm Post subject:

Nope, havn't tried it yet. I have reported it to the gentoo bugzilla though and the "bug" has been assigned

lazarusrat · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2003 1:44 am Post subject:

I just got this driver up and running.

I didn't even try the binary, I'm sure it's exactly the same as the one you can get off Via's FTP site.
To compile the driver, here's what I did:

1. Download the .zip file from http://bugs.xfree86.org/cgi-bin/bugzilla/showattachment.cgi?attach_id=80 (likely renaming the file to something.zip)
2. Unzip the file.
3. In CLEX40024a-2D_src/src is a ReleaseNote.txt. Read this file. Most of the instructions are right on for Gentoo, except that some directory names are different. Where the file says /usr/src, make it /var/tmp/portage/xfree-your-version/work
4. Begin an emerge xfree, and stop it when it gets to actually compiling the source. (If you're emerging a different version than what you've currently got installed, you should probably let the emerge finish, then do this step again to make sure the driver's version will match up with X. I don't actually know if that would be a problem or not.) This way the directory is there with the xfree source as it would be installed.
5. Copy the via-s3g directory to /var/tmp/portage/xfree-whatever-version/xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/drivers (instead of the /usr/src/programs... the ReleaseNote.txt mentions)
6. On step 7 in the instructions, I used crlf -u instead of dos2unix. There are a lot of utilities to convert DOS crlf to *nix cr, just use one. I'm not 100% sure this is even necessary, but it doesn't hurt.
7. When running the make install in step 8, there will be lots of errors about header files not being found. I'm sure there's a better way to do this, but I just copied the missing header files into the directory (/var/tmp/portage/xfree-version/xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/drivers/via-s3g).
8. Eventually, when all the missing files are taken care of, the thing will build and install itself, and you can set up your XF86Config with driver "via."

I don't have any mpegs or divxs or anything to watch to tell how that goes. Watching an avi in mplayer, my processor is at about 40-50%. This is with AGP aperture and video memory both set to 32M in the BIOS.
glxgears gives the following:
448 frames in 5.0 seconds = 89.600 FPS
344 frames in 5.0 seconds = 68.800 FPS
430 frames in 5.0 seconds = 86.000 FPS
344 frames in 5.0 seconds = 68.800 FPS
430 frames in 6.0 seconds = 71.667 FPS
430 frames in 5.0 seconds = 86.000 FPS
But if you got this board for its 3D performance, you need to do better research. :wink:

X takes about the same time to start up as it did with my nVidia (TNT2 I think), and things just look crisper to me. I haven't had much time to play around to notice any other kind of performance things. Window redraws are maybe a little slower. I don't personally care about videos or 3D that much, so I'm happy so far.
Oh, all this is at 1600x1200.

ac999 · n00b Joined: 21 Apr 2003 Posts: 1

great help, got it working.

For the include files, I've modified the Makefile and add "-I/usr/X11R6/include/X11/ -I$(SERVERSRC)/hw/xfree86 -I$(SERVERSRC)/hw/xfree86/os-support/bu
s" to the INCLUDES var.

Are`awn · n00b Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 38

Seems that xfree 4.3.0-r2 has been unmasked and is considered stabled. So I upgraded. To my surprise via epia-m castlerock support is included in this version.. so I ran xf86cfg, and I get:

lazarusrat · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2003 12:10 pm Post subject:

I upgraded to 4.3.0-r2 a couple days ago. If you build the driver from the CVS source (http://cvsweb.xfree86.org/cvsweb/xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/drivers/via/) it should work.
Did the same things I did in the post above, with the original version of the driver source (what I believe is marked 1.1 in CVS). Haven't had any problems.

ml · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 2

Hm. Care to help me out with this?
I checked out the driver from xfree86.org and placed it in /var/tmp/portage/(xfree-version)/xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/drivers/via/ .
So what do I do next? I'd really like to get this driver working..

lazarusrat · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2003 5:31 pm Post subject:

http://bugs.xfree86.org/cgi-bin/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=154 has a zip file in the second post with the first versions of the source files. It also includes a Readme.txt with build instructions. There are two or three files outside the via directory in the X source that need minor edits, that are explained in that Readme.
Assuming there haven't been earth-shattering changes in the CVS version since the original, the basic step at this point is to run 'make install'
The problem is that it's not going to find all the header files it needs. I haven't tried ac999's solution (a few posts up) but I don't see why it wouldn't work. Edit the makefile and add those directories to the list in INCLUDES = something something.
If for some reason that doesn't work, running make install will spit out a whole lot of errors. Among those are some file missing errors. Just do 'find /var/tmp/portage/xfree/version/xc -iname 'filename.h' to find each of the missing files, and copy them into the directory with all the via files.
Lather, rinse, and repeat, and eventually via_drv.o will build and stick itself with your other drivers.
Then just edit your XF86Config and change the device driver to "via".
Edit: I should point out that I'm using the first version of the source available (the source from that zip file in the bugzilla post), and not the current CVS stuff.

ml · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 2

Thanks for the quick reply :)
I managed to build it myself, somehow.
I took a makefile from one of the other drivers, replaced all other_driver.c-files to via_driver-files.
It complains about 2 unresolved externals when launching X, but it seems to work.
I'll post results when I've emerged some fancy WM. :)
Also, if anyone wants the via_drv.o I built, tell me where to upload it and I'll do so ASAP.

seemant · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2003 12:47 pm Post subject: VIA is part of xfree-4.3.0-r3

HI All,

I've added the VIA driver to xfree-4.3.0-r3

Please test and use bugzilla to report.

henke · Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2003 8:55 am Post subject:

Thanks Seemant

I havn't gotten any problems with the new driver yet.

JohnBurton · n00b Joined: 02 Sep 2002 Posts: 20 Location: UK

The latest X driver seems to work but I can't get the sound to work. How have people got the sound to work on this board?

fuzzyfelt · n00b Joined: 08 Jan 2003 Posts: 49 Location: York, UK

Has anyone had this problem?

Using the latest Xfree ebuild (xfree-4.3.0-r3), everything's great except that when I try and play a DVD with mplayer or xine X crashes with very little error messages.

spiridon · n00b Joined: 15 Jun 2003 Posts: 2

Hi,
i filed a bug: Bug 22880

lazarusrat · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2003 1:46 pm Post subject:

Can't get through to bugzilla right now.
When I had the via_drv.o that I'd built off the original XFree CVS, mplayer worked just fine. Upgrading to xfree-4.3.0-r3 did indeed start causing these errors. I had a back-up of that original driver, and reinstalled it yesterday. Mplayer works again.
So, if mplayer is important enough to you, you can follow my instructions above using the first version of the drivers available in CVS (1.1), and it should work again.
And, honestly, I'm just assuming that http://bugs.xfree86.org/cgi-bin/bugzilla/showattachment.cgi?attach_id=80 is the same as CVS 1.1.
I'll add this to the bug report as soon as I can get through.
EDIT:
Just noticed that one of the files in CVS was changed two days ago (the rest have been the same for two months), so maybe this fixes some things? Don't have Gentoo in front of me right now, does anyone know if xfree-4.3.0-r3 pulls the latest CVS or if it's using a particular version?

fuzzyfelt · n00b Joined: 08 Jan 2003 Posts: 49 Location: York, UK

Hi,
I'm pretty sure xfree-4.3.0-r3 uses a particular version.
Also I tried to build from CSV at the weekend but the build was nackered elsewhere.
So I downloaded a snapshot from xfree86, can't remember which one, and that built ok.
Mplayer works too!

Kento · n00b Joined: 06 Jun 2002 Posts: 8 Location: Philly, PA

[20:51:05] <seemant> actually if someone in here can do me a favour and mention on that thread that spyderous put xfree-4.3.99 into portage and people with via-epia stuffs in it, which will be removed from 4.3.0-r3

That's me, the sad little IRC-to-forums relayer...too bad I'm not automated

second_exodous · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2003 7:57 pm Post subject:

Has anything changed since? I run the xfree setup and can't seem to find the driver in the list of 17 possible. What driver do I select, there isn't a CLE266 in the list. On my main system I have a geforce 3 and had to edit the XF86Config, do I need to do that here? What do I exactly change in it?

Thanx,
Stan

lazarusrat · Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2003 4:44 pm Post subject:

Things are generally slowly floating toward better support, but there have been no real developments if you want "out-of-the box" solutions for Gentoo.
The name of the xfree driver is "via." Select "vesa" or something and then in the Device section of XF86Config change Driver to "via" instead.
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