README revision 1.1.1.4
1 OpenChrome Version 0.5 Release Note (July 6th, 2016) 2 ---------------------------------------------------- 3 4 OpenChrome is an open source implementation of X.Org Server 5 DDX (Device Dependent X) graphics device driver for VIA Technologies 6 UniChrome and Chrome9 IGPs. (Integrated Graphics Processor) 7 Please note that OpenChrome does not support VIA Technologies IGPs 8 that are related to Trident Microsystems (i.e., Apollo MVP4, PLE133, 9 and KLE133) or S3 Graphics (i.e., KM266). Here is the project home 10 page for OpenChrome. 11 12 http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Openchrome/ 13 14 Please note that VIA Technologies does not support OpenChrome in any way. 15 16 17 18 Supported Chipsets 19 ------------------ 20 21 - CLE266 22 - KM400 / KM400A / KN400 / P4M800 23 - K8M800 / K8N800 24 - PM800 / PN800 / PM880 / CN333 / CN400 25 - P4M800 Pro / VN800 / CN700 26 - CX700 / VX700 27 - P4M890 / VN890 / CN800 28 - K8M890 / K8N890 29 - P4M900 / VN896 / CN896 30 - VX800 / VX820 31 - VX855 / VX875 32 - VX900 33 34 35 36 Supported Features 37 ------------------ 38 39 - VGA 40 - DVI from an integrated TMDS transmitter (CX700, VX700, and 41 VX900 chipsets) 42 - DVI from VIA Technologies VT1632A TMDS transmitter 43 - LVDS flat panel (i.e., laptop LCD flat panel) 44 - EXA acceleration (RENDER acceleration) 45 - Xv and XvMC 46 - Multiple display output (i.e., RandR) 47 48 49 50 Unproven Features 51 ----------------- 52 53 - Standby (ACPI S1 and S3 State) resume 54 - TV out 55 - KMS support (Kernel Mode Setting; requires the use of VIA 56 Technologies IGP DRM module supporting KMS. See "Where to Obtain 57 OpenChrome Source Code" chapter for more details.) 58 59 60 61 Unimplemented Features 62 ---------------------- 63 64 - Hardware cursor support for CLE266, KM400, KM400A, KN400, and 65 P4M800 chipsets 66 - DVI via Silicon Image SiI 164 TMDS transmitter or Chrontel TMDS 67 transmitter 68 - LVDS via VT1631 / VT1636 LVDS transmitter 69 - External HDMI transmitter (i.e., Jetway J7F5M-VHE-LF motherboard, 70 VIA Embedded EPIA-P720 motherboard, etc.) 71 - DisplayPort and HDMI support for VX900 chipset (Might work with 72 the experimental DRM module that supports KMS. See "Where to Obtain 73 OpenChrome Source Code" chapter for more details.) 74 75 76 77 OS Support 78 ---------- 79 80 - X.Org Server Version 1.7 or later 81 (It might not work correctly if it is compiled against an older 82 X.Org Server.) 83 - Linux Version 2.6.32 or later 84 (Note: For Linux Version 4.5 or later, you may have to blacklist 85 vesafb. This is a bug that has not been fixed so far.) 86 87 88 89 What's New for OpenChrome Version 0.5 90 ------------------------------------- 91 92 Based on OpenChrome Version 0.4.0 code, OpenChrome Version 0.5 fixes 93 several bugs while adding two new features. 94 95 - Major code cleanup 96 - Removal of more manual options (BusWidth, ForcePanel, and AccelMethod) 97 - Fix for runtime screen resolution change X.Org Server crash bug 98 - Fix for CLE266 chipset not being able to function correctly if 99 "CRT + TV" option was chosen in BIOS setup 100 - Initial support for VIA Technologies VT1632A TMDS transmitter for DVI 101 - Initial support for multiple display output (i.e., RandR) 102 103 104 105 How to Contact OpenChrome Developers 106 ------------------------------------ 107 108 Please visit these OpenChrome mailing lists. 109 110 http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/openchrome-users 111 http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/openchrome-devel 112 113 openchrome-users mailing list is meant for non-technical users asking 114 questions about how to use OpenChrome, etc. openchrome-devel mailing 115 list is for discussing OpenChrome development issues. 116 117 118 119 Support for Older Versions 120 -------------------------- 121 122 As a general rule, the older version OpenChrome will not be supported 123 once a new version is out. It is sometimes useful to try out the 124 older version, in order to see if a regression has occurred, but 125 generally speaking, there will be no fixes for the older versions. 126 OpenChrome is written so that it can be compiled against X.Org Server 127 Version 1.7 or later and Linux Version 2.6.32 or later. We will likely 128 maintain this minimum platform requirement for the foreseeable future. 129 What this means is that if the user wanted to try the latest OpenChrome, 130 it can do so with an OS that was released around Year 2010. OpenChrome 131 might still compile for anything older than that, but it might not be 132 stable enough to be useful. 133 134 135 136 Where to File a Bug Report 137 -------------------------- 138 139 In order to file a bug report, please visit http://bugs.freedesktop.org. 140 When you file the bug, file it against "xorg." When specifying the 141 component, please select "Driver/openchrome." This allows a message to 142 be sent to openchrome-devel mailing list, so that developers can be 143 notified of the bug. 144 It is highly recommended to file the bug report over at 145 http://bugs.freedesktop.org rather than sending a message to 146 openchrome-devel mailing list. Also, filing a bug report against the 147 Linux / BSD distribution you are using (i.e., Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, 148 etc.) will likely be a waste of your time since the developers for those 149 distributions do not directly work on developing OpenChrome. 150 151 152 153 Where to Submit a Patch 154 ----------------------- 155 156 In order to submit a patch to improve OpenChrome, please visit 157 http://bugs.freedesktop.org. Open a bug report and upload the patch there. 158 When you file the bug, file it against "xorg." When specifying the 159 component, please select "Driver/openchrome." This allows a message to 160 be sent to openchrome-devel mailing list, so that developers can be 161 notified of the bug. 162 163 164 165 Where to Obtain OpenChrome Source Code 166 -------------------------------------- 167 168 The OpenChrome source code repository is located at. 169 170 http://cgit.freedesktop.org/openchrome/xf86-video-openchrome/ 171 172 173 The experimental DRM (Direct Rendering Manager) module that supports 174 KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) is located at. 175 176 https://cgit.freedesktop.org/openchrome/drm-openchrome/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/via 177 178 179 180 If You See a Bug 181 ---------------- 182 183 If you see a bug, please don't be surprised. OpenChrome has been in 184 development for more than 10 years. In that process, there were many 185 different developers that wrote the code in varying ways. OpenChrome 186 is a unified graphics device driver that supports 12 generations of 187 VIA Technologies IGP starting from CLE266 chipset all the way to 188 VX900 chipset. Even the VIA Technoloiges in house unified graphics 189 device driver does not support the number of devices OpenChrome does. 190 Furthermore, VIA Technologies IGPs tend to rely heavily on many 191 different kinds of external encoders and transmitters to get the 192 desired functionality. As a result, it is very difficult to get the 193 code right for every possible configuration you can think of. 194 Starting with OpenChrome Version 0.4.0, the project is under new 195 management, and moving forward, the emphasis will be on device driver 196 reliability, and code maintainability. 197 198 (End of this document.) 199
Indexes created Tue Oct 27 00:25:24 UTC 2026