README revision 1a337bac
1OpenChrome Version 0.5 Release Note (July 6th, 2016) 2---------------------------------------------------- 3 4OpenChrome is an open source implementation of X.Org Server 5DDX (Device Dependent X) graphics device driver for VIA Technologies 6UniChrome and Chrome9 IGPs. (Integrated Graphics Processor) 7Please note that OpenChrome does not support VIA Technologies IGPs 8that are related to Trident Microsystems (i.e., Apollo MVP4, PLE133, 9and KLE133) or S3 Graphics (i.e., KM266). Here is the project home 10page for OpenChrome. 11 12http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Openchrome/ 13 14Please note that VIA Technologies does not support OpenChrome in any way. 15 16 17 18Supported 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 36Supported 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 50Unproven 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 61Unimplemented 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 77OS 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 89What's New for OpenChrome Version 0.5 90------------------------------------- 91 92Based on OpenChrome Version 0.4.0 code, OpenChrome Version 0.5 fixes 93several 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 105How to Contact OpenChrome Developers 106------------------------------------ 107 108Please visit these OpenChrome mailing lists. 109 110http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/openchrome-users 111http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/openchrome-devel 112 113openchrome-users mailing list is meant for non-technical users asking 114questions about how to use OpenChrome, etc. openchrome-devel mailing 115list is for discussing OpenChrome development issues. 116 117 118 119Support for Older Versions 120-------------------------- 121 122As a general rule, the older version OpenChrome will not be supported 123once a new version is out. It is sometimes useful to try out the 124older version, in order to see if a regression has occurred, but 125generally speaking, there will be no fixes for the older versions. 126OpenChrome is written so that it can be compiled against X.Org Server 127Version 1.7 or later and Linux Version 2.6.32 or later. We will likely 128maintain this minimum platform requirement for the foreseeable future. 129What this means is that if the user wanted to try the latest OpenChrome, 130it can do so with an OS that was released around Year 2010. OpenChrome 131might still compile for anything older than that, but it might not be 132stable enough to be useful. 133 134 135 136Where to File a Bug Report 137-------------------------- 138 139In order to file a bug report, please visit http://bugs.freedesktop.org. 140When you file the bug, file it against "xorg." When specifying the 141component, please select "Driver/openchrome." This allows a message to 142be sent to openchrome-devel mailing list, so that developers can be 143notified of the bug. 144 It is highly recommended to file the bug report over at 145http://bugs.freedesktop.org rather than sending a message to 146openchrome-devel mailing list. Also, filing a bug report against the 147Linux / BSD distribution you are using (i.e., Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, 148etc.) will likely be a waste of your time since the developers for those 149distributions do not directly work on developing OpenChrome. 150 151 152 153Where to Submit a Patch 154----------------------- 155 156In order to submit a patch to improve OpenChrome, please visit 157http://bugs.freedesktop.org. Open a bug report and upload the patch there. 158When you file the bug, file it against "xorg." When specifying the 159component, please select "Driver/openchrome." This allows a message to 160be sent to openchrome-devel mailing list, so that developers can be 161notified of the bug. 162 163 164 165Where to Obtain OpenChrome Source Code 166-------------------------------------- 167 168The OpenChrome source code repository is located at. 169 170http://cgit.freedesktop.org/openchrome/xf86-video-openchrome/ 171 172 173The experimental DRM (Direct Rendering Manager) module that supports 174KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) is located at. 175 176https://cgit.freedesktop.org/openchrome/drm-openchrome/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/via 177 178 179 180If You See a Bug 181---------------- 182 183If you see a bug, please don't be surprised. OpenChrome has been in 184development for more than 10 years. In that process, there were many 185different developers that wrote the code in varying ways. OpenChrome 186is a unified graphics device driver that supports 12 generations of 187VIA Technologies IGP starting from CLE266 chipset all the way to 188VX900 chipset. Even the VIA Technoloiges in house unified graphics 189device driver does not support the number of devices OpenChrome does. 190Furthermore, VIA Technologies IGPs tend to rely heavily on many 191different kinds of external encoders and transmitters to get the 192desired functionality. As a result, it is very difficult to get the 193code right for every possible configuration you can think of. 194 Starting with OpenChrome Version 0.4.0, the project is under new 195management, and moving forward, the emphasis will be on device driver 196reliability, and code maintainability. 197 198(End of this document.) 199