README revision 963d66ac
1OpenChrome Version 0.4.0 Release Note (March 30th, 2016) 2-------------------------------------------------------- 3 4OpenChrome is an open source implementation of x.org X 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). 10 Here is the project home page for OpenChrome. 11 12http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Openchrome/ 13 14Please note that VIA Technologies does not support OpenChrome in any way. 15 16 17Supported Chipsets 18------------------ 19 20- CLE266 21- KM400 / KM400A / KN400 / P4M800 22- K8M800 / K8N800 23- PM800 / PN800 / PM880 / CN333 / CN400 24- P4M800 Pro / VN800 / CN700 25- CX700 / VX700 26- P4M890 / VN890 / CN800 27- K8M890 / K8N890 28- P4M900 / VN896 / CN896 29- VX800 / VX820 30- VX855 / VX875 31- VX900 32 33 34Supported Features 35------------------ 36 37- VGA 38- DVI from an integrated TMDS transmitter (CX700, VX700, and 39 VX900 chipsets) 40- LVDS flat panel (i.e., laptop LCD flat panel) 41- EXA acceleration (RENDER acceleration) 42- Xv and XvMC 43- Dual screen (Screen clone mode only. No extended screen support at 44 this point.) 45 46 47Unproven Features 48----------------- 49 50- Standby (ACPI S1 and S3 State) resume 51- TV out 52- KMS support (Kernel Mode Setting; requires the use of VIA 53 Technologies IGP DRM module supporting KMS. See "Where to Obtain 54 OpenChrome Source Code" chapter for more details.) 55 56 57Unimplemented Features 58---------------------- 59 60- Extended screen support 61- Hardware cursor support for CLE266, KM400, KM400A, KN400, and 62 P4M800 chipsets 63- DVI via VT1632A TMDS transmitter (functionality is currently disabled) 64- DVI via Silicon Image SiI 164 TMDS transmitter 65- External HDMI transmitter (i.e., Jetway J7F5M-VHE-LF motherboard, 66 VIA Embedded EPIA-P720 motherboard, etc.) 67- DisplayPort and HDMI support for VX900 chipset (Might work with 68 the experimental DRM module that supports KMS. See "Where to Obtain 69 OpenChrome Source Code" chapter for more details.) 70 71 72What's New for OpenChrome Version 0.4.0 73--------------------------------------- 74 75OpenChrome Version 0.4.0 is a major break from the past versions where 76configuring the display resources were done manually. Now the displays 77are detected mostly automatically, although a few manual options still 78remain. These will be retired in the near future. Besides that, two 79alternative mode setting options were discontinued (VBE mode setting 80and "legacy" mode setting), in order to simplify the code. A regression 81affecting those with DVI to VGA adapter, which appeared in OpenChrome 82Version 0.3.x, is fixed. More importantly, devices that were not 83registered with a known device table (a table that is located 84internally inside the code) used to crash at boot time, but since this 85table was removed completely, this bug does not appear anymore. 86 87- Removal of VBE (VESA BIOS Extension) mode setting 88 (removal of VBEModes and VbeSaveRestore options) 89- Removal of "legacy" mode setting 90 (removal of ModeSwitchMethod option) 91- Removal of ActiveDevice option 92- Removal of ForcePanel option 93- Removal of PanelSize option 94- Removal of a known device table internally 95- Mostly automatic display detection 96- Fix for a regression affecting those with DVI to VGA adapter 97- Fix for a boot time crash for devices that were not on the known 98 device table 99- Fix for a possible OLPC XO-1.5 detection issue (untested) 100- Fix for various small compilation warnings / errors 101 102 103Known Bugs for OpenChrome Version 0.4.0 104--------------------------------------- 105 106Please note that the developers are committed to fixing every one of 107these bugs eventually, but due to time and resource issues, these bugs 108remain in the code currently. 109 110 111* The computer will fail to boot if RCA composite Video is used 112 113This was observed with the following motherboard. 114 115- VIA Embedded EPIA-M motherboard (CLE266 chipset) 116 117 118* Resume from ACPI S3 State or Suspend to RAM (STR) will cause a hang 119 120This was observed with the following motherboards. 121 122- VIA Embedded EPIA-CL motherboard (CLE266 chipset) 123- VIA Embedded EPIA-M motherboard (CLE266 chipset) 124- Foxconn 400M01-G-6L motherboard (KM400 chipset) 125- VIA Embedded EPIA-M830 motherboard (VX800 chipset) 126- Quanta IL1 laptop (VX800 chipset) 127 128 129* Resume from ACPI S3 State or Suspend to RAM (STR) will not cause 130 a hang, but LVDS flat panel screen is lost or gets messed up 131 132If VGA still works, you might still be able to partially operate the 133computer. This was observed with the following computer. 134 135- Sylvania gnet 13001 netbook (VX700 chipset) 136- Epic Learning Epic 1314 laptop (MSI VR321 laptop equivalent, 137 VN896 chipset) 138 139 140* There is no cursor on the screen in Lubuntu 10.04 141 142This bug affects CLE266, KM400, KM400A, KN400, and P4M800 chipsets. 143It is related to the lack of hardware cursor support in OpenChrome 144code for these chipsets at the present time. This bug does not affect 145Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. 146 147 148* Window title for LXTerminal is not displayed correctly in 149 Lubuntu 10.04 150 151This bug likely affects every supported chipset. 152 153 154* DVI does not work 155 156DVI coming out of VT1632A DVI transmitter chip is currently broken, 157so the code to initialize it is currently disabled. Another possibility 158is that DVI is coming out of Silicon Image SiI 164 TMDS transmitter. 159SiI 164 is not supported by OpenChrome at this time. 160 161 162* DVI and flat panel does not work simultaneously in clone mode 163 164This has been observed with Sylvania gnet 13001 netbook (i.e., laptops 165based on VIA Technologies NanoBook reference design). 166 167 168* GUI screen will crash when the screen resolution is changed via a 169 utility 170 171This bug has been observed in Lubuntu 12.04, but likely affects other 172OSes. 173 174 175How to Contact OpenChrome Developers 176------------------------------------ 177 178Please visit these OpenChrome mailing lists. 179 180http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/openchrome-users 181http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/openchrome-devel 182 183openchrome-users mailing list is meant for casual, non-technical 184users asking questions about how to use OpenChrome, etc. 185openchrome-devel mailing list is for discussing OpenChrome development 186issues. 187 188 189Where to File a Bug Report 190-------------------------- 191 192In order to file a bug report, please visit http://bugs.freedesktop.org. 193When you file the bug, file it against "xorg." When specifying the 194component, please select "Driver/openchrome." This allows a message to 195be sent to openchrome-devel mailing list, so that developers can be 196notified of the bug. 197 It is highly recommended to file the bug report over at 198http://bugs.freedesktop.org rather than sending a message to 199openchrome-devel mailing list. Also, filing a bug report against the 200Linux / BSD distribution you are using (i.e., Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, 201etc.) will likely be a waste of your time since the developers for those 202distributions do not directly work on developing OpenChrome. 203 204 205Where to Submit a Patch 206----------------------- 207 208In order to submit a patch to improve OpenChrome, please visit 209http://bugs.freedesktop.org. Open a bug report and upload the patch there. 210When you file the bug, file it against "xorg." When specifying the 211component, please select "Driver/openchrome." This allows a message to 212be sent to openchrome-devel mailing list, so that developers can be 213notified of the bug. 214 215 216Where to Obtain OpenChrome Source Code 217-------------------------------------- 218 219The OpenChrome source code repository is located at. 220 221http://cgit.freedesktop.org/openchrome/xf86-video-openchrome/ 222 223 224The experimental DRM (Direct Rendering Manager) module that supports 225KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) is located at. 226 227https://cgit.freedesktop.org/openchrome/drm-openchrome/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/via 228 229 230If You See a Bug 231---------------- 232 233If you see a bug, please don't be surprised. OpenChrome has been in 234development for more than 10 years. In that process, there were many 235different developers that wrote the code in varying ways. Due to the fact 236that OpenChrome is a unified graphics device driver that supports every 237UniChrome and Chrome9 IGP (even the VIA Technoloiges in house unified 238graphics device driver does not support the number of devices OpenChrome 239does), and UniChrome and Chrome9 IGPs tend to rely heavily on many 240different external encoders and transmitters. As a result, it is very 241difficult to get the code right for every possible configuration. 242 Starting with OpenChrome Version 0.4.0, the project is under new 243management, and moving forward, the emphasis will be on device driver 244reliability, and code maintainability. 245 246(End of this document.) 247