XFree86 on Linux-Mips

focusing on SGI^© Indy and Indigo²

Please send corrections, suggestions, documentation, pizza and hardware to Guido Günther (agx@sigxcpu.org).

News

Compiling from source

To Do

Known Bugs

Resolved Items/Bugs

Graphics Board Support

Mouse Problems?

What about Express Graphics?

Notes

Current Patches
Frank's 24bpp accel patch
Harware Cursor + I2 XL
Current Configs
XF86Config-4 for {Indy,I2} XL
xc/config/cf/host.def for server only builds
Current Binaries
XFee86 X-Server (2002-11-10 snapshot)

News

2003-10-23: Frank Förstemann sent in an awesome patch to accelerate the 24bpp mode on the XL. It's known to have some minor problems but have a look yourself.
2003-02-10: I'm looking for a nice logo for this page, so if you want to be creative, feel free to send one in!
2003-02-10: Information about the Indy's video capture system (VINO) is available at Ladi's site.
2002-11-11: Here's a minor update to the current newport driver fixing two hardware cursor problems (the wrong offset on newer board revisions as well as blue and red being swapped). The Patch is against XFree86 4.2.1. Binaries are here. Success reports are welcome since I'd then try to get these things into the unstable Debian packages asap.
2002-11-07: Thanks a lot to Josselin Mouette for donating a XL board for my I2.
2002-09-18: Please test the XFree86 4.2.1 debs at the X Strike Force http://people.debian.org/~branden/. The X server in these debs now contains the current bug fixes.
2002-09-18: Many thanks go to Darren Redgrave for donating a 24bpp Newport.
2002-08-05: Here's the current diff against XFree86 CVS including all the current fixes plus hardware cursor support.
2002-07-18: Jan-Hendrik Palic built experimental XFree86 4.2.0 debs which are available at http://people.debian.org/~branden/sid/mips/. The X-Server in there is lacking all the recent fixes but the libraries should be fine.
2002-07-17: I've put up a precompiled X-Server including all the current patches here. If I don't hear any complaints I'll feed things into XFree86 cvs.
2002-07-16: Resolved 24bpp startup issues. The bad news: when I plugged in my 24bpp card today the picture was very greenish(even in the prom). Since my 8bpp newport still works fine I believe it's the card that's broken. If anybody has a 24bpp newport to give away, please let me know.
2002-07-14: Resolved screensaver blanks console problem.
2002-07-13: Used a hangover day to rework this page a bit.
2002-06-13: Added example XF86Config-4.
2002-06-11: Added example host.def for server only builds.
2002-06-10: Started documenting current status of the various SGI^© graphics options. Any corrections/updates are very welcome.
2002-06-03: Thanks to Adrian Schröter <adrian@suse.de> the newport driver now also supports the Indigo2s with XL graphics. Grab the patch until the changes get merged into XFree86 CVS. Note that you'll also need at least kernel 2.4.18 since it includes some necessary newport console fixes.
2002-04-30: Corrupted pixmaps issue resolved.
2002-01-17: The GLcore & glx modules currently fail to load due to unresolved symbols leaving us completely without a working glx extension(except for the case where you build a static server). This is caused by the dlopen() style module loader linux-mips currently uses. To get rid of this kind of problems once and for all and to avoid further workarounds I decided to implement an ELF style module loader first.
2001-12-16: fix console corruption in 24bpp.
2001-11-26: the newport driver now supports 24bpp. Most of the patches are already merged into XFree86 CVS. A precompiled server can be found here. Thanks again to Erik for donating me a 24bpp newport.
2001-07-15: the dynamic loader now works using dlopen().

Compiling from source

As of 4.0.2 XFree86 contains the newport driver, so there are usually no additional patches required to get basic functionality.
Get the latest XFree86 release (current is 4.2.1) either from ftp.xfree86.org, or from any mirror. To build the server you only need the first source package (e.g. X420src-1.tgz).
If you want to stay more up to date try the XFree86 cvs code. See http://www.xfree86.org/cvs/ for details.
Edit xc/config/cf/host.def to only build the server (create it if it doesn't exist). An example host.def can be found here.
In the toplevel Makefile xc/Makefile change
```
WORLDOPTS = -k
```
to
```
WORLDOPTS =
```
to catch build errors early.
Then do:
```
cd xc; make World >& ../world-`date --iso`.log
```
to start the build process. If the build completes successfully use
```
make install >& ../install-`date --iso`.log
```
to install the binaries unless you built a static server.
If you built a static server you can skip the make install step. It's sufficient to copy the binary xc/programs/Xserver/XFree86 over to /usr/X11R6/bin/ then (don't forget to backup your old /usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86 first).

To Do

I try to work on these items as they appear in the list below. Patches welcome.

ELF style module loader
newport: Getting DMAing graphics data onto the newport to work. The documentation on this is very incomplete. If somebody has any details please let me know.
newport: proper video mode handling. Allow for 1024x768 and better refresh rates. This will require proper VC2 handling.
It turned out GIO bus probing doesn't work properly for gfx cards. So look for other possibilities to idenitify the different cards.

Known Bugs

This is a list of currently known bugs, that show when using XFree86 on linux-mips. Some of them are not bugs in XFree86 itself but are simply triggered by the X-server.

X -configure does not give you a XF86Config file. Use /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config.indy or this one as a starting point.
newport: the console gets corrupted on some boards (black screen, only cursor visible). Bad DCB timings? Will need further investigation. As a temporary solution Dominik Behr put together a patch (slightly modified by me) that restores the palette unconditionally - thanks Dominik!
I2 XL users will have to explicitly set Option "BusID" "1" in the device section of XF86Config-4, otherwise their card won't be detected.

Resolved Items / Bugs

The corrupted shared memory pixmaps were indeed a kernel problem (cache aliasing). Patch by Steve Longerbeam and Jun Sun available here. A similar fix is now included in the mainline kernel.
The X screensaver no longer blanks the console. Added missing vtSema check.
"You have to switch back and forth to the console to get the mode setup right in 24bpp" is a thing of the past. The patch additionally fixes "off by one errors" in the RefreshArea code.
xdm let 2.4.X kernels oops. The problem was xdm reading lot's of data from /dev/mem what the Indys/I2s don't like in all memory regions (throwing a bus error exception). Have a look at this thread on the debian-x list. xdm now reads from /dev/urandom.
There's currently a problem with the Render extension not displaying antialiased fonts correctly. Text only gets drawn when the window receives an additional expose event. Fixed in 4.2.99.2.

Graphics Board Support:

This is the current support of mips based SGI^© machines in XFree86:

Board Hinv Output Graphics Family Status¹ Chip seen by CPU # of GEs
Iris Indigo XZ 4000 Graphics: GR2-XZ Express Unsupported HQ2 2/4
Indy XL 8bit Graphics board: Indy 8-bit Newport Supported REX 3 0
Indy XL 24bit Graphics board: Indy 24-bit Newport Supported² REX 3 0
Indy XL {8,24}bit dual head option None - only first adaptor listed Newport? Unsupported REX 3? 0
Indigo2 XL Graphics board: XL Newport Supported² REX 3 0
Indigo2 XZ Graphics board: GR3-XZ Express Unsupported HQ 2.1 2
Indigo2 Elan Graphics board: GR3-Elan Express Unsupported HQ 2.1 4
Indigo2 Extreme Graphics board: GU1-Extreme Express Unsupported HQ 2.1 8
Indigo2 {High,Maximum,Solid} Impact Graphics board: {High,Maximum,Solid} Impact Impact Unsupported HQ 3 1
O2 Graphics: CRM Rev C Moosehead Under development³ GBE 0

Octane Graphics board: {SSI,EMXI} ImpactSR? Unsupported⁴ ??? 2

1) Supported means that the driver works and the changes got merged int XFree86 CVS already. You may still encounter the bugs mentioned above.
2) The 24bpp mode is rather slow due to missing VDMA support in X-Server & kernel.
3) The O2 has a mappable framebuffer, so as soon as the fbdev is working in the kernel X will work too. Look here for details.
4) These machines are not supported by Linux at all.

Board	Hinv Output	Graphics Family	Status¹	Chip seen by CPU	# of GEs
Iris Indigo XZ 4000	Graphics: GR2-XZ	Express	Unsupported	HQ2	2/4
Indy XL 8bit	Graphics board: Indy 8-bit	Newport	Supported	REX 3	0
Indy XL 24bit	Graphics board: Indy 24-bit	Newport	Supported²	REX 3	0
Indy XL {8,24}bit dual head option	None - only first adaptor listed	Newport?	Unsupported	REX 3?	0
Indigo2 XL	Graphics board: XL	Newport	Supported²	REX 3	0
Indigo2 XZ	Graphics board: GR3-XZ	Express	Unsupported	HQ 2.1	2
Indigo2 Elan	Graphics board: GR3-Elan	Express	Unsupported	HQ 2.1	4
Indigo2 Extreme	Graphics board: GU1-Extreme	Express	Unsupported	HQ 2.1	8
Indigo2 {High,Maximum,Solid} Impact	Graphics board: {High,Maximum,Solid} Impact	Impact	Unsupported	HQ 3	1
O2	Graphics: CRM Rev C	Moosehead	Under development³	GBE	0
Octane	Graphics board: {SSI,EMXI}	ImpactSR?	Unsupported⁴	???	2

To see your machines hinv output enter the prom and type hinv. More hinv and glxinfo output can be found at www.urban.ne.jp/home/mint/irix/hinv.html. Many more details about the various SGI^© graphics boards are at http://sgistuff.g-lenerz.de/graphics.html.

Mouse Problems?

If the start of the server fails with: "No core pointer" you're either lacking PS/2 mouse support in the kernel or /dev/psaux is missing(use MAKEDEV busmice to create it then).
If your mouse is not working properly (symptoms are jumping mouse pointer or no mouse pointer movement at all), check if you're running gpm. If so, either disable gpm or use gpm in raw repeater mode (/usr/sbin/gpm -m /dev/psaux -t ps2 -Rraw) and tell XFree86 to read the mouse events from /dev/gpmdata in XF86Config:
```
Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier	"Generic Mouse"
    Driver	"mouse"
    Option	"Protocol"	"PS/2"
    Option	"Device"	"/dev/gpmdata"
EndSection
```
You can increase the mouse acceleration with e.g. xset m 3.

What about Express Graphics?

Unfortunately I know very little about the Express Graphics Systems found in Indigo2s and Indys:

100% unsupported by XFree86 and the Linux kernel.
They use a HQ2.1 which seems to be a kind of successor of the HQ2 found in the Indigo(IP12). Most likely this is simply a HQ2 that knows about GIO64.
RE3.1 raster engine
Other chips on the board are XMAP5 (at least the Elan uses XMAP7) and VC1 attached to the HQ2.1 via a display control bus (these might be similar to the XMAP9 and VC2 on the newport).
They differ in the number of Geometry Engines GE7.

Notes

If you want help on the newport driver you can find the incomplete documentation in pdf format here.
These patches resolve endianess issues I stepped upon while trying to use a Radeon on linux-powerpc. In case someone is using XFree86 with a Radeon on a PCI based mips machine, this might be of some use too.
The Indy uses a GIO32bis bus whereas the I2 uses a GIO64 bus so graphics devices are not interchangeable between these systems.
There's no way to use two stock XL boards in the Indy for dualhead display. More details can be found on Reputable Systems.
If your Indy starts up with a resolution of 1024x768 use "setenv monitor H" in the PROM to switch to 1280x1024 (according to Bradley Bell, thanks!). This is the case when monitor autodetection fails. Some more information can be found in this newsnet posting.

Hardware I'm looking for

Here's a short list of hardware I'm looking for in order to add or improve XFree86 support. If you know somebody who sells something in the list below cheaper than on eBay please let me know:

A XZ graphics board for the Indy.
An Octane to start a port.

Last updated: 2003-02-10

XFree86 on Linux-Mips

focusing on SGI© Indy and Indigo2

Hardware I'm looking for

focusing on SGI^© Indy and Indigo²