[Nix-dev] ATI unfree status

[Marc Weber]

Dear list & nixos users,

My unfinished ati unfree patch was merged - there are still some issues
which I described here:

https://github.com/NixOS/nixos/pull/39#issuecomment-9213559

quote:
  Known bugs with ati_unfree:
    - symlink (may be fixable)
      I'll give this a try later.
    - I only cared about x86_64
    - slim does not work (it hangs when calling XDisplayOpen)
      Don't ask me why.
      While it hangs I can connect by setting DISPLAY using other clients.
      So I'm fine starting wmii manually.
    - conflicts with kernel drivers for nvidia or such.
      Thus adding both to the supported driver list may cause trouble.

The symlink you have to create (to make 3d work) is this one:
usr/lib/dri/fglrx_dri.so -> /run/opengl-driver/lib/fglrx_dri.so

If you wan to give it a try - let me know about your results.

The 3d performance is *a lot* better on my system - its no possible to
play most games. With the xorg drivers I got about 0.5 frames/sec only
or such.

So yes - there is still a lot to fix - to think about and to improve and
to test.

Anyway I've been running this ati_unfree version with kernel 3.2.28
for more than a week without additional problems.

If you like give it a try - if you have trouble make sure to paste your
/var/log/X.0.log file when reporting your trouble - and consider trying 
to connect to the X manually even if you get a black screen - because X
may be up and running - and only the login screen may have failed
connecting (happens with slim)

I traced that issue and found out that XOpenDisplay in slim didn't
return. Then I didn't know how to proceed.

Anyway - enjoy - it works for me - so it might work for you, too.

So yes, the list of items above should be documented.
However I'd like to wait a couple of days and for more testers until I
provide a new patch documenting all flaws.

Marc Weber