Re: drm changes and updating to 12.0

On Sun, Nov 4, 2018 at 12:15 PM Niclas Zeising <zeising_at_freebsd.org> wrote:

> On 11/4/18 8:29 PM, Robert Huff wrote:
> >
> >       I have a set of older machines (e.g. AMD Phenom II, Radeon HD3300
> > gpu) which will be updated from 11.<smallnum> to 12.0 once 12 is out
> > and the initial round of bugs are squashed.
> >       One system is being done now, to allow time to catch any major
> > problems and then plan the update process.
> >       Looking at src/UPDATING, the only thing I don't understand is the
> > whole drm-kmod change.  Is there an authoritative write-up on what's
> > going on, how to choose the right drivers for my hardware, and how to
> > do this from source without forcing a fresh install?
> >
>
> We are working on better documentation for this, but the main highlights
> are:  In most cases graphics/drm-kmod should suffice, especially on
> somewhat modern hardware.  You can also install any of the drm-*-kmod
> ports directly, if you want a specific version.  In general graphics
> hardware older than from 2013 requires drm-legacy-kmod instead.
> drm-kmod will also install drm-legacy-kmod on i386.
>
> The same drivers in drm-legacy-kmod is also available in base on 12, so
> you can use the base drivers.  This is deprecated however, and not the
> case for 13-CURRENT.
>
> You can install the drivers either from pkg, if you are using the
> GENERIC kernel, or build from ports if you have a customized kernel or
> if you are tracking for instance 12-STABLE or 13-CURRENT.
>
> If you are using drm-legacy-kmod or the base driver with AMD graphics
> cards you might also need to install xf86-video-ati-legacy rather than
> xf86-video-ati.
>
> Regards
> --
> Niclas Zeising


I'm curious where 2013 comes from. I know that Intel Sandy Bridge graphics
is supported with VAAPI acceleration by drm-stable-kmod, since it i working
on the system I am using to send this message. I bought it in 2011, the
year Sandy Bridge was introduced to production products.

In general, when in doubt, I'd try drm-stable-kmod for questionable devices
and fall back to drm-legacy-kmod it it fails. If y0ou use ports, I'd build
both paskages to make it easier to recover if drm-stable-kmod fails. Also,
be sure to make the proper adjustments to /etc/rc.conf as per the package
message.
--
Kevin Oberman, Part time kid herder and retired Network Engineer
E-mail: rkoberman_at_gmail.com
PGP Fingerprint: D03FB98AFA78E3B78C1694B318AB39EF1B055683