EMGD for MeeGo 1.1

[ROffe]

Hi All,

can anyone tell me when we can expect an EMGD version that runs on MeeGo 1.1 (2.6.35 + xserver 1.9)?

Thanks!

[ISHU_V_Intel]

EMGD release to support MeeGo 1.1 will be available by early Q1' 11. Hope this helps.

ishu

[JBand1]

Will it be a bunch of binaries like this one, or is there any hope for at least something like the psb drivers? There are more distributions out there, and we'd appreciate some help from Intel.

[ISHU_V_Intel]

I'm not sure that I understand your question.

Are you asking about how EMGD will be packaged i.e. bunch of binary and source files w/ an installer or a rpm package?

Or you're asking about porting EMGD to other distros that may be using different kernel/XServer than MeeGo 1.1?

ishu

[JBand1]

I'm asking when Intel will do the right thing and release decent poulsbo drivers in source form. Or even in binary form, but updated regularly like nvidia, and without bundling so many libraries in binary form, when these are open source (libgl*, libva*, etc.). The EMGD driver is one of the worst releases I've seen - binary only, and tied to a specific release of a specific distro. To be used on any other distro or release a lot of ugly hacks need to be used, worst yet than the psb driver that intel seems to have forgotten. So, when we will have an acceptable release, able to be used by other distros and versions?

[JBand1]

BTW, the installer, which runs only under windows or using wine, is intended as an insult, or just carelessness?

[ISHU_V_Intel]

The installer is only use with Linux only - its a sh script so can't be used for Windows.

By any chance, are you referring to the CED utitlty ?

[ISHU_V_Intel]

You are raising several issues so let me try to address them:

- As we've pointed out in the past, there are several IP issues that prohibit Intel from releasing the entire Poulsbo gfx driver in the source form. However, we do release several components of the driver in the source form.

- There are frequent updates to the drivers (both EMGD and IEGD) where new features are added, errata fixed etc. to support new use cases

- We validate EMGD/IEGD with several Linux distros but that doesn't preclude customres from getting them to work with other distros. Its slightly more tricky to get IEGD working with non-supported distro but its well documented in white paper at EDC and artcle at nanoant (http://www.nanoant.com/linux/compiling-kernel-iegd-10x-module-for-any-linux-distribution http://www.nanoant.com/linux/compiling-kernel-iegd-10x-module-for-any-linux-distribution).

Since there is no IKM for EMGD, the kernel module can be compiled with any other kernel. As the kernel APIs change, there may be tweaking involved to get this working for future kernels not validated by Intel but at least customers have option to choose whatever distro they want

- We're always looking for feedback to make the driver more useable and easy to use, if you can provide details your environment and what you have to do get the driver working for your environment, we can explore options on how to support it better in the future releases

hth

ishu

[JBand1]

I am speaking of the exe file one gets for download, as the single way to get the EMGD downloads without installing the whole Meego. It does have a sh script inside somewhere, after expanding the drivers in windows or using wine. It also has windows drivers, and drivers for a couple old distros.

Didn't you ever see how the drivers are packaged for downloading by customers?

[JBand1]

Nvidia also doesn't release source, but does a way better job of releasing binaries, and their drivers work on most distros out there without much work. And they don't bundle all the libs that you've bundled into EMGD (OpenGL, VAAPI, etc). Most of the patches to this (if needed) you've provided as source in the PSB drivers, why this major step back in EMGD?

Btw, I know of that article at nanoant. I've referenced to it, but it is by no means a fix all solution.

As for my environment - most of the time ubuntu, now maverick and in the future natty. Xorg 1.9, kernel 2.6.35.

For PSB, I need to fix the support for EXA_MIXED - needs some development to implement bitmaps, but I am not a programmer, and can't get it to work. I've already asked for Intel help previously, but nobody even cared to answer.

For EMGD, a friend (Lucazade) managed to get it to run by downgrading X and hacking around the kernel module. It still has a lot of problems.

If you're really interested in my use cases, check http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=10279557 this mega-thread at ubuntu forums. You'll see what I and the others have been doing to get GMA500 drivers to work.

[mwhat]

Ishu, my dear, what would you do if after buying a new car, the salesman told you that you had to change the wheels, all by yourself, no wrenches, jacks or anything fancy like that? And if you don't, then your speed would be limited to 20 km/h, and you'd only go straight, no turning. Would you sue the shop or strangle the salesman right away, or maybe both?

Let me assure you, the help requests, you so eloquently brushed away with unhelpful replies, came from real people that have been struggling with Poulsbo for a while. I also find it hard to believe that you do not know that the EMGD driver for Meego is packaged as a .exe, IEMGD_1_5_GOLD_ALL_1742.exe, to be precise. Somehow, I can appreciate the joke, but the driver should have been released on Apr 1 instead of Oct 1.

[ISHU_V_Intel]

Yes, i understand your pain. We're working to have Linux only packaging i.e. a tarball with appropriate license. Exact schedule is still being worked....

hth.

ishu

[JBand1]

Ishu,

That is a step in the right direction. Thank you very much!

[RLemo1]

Hi Ishu,

Will the new EMGD drivers for US15W provide openGL ES drivers for the linux framebuffer? We will not use X in our application so we are stuck without acceleration. The equivalent TI OMAP board does provide framebuffer acceleration.

Thanks.

[ISHU_V_Intel]

We're exploring framebuffer support but its at fairly early stage, we'll solidify the plans in next couple of months.

Obviously, framebuffer will only make sense for OS's that don't use X for display.

What OS are you using?

[RLemo1]

We are using Linux, and would be happy to use a cut down Meego release at runlevel 3 without X. Currently we are using a custom Fedora and rendering graphics with Qt on the framebuffer. We do not feel X is a suitable embedded windowing system, great for desktops and as a window server but not for our embedded device.

[JM15]

Hi,

Any news if EMGD will support QT using framebuffer support instead of X windows, ideally Open GL rendering to a framebuffer. As already mentioned these drivers are available for TI boards which also rely on the SGX gpu.