[Openchrome-devel] [ANNOUNCE] OpenChrome Version 0.5 RC2 released

[Kevin Brace]

Hi everyone,

I just did a few more commits, and I feel like the code quality is good enough to the point where it can be called an RC (Release Candidate).
I am announcing the release of OpenChrome Version 0.5 RC2 (Release Candidate 2) or Version 0.4.901.
The reason why this version is not called RC1 and instead it is called RC2 is due to a mishap back in early April 2016 where I tried to release a new version 2 weeks after the release of Version 0.4.0, but I uncovered several severe bugs after I bumped up the version to Version 0.4.900 (The patch level being 900 is the way x.org wants developers to designate a release candidate.), so I had to quickly undo the version bump.
It took me another two more months to figure out the serious bugs previous versions left behind, and thanks to the fixes made, I feel like OpenChrome Version 0.5 RC2 is definitely more stable than Version 0.3.3 or Version 0.4.0.
Anyway, these are the new features added to OpenChrome Version 0.5 RC2 compared to Version 0.4.0.

- Initial support for VT1632(A) TMDS transmitter (i.e., DVI support)
- Initial support for use of more than one monitor (i.e., RandR)


These are the bugs that were fixed completely or is less severe in OpenChrome Version 0.5 RC2 compared to Version 0.4.0.

- Changing the screen resolution during runtime will crash the X Server
- CLE266 chipset will not function correctly if "CRT + TV" option was choosen in BIOS setup 
  (observed with VIA Embedded EPIA-M mainboard)
- xf86InitFBManager implicit compilation warning
- VX800 chipset now resumes from ACPI S3 State correctly if only VGA is used
  (this fix does not solve the resume bug if Xubuntu 14.04 is used)
- Some improvement in ACPI S3 State resume behavior for P4M900 / VN896 / CN896 chipsets when LVDS FP (Flat Panel) is being used
  (this fix is not perfect and the solution to fully solve this bug is still being investigated)


If VIA Technologies IGP users out there can test the code during the RC state before the official release, that will be very helpful for those who will never compile the X Server DDX code from the OpenChrome Git repository (i.e, 99% of Linux / BSD users).
Since this is in an RC state, there will not be any further major code changes other than to fix a severe regression that happened between Version 0.5 RC2 and Version 0.4.0.
    For those who want to test the code, this e-mail I sent to the mailing list back in February 2016 is very helpful.

https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/openchrome-users/2016-February/007237.html

Please note that if you are using Ubuntu / Xubuntu / Lubuntu 14.04.4 LTS or later version, please be advised that following the instructions above can wreck your OS installation.
If you are not sure, please contact me, and I can give you special instructions on how to install the compiled device driver in that particular environment (14.04.4 or later).
    Also, if you are using Linux 4.5 or above, there is a bug with VESA frame buffer device driver claiming the VIA Technologies IGP frame buffer before OpenChrome can, and this leads to the X Server refusing to start (i.e., no GUI).
If you see this, please blacklist VESA frame buffer device driver.
This bug has been reported to Linux kernel developers, but I have not received a reply from them so far.
    Anyway, I hope OpenChrome Version 0.5 RC2 works better than previous versions, and I hope to officially release it as Version 0.5 shortly.
For OpenChrome Version 0.5 RC2 feedback, please send it over to openchrome-users at lists.freedesktop.org rather than openchrome-devel at lists.freedesktop.org.
If you see a severe regression, please file a bug report at http://bugs.freedesktop.org.

Sincerely,

Kevin Brace
OpenChrome Project Maintainer