[Openchrome-users] blank screen with 0.3.3 on VX900/Debian

[Pascal Ernster]

Well, there are also "official" drivers from VIA - even 2 of them:
 - a closed source driver offering all sorts of acceleration, including
   (rudimentary) 3D acceleration
 - an open source driver, which seems to be based upon the code of the
   closed source driver, but lacks 3D acceleration because VIA is a
   rather small company and they are afraid of software patent suits.

Both drivers work, but unfortunately, they don't work with the latest
releases of the Linux kernel (they only work up to version 3.3.x) and
Xorg. Additionally, VIA offers these drivers as precompiled packages for
Ubuntu and OpenSource. They can be downloaded here:

http://linux.via.com.tw/

If you are using a newer kernel version: Somebody even seems to have
taken the pain writing a patch to make their kernel module work with
newer kernels, and has created to AUR packages for Archlinux:

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/via-chrome9-dkms/
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/via-chrome9-dri/

I haven't tested them though, and it is possible that you'll need to
downgrade your Xorg to make those drivers work. I do not know if the
patch also works for kernel versions above 3.8 - but if you want to use
an older kernel version, you can try Archlinux's LTS kernel package
(kernel version 3.0.x, so you don't need said patch).
Just try it - you don't have to loose much anyhow I guess.

regards
Pascal


On Thu, 18 Jul 2013 17:22:39 +0200
Andreas Pflug <pgadmin at pse-consulting.de> wrote:

> Hi Pascal,
> thanks for your fast reply.
> 
> Fixed res isn't a solution for me (tried it with no success, but I'm
> quite tired now), and I certainly won't compile a new kernel.
> So I take the third option: crush the box and buy something that WORKS
> with components of a linux-aware company. Apparently VIA likes to
> ignore linux and its collaborative development processes, and their
> proprietary driver is for outdated ubuntus only, so I'm going to
> ignore VIA as hardware supplier from now on.
> 
> Thanks again, your answer did help me to take this negative decision.
> Regards,
> Andreas
> 
> 
> Am 18.07.13 14:12, schrieb Pascal Ernster:
> > There are 2 options on the Zotac Nano VD01:
> >
> > 1. You set a fix resolution using the PanelSize option in xorg.conf
> > (you won't be able to use Full HD, but 1028x1024, 1024x768,
> > 1400x1050 and 1440x900 work)
> >
> > 2. To use full HD, you'll need to compile the drm-openchrome kernel
> > (yes, a whole kernel and no just a single kernel module) and to
> > enable KMS (if you are using Archlinux x86_64, I can provide you
> > with a PKGBUILD or a precompiled pakage, if you want)
> >
> > regards
> > Pascal Ernster
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, 18 Jul 2013 12:19:14 +0200
> > Andreas Pflug <pgadmin at pse-consulting.de> wrote:
> >
> >> After I had a blank screen on a fresh wheezy install with debian's
> >> 0.2.906 release of openchrome, I compiled it from git as instructed
> >> with debugging enabled, but the screen still remains blank. The
> >> machine is the zotac nano vd01 with VIA VX900H using HDMI output.
> >>
> >> Can anybody give me a hint what's wrong?
> >> Xorg.log attached.
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Andreas
> >>
> >>
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> > Wiki: http://www.openchrome.org/trac/wiki/TOC
> 
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