i386 DRMKMS/xf86-video-intel results, 5 August 2014

["John D. Baker" <jdbaker%mylinuxisp.com@localhost>]

On my Dell Optiplex GX260 (i82845G/GL video), recent DRMKMS kernels
produce a working text display, so long as the video display is the
console.  If the console is on the serial port, the video is put in a
mode which my CRT cannot display, although one may type blind and log
in.

In either case, starting the X server with no "xorg.conf" file,
auto-detecting the intel driver, panics the machine.

For comparison, I set up an installation completely devoid of any "native"
Xorg files and built "modular" Xorg from pkgsrc.  With any kernel--
GENERIC, DRMKMS, or NO_DRM--and without an "xorg.conf" the X server
selects the "vesa" driver over the "intel" driver (although it is loaded).
With a minimal "xorg.conf" to communicate monitor capabilities, the
display is left black, although in a mode acceptable to the CRT.

With GENERIC/NO_DRM kernels, one can switch to text VTs and back to the
X display.  With the DRMKMS kernel, switching to a "text" VT shows a
true VGA text-mode blinking underline cursor at the top left of the
screen.  Switching back to the X VT results in a black screen although
if a terminal window had focus before switching away, one may type
blindly in that window to execute commands (i.e., reboot the machine).


Meanwhile, on my stable of i82810e-based machines (two Dell Optiplex
GX110s and an HP Pavilion 501c(?)), the patch posted at the end of
xsrc/48344 allows the GX110s to finally run an X server on netbsd-6 (see
also pullup-6 #1105).  Consequently, r1.111 or later of

  src/sys/dev/pci/agp_i810.c

allows the GX110s to run an X server on netbsd-current (DRMKMS, GENERIC,
or even NO_DRM since they never had DRM/DRI support anyway).

One glitch is that the xf86-video-intel driver in -current, when compiled
with GCC 4.8.3, causes stippled regions to render as black.  Examples
include:

  X server root window when using "-retro" option
  XTerm and XConsole scroll bars
  twm active window title bars/inactive window frames
  root window after 'xsetroot -mod x y ...' command

Building the xf86-video-intel driver with GCC 4.5.4 (with SNA code
disabled to work around an internal compiler error) and copying the
"/usr/X11R7/lib/modules/drivers/intel_drv.so*" files into the otherwise
GCC 4.8.3-built installation produces properly-rendered stippled regions.
The SNA code is not the source of the problem as building the SNA-disabled
driver with GCC 4.8.3 still renders stippled regions as black.

Using an installation with no trace of "native" Xorg, the pkgsrc/modular
Xorg works well and produces properly-rendered stippled regions using
"x11/xf86-video-intel" (all built with GCC 4.8.3).


Also, a GCC 4.8.3-built release with the xf86-video-intel driver reverted
to the version before the update, as described in:

  http://mail-index.netbsd.org/current-users/2014/04/03/msg024613.html

works properly on both i810e and i845GL systems (UMS) and correctly
renders stippled regions.

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