Re: firefox52 quits on netbsd-9 w/i915drmkmsfb

[mlelstv%serpens.de@localhost (Michael van Elst)]

jdbaker%consolidated.net@localhost ("John D. Baker") writes:

>  $ ssh -X user@localhost
>  $ firefox52 > /dev/null 2>&1 &
>  $

>and the problem sites don't tickle the i915drmkms/intel driver's sensitive
>spot that makes firefox52 suddenly quit.

>(X11-forwarding otherwise represents too much of a performance hit for
>using video sites, so need an instance running directly to avoid this.


The X11-forwarding basically prevents direct rendering. Then everything
is done by the X server which usually supports only some 2D hardware
acceleration. There is also some minor overhead from the network code.

You can test this by setting the LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1 environment
variable instead. That also prevents direct rendering, but also
avoids the network overhead of ssh.

Another option is to set LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1, that still allows
direct rendering but doesn't use hardware acceleration.

Playing video without hardware acceleration is possible even on some
older PC hardware, maybe not at full screen resolution. 3D and compositing
on the other hand requires hardware support to be useful.

-- 
-- 
                                Michael van Elst
Internet: mlelstv%serpens.de@localhost
                                "A potential Snark may lurk in every tree."