Solved New FreeBSD 13 installation, X finally runs - DRM?

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...'D#§M&F/$4'... I am messing around with my xorg for several days on my new machine until I found out:

For current graphics-adapters there are no "classical drivers" no more.
So forget xf86-video-....etc.
One have to install drm-kmod
(via ports make install according to hb 5.4.5 [btw, HB Writers, you may could be a little bit more specific within this chapter.])
(*guntmessingaroundwith-configureandmanualeditionswithinxorg.conf.dgrunt*)

k. However. X runs now, finally.
Work continues. Maybe I can move from my archaic machine within this week...

But here is my question:
DRM stands for "Digital Rights Managment" - or does it not in this case?
So, what's the point/catch/clue?
Can anyone link me to sites with a bit more further information about this "new drivers concept"?
Neither AMD nor ASUS giving any useful information at all.

Thanks.
 
Thanks. (That's a load off my mind) :cool:
So... it's more like a kind of a new "layer" between x-server and graphics adapter?
 
Thanks.
Also it would be a good gesture to thank you not for your very good help only, but for the extreme quickness of your help:
So, thank you for that, too.
 
....well, yet my issue is not completely solved satisfactory...

After I've started those thread in my euphoric relieve I've seen the twm on a running X the very first time I silly forgot what I did to bring it up and it took me again several days to bring it up again - stupid me.

However, I have a running X again, but I figured out on my Hardware
MB: MSI X570 UNIFY
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
Graphics: ASUS Dual RX6600
I only can run scfb under drm-kmod after manual entry of /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/driver-scfb.conf (handbook 5.4.5 example 4)

(It neither works with amdgpu, nor vesa nor radeon which both are obsolete for my graphics card, on either combination of ports or pkg installation with or without updated version - I've tried it all [because of the hb mentions drm-kmod may better be installed via ports]... - but if you're desperate you'll try anything; and of course both failed xorg autodetection and Xorg -configure, which btw really is obsolete - better manually enter driver files in xorg.conf.d)

Anyway,
so far as I understand both handbook 5 and wiki.graphics (and other sites):
This ain't the best option because with scfb my graphics adapter and its 3D capabilites are not fully operational yet, but it's some kind of "workaround - better than nothing because of problems with UEFI".
Please tell me if I'm wrong or right in this point.

So my conclusion is:
Yet there is no better driver available for my graphics adapter at the moment but scfb, but at least I can have a desktop (I still remember the old days: When there is no driver matching your GPU then there is no graphics at all.)

So maybe there will be an better/actual driver for my card one day?
Which email list I need to be subscribed to get informed about new X drivers?
(FreeBSD or directly over Xorg only?)

Thanks for any useful information.
 
Profighost said:
(It neither works with amdgpu, nor vesa nor radeon which both are obsolete for my graphics card, on either combination of ports or pkg installation with or without updated version
Click to expand...
The manpage suggests the amdgpu driver should work with your card.

When you specify amdgpu in your xorg.conf.d file, what do you get? Black screen, flicker, back to command prompt?

If so, could you post what it says at the command prompt. Could you also please post your /var/log/Xorg.0.log. This should have any relevant error messages in there.

And before you do, just make sure the graphics/drm-kmod port is installed (though I think it should be pulled in by x11-drivers/xf86-video-amdgpu which is the one I assume you installed for your GPU?

Is your chip listed in here?
 
Thanks.
But it does not work.
I've been through all this already - several times.
I read handbooks, manpages, forum threads etc. I always try really hard to fix things by myself before I consult a forum actively.

After 2 weeks of trying anything I'm pretty sure the current amdgpu is not capable to drive the Radeon RX 6600.

I spent most of the time to check out the amdgpu-driver, because all I understand so far is, that this has to be the correct driver for my card.
But it's not.
(We don't need to get through all the stuff written in the handbook or graphics.wiki again and again.)

Also I already checked the GPU lists in the amdgpu-driver description myself.
There is no "Navi"-GPU which seems to be the GPU on my RX 6600 to Wikipedia (Navi 23 XT).
And it's also not mentioned in the AMD graphics support matrix linked within graphics.wiki (which inculdes old GPUs mostly.)
I'd hoped that there would be some kind of compatibilty that would provide the Navi even if it's not listed in the amdgpu's description.
It's not.

The xserver just stops with different error messages (no flicker, nothing one may mentioned the monitor switches to another mode - nothing):
There are 3 kinds of error messages depending on what config I try:
- framebuffer something
- no monitor detected
- no drm kms mode anything

Also adding kld_list=amdgpu to rc.conf or an amdgpu.conf to xorg.conf.d (as it's mentioned in the man page you've linked) - or not - makes no difference whatsoever.
And before somebody mentions it:
I've already checked out the PCI-bus-ID and tried that out.

The ASUS Dual Radeon RX6600 is not running with the current amdgpu (19.1.0_2).

That gives me the clue
The GPU the RX 6600 is based on (Navi 23 XT) is yet not supported by amdgpu.
What brings me back to my question:
Will it be eventually one day, or another driver that will
and how do I recognize that?
 
Profighost said:
What brings me back to my question:
Will it be eventually one day, or another driver that will
and how do I recognize that?
Click to expand...
Does Linux support it? FreeBSD currently gets its KMS/DRM drivers from Linux (with a shim layer). So if your card is supported in Linux, then it is very likely that this will come over to FreeBSD at some point.

So every so often, just grab the latest port / package and give it a try.

What I would do personally however is dig out an old AMD card and see if you can get that to work. At least then you can eliminate the scenario that the error is with your configuration rather than evolving driver support.
 
I did.
I tried ubuntu live and I got the desktop environment, which gave me the clue:
Something will be functioning anyway.
I've copied the xorg.conf.d files from ubunto into my FreeBSD xorg.conf.d - but I cannot tell which one was working under ubuntu because there are several files for all purposes ("default/general/something will work anyway") and I'm not into ubuntu so deep to figure out, which one was the one actual used.

I tried all combinations of updated, not updated FreeBSD, pkg, ports... I am installing, deinstalling, updating, reinstalling, not updating, ports make install, pkg install, Section "Device" in xorg.conf.d, boot/loader.conf, /etc/rc.conf, deinstalling, reinstalling, updating, pciconf -lv | grep..., vi /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/....for two weeks now
It is at least the 15th complete fresh new Installation of FreeBSD 13, {I also tried 12.3}
And I definetly not screw cases open and play graphics-adapter-jockey just to see what I already know: My old Geforce GTX960 is running (that's what I'm using currently now: my old machine)

We don't need to experiment unlimited "nice ideas what else he could try."

It is not working.

All I want to know is:
Is there any chance to get automatically informed if the amdgpu driver is updated or new drivers available?

Until then I will have to stay with scfb.


bsduck said:
...
you can stick with that for a while, or wait for things to be merged to drm-fbsd13-kmod sooner or later.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
That's exactly what I wanna know:
How do I get informed about that?
 
From what I read your card (chipset "Navi 23") was first supported by Linux 5.11 (February 2021), while drm-devel-kmod is currently on par with Linux 5.7 (May 2020) and drm-fbsd13-kmod with Linux 5.4 (November 2019), so it probably won't get support within the next few months.

FreshPorts can send you an email whenever a given port gets an update, if you want to track the progress.
(https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/email-notification-on-package-updates.83622/#post-549860)
 
Nah, it's no problem to wait a while.
I knew it could be problematic buying one of the top current graphics adapter (I know these issue since my first Linux trials in the late 90s.)
At least today one can have a desktop "without" a correct driver and just dispense and wait for full 3D-support.
That's way better than in the old days, when there were no drm, scfb ... "general drivers" - in worst cases not even VGA 640x400 and one could end up completely with no graphics at all without the exact fitting driver.

And I'm sure today new drivers are implemented faster than twenty years ago, when this could last a couple of years - if a driver even would be available ever, what neither nobody could really tell nor influence. Open Source Communities today are way bigger and GPU producers are not totally in strictly Windows only anymore.

I've also tried to search the Sourcecode for my card myself, among others at amd.com directly. But I only found sourcecode for Linux and I am pretty sure an adaption is not simply done by a couple of minor changes within the makefile.
Additionally I got the idea NVidia seems to be way more open and progressive to publish source for their card's drivers - not Linux only but also for FreeBSD [Beware of using the drivers from NVidia's homepage. Not all are always completely compatible with the FreeBSD version you've installed. If you don't know, what your are doing, you may end up without a working X.]
I sadly didn't check this out for Radeon as I decided for my card. Thought it would be as equal as with the choice of CPU, doens't really matter if AMD or Intel.
But it occurred to me that there are way more Nvidia based graphic cards and AMD Radeons seem to lag behind and being edged out.
Looking back maybe GeForce would have been the better choice with fewer problems.

However:

Thanks a lot bsduck,

that's exactly, what I wanted to know. Even more as I asked for. Thanks!
(It's understandable, that i'd like to be imformed while I'm waiting for a driver coming up. Would be annoying if I just have to check all the time manually, forget, and then one day realize:
"...could have used an actual driver over half a year...")
 
Profighost said:
Additionally I got the idea NVidia seems to be way more open and progressive to publish source for their card's drivers - not Linux only but also for FreeBSD
Click to expand...
Unfortunately NVidia doesn't provide source code for their drivers at all. Intel and AMD are well ahead of the game here.

What you get with NVidia is basically a bunch of precompiled objects that you link yourself into a kernel module.
 
This honestly I cannot really tell. All I know is I've downloaded a couple of NVidia drivers from their homepage, untared them in my root and executed the makefile contained.
Worked perfectly (if for the current FreeBSD version the right driver was chosen, of course.)
I always thought this compiles C/C++ source - at least it looked to me that way. But I may be completely wrong in this point, and you're right, it only were precompiled objects.
But at least one could receive FreeBSD drivers at all. AMD only supports Linux :-(
(Where I figured out in the last days so far, that some of the FreeBSD drivers are actual Linux ones, put into FreeBSD in some kind of way.)

But as long as I am not in development for this stuff -and I am far, far away from that by now - I just need something working and care about anything else later.
 
Profighost said:
All I know is I've downloaded a couple of NVidia drivers from their homepage, untared them in my root and executed the makefile contained.
Worked perfectly (if for the current FreeBSD version the right driver was chosen, of course.)
Click to expand...
Use x11/nvidia-driver instead. That will register it correctly in the package system, so it's easier to track for updates. It'll also make updating itself easier. The port/package follows the driver releases from NVidia quite closely.

Profighost said:
I always thought this compiles C/C++ source - at least it looked to me that way. But I may be completely wrong in this point, and you're right, it only were precompiled objects.
Click to expand...
Only some "glue" code is being compiled. Most of the driver is a binary blob.
 
SirDice said:
Use x11/nvidia-driver instead. That will register it correctly in the package system, so it's easier to track for updates. It'll also make updating itself easier. The port/package follows the driver releases from NVidia quite closely.
Click to expand...

I already read this by you in another thread. That's why I wrote:
"[Beware of using the drivers from NVidia's homepage. Not all are always completely compatible with the FreeBSD version you've installed. If you don't know, what your are doing, you may end up without a working X.]
"
This thread ain't about Nvidia, it's about AMD GPU - we got offtopic.
 
Also regarding to automatic notification about amdgpu driver, it'd been a good idea by me just to take a look into the manpage 😅 :
man amdgpu
 
Profighost, I have this same problem. I upgraded from the nVidia GTX 1060 to the Sapphire AMD RX 6600. The 6600 has been nothing but problems. I followed your advice and used the scfb driver. It's the first time I was able to load X. I have dual monitors. I cannot get the second monitor to turn on. I've tried everything. Ideas? (At this point I might just return the card. Released 2 years ago and the drives are #$!%.)
 
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