(was: Create a DRM driver for Matrox G200)
Even after 20 years, the Matrox G200 series is still an excellent 2d graphics card. Unfortunately, there's only an fbdev driver and a user-space driver. Both are obsolete, as modern Linux uses the DRM framework for managing graphics cards. There already is a DRM driver for the G200 server series. This driver is under-maintained and doesn't work with desktop chips.
I intend to work on a DRM driver for the G200 during the hackweek. Let's see how far one can get within a few days. :)
This project is part of:
Hack Week 17 Hack Week 21
Activity
Comments
-
-
over 6 years ago by tdz | Reply
Oh, interresting! I found this: http://www.fujitsu.com/de/products/computing/servers/primergy/os/linux/suse/ and it specifically mentions Primergy. Do we have one of these devices around for testing?
My plan is to start with desktop cards (because I can do that locally) and at some point merge support for the server. The differences are minor. I mentioned this earlier, the current server-chipset driver is under-maintained and not up to today's DRM. Having desktop support should also help to keep this maintained for the longer term.
-
-
-
-
over 6 years ago by tdz | Reply
The state of the driver after day 2 is at
https://gitlab.suse.de/tdz/linux/tree/mga-kms-day2
I've added code for computing a mode's required memory bandwidth and VCLK (actually Pixel PLL config). This is part of the check-phase of applying a mode. The commit phase is next. Once that works, a lot of clean-up will have to be done.
-
-
over 2 years ago by tdz | Reply
I think it's time to revive this hackweek project with a slightly different spin.
Egbert's patches for desktop G200 have landed in the kernel's DRM driver for server G200 a few releases ago. But there's more Matrox desktop hardware that can be supported. I have some half-done patches for G400, etc that I wanted to get finished.
-
over 2 years ago by tdz | Reply
Day 1: The current kernel driver for Matrox supports the various flavors of the G200 chipset. The overall modesetting pipeline is the same for all Matrox cards, but each version's hardware has it's own peculiarities. Therefore, I studied the old userspace driver to understand how it sets up hardware for the G400.
-
-
over 2 years ago by tdz | Reply
Day 3: I got the G400 working with the mgag200 kernel driver. I took the driver's existing G200 code and adapted it with parameters for the G400. The parameters come from the X11 userspace driver. In the afternoon, I started working on G450 support. The G450 and G550 use a different argorithm for programming the PLL. I'll have to port the existing code from one of the other Matrox drivers into mgag200.
-
over 2 years ago by tdz | Reply
Day 4: I got the Matrox G450 working.
As I mentioned, the PLL setup algorithm is different from previous cards. The PLL produces an output frequency from a fixes input frequency plus a few circuits that modify it. Such modifications apply divider or multiplier operations to the input frequency in a predefined way. The result is not a 100% match, but usually close enough. Drivers typically take the setting that results in the least difference to the target frequency. (That's why 60 Hz displays usually run with ~59.xx Hz)
The existing Matrox G450 code is different in that it computes all possible combinations of PLL settings that produce the target frequency and then apply them one by one until the graphics card reports success. Taking this code from the existing fbdev driver requires quite a bit of refactoring to fit it into DRM's atomic modesetting scheme.
-
over 2 years ago by tdz | Reply
Day 5: I worked on cleaning up the G450 code. As I mentioned, the PLL setup algorithm is much more elaborate than for the other models. Integrating this into DRM patterns requires several refactor-debug cycles.
Overall, I made good progress with the Matrox cards. I have added support for the G400, G400 MAX and the G450. The one left is the G550. Looking at other existing Matrox drivers, it seems very similar to the G450, so it should be relatively easy to support after the G450 code has fallen into place.
Maybe I'll take the time to finish this and submit the code upstream inclusion.
Similar Projects
Create a DRM driver for VGA video cards by tdz
Yes, those VGA video cards. The goal of this project is to implement a DRM graphics driver for such devices. While actual hardware is hard to obtain or even run today, qemu emulates VGA output.
VGA has a number of limitations, which make this project interesting.
- There are only 640x480 pixels (or less) on the screen. That resolution is also a soft lower limit imposed by DRM. It's mostly a problem for desktop environments though.
- Desktop environments assume 16 million colors, but there are only 16 colors with VGA. VGA's 256 color palette is not available at 640x480. We can choose those 16 colors freely. The interesting part is how to choose them. We have to build a palette for the displayed frame and map each color to one of the palette's 16 entries. This is called dithering, and VGA's limitations are a good opportunity to learn about dithering algorithms.
- VGA has an interesting memory layout. Most graphics devices use linear framebuffers, which store the pixels byte by byte. VGA uses 4 bitplanes instead. Plane 0 holds all bits 0 of all pixels. Plane 1 holds all bits 1 of all pixels, and so on.
The driver will probably not be useful to many people. But, if finished, it can serve as test environment for low-level hardware. There's some interest in supporting old Amiga and Atari framebuffers in DRM. Those systems have similar limitations as VGA, but are harder to obtain and test with. With qemu, the VGA driver could fill this gap.
Apart from the Wikipedia entry, good resources on VGA are at osdev.net and FreeVGA
FizzBuzz OS by mssola
Project Description
FizzBuzz OS (or just fbos) is an idea I've had in order to better grasp the fundamentals of the low level of a RISC-V machine. In practice, I'd like to build a small Operating System kernel that is able to launch three processes: one that simply prints "Fizz", another that prints "Buzz", and the third which prints "FizzBuzz". These processes are unaware of each other and it's up to the kernel to schedule them by using the timer interrupts as given on openSBI (fizz on % 3 seconds, buzz on % 5 seconds, and fizzbuzz on % 15 seconds).
This kernel provides just one system call, write, which allows any program to pass the string to be written into stdout.
This project is free software and you can find it here.
Goal for this Hackweek
- Better understand the RISC-V SBI interface.
- Better understand RISC-V in privileged mode.
- Have fun.
Resources
Results
The project was a resounding success 
Lots of learning, and the initial target was met.
Improve various phones kernel mainline support (Qualcomm, Exynos, MediaTek) by pvorel
Similar to previous hackweeks ( https://hackweek.opensuse.org/projects/improve-qualcomm-soc-msm8994-slash-msm8992-kernel-mainline-support, https://hackweek.opensuse.org/projects/test-mainline-kernel-on-an-older-qualcomm-soc-msm89xx-explore-mainline-kernel-qualcomm-mainlining) try to improve kernel mainline support of various phones.
early stage kdump support by mbrugger
Project Description
When we experience a early boot crash, we are not able to analyze the kernel dump, as user-space wasn't able to load the crash system. The idea is to make the crash system compiled into the host kernel (think of initramfs) so that we can create a kernel dump really early in the boot process.
Goal for the Hackweeks
- Investigate if this is possible and the implications it would have (done in HW21)
- Hack up a PoC (done in HW22 and HW23)
- Prepare RFC series (giving it's only one week, we are entering wishful thinking territory here).
update HW23
- I was able to include the crash kernel into the kernel Image.
- I'll need to find a way to load that from
init/main.c:start_kernel()probably afterkcsan_init() - I workaround for a smoke test was to hack
kexec_file_load()systemcall which has two problems:- My initramfs in the porduction kernel does not have a new enough kexec version, that's not a blocker but where the week ended
- As the crash kernel is part of init.data it will be already stale once I can call
kexec_file_load()from user-space.
The solution is probably to rewrite the POC so that the invocation can be done from init.text (that's my theory) but I'm not sure if I can reuse the kexec infrastructure in the kernel from there, which I rely on heavily.
update HW24
- Day1
- rebased on v6.12 with no problems others then me breaking the config
- setting up a new compilation and qemu/virtme env
- getting desperate as nothing works that used to work
- Day 2
- getting to call the invocation of loading the early kernel from
__initafterkcsan_init()
- getting to call the invocation of loading the early kernel from
Day 3
- fix problem of memdup not being able to alloc so much memory... use 64K page sizes for now
- code refactoring
- I'm now able to load the crash kernel
- When using virtme I can boot into the crash kernel, also it doesn't boot completely (major milestone!), crash in
elfcorehdr_read_notes()
Day 4
- crash systems crashes (no pun intended) in
copy_old_mempage()link; will need to understand elfcorehdr... - call path
vmcore_init() -> parse_crash_elf_headers() -> elfcorehdr_read() -> read_from_oldmem() -> copy_oldmem_page() -> copy_to_iter()
- crash systems crashes (no pun intended) in
Day 5
- hacking
arch/arm64/kernel/crash_dump.c:copy_old_mempage()to see if crash system really starts. It does. - fun fact: retested with more reserved memory and with UEFI FW, host kernel crashes in init but directly starts the crash kernel, so it works (somehow) \o/
- hacking
TODOs
- fix elfcorehdr so that we actually can make use of all this...
- test where in the boot
__init()chain we can/should callkexec_early_dump()
Modernize ocfs2 by goldwynr
Ocfs2 has gone into a stage of neglect and disrepair. Modernize the code to generate enough interest.
Goals: * Change the mount sequence to use fscontext * Move from using bufferhead to bio/folios * Use iomap * Run it through xfstests
New openSUSE-welcome by lkocman
Project Description
Let's revisit our existing openSUSE welcome app.
My goal was to show Leap 16 in a new coat. Welcome app adds to the first time use experience. We've recently added donation button to our existing welcome.
Some things that I recently wanted to address were EOL and possibly upgrade notification.
I've already done some experiments with mint welcome app, but not sure if it's better than the existing one.
There is also a PR to rework existing app https://github.com/openSUSE/openSUSE-welcome/pull/36 (this should be considered as an option too)
Goal for this Hackweek
New welcome app, possibly with EOL notification for Leap.
1) Welcome application(s) with (rebrand changes) maintained under github.com/openSUSE
2) Application is submitted to openSUSE:Factory && openSUSE:Leap:16.0
3) Updated needles in openQA (probably post hackweek)
Resources
Reddit discussion about the best welcome app out there.
Github repo for the current welcome app.
Create DRM drivers for VESA and EFI framebuffers by tdz
Description
We already have simpledrm for firmware framebuffers. But the driver is originally for ARM boards, not PCs. It is already overloaded with code to support both use cases. At the same time it is missing possible features for VESA and EFI, such as palette modes or EDID support. We should have DRM drivers for VESA and EFI interfaces. The infrastructure exists already and initial drivers can be forked from simpledrm.
Goals
- Initially, a bare driver for VESA or EFI should be created. It can take functionality from simpledrm.
- Then we can begin to add additional features. The boot loader can provide EDID data. With VGA hardware, VESA can support paletted modes or color management. Example code exists in vesafb.
Create a DRM driver for VGA video cards by tdz
Yes, those VGA video cards. The goal of this project is to implement a DRM graphics driver for such devices. While actual hardware is hard to obtain or even run today, qemu emulates VGA output.
VGA has a number of limitations, which make this project interesting.
- There are only 640x480 pixels (or less) on the screen. That resolution is also a soft lower limit imposed by DRM. It's mostly a problem for desktop environments though.
- Desktop environments assume 16 million colors, but there are only 16 colors with VGA. VGA's 256 color palette is not available at 640x480. We can choose those 16 colors freely. The interesting part is how to choose them. We have to build a palette for the displayed frame and map each color to one of the palette's 16 entries. This is called dithering, and VGA's limitations are a good opportunity to learn about dithering algorithms.
- VGA has an interesting memory layout. Most graphics devices use linear framebuffers, which store the pixels byte by byte. VGA uses 4 bitplanes instead. Plane 0 holds all bits 0 of all pixels. Plane 1 holds all bits 1 of all pixels, and so on.
The driver will probably not be useful to many people. But, if finished, it can serve as test environment for low-level hardware. There's some interest in supporting old Amiga and Atari framebuffers in DRM. Those systems have similar limitations as VGA, but are harder to obtain and test with. With qemu, the VGA driver could fill this gap.
Apart from the Wikipedia entry, good resources on VGA are at osdev.net and FreeVGA
Finish gfxprim application multiplexor (window manager) by metan
Project Description
I've implemented drivers for a few e-ink displays during the last hackweek and made sure that gfxprim widgets run nicely on e-ink as well. The missing piece to have a portable e-ink computer/reader/music player/... is a application that can switch between currently running applications and that can start new applications as well. Half of the solution is ready, there is a proxy gfxprim backend where applications render into a piece of a shared memory and input events (e.g. keyboard, mouse) can be multiplexed. What is missing is an interface (possibly touchscreen friendly as well) to make it user friendly.
Goal for this Hackweek
Make nekowm usable "window manager".
Resources
Framework laptop integration by nkrapp
Project Description
Although openSUSE does run on the Framework laptops out-of-the-box, there is still room to improve the experience. The ultimate goal is to get openSUSE on the list of community supported distros
Goal for this Hackweek
The goal this year is to at least package all of the soft- and firmware for accessories like the embedded controller, Framework 16 inputmodule and other tools. I already made some progress by packaging the inputmodule control software, but the firmware is still missing
Resources
As I only have a Framework laptop 16 and not a 13 I'm looking for people with hardware that can help me test
Progress:
Update 1:
The project lives under my home for now until I can get an independent project on OBS: Framework Laptop project
Also, the first package is already done, it's the cli for the led-matrix spacer module on the Framework Laptop 16. I am also testing this myself, but any feedback or questions are welcome.
You can test the package on the Framework 16 by adding this repo and installing the package inputmodule-control
Update 2:
I finished packaging the python cli/gui for the inputmodule. It is using a bit of a hack because one of the dependencies (PySimpleGUI) recently switched to a noncommercial license so I cannot ship it. But now you can actually play the games on the led-matrix (the rust package doesn't include controls for the games). I'm also working on the Framework system tools now, which should be more interesting for Framework 13 users.
You can test the package on the Framework 16 by installing python311-framework16_inputmodule and then running "ledmatrixctl" from the command line.
Update 3:
I packaged the framework_tool, a general application for interacting with the system. You can find it some detailed information what it can do here. On my system everything related to the embedded controller functionality doesn't work though, so some help testing and debugging would be appreciated.
Update 4:
Today I finished the qmk interface, which gives you a cli (and gui) to configure your Framework 16 keyboard. Sadly the Python gui is broken upstream, but I added the qmk_hid package with the cli and from my testing it works well.
Final Update:
All the interesting programs are now done, I decided to exclude the firmware for now since upstream also recommends using fwupd to update it. I will hack on more things related to the Framework Laptops in the future so if there are any ideas to improve the experience (or any bugs to report) feel free to message me about it.
As a final summary/help for everyone using a Framework Laptop who wants to use this software:
The source code for all packages can be found in repositories in the Framework organization on Github
All software can be installed from this repo (Tumbleweed)
The available packages are:
framework-inputmodule-control (FW16) - play with the inputmodules on your Framework 16 (b1-display, led-matrix, c1-minimal)
python-framework16_inputmodule (FW16) - same as inputmodule-control but is needed if you want to play and crontrol the built-in games in the led-matrix (call with ledmatrixctl or ledmatrixgui)
framework_tool (FW13 and FW 16) - use to see and configure general things on your framework system. Commands using the embedded controller might not work, it looks like there are some problems with the kernel module used by the EC. Fixing this is out of scope for this hackweek but I am working on it
qmk_hid (FW16) - a cli to configure the FW16 qmk keyboard. Sadly the gui for this is broken upstream so only the cli is usable for now
Capyboard, ESP32 Development Board for Education by emiler
Description
Capyboard is an ESP32 development board built to accept individual custom-made modules. The board is created primarily for use in education, where you want to focus on embedded programming instead of spending time with connecting cables and parts on a breadboard, as you would with Arduino and other such devices. The board is not limited only to education and it can be used to build, for instance, a very powerful internal meteo-station and so on.
I already have one initial prototype ready and tested. The next iteration addresses several issues the first prototype had. I am planning on finishing up the mainboard and one of the modules this week.
This project is also a part of my master's thesis.
Goals
- Finish testing of a new prototype
- Publish source files
- Documentation completion
- Finish writing thesis
Resources
- github.com/realcharmer/capyboard
- github.com/realcharmer/capyboard-starter
- github.com/realcharmer/capyboard-docs
- docs.capyboard.dev
Build a split keyboard from scratch by mpagot
Description
I'm getting older... this summer I experienced an annoying and persistent tingling in one hand and arm. That was the initial motivation to get more interested in ergonomic work gadgets, and from that to split keyboards. And that was the entrance in a rabbit hole.
Which keyboard I like to create:
- Split keyboard for ergonomic (I'm not primary interested in having it portable)
- I have big hands: I like it to fit as much as possible my hands measures
- Columnar stagger keys position
- Not too few keys (at the moment I'm at 24 + 24)
- One row thumb cluster
- No wireless, not to have batteries and for security reason
- CherryMX, or generally speaking no low profile/corne choc
- Hot swap Socket switches
Goals
- Create PCB design for a split keyboard
- Get it produced
- Mount it
- Evaluate FWs
Resources
- Main project repo: Zenga
- ZKM config for a hand wired 4 keys something: nne
- Blog posts opensuse.hackweek.2024
Progress
Day1
Get the existing Ergogen project working on my TW machine Get Kicad as flatpack Go back to the https://flatfootfox.com/ergogen-part3-pcbs/ Join the #ergogen Discord channel and ask for help about the nets
Day2
Redesign the keyboard matrix on Inkscape Implement it in the Ergogen YAML format Create a Kicad PCB file Start routing it Iterate over the matrix arrangement to try to implement it like 2 layer board and ideally with not vias Get some Kicad tutorials
Day3
Get my hand dirty building a 2x2 key matrix --> welcome to nne
Look at ZKM and how to configure it --> https://github.com/michelepagot/zmk-config-nne Get the FW built by github, try to flash it: get matrix scan pulse but no keys to the PC
Get in contact with ceoloide, an Ergogen maintainer, about net issue.
SUSE Prague claw machine by anstalker
Project Description
The idea is to build a claw machine similar to e.g. this one:
Why? Well, it could be a lot of fun!
But also it's a great way to dispense SUSE and openSUSE merch like little Geekos at events like conferences, career fairs and open house events.
Goal for this Hackweek
Build an arcade claw machine.
Resources
In French, an article about why you always lose in claw machine games:
We're looking for handy/crafty people in the Prague office:
- woodworking XP or equipment
- arduino/raspi embedded programming knowledge
- Anthony can find a budget for going to GM and buying servos and such ;)