Changeset 83cc2cc3

Timestamp:

05/07/2022 07:33:11 AM (2 years ago)

Author:

Ken Moffat <ken@…>

Branches:

11.2, 11.3, 12.0, 12.1, kea, ken/TL2024, ken/inkscape-core-mods, ken/tuningfonts, lazarus, lxqt, plabs/newcss, plabs/python-mods, python3.11, qt5new, rahul/power-profiles-daemon, renodr/vulkan-addition, trunk, xry111/llvm18, xry111/soup3, xry111/xf86-video-removal

Children:

ac7f1b0

Parents:

083a8d7

Message:

Add 'Firmware for AMD/ATI amdgpu video chips'

Bruce noticed this was not explicity covered, my skim-reading
had noticed the details for ATI video chips without spotting that
was only for radeon.

In both the amdgpu and radeon xorg drivers, clarify that firmware
might have been provided in a modular build in /lib/firmware.

Files:

• postlfs/config/firmware.xml (modified) (1 diff)
• x/installing/x7driver-amdgpu.xml (modified) (1 diff)
• x/installing/x7driver-ati.xml (modified) (1 diff)

postlfs/config/firmware.xml

@@ -612 +612 @@
     </sect3>
 
+    <sect3 id="amdgpu-video-firmware">
+      <title>Firmware for AMD/ATI amdgpu video chips</title>
+
+      <para>
+        All video controllers using the amdgpu kernel driver require firmware,
+        whether you will be using the xorg amdgpu driver, the xserver's modesetting
+        driver, or just kernel modesetting to get a console framebuffer larger than
+        80x25.
+      </para>
+
+      <para>
+        Install <xref linkend="pciutils"/> and use that to check the model name
+        (look for 'VGA compatible controller:'). If you have an APU (Accelerated
+        Processing Unit, i.e. CPU and video on the same chip) that will probably
+        tell you the name. If you have a separate amdgpu video card you will need
+        to search to determine which name it uses (e.g. a card described as
+        Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Baffin [Radeon RX 550 640SP / RX
+        560/560X] needs Polaris11 firmware.  There is a table of "Family, Chipset
+        name, Product name and Firmware" at the end of the Kernel sections in
+        <ulink url="https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/AMDGPU#Known_firmware_blobs">
+        AMDGPU</ulink> page of the Gentoo wiki.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      Once you have identified the firmware name, install all the relevant
+      files for it. For example, the Baffin card mentioned above has 21 different
+      polaris11* files, APUs such as renoir and picasso have at least 12 files and
+      might gain more in future updates (e.g. the raven APU now has a 13th file,
+      raven_ta.bin).
+    </para>
+
+<screen><userinput>mkdir -pv /lib/firmware/amdgpu
+cp -v &lt;YOUR_BLOBS&gt; /lib/firmware/amdgpu</userinput></screen>
+
+    <para>
+      If disk space is not a problem, you could install all the current amdgpu
+      firmware files and not worry about exactly which chipset is installed.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      You are recommended to build the kernel amdgpu driver as a module.
+      In your kernel .config set at least the following options and review
+      the other AMDGPU options according to what hardware you are building
+      for, e.g ACP (Audio Co-Processor) support for some APUs,
+    </para>
+
+<screen><literal>Device Drivers ---&gt;
+  Graphics support ---&gt;
+      Direct Rendering Manager ---&gt;
+        [*] Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 ... support)  [CONFIG_DRM]
+        [M] AMD GPU                                         [CONFIG_DRM_AMDGPU]
+        Display Engine Configuration ---&gt;
+          [*] AMD DC - Enable new display engine (NEW)      [CONFIG_DRM_AMD_DC]</literal></screen>
+
+      <para>
+        As written above at the end of the section on 'Firmware for ATI video
+        chips', loading large blobs from /lib/firmware can take a noticeable
+        time during which the screen will be blank. On a slow machine you might
+        wish to refer to the 'Kernel Configuration for additional firmware'
+        part of <xref linkend="xorg-amdgpu-driver"/> and compile all the
+        required modules into the kernel to reduce this time, at the cost of
+        using more kernel memory.
+      </para>
+
+    </sect3>
+
     <sect3 id="nvidia-video-firmware">
       <title>Firmware for Nvidia video chips</title>

x/installing/x7driver-amdgpu.xml

@@ -49 +49 @@
           driver at <xref linkend="mesa"/> build time. Also, all cards and newer APUs
           require Firmware to be available when the kernel driver is loaded.
-          Firmware can be obtained from <ulink
-          url="&sources-anduin-http;/linux-firmware/"/>.
-          See <xref linkend="xorg-amdgpu-firmware-kernel"/> below for additional
+          If you have not followed the instructions in the Firmware
+          for Video Cards part of <xref linkend="postlfs-firmware"/> which provided
+          that firmware in <filename class="directory">/lib/firmware</filename>
+          for a modular build,
+          firmware can be obtained from <ulink
+          url="&sources-anduin-http;/linux-firmware/"/> -
+          see <xref linkend="xorg-amdgpu-firmware-kernel"/> below for additional
           firmware.
         </para>

x/installing/x7driver-ati.xml

@@ -48 +48 @@
           drivers at <xref linkend="mesa"/> build time. Also, some cards
           require Firmware to be available when the kernel driver is loaded.
-          Firmware can be obtained from <ulink
-          url="&sources-anduin-http;/linux-firmware/"/>.
-          See <xref linkend="xorg-ati-firmware-kernel"/> below for additional
+          In that case, if you have not followed the instructions in the Firmware
+          for Video Cards part of <xref linkend="postlfs-firmware"/> which provided
+          that firmware in <filename class="directory">/lib/firmware</filename>
+          for a modular build,
+          firmware can be obtained from <ulink
+          url="&sources-anduin-http;/linux-firmware/"/> -
+          see <xref linkend="xorg-ati-firmware-kernel"/> below for additional
           firmware.
         </para>