VDPAU/XvNouveau/NV17/VAAPI support (Alternative Backend[s])

[ArchangeGabriel]

This is a feature request.

The goal we try to reach is to have a --vdpau option for optirun.

The most interesting way looks to be hybrid-windump for now.

Old discussion is available here : https://github.com/MrMEEE/bumblebee-Old-and-abandoned/issues/531.

I will make a summary of it here as soon as possible.

[starks]

About a week ago, I accidentally succeeded in accessing a pure Nvidia desktop using hybrid-windump.

I cannot recall exactly how it happened, but I had the dual-head xorg.conf setup with gebart's windump and was screwing around with mplayer2.

The next thing I know, my mouse is trapped in the dumped Nvidia screen and can't escape. I didn't think this was much of a problem, but I had solved the problem of not being able to interact with the Nvidia desktop once the window was dumped.

Do note that metacity must be started from the terminal or tty in order for the mouse to work on the Intel screen.

Further research is needed.

[starks]

Okay, I've figured out how to control the Nvidia screen on demand.

Assuming that the Nvidia screen is set to match the Intel screen's native resolution in the xorg.conf, moving my mouse to the left side of the screen will bring it into the dumped Nvidia screen.

Going forward, I have a few proposals.

• Find a way to achieve dumping without hosing the Intel 3D.
• A better dumping mechanism to replace XShm.
• Assuming the first point, an additional Bumblebee mode specifically for VDPAU or people who want an always-on GPU. This mode would probably need a dedicated xorg.conf that can be used as needed and require an X restart like classic graphic switching.
• Right now, the windump approach still requires the Nvidia vanilla binary. We should be able to achieve dumping using distro-packaged versions if all the necessary hooks are made in a safe way. The vanilla binary only works because it makes destructive changes to gl linkages for the Intel card that are hard to restore without a reinstall.

[starks]

Also, something of note.

The windump approach does expose the NV17 Video Texture output over Xv in SMPlayer.

[starks]

Some big developments.

Thanks to Fabio Giovagnini's post on the mailing list, I've been able to trim the requisite xorg.conf to something far simpler and manageable: http://paste.ubuntu.com/695277/

This configuration allows windump to work with distro-packaged versions of the nvidia binary OR nouveau (no OpenGL with nvc3 but X11 works).

Edit: NV17 is exposed to the Intel display in dual-head xorg configurations such as the one linked. Windump is not necessary. Also, bumblebee will load the above xorg.conf if you use it as xorg.conf.nvidia.

[gnetwork-git]

i was just about to try it, but don't want to fry it...
is it safe to use?
like this: /etc/bumblebee/xorg.conf.nvidia

[starks]

I should clarify that using the xorg.conf as xorg.conf.nvidia does not enable VDPAU. I was just saying that Bumblebee loads it with no problems.

[gnetwork-git]

so its safe to use for enable external monitor hdmi.
i will try...

[starks]

On 09/23/2011 10:37 PM, G wrote:

so its safe to use for enable external monitor hdmi.
i will try...

If you have muxless Optimus, your HDMI port may or may not be physically
hooked up the Nvidia GPU directly.

If it is hooked up, you might be able to use the Nvidia card exclusively
on that display, but not the LVDS.

[gnetwork-git]

i tried few different ways, didnt work. the hdmi tv monitor was recognised in nvidia-settings panel, as disabled. there was option in config to choose as single x-screen (of which there is only one), or Twinview. afraid to click "Save settings to xconfig" option as i'm not sure which xconfig it will change. it would be handy to have 2 monitors going, or even just a big one.

[starks]

On 09/23/2011 11:35 PM, G wrote:

i tried few different ways, didnt work. the hdmi tv monitor was recognised in nvidia-settings panel, as disabled. there was option in config to choose as single x-screen (of which there is only one), or Twinview. afraid to click "Save settings to xconfig" option as i'm not sure which xconfig it will change. it would be handy to have 2 monitors going, or even just a big one.

I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself and beyond the scope of
this bug entry.

There are still gl_conf assignments I need to work out before even
attempting windump on a production machine (which I do because I'm a
masochist). I only get this to work because I shift the assignment back
and forth using dpkg'ing of libgl1-mesa-glx and nvidia-current (assuming
Ubuntu and its derivatives).

Besides, I don't know what hardware you are running or what you are
trying to do. However, as a rule of thumb, an unmodified file generated
by nvidia-xconfig is not going to be useful or usable.

Please keep in mind that the frame of reference for this entry assumes a
muxless DSM-only notebook with no MXMX/MXDS calls. It is also assumed
that the HDMI ports are wired to the Intel chip and that we are only
seeking Nvidia output on the LVDS. This is all of course to keep things
simple and eliminate variables.

[starks]

Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/AxQEV.jpg
mplayer2 output: http://pastebin.com/6D6m99D0
Screencast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxziIAPFIFY

What is that? It's VDPAU through Bumblebee+Windump!

Now, there are still a few problems that need to be addressed. The main one is the presence of two cursors that don't always align and no keyboard support. The second is that Bumblebee doesn't have a comprehensive list of modeplines (1080p especially) like Ironhide's xorg.conf.nvidia does so the dumped window may be limited to 1024x768 or 1360x768. Even if the dumped window matches your LVDS resolution, there are still issues of window overlap, window priority, and Compiz being a bit fickle. gnome-panel and gnome-shell seem to also interfere with fullscreening the dumped window. There are also minor cosmetic issues like theming, but whatever.

Want to try? Don't worry! This shouldn't hose your system like previous approaches.

1. Build hybrid-windump but don't use the included xorg.conf!
   https://github.com/harp1n/hybrid-windump (includes borders for entire dumped window)
   https://github.com/gebart/hybrid-windump (included better cursor support, but dumped window will cover portion of Intel desktop and can't be moved)
2. Start the Bumblebee X server
   optirun glxinfo
3. Run Compiz (or Metacity) on Nvidia display so the dumped window can be moved around. If you skip this, VDPAU playback will be green.
   DISPLAY=:8 compiz --replace &
4. Run mplayer2
   DISPLAY=:8 mplayer -vo vdpau videofilename
5. Dump window
   ./windump :8 :0.0 &
6. You now have VDPAU output!

NB: This also works with Ironhide. Also, unlike the previous post, dumping is needed to expose NV17.

[starks]

Video of progress that highlights the dumping of single windows using the latest version of hybrid-windump
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVBMLdeRoUU

[Samsagax]

I think we can start thinking about using hybrid-windump as an alternative backend for Bumblebee. It seems more "hardwarelly" than the network approach. Thanks for the progress on this one @LLStarks. We'll try to catch up

[starks]

To that end, I've forked harp1n's windump to make rendering through Bumblebee possible again. The latest commits broke that functionality.

https://github.com/LLStarks/hybrid-windump

I'm finding Bumbledump to be far more fickle than Windump by itself and a lot of work needs to be done to get the xorg.conf(.nvidia) to correctly handle mouse/keyboard events and have a wide array of resolutions. The modelines Ironhide uses shoud suffice for the latter. There's also a question of whether the two-screen behavior is appropriate. I see little need to have the Nvidia screen to the left or right of the Intel screen.

At any rate, here's a wiki page featuring demos of Windump by itself and through Bumblebee.
https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project/Bumblebee/wiki/Bumbledump

[ArchangeGabriel]

About modelines, whe should not use those from IronHide, however we can get them entirely from intel driver, read this: Bumblebee-Project/Bumblebee#67 (comment)

I'm trying to found an external monitor to play with, I may have found one.