[HowTo] AMD E350 Zacate with Video Acceleration -- Natty + XBMC PVR easy install
#1
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Hello everybody,

after reading through the brilliant post started by Robotica, I think it is now time to start a new one, since things have now become really easy, I would say. No need anymore to use a kernel not available anyway from the natty repos.

So, here are the steps needed:

  1. install Natty 64 Desktop + upgrade
  2. install latest catalyst

    As of today (August 3, 2011) this is version 11.7, so we must do:

    some preparation first:
    Code:
    sudo apt-get install -y build-essential cdbs fakeroot dh-make debhelper debconf libstdc++6 dkms libqtgui4 wget execstack libelfg0 dh-modaliases ia32-libs

    install the driver itself:
    Code:
    cd ~; mkdir catalyst11.7; cd catalyst11.7
    wget http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/ati-driver-installer-11-7-x86.x86_64.run
    chmod +x ati-driver-installer-11-7-x86.x86_64.run
    sudo sh ./ati-driver-installer-11-7-x86.x86_64.run --extract ati
    cd ati
    sudo ./ati-installer.sh 8.872 --buildpkg Ubuntu/natty
    cd ..
    rm -rf ati
    sudo dpkg -i fglrx*.deb

    generate xorg.conf (see: (Post #362))
    Code:
    sudo aticonfig --initial -f
    sudo aticonfig --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf --tls=1
  3. install xvba for using vaapi

    something from the normal repos first:
    Code:
    sudo apt-get install -y libkms1 libdrm-dev pkg-config vainfo

    now the extra part:
    Code:
    mkdir vaapi; cd vaapi
    wget http://www.splitted-desktop.com/~gbeauchesne/xvba-video/xvba-video_0.8.0-1_amd64.deb
    sudo dpkg -i xvba-video_0.8.0-1_amd64.deb

    add missing link (see: (Post #360))
    Code:
    cd /usr/lib/dri; sudo ln -s /usr/lib/va/drivers/fglrx_drv_video.so fglrx_drv_video.so

    update /etc/environment
    Code:
    sudo nano /etc/environment

    then insert these lines

    Code:
    LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=xvba
    LIBVA_DRIVERS_PATH=/usr/lib/va/drivers

    and then use Catalyst Control Center to activate the "tearfree option" in the settings menu (thanks to demiurg for ponting this out). Afterwards

    Code:
    sudo reboot
  4. finally get latest XBMC-pvr (plus a few extras I like, but you obviously don't have to Smile )
    Code:
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lars-opdenkamp/xbmc-pvr
    sudo apt-get -y update
    sudo apt-get -y install gparted chromium-browser ubuntu-restricted-extras gnome-mplayer vlc nfs-kernel-server ssh grub-customizer grub2-splashimages xbmc tvheadend
  5. HDMI sound
    from ubuntuforums

After doing all this and getting your TV card/USB receiver working with tvheadend, viola, the result should be what you are looking for! For me, it looks like this:

Image

This, I think, is really easy and there is hope that the xvba-part will at some point not be necessary anymore either.

I would like to take the opprtunity to once more thank everyone who contributed to the thread [LINUX] HOW-TO use VAAPI HW Acceleration on AMD Zacate (Fusion) platform

--

Add: my hardware is a ASUS E35M-I
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#2
Is it possible that the HW acceleration is not that good? I see CPU utilization of ~60% in your screenshot, which seems quite high (to me).
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#3
Hi!

This looks great! I haven't got an HTPC yet, but very soonBig Grin

I wont be using it for watching TV, so is it only in step 4 i will have to do something different and installing another XBMC version?

Thanks in advance.
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#4
just wondering does shutdown work ? and suspend?
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#5
Balinus Wrote:Is it possible that the HW acceleration is not that good? I see CPU utilization of ~60% in your screenshot, which seems quite high (to me).

Zacate is not that powerfull and ist LiveTV at 50 hz. so... quite normal. the nvidia drivers with vdpau are more effective in HD acceleration right now.

Vaapi is working in the vid, else u will get 5 fps Wink ... so in normal 1080p u will get a load of 20-30%

Edit:

i prefer minimal installation, i am wondering too if shutdown works... i only had problems with this in natty and the 11.pre version of xbmc made problems too =( normally i build 10.0 by my own.
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#6
Wink 
Qroach Wrote:just wondering does shutdown work ? and suspend?

Krautmaster Wrote:Zacate is not that powerfull and ist LiveTV at 50 hz. so... quite normal. the nvidia drivers with vdpau are more effective in HD acceleration right now.

Vaapi is working in the vid, else u will get 5 fps Wink ... so in normal 1080p u will get a load of 20-30%

Edit:

i prefer minimal installation, i am wondering too if shutdown works... i only had problems with this in natty and the 11.pre version of xbmc made problems too =( normally i build 10.0 by my own.

Shutdown:
Actually, shutdown is a problem (as I mentioned in one of my posts in the former thread on [LINUX] HOW-TO use VAAPI HW Acceleration on AMD Zacate (Fusion) platform). I was going to find out a bit more about that today, since I do believe that shutdown works, if the vaapi driver has not been invoked, but I cannot yet confirm this, but maybe later today.

Vaapi:
You can see that it is working by looking at the picture, since it uses dc-ff-h264-vaapi. The CPU was actually more like 50% (even a little below that), so I might have just caught some extra effect when the picture was taken. And, for SD it uses the mpeg2 decoder and the CPU load is at around 40% (again, a little under).

Indeed, compared to nvidia VDPAU, this is not great, but absolutely sufficient, especially if you look at the price for the Zacate. At the moment, the Zacate is just a toy; the real work is still done by Atom D525 + ION2 based HTPCs ...
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#7
Wink 
Prebbish Wrote:Hi!

This looks great! I haven't got an HTPC yet, but very soonBig Grin

I wont be using it for watching TV, so is it only in step 4 i will have to do something different and installing another XBMC version?

Thanks in advance.

Hello,

I think you could install any other XBMC version there. if I am not mistaken, there is one available in the repos which will probably be ok, but I cannot be sure. Also, it is questionable whether that version was compiled with the option to enable vaapi. Thus, although I am just more or less a novice to XBMC myself, I would recommend using the same version of XBMC, as it has all the other features + PVR.

And if at some point you should decide to buy a DVB-T Stick with Linux support (of which there are a few, as far as I know), it would just be a matter of setting up tvheadend (which takes about 30 minutes) and activating the backend in XBMC and you can also watch TV ...
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#8
Ahh thx. Thought the PVR-version was different in some way. Thanks alot, I'll give it a shot then.
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#9
What skin is compatible with ppa xbmc-pv? Aeon MQ2 crashes!
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#10
MaRxMR Wrote:What skin is compatible with ppa xbmc-pv? Aeon MQ2 crashes!

I am using the standard confluence skin and I don't have problems with it. But, XBMC does crash sometimes. I believe it does so when I try to scroll to fast with the mouse. But still, I like the confluence skin very much anyway.
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#11
does Lars build up with VAAPI enabled now?
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#12
definitely looks like it, since you can choose both VDPAU and VAAPI in the video settings
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#13
Thumbs Up 
Qroach Wrote:just wondering does shutdown work ? and suspend?

chessplayer Wrote:Shutdown:
Actually, shutdown is a problem (as I mentioned in one of my posts in the former thread on [LINUX] HOW-TO use VAAPI HW Acceleration on AMD Zacate (Fusion) platform). I was going to find out a bit more about that today, since I do believe that shutdown works, if the vaapi driver has not been invoked, but I cannot yet confirm this, but maybe later today.

[snip]

Actually, my computer seems to have some self healing powers (maybe it has learned from the dolphins ?). The short answer is: both shutdown and reboot now miraculously work, no matter whether the vaapi-driver has been invoked or not ...

I myself didn't change anything ...
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#14
Thank you!! I've been following the Robotica thread for a while, but it never really worked out for me for various reasons (biggest reason might be my n00bness)

THIS is the thread that worked perfectly for me.

The only addition I would like to make is to make sure to enable the "tear free" option in the catalyst settings window. It makes a big difference for me in faster scenes.
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#15
Thumbs Up 
demiurg Wrote:Thank you!! I've been following the Robotica thread for a while, but it never really worked out for me for various reasons (biggest reason might be my n00bness)

THIS is the thread that worked perfectly for me.

The only addition I would like to make is to make sure to enable the "tear free" option in the catalyst settings window. It makes a big difference for me in faster scenes.

Thanks for pointing this out! I added the hint to the OP!
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Clients: RPi3, Wetek Play, Nvidia Shield
Server: Cubietruck with VDR; RPi3, Wetek Play
With Sundtek DVB-C Sticks (and Wetek Play tuners)
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[HowTo] AMD E350 Zacate with Video Acceleration -- Natty + XBMC PVR easy install0