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[LINUX] HOW-TO use VAAPI HW Acceleration in Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 integrated GPU
#76
Quote:I've been following this topic for a while now with great interest.

Recently I acquired an ASRock 100HT-BD. It has a Core I3 processor and uses the Mobile Intel HM55-Express chipset.

I was hoping to have enough CPU horsepower to just go with software decoding, but evidently that's not the case, which is how I ended up with your excellent guide.
Sadly, I can't get perfect playback on a lot of files.

* UPDATE *

Isn't it typical when you spend days/weeks trying to solve a problem, finally writing a post about it, and then stumbling across the solution an hour later? Smile

As it turns out, I had to make a couple of changes to my 100HT setup. Here's what I've observed. This is based on a setup as described in the original post.

* Disabling hyperthreading in the BIOS seemed to make things smoother
* I had to overclock the GPU in the ASRock BIOS to give it sufficient capability
* All Full-Bluray movies I have play without a glitch - provided I don't search too much. If I do, CPU/VPU usage goes up by such an amount it keeps dropping frames and never gets to settle down again for some reason. If I then stop the movie and load another, even this one skips. Driver issue perhaps? I'm hoping this will clear up in the near future.

I still can't play BBC Interlaced material, but that's due to FFMPEG from what I understand. Everything else plays like on my ION system.

BTW Alan, your patch made all the difference. Thanks for that!
I'll keep an eye on this forum in case you discover more interesting stuff.

Best regards,

R-D
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#77
when applying the patch i get this error:
Code:
Hunk #3 FAILED at 349.
1 out of 3 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file xbmc/cores/dvdplayer/DVDCodecs/Video/VAAPI.cpp.rej
not sure what this means. going to push ahead anyway...
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#78
For me, this doesn't work at all. I reinstalled the minimal Ubuntu (64-bit) but X doesn't seem to be installed correctly with these instructions. With "vainfo" I get the error "X86Free-DRI missing on devide :0.0". I googled and it looks like a non-trivial problem with the Intel GPU since the usual suggestion is to install the NVidia drivers again...
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#79
Makistos Wrote:For me, this doesn't work at all. I reinstalled the minimal Ubuntu (64-bit)

Try 32bit.
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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#80
alanwww1 Wrote:Try 32bit.
Damn, I thought about that for a moment, but decided against because I have 4GB on the box. But yeah, I'll try that next.

The XBMC version from the Ubuntu package repository worked, except for the audio issue, so it might be that the newer drivers have issues. I would like to debug them, if I had the time.
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#81
Makistos Wrote:Damn, I thought about that for a moment, but decided against because I have 4GB on the box. But yeah, I'll try that next.

The XBMC version from the Ubuntu package repository worked, except for the audio issue, so it might be that the newer drivers have issues. I would like to debug them, if I had the time.

The linux 32 bit kernels can easily handle any memory sizes with the pae kernels. Anyway why would you need more than 4gigs for a htpc ?
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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#82
alanwww1 Wrote:The linux 32 bit kernels can easily handle any memory sizes with the pae kernels. Anyway why would you need more than 4gigs for a htpc ?
32 bit only supports just over 3 and as I understand the i3 uses a few hundred megs for the GPU, but that still leaves about 500MB unused.

But it's not a biggie. People who I know knows the kernel says that 64-bit should be about as good as 32-bit with these issues, so I have been trying to move to that. But I'll try the 32-bit next and see what difference that makes. The drivers are obviously the most vulnerable part, so it's definitely worth a try.

I also use the device as a NAS. It was easier to install a couple of large disks and do a RAID1 setup with them and save the media stuff there than to buy a separate NAS device, especially since my wireless network still only supports 802.1g (I need to get a new router but my deal with my current ISP runs until Feb/Mar). And well, all you need is Samba on that same device (I already had all this set up).

And no, I don't need that much memory, but I got a really good deal for two 2GB memory chips and the motherboard happens to support dual-channel, so...
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#83
Makistos Wrote:32 bit only supports just over 3 and as I understand the i3 uses a few hundred megs for the GPU, but that still leaves about 500MB unused.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension

Code:
The Linux kernel includes full PAE mode support starting with version 2.3.23,[5] enabling access of up to 64 GB of memory on 32-bit machines. A PAE-enabled Linux-kernel requires that the CPU also support PAE. As of 2009,[6] many common Linux distributions have started to use a PAE-enabled kernel as the distribution-specific default[6] because it adds the NX bit.
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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#84
OK, thanks for the info. I'll try it, just need to find an empty CD-R somewhere...
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#85
Hm, when I run startx, I get a terminal, but I can't type anything into it. The logs say the keyboard was correctly identified, but nothing happens. It still works with the normal terminals, though.

I'll try to install the rest of the system (XBMC) first.
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#86
Nope, does not compute. The graphics driver has not been installed for some reason. I installed XBMC and rebooted and when trying to run it, it complains no OpenGL graphics driver has been installed. This has worked when I installed XBMC from the Ubuntu package repository.

Do you actually use the minimal install Ubuntu, or the full version? Maybe that's what I need to try next.

EDIT: Does the graphics driver really come from the edgers ppa? I can't find anything like xf86-video-intel with "aptitude search" so what is this driver package supposed to be called?
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#87
Makistos Wrote:Nope, does not compute. The graphics driver has not been installed for some reason. I installed XBMC and rebooted and when trying to run it, it complains no OpenGL graphics driver has been installed. This has worked when I installed XBMC from the Ubuntu package repository.

Do you actually use the minimal install Ubuntu, or the full version? Maybe that's what I need to try next.

EDIT: Does the graphics driver really come from the edgers ppa? I can't find anything like xf86-video-intel with "aptitude search" so what is this driver package supposed to be called?

This is the part where the video drivers are installed. Yes, they come from the Edgers PPA, but this only works properly if you apt-get update first. Just follow the Instructions, they work exactly as described.

Quote:sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python-software-properties
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install libva1 vainfo i965-va-driver libva-glx1 libva-dev
sudo reboot

After those steps the driver is installed, but it is not in use yet. To make them work you need to create a proper xorg.conf file, that tells the X Server to use the Intel driver. This is all described in the first post. Just do it step by step. Btw. "apt-get install ubuntu-desktop" should bring you from Minimal Ubuntu to the Desktop version... Minimal is targeted to more professional users. Just start easy without worring about X Servers, etc. - you can still do everything by hand after gaining some experience using the Desktop. Big Grin

Whats your System btw?


And a BIG thanks to alanwww1. I have been following this post for quite some time now and finally had some time to test it after finding a defective memory in my i3 system. It works as described in the first post and I really appreciate you staying here, tracking bugs, creating patches and keeping the tutorial up to date. This was a HUGE help.
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#88
Well, I followed the post exactly but if you look at them, they don't tell you to create the xorg.conf file before trying to run vainfo.

I have, btw, installed somewhat complex Linux installations before. And not to brag but I will start a new job as a Meego low-level programmer tomorrow (I have extensive experiece with low-level programming with other systems but only about 18 months with Linux)..

I described my system in a blog post:
http://blog.sofistes.net/2010/12/htpc-pr...art-1.html

Except that I switched the chassis fan to a quieter one.
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#89
Sorry if I sounded cheesy, my intention was not to mock you about having knowledge or not, I was just trying to find an easy ground to play on for both of us. Its difficult to judge the linux / ubuntu knowledge of others sometimes, hehe. Again sorry if I offended you somehow, it wasnt meant that way. Smile

So you got it all working now?
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#90
No probs, I have my share and then some of silly mistakes on this issue already Nod

But no, I'm not familiar with the Linux graphics stack so I can't figure it out in any sensible time (that I can spare at least). My plan B is to install desktop Ubuntu which should at least get the graphics running but I need to roll back the changes from edgers first, I guess. After that attempt to update the stuff from edgers and see if the drivers got updated properly.

Wish I had lots of time to to use on this...
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[LINUX] HOW-TO use VAAPI HW Acceleration in Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 integrated GPU4