From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Dec 19 22:23:17 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 207481065679 for ; Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:23:17 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd-questions@herveybayaustralia.com.au) Received: from mail.unitedinsong.com.au (mail.unitedinsong.com.au [150.101.178.33]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C194B8FC1F for ; Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:23:16 +0000 (UTC) Received: from laptop1.herveybayaustralia.com.au (laptop1.herveybayaustralia.com.au [192.168.0.179]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-CAMELLIA256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mail.unitedinsong.com.au (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 9B4855C24 for ; Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:35:40 +1000 (EST) Message-ID: <4EEFB89D.1030103@herveybayaustralia.com.au> Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:20:13 +1000 From: Da Rock User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; FreeBSD amd64; rv:7.0.1) Gecko/20111109 Thunderbird/7.0.1 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <4EEF208F.1060100@herveybayaustralia.com.au> <4EEF3183.3060907@herveybayaustralia.com.au> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: Xorg error: New athlon laptop, radeonhd video - unable to load fbdev X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:23:17 -0000 On 12/20/11 03:05, Warren Block wrote: > On Mon, 19 Dec 2011, Da Rock wrote: > >> On 12/19/11 21:31, Da Rock wrote: >>> I hate to come with this kind of a query, but my googling hasn't >>> come across a satisfactory answer. >>> >>> I'm running an install on a brand new laptop for a client, and I'm >>> trying to get X up using xdm- nothing. The logs says it failed to >>> load fbdev because there is no data module. >>> >>> I try uninstalling fbdev and running a rebuild of xorg- its still >>> using the builtin configuration and still can't load fbdev. No >>> devices detected. >>> >>> I run Xorg -configure, and it shows the radeon card fine, 2 >>> displays. Still working with the config file, but it seems fine. >> correction - its dual display issue that I've never had trouble with >> before (I also have installed on a HTPC with same memory, phenom quad >> core, uses a radeon HD card and a NVidia HD card). And no, the Xorg >> -config /root/xorg.conf.new [-retro] doesn't work as it is locking up >> and I can't even ctl-alt-backspace, I have to acpi power off to shut >> the system down. Google's still not giving me any hope... :( Last >> time I came across this level of issue was with a solo vintage intel >> card on yet another laptop- it froze the system too. >> >> BTW, who says multicard vga is rare? > > Some newer laptops have dual GPUs, an onboard Intel combined with one > from another vendor for higher performance. There's hot-switching > between the two, but AFAIK it's not supported in FreeBSD. There may > be a BIOS option to disable one or the other. There should still be > two video outputs. > > More than one video card at a time is a different issue, which is also > unsupported on FreeBSD AFAIK: > (WW) VGA arbiter: cannot open kernel arbiter, no multi-card support It appears that it is something that needs to be resolved pretty quickly then. The linux guys jumped on it quick as (I'm not ribbing by the way) - probably their guys came across it sooner than BSD users. What has thrown me is the fact that I didn't even consider it as a problem because I already had installed on a dual video system- ATI card and NVidia onboard, both that will work on a linux system, and that FBSD has no problem like this either; it just works. Weird... So what are my options then? I have 2 high performance cards I can't use? VESA is not exactly an exciting solution - or secure: it somehow retains the image displayed in memory, and shows it as it loads up X the next time.