No drivers for *some* virtual GPUs

[josefnpat]

+1, would love to try this in virtualbox!

[dimkr]

I added several virtual GPU drivers. If the next snapshot doesn't fix this issue, re-open the issue.

[ghost]

Tried snapshot rlsd-18092014-x86_64-bios on VirtualBox. The issue is not fixed. Suggested solution in #36 still works.

[dbohdan]

@peterhull90: same for me on VirtualBox. What has changed is that it now works under QEMU 1.6 when it didn't use to.

[ghost]

Any idea where the problem lies? - Isolinux or the kernel itself (the recent fix was to the kernel config, wasn't it?). I've booted plan9, netbsd, haiku, other linuxes with VB and never had this, so I don't know where to look

[dimkr]

It's all about missing drivers. There is a possibility that VMs require out-of-tree drivers for KMS under VirtualBox - I'll do another round of research.

[dimkr]

Just found http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTAxOTk - it seems KMS support is provided by the guest additions, as I suspected. I remembered it tries to build some kernel module when you install them, while VMWare's solution is a big bunch of pre-built binaries.

Interesting, maybe we can take the driver code from https://www.virtualbox.org/browser/vbox/trunk#src/VBox/Additions/linux/drm and integrate it into the kernel source (under video/).

[ghost]

I agree, that is the best way to go, to get optimum video performance. But, I think it should be possible for RLSD to fall back to using generic VESA framebuffer support.

It must be nearly there, because

• adding the command line parameter to the kernel boot makes it work.
• other systems, e.g. netbsd, plan9, even DSL work and they definitely don't have guest additions

I do want to help but I need some advice on where to start. Any idea where I could ask?

[dimkr]

When you add the "video=" parameter, it enables the generic VESA framebuffer. Are you sure DSL works fine in VirtualBox without this?

[ghost]

I tried DSL 4.4.10 (ISO) with VirtualBox 4.3.12. Without any tweaking from me it shows a graphical boot screen, then boots into X.

On Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 3:49 PM, Dima Krasner notifications@github.com wrote:

When you add the "video=" parameter, it enables the generic VESA framebuffer. Are you sure DSL works fine in VirtualBox without this?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/dimkr/rlsd/issues/35#issuecomment-56187203.

[dimkr]

Try to remove "vga=791". As far as I understand, it won't work without this parameter.

EDIT: I'm trying to get the patch from http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=78993 to work. It's ugly and hacky C to my taste, though.

[dimkr]

My first attempt doesn't seem to work - it enables a framebuffer console with the maximum resolution and depth (as it should), but then the kernel hangs. I'm compiling another kernel, this time with fixes for several bugs I found just by reading my code, after (some) sleep.

[dimkr]

See 62a7d41616d4f794645757f5ea4f9508bfe90ae0. I built the minimal flavor and booted it on my Eee PC, with "i915.modeset=0". Unlike a normal kernel, this one enabled a framebuffer console with the maximum resolution automatically. It also worked on Qemu, but I cannot test it against VirtualBox at the moment, because I'm on a Celeron (VTX incapable) machine.

I changed the daily build cycle so the next build (20092014) is being built right now. Can you test it once it's available, please?

EDIT: I tested the 64-bit 20092014 against my UEFI laptop, in both UEFI and legacy boot. It seems to work fine. However, under VirtualBox, it sets up a framebuffer console and X starts (yay!), but the color depth is low (below 16-bit) and everything looks way too retro :)

[ghost]

Tried with rlsd-21092014-i686-bios.iso

Result: it does boot graphically - I see the penguin logo then it goes into X, but it isn't the best mode that it's capable of - looks almost like VGA (dithered pixels, low resolution). I've had a look at /var/log/messages and there seem to be some differences between the 'auto' case, and using an explicit vga=nnn parameter.

I will report further (no time now, sorry)

[dbohdan]

Same result with rlsd-21092014-i686-bios.iso.

[dimkr]

Great! That's good progress.

Can you boot an older version with "vga=ask" and send me a screenshot of the output? I need that list of modes.

EDIT: I'll note this so you don't waste your time for nothing - it must be an older version, since yesteday's (20092014) and later versions perform automatic probing with "vga=ask".

EDIT 2: I'm currently testing a second version of the patch, which ignores all text modes (where mi->depth is 0) and picks the mode with the biggest ID. I want to make sure this approach makes sense, that's why I need your vga=ask output.

EDIT 3: wow, VirtualBox is a tough nut. Tried four different approaches and all produce the same result: a small resolution with a low color depth. Time for heavier debugging.

[dimkr]

OK, I finally found out why this happens, after hours of debugging (it's almost 1 AM here) - the VirtualBox VESA BIOS reports it supports only 640x480 at 8bpp.

Does the trick at http://superuser.com/questions/478901/change-macos-x-guest-screen-resolution-for-virtualbox work for you? For me, it doesn't (under Ubuntu 14.04).

[ghost]

Probably too late, but:

[dimkr]

Thanks! Same as the output on my VirtualBox.

It seems the magical resolution guessing function sees only 640x480x8. Any idea why this could happen?

EDIT: I think I found the problem - I think it's a typo. I feel ashamed.

EDIT 2: problem solved. I'll commit once I test it on two physical machines, VirtualBox and Qemu.

[ghost]

Great, thanks working on this. Can you let me know, which is the first build that will have this applied? I will test it too.

[dimkr]

The next one (23092014) should be the first to incorporate this fix.

[dbohdan]

rlsd-23092014-i686.iso runs at 1600x1200 for me.

[ghost]

Also 1600x1200@32 for me.