increasing performance on laptop

kellinjar · 01-13-2006, 04:27 PM

I know my laptop isn't a gaming laptop, however I'm hoping there is some way to increase its performance (possibly with new driver, perhaps updating other things, etc) These latops are capable of running things like WoW, WC3, Counter-strike, etc easily in windows.

Hardware rundown:
Toshiba Tecra A3
Intel i915
1 GB ram
Centrino 1.6 ghz
Integrated sound

Linux:
FC4
fully updated with yum update

I have the intel i915 chosen from the display properties, but honestly I'm getting terrible frame rates (less that 1 FPS) for something like TORCS, even using 16mb textures, and 352x288 size or smaller.

That just seems wrong to me in some way.

Anyone have any hints on packages I should install? I think the only opengl I have is the Mesa package (latest one) that has opengl 1.2 or something built in. I'm having a lot of trouble finding info on this, especially on how to upgrade to opengl 2.0 and other type of things.

SciYro · 01-13-2006, 06:25 PM

let me put it to you this way: you 3D graphics card is not being used....

Mesa is a opengl implementation (not official, of course), and its job is to implement opengl in software (slow!!!). You need to configure you X (the GUI commonly used in UNIXies) so it uses the drivers for your card. But before that you need to make sure your card is supported in the open source drivers, or find a Linux binary drivers from the manufacturer. Then you need to configure your kernel to support the graphics card (DRI and DRM need to be configured for proper use of the card ... im not sure on DRM tho, i think its only needed for AGP cards, but you should still look into it just to be safe). Then you can configure X ... reboot, then pray it works.

the "glxinfo" command can get you info on the state of your opengl capabilities.

Code:

glxinfo|grep direct

that will execute the command with a filter to give you just one line, it should say "direct rendering: yes", if it says no, then direct rendering is not enabled for you card. Direct rendering, in X/DRI-speak is 3D hardware execeleration, so its wanted, and needed to use opengl at doesn't framerates.

that should at least give you a start as to where to start looking. also, DRM = direct rendering manager (not to confuse it with other uses...), DRI = direct rendering infrastructure, and is a project to provide hardware execeleration in Linux, its in the current Linux source tree, as well as the Xorg/Xfree86 sources

PerfectReign · 01-13-2006, 06:29 PM

Also, I don't know if you gnome-folk have sax2 available. This handy piece of software can give you really tight control over your laptop display.

HTH!

kellinjar · 01-13-2006, 06:36 PM

I have dri drivers from intel's site.
It is an integrated adapter, and I know its not great, but I think it should be doing much more than it is.
I get the following from glxinfo
direct rendering: no
opengl renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect

What steps should I take to correct this?

I changed DRI from 0 to 1 in xorg.conf I got a lsight boost in TORC (1.5 FPS while driving). If you want I can post my xorg.conf if it would help at all.

SciYro · 01-13-2006, 08:02 PM

OK, first redo tho config with that xorgconfig thingy, make sure you have drivers right (i assume you already did this, so thats skip this, shall we?).

Xorg i hate, it never seems to do the config correctly, everytime i run the command i have to hand edit the file to add some lines here and there... nothing big, ill post the relevant lines now.

Code:

# This loads the GLX module
    Load       "glx"
# This loads the DRI module
    Load       "dri"

that should go near the top (in section "Module"), normally i see this commented out in the file xorgconfig gave me, so just find and uncomment the lines

Code:

 Section "DRI"
    Mode 0666
 EndSection

this goes at the end, im not sure if its needed, at least it was when i added it, umm, i think ...

kellinjar · 01-14-2006, 12:38 AM

Ill give that shot, I'm also going to try this:
http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/Building

if it doesn't work.

[edit] actually just checked those two lines are already present. So obviously something isn't right. I'll continue with building DRI and installing it like that and see if that solves the issue.

[2nd edit] I've gotten all the way to step 1.5 building the libdrm, and it fails with:
configure.ac:28: error: possibly undefined macro: AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
if this token others are legitimate, please use m4_pattern_allow.
autoreconf: /usr/local/bin/autoconf failed with the exit status:1

I tried running it with -m4_pattern_allow it got a couple steps further and failed on:
configure.ac: installing `./missing'
libdrm/Makefile.am:21:Libtool library used by LIBTOOL is undefined
libdrm/Makefile.am:21:
libdrm/Makefile.am:21:The usual way to define LIBTOOL is to add AC_PROG_LIBTOOL
libdrm/Makefile.am:21: to configure.ac and run aclocal and autoconf again
libdrm/Makefile.am: installing `./depcomp'
autoreconf: automake failed with exit status 1

Anyone here help with this or am I up the creek?

SciYro · 01-14-2006, 03:50 AM

i wouldent reccoment building from source on a binary system, it could break the package manager.

just post your xorg.conf, and the output of "lsmod".

btw, did you compile the DRI/DRM stuff into the kernel?

kellinjar · 01-14-2006, 09:58 AM

probably not, I've only been using linux for about 2 months, so I'm still floundering a bit.

Part of that link I left is compiling stuff into the kernel, so if I can get past step 1.5 then I should be okay

LSMOD:

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
i915                   20224  1
drm                    73240  2 i915
parport_pc             27909  1
lp                     12937  0
parport                35593  2 parport_pc,lp
autofs4                19653  2
rfcomm                 38745  0
l2cap                  25921  5 rfcomm
bluetooth              48069  4 rfcomm,l2cap
sunrpc                141437  1
pcmcia                 38517  2
nls_utf8                2241  1
ntfs                  195984  1
vfat                   13121  1
fat                    51293  1 vfat
dm_mod                 57181  0
video                  16197  0
button                  6737  0
battery                 9541  0
ac                      4933  0
ipv6                  249761  8
ohci1394               35593  0
ieee1394              297625  1 ohci1394
yenta_socket           25805  2
rsrc_nonstatic         13377  1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core            41313  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
uhci_hcd               32465  0
ehci_hcd               34381  0
shpchp                 93317  0
snd_intel8x0m          17797  0
i2c_i801                9165  0
i2c_core               22081  1 i2c_i801
snd_intel8x0           32929  1
snd_ac97_codec         88637  2 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0
snd_ac97_bus            2497  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_seq_dummy           3781  0
snd_seq_oss            31809  0
snd_seq_midi_event      7105  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                49617  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          9037  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss            50545  0
snd_mixer_oss          17985  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                87493  4 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              25029  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd                    54437  12 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               9889  1 snd
snd_page_alloc         10697  3 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
ipw2200               111588  0
ieee80211              57192  1 ipw2200
ieee80211_crypt         6404  1 ieee80211
sk98lin               192600  1
joydev                  9601  0
ext3                  129993  1
jbd                    57813  1 ext3
ata_piix                9541  3
libata                 47437  1 ata_piix
sd_mod                 18625  4
scsi_mod              135529  2 libata,sd_mod

xorg.conf

Code:

# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "single head configuration"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
	InputDevice    "Synaptics" "AlwaysCore"
EndSection

Section "Files"
# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database.  Note, this is the name of the 
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db").  There is normally
# no need to change the default.

# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.

	RgbPath      "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
	FontPath     "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load  "dbe"
	Load  "extmod"
	Load  "fbdevhw"
	Load  "glx"
	Load  "record"
	Load  "freetype"
	Load  "type1"
	Load  "synaptics"
	Load  "dri"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
#	Option	"Xleds"		"1 2 3"

# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
#	Option	"XkbDisable"

# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults).  For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
#	Option	"XkbModel"	"pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
#	Option	"XkbModel"	"microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
#	Option	"XkbLayout"	"de"
# or:
#	Option	"XkbLayout"	"de"
#	Option	"XkbVariant"	"nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
#	Option	"XkbOptions"	"ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
#	Option	"XkbOptions"	"ctrl:nocaps"
#
	Identifier  "Keyboard0"
	Driver      "kbd"
	Option	    "XkbModel" "pc105"
	Option	    "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Mouse0"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option	    "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
	Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
	Option	    "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Synaptics"
	Driver      "synaptics"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
	Option	    "Protocol" "auto-dev"
	Option	    "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
	Option	    "LeftEdge" "120"
	Option	    "RightEdge" "830"
	Option	    "TopEdge" "120"
	Option	    "BottomEdge" "650"
	Option	    "FingerLow" "14"
	Option	    "FingerHigh" "15"
	Option	    "MaxTapMove" "110"
	Option	    "VertScrollDelta" "20"
	Option	    "HorizScrollDelta" "20"
	Option	    "MinSpeed" "0.3"
	Option	    "MaxSpeed" "0.75"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Monitor0"
	VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
	ModelName    "LCD Panel 1024x768"
	HorizSync    31.5 - 48.5
	VertRefresh  40.0 - 70.0
	Option	    "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Videocard0"
	Driver      "i810"
	VendorName  "Videocard vendor"
	BoardName   "Intel 915"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen0"
	Device     "Videocard0"
	Monitor    "Monitor0"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     16
		Modes    "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
		Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
	Group        0
	Mode         0666
EndSection

SciYro · 01-14-2006, 05:44 PM

try removing the line "Group 0" in the last section, then restart your computer so it takes effect, other then that, i cant see anything that would stop opengl from working.

kellinjar · 01-14-2006, 05:53 PM

I had removed that during the last restart (then I tried changing another setting, and it had to recover the settings file because I made a mistake). It gives a very tiny boost in performance (like 1 FPS which I mentioned before) but thats about it. Something still isn't right here. I'm waiting for an answer to continue building DRI from their IRC channel and I'll see if that solves it.