Getting closer - An ATI graphics guide

[captainsquash]

I just tried getting AGPGart 2.0 to work (http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=20139) as well as this (http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...mp;#entry163241) with no success so far.

 

AGPGart 2.0 did work in that it saw my radeon 9000 on the AGP bus rather than the PCI bus, but it didn't change anything besides that. It worked fine with Callisto b003.

 

I think the guide to get QE working on the 7500 might be able to work with other radeons. I used my device ids, etc. where needed but I wasn't able to get QE working.

 

If anyone can get this to work, or has other ideas that they think might work... please post them! I've got a testing computer which I use only to test new QE ideas of mine and others, and its probably crashed more times than I've had hot dinners, so I'm open to slightly crazy ideas if you have any.

[Guest goodtime]

Goodtime - Thanks for the X1000 zip file, it looks like its a pretty good way to get some basic 3d accel running at lower resolutions. I tried it - it works great but I personally prefer to run at 1400x1050 (which doesn't work so well with the X1000 kexts )

 

My Compaq X1000 runs at 1650 x 1080 natively, so using my X1000 zip file that res works. 1400x1050 res never worked for me. It is out of sync and give me a garbled screen.

 

Lightroom was a bit on the slow side for me but it still worked, I didn't probe around too much but it never crashed in the testing I did.

 

Lightroom works on my Laptop. I edited a few photos. It seems to work. I am still partial to Aperture. I like to be able to turn on/off color corrections on the fly. With Lightroom, you can do that but have to use the History and it's more sequential. It's a different kind of flow. If Lightroom had a way to individually turn ON/OFF a color correction without using History (which is more linear than they way my mind works), I would consider using it instead.

 

Lightroom is progressing. I remember using the 1st beta and it was flashy and did not seem functional. Reviewing the latest beta 4, it seems to have matured and I am starting to like it. The interface has been cleaned up.

 

The competition between Aperture and Lightroom is good and will only make both programs better. The only bad thing is, there won't be a clear winner. We'll have both programs around for a long time, until one company buys the other out like the Macromedia/Adobe merger. FreeHand, which I used to enjoy and love is dead. ;( Before the buyout, Macromedia was messing with MX too much and that didn't help either.

 

 

Cpt:

 

I hope you can figure something out with QE. As far as I can tell, OpenGL needs to run native / hardware accelerated in order for QE to work. That's from what I got from the 7500 thread. Unfortunately the 8500 OpenGL drivers do not seem to be finished. If someone can write a new OpenGL driver or get MESA to work than I think QE will run. I've tried many different OpenGL combinations and couldn't get that nut to crack.

 

I able to get my Quicktime Movies to play at 24-30 fps in 10.4.6 without any mouse tearing or artifacts. So there is some progress, but not in the QE direction.

 

Good Luck. Hopefully we'll find a driver genius that can make it work.

 

My machine comes in two flavors, a 7500 and a 9200. You could change the GPU with a 7500. One downside is less Video RAM. It would take some surgery but sounds doable, but it's probably not worth the investment as better and faster laptops keeps coming to market and not to mention Apple's own laptop line is getting better too. I did try flashing my GPU's BIOS. And somehow got it flashed with a Mac Radeon Bios. However, it only seemed to break more stuff and I had to find other drivers that would get 2D Accel to work again. I'm lucky flashing the GPU didn't break it completely.

 

 

GT

[StillFunkyB]

Thanks for the reply GT.

 

I was afraid of that.

 

Only other PC I have that I could run on is SATA only, no IDE.

 

bummer.

[JustBrowsing]

(http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...mp;#entry163241) with no success so far.

 

I think the guide to get QE working on the 7500 might be able to work with other radeons. I used my device ids, etc. where needed but I wasn't able to get QE working.

 

If anyone can get this to work, or has other ideas that they think might work... please post them! I've got a testing computer which I use only to test new QE ideas of mine and others, and its probably crashed more times than I've had hot dinners, so I'm open to slightly crazy ideas if you have any.

 

Man if it wasn't for you and your postings I would completely give up on OSx86 on my laptop. So far though, it seems like there is possibilities; especially with this ATi Radeon 7500 driver enabling QE. I don't see why it couldn't be done on our cards Mobility 9000 other trouble some cards.

 

I too just tried using the Mobility 7500 Driver and here's what I noted:

 

After I copied the IOMatch or whatever it's called, and set the kernal flag to "F" and rebooted, I still had my 1,400x1,050 screen resolution. However, under System Configuration, Callisto was not installed properly and my video card was displayed as just a VGA Adapter. Although, I still had my native resolution. When I went into the "Extensions" folder and edited the CallistoHAL.kext and put back the "4c66" (Device ID) -- I had to re-apply permissions using the terminal commands.

 

After that, things were back to normal. What I did notice before I edited CallistoHAL.kext; is that my screen did not get all jacked up right before OSX loaded, meaning my dock did not move from the middle left and readjust to the middle bottom.

 

The screen resolution did work out just fine with the Mobilty 7500 drivers, and it seemed to be a little more snappy on start up. Seemed more polished, albeit that my video card was unidentified by System Configuration.

 

There has got to be something from the 7500 ATi Radeon Drivers that we can salvage to make this work. I'd LOVE to use the 2D Accer. from good ol' GoodTime, but my screen's default resolution is the only one it jacks up on "1,400x1050"..... so no reason to use that just yet.

 

 

There's gotta be a way to get QE.... I just don't know exactly what to look at.

[Guest goodtime]

There has got to be something from the 7500 ATi Radeon Drivers that we can salvage to make this work. I'd LOVE to use the 2D Accer. from good ol' GoodTime, but my screen's default resolution is the only one it jacks up on "1,400x1050"..... so no reason to use that just yet.

There's gotta be a way to get QE.... I just don't know exactly what to look at.

 

 

I'll do some digging and see if I can get 1400x1050 res to work. By Jacked up, you mean that 1400x1050 is scrambled right?

 

I think it's a problem with ATINDRV or the 8500 Driver.

 

GT

[JustBrowsing]

I'll do some digging and see if I can get 1400x1050 res to work. By Jacked up, you mean that 1400x1050 is scrambled right?

 

I think it's a problem with ATINDRV or the 8500 Driver.

 

GT

 

Goodtime:

 

Yeah that's what I mean by jacked up. I got your PM earlier this afternoon and decided to take the plunge and backup my extensions folder and use your CompaqX1000.zip patch. While it ran fine, you were exactly right the entire display after rebooting was scrambled. I cannot see anything at all. The mouse cursor is all that is really visible, all context menus, the top bar, and the dock is completely unrecognizable. I had to go into Windows and going to my OSX partition and delete the "Extensions" folder, and replace it with the "ExtensionsBackup" it was well worth it to back it up.... glad I did.

 

The wierd thing is that I cannot change my resolution after I apply the patch, it automatically goes to my preferred resolution of 1,400x1,050. Even if I put it in the com.apple.Boot.plist; it doesn't make a difference. Still gets scrambled.

 

I tried doing "Graphics Mode" = "1024x768x32" or something similar to that, nonetheless, Callisto loads and "finds" out that my LCD can do the other 1400x1050 resolution, and does that.

 

Thank you so much for digging. I haven't tried video or anything on it. Wierd how it works on all these other resolutions but this one.

 

Thanks GT.

[Guest goodtime]

Goodtime:

 

Yeah that's what I mean by jacked up. I got your PM earlier this afternoon and decided to take the plunge and backup my extensions folder and use your CompaqX1000.zip patch. While it ran fine, you were exactly right the entire display after rebooting was scrambled. I cannot see anything at all. The mouse cursor is all that is really visible, all context menus, the top bar, and the dock is completely unrecognizable. I had to go into Windows and going to my OSX partition and delete the "Extensions" folder, and replace it with the "ExtensionsBackup" it was well worth it to back it up.... glad I did.

 

The wierd thing is that I cannot change my resolution after I apply the patch, it automatically goes to my preferred resolution of 1,400x1,050. Even if I put it in the com.apple.Boot.plist; it doesn't make a difference. Still gets scrambled.

 

I tried doing "Graphics Mode" = "1024x768x32" or something similar to that, nonetheless, Callisto loads and "finds" out that my LCD can do the other 1400x1050 resolution, and does that.

 

Thank you so much for digging. I haven't tried video or anything on it. Wierd how it works on all these other resolutions but this one.

 

Thanks GT.

 

Callisto b003 without my patch works at 1400x1050 right?

[JustBrowsing]

Callisto b003 without my patch works at 1400x1050 right?

 

yeah.... works just fine.... gives me perfect res.

[Guest goodtime]

yeah.... works just fine.... gives me perfect res.

 

Okay. I will do some testing and write back.

[JustBrowsing]

Okay. I will do some testing and write back.

awesome absolutely awesome, thanks for the taking the time. Us Dell owners certainly appreciate it.

[Guest goodtime]

awesome absolutely awesome, thanks for the taking the time. Us Dell owners certainly appreciate it.

 

I just hope its not a side effect of the 8500 driver and/or a Callisto's FrameBuffer.

 

 

I just hope its not a side effect of the 8500 driver and/or a Callisto's FrameBuffer.

 

Okay, I got 1400x1050 to work using IONDRVFrameBuffer instead of IOFrameBuffer or CallistoFB in the 8500GA plugin info.plist file. 2D Acceleration seems to be gone as Thousands does not work. Thousands works when 2D Accel hack is working.

 

I am going to try the 8500 GA plugin from 10.4.8.

[JustBrowsing]

I just hope its not a side effect of the 8500 driver and/or a Callisto's FrameBuffer.

Okay, I got 1400x1050 to work using IONDRVFrameBuffer instead of IOFrameBuffer or CallistoFB in the 8500GA plugin info.plist file. 2D Acceleration seems to be gone as Thousands does not work. Thousands works when 2D Accel hack is working.

 

I am going to try the 8500 GA plugin from 10.4.8.

yeah I noticed before when I changed my color depth to thousands of colors it looked kind of jacked up, but when I switched it back to millions, it was back fine. This was before I tried your patch. It was just so wierd how I couldn't get it set to a lower "Fuzzy" resolution.

[Guest goodtime]

yeah I noticed before when I changed my color depth to thousands of colors it looked kind of jacked up, but when I switched it back to millions, it was back fine. This was before I tried your patch. It was just so wierd how I couldn't get it set to a lower "Fuzzy" resolution.

 

Tip: I keep the Monitor resolutions in my Menu bar just for that reason. You use the mouse to click in the upper right corner and use the cursor keys to find the Display menu and press return on another res that works.

 

GT

[JustBrowsing]

Tip: I keep the Monitor resolutions in my Menu bar just for that reason. You use the mouse to click in the upper right corner and use the cursor keys to find the Display menu and press return on another res that works.

 

GT

 

yeah I keep it on the bar.... the little monitor is on there just if I need to switch things around easily without having to go to the System Preferences panel.

[Guest goodtime]

yeah I keep it on the bar.... the little monitor is on there just if I need to switch things around easily without having to go to the System Preferences panel.

 

Plus if your screen gets scrambled, you won't be able to use the Monitor's Control Panel, but the Menu bar is still Navigable.

 

 

10.4.8's 8500GA plugin loads, but still gives the same 1400x1050 scrambled bug error. 2D Accel at other res. seems slightly faster.

 

I will try the rest of the 10.4.8 8500 drivers later this week.

 

GT

[JustBrowsing]

Just tried to play back a DVD with VLC played better than I originally thought, not too bad ... I just can't imagine being able to watch video with no lag what-so-ever.

 

Just want to say thanks again for trying to help out. It's so crazy that the patch works on all other resolutions but not on ours. The Mac OSX interface is oh so nice.

[Guest goodtime]

Just tried to play back a DVD with VLC played better than I originally thought, not too bad ... I just can't imagine being able to watch video with no lag what-so-ever.

 

Just want to say thanks again for trying to help out. It's so crazy that the patch works on all other resolutions but not on ours. The Mac OSX interface is oh so nice.

 

 

There seems to be conflict between CallistoFB and the 8500GA Driver. I will have to test other families of drivers and see if we can get one to work at that res.

 

In the mean time, I am going to add an extra patch for 1400 x 1050 users to get their res back without messing around with a bunch of stuff. But most of the 2D accel stuff will be gone. ;(

[dogpile]

Has anyone experience with Radeon 9600 cards?

 

With Callisto B008, the ati patch and AGPGart drivers i got this:

Radeon 9600XT AR:

 

Chipset Model: Radeon 9600XT AR

Type: Display

Bus: AGP

VRAM (Total): 128 MB

Vendor: ATI (0x1002)

Device ID: 0x4152

Revision ID: 0x0000

Displays:

HP P1100:

Resolution: 1280 x 1024 @ 85 Hz

Depth: 32-bit Color

Core Image: Not Supported

Main Display: Yes

Mirror: Off

Online: Yes

Quartz Extreme: Not Supported

[Guest goodtime]

There seems to be conflict between CallistoFB and the 8500GA Driver. I will have to test other families of drivers and see if we can get one to work at that res.

 

In the mean time, I am going to add an extra patch for 1400 x 1050 users to get their res back without messing around with a bunch of stuff. But most of the 2D accel stuff will be gone. ;(

 

 

Bingo. I think I have a fix for 1400x1050 res. I used the Generic RadeonGA driver inplace of the 8500GA driver. CallistoFB seems to work without any artifacts/scrambled screen or freaky mouse tearing when switching res'. I need to test it, but from what I can tell it is accelerated. Quicktime movies play at full speed at 1x 1.5x and 2x size.

 

I will run this for a few days and if it's stable, I'll release and update. It will probably be in a new zip file for ATI9000 4c66 users.

 

Also, there is a new ATI Driver in development by a driver guru that we've been looking for. It's the creator of AGPGart for the Intel OSx86. Looks like there will be a new Framebuffer that works with OpenGL and one day possibly get QE! The XRadeonFB driver is VGA only, but I would suspect it will grow quickly with many Beta Testers.

 

The driver is in its first beta in the forum at X86Dev.org or search for XRadeonFB.

 

Cool News!

 

GT

[captainsquash]

Nice find GT! If you have any more news PLEASE share it. I've started to write my own as well (actually, just taking different bits from different kexts and adding little bits) but its not working too well right now. If I do get somewhere I'll post my findings here.

[JustBrowsing]

Bingo. I think I have a fix for 1400x1050 res. I used the Generic RadeonGA driver inplace of the 8500GA driver. CallistoFB seems to work without any artifacts/scrambled screen or freaky mouse tearing when switching res'. I need to test it, but from what I can tell it is accelerated. Quicktime movies play at full speed at 1x 1.5x and 2x size.

 

I will run this for a few days and if it's stable, I'll release and update. It will probably be in a new zip file for ATI9000 4c66 users.

 

Also, there is a new ATI Driver in development by a driver guru that we've been looking for. It's the creator of AGPGart for the Intel OSx86. Looks like there will be a new Framebuffer that works with OpenGL and one day possibly get QE! The XRadeonFB driver is VGA only, but I would suspect it will grow quickly with many Beta Testers.

 

The driver is in its first beta in the forum at X86Dev.org or search for XRadeonFB.

 

Cool News!

 

GT

Halleluiah !!! And all the angels sing!!

 

Goodtime, I think if this all works out as hoped for, the OSx86 guys need to buy you a beer. I can't believe you possibly got 2D Acceleration possibly working! Absolutely amazing. And the news of possibly QE down the road is icing on the cake! Maybe there's hope for our Radeon Mobility cards after all.

 

Where's the group hug icon when i need it!!! Keep us updated goodtime, thanks for all your hard work. Many many thanks.

[JustBrowsing]

Nice find GT! If you have any more news PLEASE share it. I've started to write my own as well (actually, just taking different bits from different kexts and adding little bits) but its not working too well right now. If I do get somewhere I'll post my findings here.

 

Have faith man.... things can happen if you have a little faith. I know I sounded a little a**holish last time I posted with you, saying if "QE or CI doesn't work -- I'm not going to bother with OSX." But, I never gave it a try to see how it all worked without those two things. (Running applications, (iPhoto, Safari, etc.)

 

Well, I decided to try it again last week, installing it on my laptop ... and it runs pretty well for all I use it for. (Except for video is a bit slugish, but viewable.) Just wanted to say thanks for all your help and this great tutorial on the first page of this post. Made my life ALOT easier without having to scramble to search how to load drivers, etc. So sorry man. Seems like we both have the same computer (or atleast it seems like it.) after how the posts have gone, maybe there is hope after all Lets keep the ATi Driver effort up!

[Guest goodtime]

Halleluiah !!! And all the angels sing!!

 

Goodtime, I think if this all works out as hoped for, the OSx86 guys need to buy you a beer. I can't believe you possibly got 2D Acceleration possibly working! Absolutely amazing. And the news of possibly QE down the road is icing on the cake! Maybe there's hope for our Radeon Mobility cards after all.

 

Where's the group hug icon when i need it!!! Keep us updated goodtime, thanks for all your hard work. Many many thanks.

 

Thank you. I'll keep you posted on progress. Since AGPGart 1.0 is not supposed to have any extra acceleration (though my test belows shows that AGPGart 1.0 is doing some strange acceleration because it is faster but also has artifacts during a resolution switch); I am going to test AGPGart 2.0. It is supposed to be have true AGP Acceleration.

GT

[Guest goodtime]

Thank you. I'll keep you posted on progress. Since AGPGart 1.0 does not have any extra acceleration; I am going to test AGPGart 2.0. It is supposed to be blazing fast. Hopefully it will help and work. If that doesn't work. There is AGPGart 1.7

 

GT

 

 

AGPGart 2.0 Loads. It takes a little while to boot from "-f" Didn't crash. 1400x1050 still works.

 

Here are some times from an iTunes video with screen res at: 1680x1050 screen res:

640x360 AVCO/MPG4 itunes movie plays at full 24 fps at Normal size.

640x360 AVCO/MPG4 itunes movie plays at 17 fps at 1.5x size 960x540.

640x360 AVCO/MPG4 itunes movie plays at 10 fps at 2x size 1280x720.

 

Here are the times from my CompaqX1000 zip with the 1400x1050 bug using AGPGart 1.0:

640x360 AVCO/MPG4 itunes movie plays at full 24 fps at Normal size.

640x360 AVCO/MPG4 itunes movie plays at 24 fps at 1.5x size 960x540.

640x360 AVCO/MPG4 itunes movie plays at 14 fps at 2x size 1280x720.

 

 

This test is just one particular video. Even though it is slightly slower, it is seems to be more stable. I usually prefer stablility over speed. I think I am going to release the driver pack setup. I will keep the existing CompaqX1000.zip as is. There will be a new release, the called the Radeon 9200 Driver Pack. It's for users who would like 1400x1050, don't like the mouse tearing during a resolution switch and prefer more stable video. The new patch will use AGPGart 2.0. Using AGPGart 2.0 will keep us compatible with the new XRadeonFB, which made by the same author as AGPGart 2.0. XRadeonFB will be incorporated in the future and gives hope for true video acceleration instead of bits and pieces from Apple Computer.

 

GT

[Guest goodtime]

My latest and greatest Radeon 9200 driver install pack is ready.

 

It fixes 1400x1050 res and still provides some acceleration.

 

Seems to more stable but is slightly slower than the CompaqX1000.zip release.

 

----------------------------------------------

The new driver pack is available on:

 

http://art5dog.com/Radeon9200pack.zip

----------------------------------------------

 

Radeon 9200 4c66

Driver Install Pack

features:

AGPGart 2.0

Callisto b3

ATINDRV 10.4.8

8500Radeon 10.4.8

 

 

What does this installation do?

 

It installs basic drivers that enable resolution switching, enables AGP, installs ATI Radeon drivers for the ATI 9000 Radeon Mobility video cards (ioreg -l id: 4c66)

 

What it does NOT do?

 

It does not enable QE, CI or Hardware OpenGL. OpenGL and QE will be added when it becomes possible with future third party drivers.

 

The content remains property of the authors and copyright holders. It has been tested for OSx86 10.4.6 or higher. All info.plist edits by Goodtime

 

What does it fix?

 

This fixes severe mouse tearing at 1400x1050 res. Adds video stability with the cost of some speed. Most QT Movies at 640x480 should still play at normal size. 320x240 movies should play at normal, 1.5x and 2x sizes at full speed.

 

Extras:

 

Provides Basic Power Management (Battery Meter) for laptops. To turn off sleep options in the System Preferences of the Energy Saver pane for both Battery and Power Adapter options OR your machine will crash every 10 minutes while idleing.

 

In your laptop's BIOS if you have anything called INTEL SPEEDSTEP TECHNOLOGY turn this option off (disable it). It will only slow down OSx86. This has to due with cycling a Celeron/Mobile processor and UNIX or OSX hates it. It works ok for Windows. Which Speedstep enabled, the Dock and windows open very slowly!

 

Also in BIOS: Keep fan always ON while on AC power should be disabled. OS X does not know what do with it and your fan will do the opposite what it says and could overheat your computer or fry your lap. If you never want to have kids and blow up your laptop then this feature is for you.

 

AC97Audio Sound fix for CompaqX1000 Soundmax laptops.

 

Installs a 15 second timeout for dual boot Windows and Mac or for kernel commands.

 

 

Good Luck,

 

Goodtime

 

----------------------------------------------

The new driver pack is available on:

 

http://art5dog.com/Radeon9200pack.zip