Fienix 5

[caseycullen]

Sneak-peek:


Also, this is the GPU hardware acceleration compatibility list I made. I did as much cross-checking as I could, but let me know if you think there is an error. List

@xeno74 - do you know if AmigaOne systems do not recognize nvidia GPUs at all? I did some testing and this seems to be the case.

-Casey

[xeno74]

Sneak-peek:


Also, this is the GPU hardware acceleration compatibility list I made. I did as much cross-checking as I could, but let me know if you think there is an error. List

@xeno74 - do you know if AmigaOne systems do not recognize nvidia GPUs at all? I did some testing and this seems to be the case.

-Casey

Great preview!

Nvidia and 3dfx Voodoo cards don’t work. Links:
- A1-X1000: 3dfx Voodoo4 4500 PCI test
- Linux 3.5.7 and Nvidia QuatroFX 1400 ?

[caseycullen]

Great preview!

Nvidia and 3dfx Voodoo cards don’t work. Links:
- A1-X1000: 3dfx Voodoo4 4500 PCI test
- Linux 3.5.7 and Nvidia QuatroFX 1400 ?

Got it! Good to know. Supported Radeon cards give much better performance on PowerPC anyway

-Casey

[caseycullen]

If you'd like to help test the next version:
Download Fienix 5.0

This is a test beta and it needs more testing. The image contains many new packages that I have tested already. Additionally, there is a new repository named "Fliegend" (German for Flying), that contains new versions of many packages. Please install packages from the new repository and test them. Describe any bugs you encounter in this forum.

What's New:
- Most apps are updated and available in the "Fliegend" repository. Please try them and let me know about any bugs.
- Fienix-Companion is an app that provides information and can help resolve issues. Some features are not finished yet.
- The classic theme (based on Materia) is currently used, but a new "Fienix-Default" theme is installed. Please try using the new theme and let me know if you like it. Should this theme be default or do you like the classic theme more?
- A "GPU compatibility mode" is enabled by default. This uses fbdev and disables some special effects. Use "Fienix-GPU-Enabler" in Fienix-Companion to enable hardware acceleration.
- Kernel 5.15 is included
- Fienix 5.0 Release Video (via YouTube)

Known issues:
1) Bleachbit: does not work; I haven't tried rebuilding it yet. If you're able to rebuild it successfully please let me know.
2) Fienix-Companion: unfinished functions: Fienix Tour Video, Fienix Reference Guide, Supported Hardware, Install Curated App Suite, Troubleshooting Guide, Fienix Merch Store, and Assist the Project / Maintainer's Manual (finished functions: Setup Libre Cloud Services, Fienix News, Fienix-Desktop-Mechanic, Fienix-GPU-Enabler, Fienix-Pkg-Mechanic, Support, Donate)
3) Fienix-Companion: if you need to restart, you will need to do it manually - clicking the "restart" button does not currently work.
4) Qt app theming: not implemented, Qt apps should work fine but they currently look out of place.
5) Redshift: is known not to work with GPU compatibility mode.
5) You still need to dd the image to a disk and increase the disk space using GParted. Fienix-Installer isn't finished yet.

Other ways you can help the project:
- If you know what you're doing, add the Debian sid repo and test packages. Since the majority of Fienix packages are Debian imports, it is good to know about problems "upstream". Additionally, if there are functional applications not currently in the Fienix repositories we can add them.
- If you are a particularly good technical writer and you'd like to assist with the Fienix Reference Guide, Supported Hardware, and/or Maintainer's Manual send let me know.
- If you are a good general writer and you'd like to contribute to Fienix-News let me know.
- Take a look at the Fienix Support page once in a while and help other users if you're able to.

[Roland]

Also, this is the GPU hardware acceleration compatibility list I made. I did as much cross-checking as I could, but let me know if you think there is an error.

Not a big deal but shouldn't the HD 8350 be listed under *Evergreen" and not "Northern Islands"? It has a Cedar GPU, just like 6350 and 7350.

Could you also show a similar list about the video hardware acceleration?

[xeno74]

Further information: Gentoo Radeon Wiki

[caseycullen]

Also, this is the GPU hardware acceleration compatibility list I made. I did as much cross-checking as I could, but let me know if you think there is an error.

Not a big deal but shouldn't the HD 8350 be listed under *Evergreen" and not "Northern Islands"? It has a Cedar GPU, just like 6350 and 7350.

Could you also show a similar list about the video hardware acceleration?

Hi Roland,
Yes, you're correct - HD8350 should be listed under Evergreen. Thanks for catching that.

The PowerPC radeon driver seems to support only UDV/UDV+ hardware video decoding, which covers only MPEG1 and MPEG2 formats. For example, my HD6870 should support UDV3, which has hardware decoding for MPEG1, MPEG2, h.264, MPEG4 Part 2, DivX, and Xvid. However:

Code: Select all

fienix@fienix-pc:~$ vainfo
libva info: VA-API version 1.13.0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/powerpc-linux-gnu/dri/r600_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_13
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 1.13 (libva 2.12.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Mesa Gallium driver 21.2.6 for AMD BARTS (DRM 2.50.0 / 5.15.0_A-EON_X5000, LLVM 12.0.1)
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileNone                   :	VAEntrypointVideoProc

And:

Code: Select all

fienix@fienix-pc:~$ vdpauinfo
display: :0   screen: 0
API version: 1
Information string: G3DVL VDPAU Driver Shared Library version 1.0

Video surface:

name   width height types
-------------------------------------------
420    16384 16384  NV12 YV12 
422    16384 16384  UYVY YUYV 
444    16384 16384  Y8U8V8A8 V8U8Y8A8 
420_16 16384 16384  
422_16 16384 16384  
444_16 16384 16384  

Decoder capabilities:

name                        level macbs width height
----------------------------------------------------
MPEG1                           0 1048576 16384 16384
MPEG2_SIMPLE                    3 1048576 16384 16384
MPEG2_MAIN                      3 1048576 16384 16384
H264_BASELINE                  --- not supported ---
H264_MAIN                      --- not supported ---
H264_HIGH                      --- not supported ---
VC1_SIMPLE                     --- not supported ---
VC1_MAIN                       --- not supported ---
VC1_ADVANCED                   --- not supported ---
MPEG4_PART2_SP                 --- not supported ---
MPEG4_PART2_ASP                --- not supported ---
DIVX4_QMOBILE                  --- not supported ---
DIVX4_MOBILE                   --- not supported ---
DIVX4_HOME_THEATER             --- not supported ---
DIVX4_HD_1080P                 --- not supported ---
DIVX5_QMOBILE                  --- not supported ---
DIVX5_MOBILE                   --- not supported ---
DIVX5_HOME_THEATER             --- not supported ---
DIVX5_HD_1080P                 --- not supported ---
H264_CONSTRAINED_BASELINE      --- not supported ---
H264_EXTENDED                  --- not supported ---
H264_PROGRESSIVE_HIGH          --- not supported ---
H264_CONSTRAINED_HIGH          --- not supported ---
H264_HIGH_444_PREDICTIVE       --- not supported ---
VP9_PROFILE_0                  --- not supported ---
VP9_PROFILE_1                  --- not supported ---
VP9_PROFILE_2                  --- not supported ---
VP9_PROFILE_3                  --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN                      --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_10                   --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_STILL                --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_12                   --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_444                  --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_444_10               --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_444_12               --- not supported --- 

The good news is that we can still benefit from some hardware acceleration by using OpenGL to render the video (by selecting it in the "Output driver" menu in MPlayer).

[kilaueabart]

I was hoping to get in on this, especially since I made my original fienix very hard to use with Reset Panel, but it looks like I have forgotten too much

I downloaded the image archive to a new partition and dearchived it but I can't remember how to make an .img file bootable.

[caseycullen]

I was hoping to get in on this, especially since I made my original fienix very hard to use with Reset Panel, but it looks like I have forgotten too much

I downloaded the image archive to a new partition and dearchived it but I can't remember how to make an .img file bootable.

Sure, here are instructions for you:

Prerequisites: Download and uncompress the final kernel 5.15 files from xeno and the Fienix 5.0 Test Beta Image.

1) Insert the USB disk you want to use for Fienix 5.0.
2) Launch GParted.
3) In Gparted, select the USB disk you inserted from the menu in the upper-right hand corner - make note of it's location, I call it /dev/sdx in these instructions, but yours will probably be /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc.
4) Click on the Device menu, then select Create Partition Table.
5) In the popup window, choose "msdos" and click Apply.
6) After the partition table has been created, click the Partition menu and select New.
7) The "Create New Partition" window will open, enter the following options for this new partition: Free space preceding (MiB) 0; New Size (MiB) 128; File System FAT16; Label FIENIX-BOOT, and click the Add button.
8) Click the Partition menu again and select New again. This time, create an ext4 partition that takes up the rest of the disk space and click the Add button.
9) Click the check mark to apply changes.
10) Exit GParted.
12) Using the file manager, copy the uImage-5.15 and cyrus-p5020.dtb files (from xeno - linked above) to the FAT16 FIENIX-BOOT partition you just made.
13) Launch MATE Terminal and activate root using the command "su -" and enter your root password.
14) Now, we will copy the new Fienix image to the USB disk by entering the following command into MATE Terminal (as su):

Code: Select all

dd if=/path/to/fienix_5.0_test-beta.img of=/dev/sdx2 bs=1M

-remember you have to specify the partition, not just the disk; for example "/dev/sdb2" and not "/dev/sdb". The "bs=1M" just speeds up copying a little bit.
14) After the copying has completed close MATE Terminal and open GParted again.
15) Choose your USB disk from the menu in the upper-right corner again.
16) The partitions you just made will be displayed. Click on the ext4 partition to select it, then click on the Partition menu, and select Check, then click the check mark icon to apply (you may have to unmount the partition first using the Partition menu, then Unmount).
17) The ext4 partition should now take up the remainder of the disk space. If it doesn't, click on the Partition menu, then "Resize/Move", and increase the ext4 partition size to use the rest of the disk.
18) You're now ready to restart and login to the new Fienix using the normal UBoot commands.

Let me know if you're able to get it.

[caseycullen]

Do not upgrade VLC or MPlayer at this time. The versions in the repository are broken. The pre-installed versions work.