Bug 20480

Created attachment 23558 [details]
Xorg.0.log - failing on Intrepid (6.10.x -ati) with XAA

Forwarding this bug from a Ubuntu reporter:
https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/291480

[Problem]
On a Radeon 9200 videos have slow frame rate as does scrolling.  Seems to occur both for XAA and EXA.

[lspci]
(--) PCI:*(0@1:0:0) ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 PRO] rev 1, Mem @ 0xd8000000/0, 0xe9000000/0, I/O @ 0x0000a000/0, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072
(--) PCI: (0@1:0:1) ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 PRO] (Secondary) rev 1, Mem @ 0xe0000000/0, 0xe9010000/0

[Original Report]
Trying to see full-screen videos at Youtube or at news sites, etc., the problem it's that all the videos have a very, VERY slow frame rate, it simply can't be viewed normally... Annoying. Also, just scrolling windows in Ubuntu 8.10 (and in previous versions), sometimes it lags behind the mouse, stop and walk repeatedly, somewhat just spoiling the user experience in this OS.

Yes, my Video Card is a Radeon 9200 / 9250 of 125mb and I know that ATI not longer supports its drivers for the X-Org version that Ubuntu currently uses, only until X-Org 7.1. So EnvyNG is not useful in my case.

My hardware specs: Processor: AMD 2800+, Videocard: ATI Radeon 9200 of 125 MB, Memory: 768MB of RAM.

In Windows XP the videocard it's fast enough to see anything seamlessly. However, in Mandriva One 2009 as well as in openSUSE 11... Well, too!!

Before uninstalling openSUSE 11 (because rpm is -far- behind deb specially when installing binaries not from repositories and sometimes even so) I did see the videos in openSUSE 11 at full-screen as fast as like in Windows. Nice! The whole OS runs seamlessly, without any lag. This OS recognizes the maker and exact model of my video card, which otherwise it's a quite common videocard.

Then, I've also tried Mandriva One 2009 and (even just from a Live-CD session, without installing it!) I also can see the YouTube videos at full screen at normal FPS then without lagging at all other windows, also.

If openSUSE and Mandriva are indeed shipping with full videocard drivers support, I wonder if Ubuntu can do the same asap.. It would be really nice for the users and evidently, it's feasible as these other open Linux distros are doing it already.

With Ubuntu having just this, it easily would be the best choice, and not only regarding Linux based OSes.

About the driver I do use,
:~$ glxinfo | grep render
IRQ's not enabled, falling back to busy waits: 0 16
direct rendering: Yes
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI R200 20060602 AGP 8x x86/MMX+/3DNow!+/SSE TCL

I just've installed Ubuntu 8.10 without modification (I installed the normal multimedia codecs and also, for Firefox, the Flash player plugin and Java, to see web videos).

Before that, trying to get better video performance I have installed DRIconf and I've set up all its settings to the minimum: minimum image quality, minimum texture units (2), using HiperZ to enhance performance, etc. all of which has been a bit helpful as before that the frames in 5.0 seconds didn't go higher than 4200 or so (at its best). Now the OS goes notably faster, scrolling the windows not longer lag.

But the videos still had a quite poor FPS, the video buttons mostly don't respond when full size video is displaying (about 3 seconds delay to respond since clicking on stop or when trying to change volume.. Sometimes even fail to respond and so one has to click several times).

With the gstreamer-properties set to W windows (without Xv) perhaps the Youtube videos go slightly faster.. The sliding bar for the volume and the other buttons it lag (just) about 2 second now. The images go also a bit quicker, but not smooth. And still each few seconds the image freezes for an instant at its own or when passing the mouse over (or trying to click) a button.