Guide to Get the Best Performace from the GMA 500

[niop]

Hi All,

To avoid conflicts with poulsbo module and remove non needed things, i made customs kernels for my EeePC 1101HA,
latest is

3.2.11 ( latest ) without poulsbo nor psb_gfx, support for Fn+Fx keys, etc

Headers :
https://rapidshare.com/files/2299852...ustom_i386.deb

Kernel :
https://rapidshare.com/files/2279088...ustom_i386.deb

If you want some special custom Atom kernel with support for Dell / Toshiba / Acer, let me know

Niop

[frcarri]

Hi,

though not writing here, I've been suffering this GMA500 for more than two years, and I would like to thank everyone here, who helped me keeping on with ubuntu instead of installing back windows

I have an Acer 751h, and I used before 11.04 with EMGD driver. As 2D performance was mediocre, I have installed a daily build of 12.04. Everything seems to work smooth, even suspend/resume which at first failed, however backlight is not being adjusted: fn keys are working but there's no change in backlight.

Anyone managed to make it work?

Thank you again

[PilotPaul]

Hi

I have a 751h and still use Natty/EMGD 1.8 as my production system. However I also have a test partition running the Precise Beta + all updates and using psb_gfx. 2D works fine as well as suspend/resume, although to get the latter working you need to use the 99video fix described elsewhere. The only problem is that my lid closure is no longer recognised (Fn-F4 works ok) - I have raised a bug against indicator-power for this (bug here) but no progress as yet (feel free to add yourself to this bug if you are affected). Backlight control also works using "acpi_backlight=vendor" in grub (again described elsewhere in this thread), and I also remove "splash" from my grub command line (stops vt.handoff=7 being applied).

Although this gives a usable 2D system (quite fast actually), the lack of Xv or VAAPI acceleration means that it is not a viable solution for me in the long term.

Best of luck!

Hi,

though not writing here, I've been suffering this GMA500 for more than two years, and I would like to thank everyone here, who helped me keeping on with ubuntu instead of installing back windows

I have an Acer 751h, and I used before 11.04 with EMGD driver. As 2D performance was mediocre, I have installed a daily build of 12.04. Everything seems to work smooth, even suspend/resume which at first failed, however backlight is not being adjusted: fn keys are working but there's no change in backlight.

Anyone managed to make it work?

Thank you again

[frcarri]

Hi

I have a 751h and still use Natty/EMGD 1.8 as my production system. However I also have a test partition running the Precise Beta + all updates and using psb_gfx. 2D works fine as well as suspend/resume, although to get the latter working you need to use the 99video fix described elsewhere. The only problem is that my lid closure is no longer recognised (Fn-F4 works ok) - I have raised a bug against indicator-power for this (bug here) but no progress as yet (feel free to add yourself to this bug if you are affected). Backlight control also works using "acpi_backlight=vendor" in grub (again described elsewhere in this thread), and I also remove "splash" from my grub command line (stops vt.handoff=7 being applied).

Although this gives a usable 2D system (quite fast actually), the lack of Xv or VAAPI acceleration means that it is not a viable solution for me in the long term.

Best of luck!

Hi,

thank you for your words. I tried the "acpi_backlight=vendor" but there's no result in backlight... fn keys work and the graph is shown on screen, but backlight always keeps at 100%

I don't usually close lid to suspend, so I even hadn't tried. I've done it now and, to my surprise, it's being detected. Backlight turns off when I close the lid, but I suppose it's a matter of configuration to get it suspended. This is what syslog says when I closed and opened a few times:

Mar 15 14:17:21 netbook kernel: [ 706.636815] gma500 0000:00:02.0: Backlight lvds set brightness 186a186a
Mar 15 14:17:22 netbook kernel: [ 706.924621] gma500 0000:00:02.0: Backlight lvds set brightness 186a186a
Mar 15 14:17:22 netbook kernel: [ 706.948441] gma500 0000:00:02.0: Backlight lvds set brightness 186a186a
Mar 15 14:17:22 netbook kernel: [ 707.332338] gma500 0000:00:02.0: Backlight lvds set brightness 186a186a
Mar 15 14:17:22 netbook kernel: [ 707.356885] gma500 0000:00:02.0: Backlight lvds set brightness 186a186a
Mar 15 14:17:26 netbook kernel: [ 710.744484] gma500 0000:00:02.0: Backlight lvds set brightness 186a186a
Mar 15 14:17:26 netbook kernel: [ 711.444496] gma500 0000:00:02.0: Backlight lvds set brightness 186a186a
Mar 15 14:17:34 netbook kernel: [ 719.680348] gma500 0000:00:02.0: Backlight lvds set brightness 186a186a
Mar 15 14:17:35 netbook kernel: [ 719.968410] gma500 0000:00:02.0: Backlight lvds set brightness 186a186a
Mar 15 14:17:35 netbook kernel: [ 720.440601] gma500 0000:00:02.0: Backlight lvds set brightness 186a186a
Mar 15 14:17:35 netbook kernel: [ 720.464745] gma500 0000:00:02.0: Backlight lvds set brightness 186a186a
Mar 15 14:17:36 netbook kernel: [ 721.292761] gma500 0000:00:02.0: Backlight lvds set brightness 186a186a
Mar 15 14:17:37 netbook kernel: [ 721.809347] gma500 0000:00:02.0: Backlight lvds set brightness 186a186a
Mar 15 14:17:38 netbook kernel: [ 723.285819] gma500 0000:00:02.0: Backlight lvds set brightness 186a186a

To me it's more important to get a fast 2D desktop, as I don't use it for video playback or such. That's the reason I moved to precise, although being still a beta release.

Best regards

[tista]

Hi guys,

Well can u keep the secret?

"non-accel" EMGD could do a trick for 2D rendering speed... Yeah you just try it out with this setting:
1. Open this file via editor.

gksu gedit /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-emgd.conf

2. Set this value to "0".

Option     "ALL/1/General/Accel"                     "0"

3. Reboot.

[side effects]
* There's no chance to playback videos with acceled "xv" and "vaapi" anymore.
* 3D desktop might be stopped.
* But if you have "llvmpipe", you could run mutter and/or gnome-shell faster than psb_gfx (even though it's too much slow still..).

Try it out at your own rick!!

Cheers,
Tista

[PilotPaul]

Mine is the same when I close the lid - the action is detected (check with upower) and the screen switches off but it doesn't actually enter suspend mode. This behaviour started after a recent revision to indicator-power that fixed some problems with the battery monitor, hence my suspicion that this has somehow messed up the lid close event handling.

Still hoping for an answer...

Hi,

thank you for your words. I tried the "acpi_backlight=vendor" but there's no result in backlight... fn keys work and the graph is shown on screen, but backlight always keeps at 100%

I don't usually close lid to suspend, so I even hadn't tried. I've done it now and, to my surprise, it's being detected. Backlight turns off when I close the lid, but I suppose it's a matter of configuration to get it suspended. This is what syslog says when I closed and opened a few times:
To me it's more important to get a fast 2D desktop, as I don't use it for video playback or such. That's the reason I moved to precise, although being still a beta release.

Best regards

[frcarri]

Mine is the same when I close the lid - the action is detected (check with upower) and the screen switches off but it doesn't actually enter suspend mode. This behaviour started after a recent revision to indicator-power that fixed some problems with the battery monitor, hence my suspicion that this has somehow messed up the lid close event handling.

Still hoping for an answer...

Yes, you're right. I checked it again with some more time and it was already configured to suspend. I also joined the bug.

Did you do something more to get the backlight working? I also did the 99video fix, and blacklisted poulsbo in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf. In grub I removed quiet splash and tried different acpi_backlight, but no luck

[PilotPaul]

The only other grub options I use are "console=tty1". The only other thing I can suggest is a BIOS update - I am running version 3212. What version is yours?

Yes, you're right. I checked it again with some more time and it was already configured to suspend. I also joined the bug.

Did you do something more to get the backlight working? I also did the 99video fix, and blacklisted poulsbo in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf. In grub I removed quiet splash and tried different acpi_backlight, but no luck

[frcarri]

I also tried that one. My version is 3211... I'll give a try to the 3212. Any recomended program to flash it under linux?

The only other grub options I use are "console=tty1". The only other thing I can suggest is a BIOS update - I am running version 3212. What version is yours?

[frcarri]

No way. I updated to 3212 with unetbootin+FreeDOS however it remains the same. Maybe there's something different in my computer or in the installation, anyway it doesn't want to lower the brightness