From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: "pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)" Subject: bug#36786: Warn of AMD GPUs unusable with Guix System Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2019 16:56:03 +0200 Message-ID: <20190724145602.vtpnqd6kxexypdmx@pelzflorian.localdomain> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:38066) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.86_2) (envelope-from ) id 1hqIhf-0006qf-8o for bug-guix@gnu.org; Wed, 24 Jul 2019 10:57:16 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1hqIhe-00033W-0f for bug-guix@gnu.org; Wed, 24 Jul 2019 10:57:15 -0400 Received: from debbugs.gnu.org ([209.51.188.43]:57268) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:16) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1hqIhd-00033M-Qr for bug-guix@gnu.org; Wed, 24 Jul 2019 10:57:13 -0400 Received: from Debian-debbugs by debbugs.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1hqIhV-0007vw-1G for bug-guix@gnu.org; Wed, 24 Jul 2019 10:57:13 -0400 Sender: "Debbugs-submit" Resent-Message-ID: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:37716) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.86_2) (envelope-from ) id 1hqIgc-0006m4-Cy for bug-guix@gnu.org; Wed, 24 Jul 2019 10:56:11 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1hqIgY-0002AT-6a for bug-guix@gnu.org; Wed, 24 Jul 2019 10:56:08 -0400 Received: from pelzflorian.de ([5.45.111.108]:43910 helo=mail.pelzflorian.de) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1hqIgX-00029Z-Nh for bug-guix@gnu.org; Wed, 24 Jul 2019 10:56:06 -0400 Received: from pelzflorian.localdomain (unknown [5.45.111.108]) by mail.pelzflorian.de (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 669E7360035 for ; Wed, 24 Jul 2019 16:56:03 +0200 (CEST) Content-Disposition: inline List-Id: Bug reports for GNU Guix List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: bug-guix-bounces+gcggb-bug-guix=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "bug-Guix" To: 36786@debbugs.gnu.org Back in , I wrote: On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 10:35:43AM +0200, pelzflorian (Florian Pelz) wrot= e: > On Sat, Apr 20, 2019 at 11:47:56AM +0200, Ludovic Court=C3=A8s wrote: > > "pelzflorian (Florian Pelz)" skribis: > > > I believe issues with (some?) AMD GPUs should be mentioned in the > > > manual. Also, on the downloads page perhaps it should be mentioned > > > that there may be issues with some hardware, referring users to the > > > Hardware Considerations in the Guix manual. > >=20 > > We could do that, but these kind of kernel-side issues tend to appear > > and vanish quickly, no? But I don=E2=80=99t know much about these AM= D GPU > > issues, so I=E2=80=99m happy to do what people consider appropriate. > >=20 >=20 > My AMD GPU machine started working with VESA Xorg drivers at full resol= ution. > I reconfigured a while ago but did not test back then. Aside from the fact that 3d acceleration is out of reach for modern AMD GPUs on a linux-libre kernel, Guix had at least two further reports of trouble with old and very new AMD GPUs like: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2019-06/msg00227.html and https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2019-07/msg00179.html Part of the reason a warning about AMD GPUs should be considered is that AMD Radeon is often claimed to be usable with drivers that are =E2=80=9Centirely free and open-source software=E2=80=9D (), making people believe they do not require nonfree firmware. I suppose but do not know that recent Nvidia hardware works without 3d acceleration, even when the Nouveau Xorg driver does not support it yet. I suppose but am unsure if recent Intel GPUs work out of the box without blobs. If correct, this would make AMD in particular notable. On the other hand, Pierre Neidhard commented at that many AMD GPUs work well. Possibly I am overly negative because my computer is affected as well. Still, I think the hardware considerations section in the manual should list at least that Xorg graphics on some AMD GPUs do not work and that using the console might require tweaks like modprobe.blacklist=3Dradeon. The website too should tell users on the downloads page that, even though most machines work well, wi-fi vendors like Broadcom and graphics card vendor AMD refuse to make *some* of their devices work with the linux-libre kernel used by Guix System. Regards, Florian