Re: [Xen-devel] ATI VGA passthrough and S400 Synchronization module

[Aurélien MILLIAT <Aurelien.MILLIAT@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>>On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 04:23:02PM +0000, Aurélien MILLIAT wrote:
>>> On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 04:05:20PM +0000, Aurélien MILLIAT wrote:
>>> > Hi,
>>> > 
>>> > I'm currently trying to use XEN on graphical cluster.
>>> > VGA passtrough works fine and I'm able to use quad-buffer for active 
>>> > stereo.
>>> > The last thing to do is to synchronize all GPU from the cluster. 
>>> > For this purpose I use ATI FirePro S400 and it didn't works.
>>> > 
>>> > I've seen two behaviors:
>>> > -When I run lspci command on Dom0 I've got:
>>> > 0f:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Device 6888
>>> > 0f:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc Cypress HDMI Audio 
>>> > [Radeon HD 5800 Series] And sometimes just
>>> > 0f:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Device 6888 
>>> > -When a DomU(Windows 7) is running, it's very slow (I can't do anything) 
>>> > and crash after several minutes.
>>> > I've tried with the unstable version and I've seen the same 'lspci' 
>>> > behavior.
>>> > 
>>> > I've a couple of questions:
>>> > Is it possible to passthrough a VGA with this extension?
>>> 
>>> I never tried. I just pass in the VGA card and don't try to pass in the 
>>> HDMI driver.
>>> 
>>> > As it's a particular use of VGA passtrough is it planned to able to use 
>>> > synchronization module?
>>> 
>>> So what is synchronization module for you? That is the HDMI part?
>>> 
>>> > Is it easy to add this feature (time cost)?
>>> > 
>>> > Computers : HP Z800 workstation
>>> > GPU: ATI FirePro V8800
>>> > CPU: Intel Xeon E5640
>>> > MB: Intel 5520 chipset
>>> > 
>>> > XEN :
>>> > Version  4.1.2
>>> > With ATI patch from
>>> > http://old-list-archives.xen.org/archives/html/xen-users/2011-05/msg
>>> > 00048.html
>>> > Thanks,
>>> > Aurélien Milliat
>> >> 
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> I've been able to use ATI FirePro S400 with the unstable version. I've 
>>> updated my Dom0 and pass the graphic card as secondary adaptor.
>>>
>>>
>>>Please do not top post.
>>Sorry !
>>>
>>> What did you upgrade dom0 to?
>>>
>>
>>I've update Debian 6.0.4 to 6.0.5, update all packages and remove everything 
>>I've made from my previous test. 
>>
>>I've continue my tests and I've got an issue with active stereo. Previously, 
>>I've got tested active stereo with the stable release.  
>>
>>On unstable version, only the right eye is render (OGLplane and Virtools 
>>demos).
>>Quad buffer is on, everything seems to be setup as usual for active stereo. 
>>I've tried with and without the S400 card.
>>
>>I will try to gather more informations about this.
>>
>>>
>>> I've made a quick test for Xen 4.1.2 with these updates but it's still 
>>> crash (no matter I will use the unstable version).
>>>
>>> Aurélien
>>> 
>Hi,
>
>I've got the time to run some test to find what's going on with the active 
>stereo with the following configuration:
>
>release                : 2.6.32-5-xen-amd64
>version                : #1 SMP Sun May 6 08:57:29 UTC 2012
>machine                : x86_64
>nr_cpus                : 8
>nr_nodes               : 1
>cores_per_socket       : 4
>threads_per_core       : 2
>cpu_mhz                : 2660
>hw_caps                : 
>bfebfbff:2c100800:00000000:00003f40:029ee3ff:00000000:00000001:00000000
>virt_caps              : hvm hvm_directio
>total_memory           : 4079
>free_cpus              : 0
>xen_major              : 4
>xen_minor              : 2
>xen_extra              : -unstable
>xen_caps               : xen-3.0-x86_64 xen-3.0-x86_32p hvm-3.0-x86_32 
>hvm-3.0-x86_32p hvm-3.0-x86_64 
>xen_scheduler          : credit
>xen_pagesize           : 4096
>platform_params        : virt_start=0xffff800000000000
>xen_changeset          : Sun Jul 22 16:37:25 2012 +0100 25622:3c426da4788e
>xen_commandline        : placeholder
>cc_compiler            : gcc version 4.4.5 (Debian 4.4.5-8) 
>xend_config_format     : 4

>I've tested with:
>-XP SP2 and SP3 32bits (Pro): 
>       + Driver (version: 2012.07.11): active stereo (quadbuffer) enable, S400 
> found.
>       + OGLplane: Impossible to run active stereo mode: "OpenGL stereo not 
> supported".
>
>-Windows 7 32 bits (Pro):
>       + Driver (version: 2012.07.11): active stereo enable, S400 found.
>       + OGLplane: run without sync signal and render only one eye.
>
>-Windows 8 64bits (debug checked build):
>       + Driver (version: 2012.07.11): active stereo enable, S400 found.
>       + OGLplane: active stereo seems to be ok.
>
>I will run some tests with the same configuration:
>-Windows 7 64 bits (Pro)
>-Windows 8 64bits (Final)
>-Windows 8 32bits (Final)

Finally it's done!
I'm able to run VMs with all functionality needed for VR context:
-Quadbuffer
-Genlock
-Swaplock

I've tried in a CAVE system 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_automatic_virtual_environment) and it's 
perfect!
- Windows 7 is ok.
- Windows 8 seems to be driver issue.

I've started to compare some behaviors with native installation, at this point 
all those behaviors comes from drivers.
I will try to make it work with XP.

I think we will see XEN be used in lot of Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality 
labs!

>I've made a quick test on Xen 4.2.0-rc2 with a compiled kernel from:
>http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Mainline_Linux_Kernel_Configs
>Windows 7 has the same behavior and I haven't tried other OS.
>
>Does anyone have run tests for active stereo with VGA passthrough?
>
>Thanks,
>Aurélien
>>> > _______________________________________________
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>> 
>> 
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