Geode

Driver for Geode single-chip computers' video output. License: MIT with additional manufacturer's responsibility waiver clause.

This driver was previously called amd. It was renamed geode to avoid confusion with ATI chipsets acquired by AMD.

Documentation

Geode Model	Chipset	PCI ID	Driver	Notes
AMD NX	?	?	(unsupported)	Based on Athlon K7 core.
AMD LX	GX3	0x1022:0x2081	xf86-video-geode	OLPC XO-1, ThinCan DBE61/62/63, Linutop 1/2, FIC ION 603A, Viglen, etc.
NSC GX2	GX2	0x100B:0x0030	xf86-video-geode or -nsc	a.k.a. AMD GX after Geode division was bought from NSC; a.k.a. "Red Cloud"
NSC SCx200	GX1	0x100B:0x0504	xf86-video-nsc	a.k.a. AMD SC after Geode division was bought from NSC.
NSC SC1400	GX1	0x100B:0x0104	xf86-video-nsc
Cyrix Media GX	GX1	0x1078:0x0104	xf86-video-cyrix or -nsc

Both xf86-video-geode and xf86-video-nsc support the "Red Cloud" chipset. However, only geode has up-to-date code.

Please note that xf86-video-cyrix and xf86-video-nsc are no longer maintained and most software distributions no longer ship them. We have set a milestone to import GX1 support into geode then deprecate cyrix and nsc. See below for details. Help is welcome!

Release 2.11.19 (published on 2016-12-12)

This release restores compatibility with xserver-1.19.

Development Roadmap

The following tables detail the current development roadmap. Please create a bug on the X.Org Bugzilla to make a suggestion for new features.

2.11.20

Next bug fix release. Release date unknown. Please link to specific patches on the X.Org Bugzilla that you think should be reviewed for inclusion.

Feature	Developer	Status	Notes
DDC pin bit-banging	OPEN	Planned	X.Org #22100, Debian #637778, Ubuntu #873942, Red Hat #642766

2.12.0

Next major release. Release date unknown.

Feature	Developer	Status	Notes
Merge GX1 support, then deprecate cyrix and nsc drivers	OPEN	Planned	X.Org #2737, X.Org #2088
Port to Linux >= 2.6.30 kernel mode setting (KMS)	OPEN	Planned

Support

IRC Channel

Developers can sometimes be found on #geode on the Freenode network.

Mailing Lists

• X.Org xf86-video-geode list
• AMD Geode Linux list archive

Bug Trackers

• X.Org — Preferably submit bug reports directly to this tracker.
• Debian
• Fedora
• Gentoo
• Ubuntu

Known Issues

Server-specific bugs

• With X server 1.7 and up:
  • (no known issue)
• With X server 1.5 and X server 1.6:
  • EXA Composite rendering bug: Black boxes X.org BTS
  • ?AutoConfig only implemented for LX.
• With X server 1.3 and X server 1.4:
  • Some platforms will freeze when using X -configure: Ubuntu BTS.
    • Attachments include two patches against x86emu (port blacklist, PCI bus access) that resolve this issue.
      • blacklist patch rejected
      • PCI patch merged into X core 1.5 tree
• With X server 1.2:
  • Cannot compile since 2.9.0 (see below).
  • Switching to a console using CTRL+ALT+Fx fails on some platforms: Debian BTS Ubuntu BTS.
    • Attachments include a patch against x86emu (CPUID) that resolves the issue.
      • CPU ID patch merged into X core 1.5 tree
• With X server 1.1 and a static xorg.conf configuration file:
  • Cannot compile since 2.9.0 (see below).

AutoConfig support

• LX works since X server 1.5.
• GX2 works since X server 1.7.
• GX1 works since X server 1.7. See patches on the Ubuntu BTS to implement this on 1.4 and 1.6; should also work on 1.3 and 1.5 with minor adjustments.

Known Regression

• Compilation against X server << 1.3 fails since geode 2.9.0 because of a missing header:

   geode_ddc.c:31:23: error: xf86Modes.h: No such file or directory
  geode_ddc.c:158:50: error: missing binary operator before token "("

  Might be fixable following Intel driver autoconf methods.

Download

• Tarballs
• Gitlab
• git clone https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/driver/xf86-video-geode.git

Contributors

• Maarten Lankhorst (Ubuntu)
• Martin-Éric Racine (Debian)
• Mart Raudsepp (Gentoo)
• Chris Ball (OLPC)
• Jordan Crouse (AMD)
• Hunk Cui (AMD)
• Daniel Drake (OLPC)
• Frank Huang (AMD)
• Bernardo Innocenti (OLPC)
• Adam Jackson (Red Hat)
• Priit Laes (Gentoo)
• Gideon Romm (Symbio Technologies)
• Otavio Salvador (Debian)
• Warren Togami (Red Hat)
• Bart Trojanowski (Symbio Technologies)

X.Org HOWTO

• Various developer-oriented FAQ and HOWTO