GPU Tearing on X11

[mikef]

I know that this question/problem has come up before, but I don't think there is any resolution to it.

I've got Ubuntu 13.10 running atop kernel 3.0.17, running X11, and Chromium v 35 on that.  Chromium is GPU accelerated (except for WebGL), and I'm writing an app in HTML5 which requires GPU accelerated CSS3 transitions.  Hardware is a Wandboard Quad; although that won't necessarily be my end hardware (it was a good development platform for my needs).

My animations run at a gorgeous 60FPS.  BUT, it tears because of the v-sync issue where the IPU is not properly passing the signal to X11.

I do have a custom application that runs on the framebuffer to accomplish one portion of my animation, without any issue.  But it is a deal breaker for me to not have the other portion of my application in HTML5 without tearing.

My questions are;

1) Is this in the pipeline to be fixed?  If so, ETA?

2) Does anyone have any advice/suggestions on a fix?

3) Is there any way to make this a priority if it is not in the very near pipeline?  I'm looking at a very aggressive Q1/2015 production date, with significant volumes.

Thanks!

Mike

[igorpadykov]

Hi mikef

please follow

Re: OpenGL ES on i.MX6 with X11 - GPU SDK

and post to meta-fsl-arm mailing list for questions.

https://lists.yoctoproject.org/listinfo/meta-freescale

Best regards

igor

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[mikef]

Hi Igor,

I appreciate the response; I am very aware of the other people having this problem and I've subscribed to the meta-fsl-arm list; where there is a bug report.

My trouble is, this is a major shortcoming in the i.MX6 part.  Not being able to play videos or animation (and what I say that- I understand they PLAY - but not in a usable or acceptable fashion) under X is affecting my decision to remain with the i.MX6 and not move to x86.  As a long time user of the i.MX5 and now the i.MX6, it is the most disappointing issue I've come across to date.

I've also been in touch with a number of Freescale supporting FAEs who are unaware of this problem, and I've advised them to make sure that anyone looking to play video/animate in X will hit a brick wall.

Is there a way to escalate this or bring awareness so that it gets the attention it deserves?  Does anyone reading these forums have any say on when these changes get rolled in, or is it all design by committee?

Mike

[igorpadykov]

Hi mikef

as far as I understood from meta-fsl-arm mailing list

discussion this problem actually is well known and arises from

gpu integration design, it can not be resolved in software.

There are some solutions, but they are not suitable for production.

Best regards

igor

[mikef]

Hi Igor,

So you are saying that this is a hardware issue and if it can be fixed, it will have to be fixed on a new revision of the silicon?  Are you 100% sure in that statement?

If that is true, then it's time for me to move on from this chip.

Mike

[igorpadykov]

Hi mikef, below answer from meta-fsl-arm mailing list:

i.MX6 X11 EGL is single buffered and there is no support for VSYNC. The

tearing with X11 is a known issue. We did investigate to fix this, but the

solution becomes too hacky and cannot be used in production systems.

We are adding VSYNC support in Wayland. eglSwapInterval will be supported
for FBDEV and Wayland backends in the upcoming release(in january). So
Ozone-wayland can take advantage of this.

https://www.mail-archive.com/meta-freescale%40yoctoproject.org/msg10522.html

~igor