Improve resolution from 640x480 on 32 bit laptop with FreeBSD 13-RELEASE

[Rocky Hotas]

Hello!
I tried to install FreeBSD 13-RELEASE on an old 32-bit laptop, Acer
Aspire 3620, with Intel Celeron M. It seems to work, but the screen is

VT(vga): resolution 640x480

and `vidcontrol -i mode' shows no rows. From pciconf(8) output:

***@pci0:0:0:0: class=0x060000 rev=0x03 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0x2590 subvendor=0x1025 subdevice=0x006a
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = 'Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller'
class = bridge
subclass = HOST-PCI
cap 09[e0] = vendor (length 9) Intel cap 3 version 1
PCI errors = Received Master-Abort
***@pci0:0:2:0: class=0x030000 rev=0x03 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0x2592 subvendor=0x1025 subdevice=0x006a
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = 'Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller'
class = display
subclass = VGA
bar [10] = type Memory, range 32, base 0xb0080000, size 524288, enabled
bar [14] = type I/O Port, range 32, base 0x1800, size 8, enabled
bar [18] = type Prefetchable Memory, range 32, base 0xc0000000, size 268435456, enabled
bar [1c] = type Memory, range 32, base 0xb0000000, size 262144, enabled
cap 01[d0] = powerspec 2 supports D0 D3 current D0
***@pci0:0:2:1: class=0x038000 rev=0x03 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0x2792 subvendor=0x1025 subdevice=0x006a
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = 'Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller'
class = display
bar [10] = type Memory, range 32, base 0, size 524288, disabled
cap 01[d0] = powerspec 2 supports D0 D3 current D0

I installed drm-kmod (which seems to contain no files!) and
gpu-firmware-kmod. However, there is no `i915kms.ko'. These are the
kernel modules included in gpu-firmware-kmod related to i915:

/boot/modules/i915_bxt_dmc_ver1_07_bin.ko
/boot/modules/i915_bxt_guc_ver8_7_bin.ko
/boot/modules/i915_bxt_huc_ver01_07_bin.ko
/boot/modules/i915_cnl_dmc_ver1_06_bin.ko
/boot/modules/i915_glk_dmc_ver1_04_bin.ko
/boot/modules/i915_kbl_dmc_ver1_01_bin.ko
/boot/modules/i915_kbl_dmc_ver1_04_bin.ko
/boot/modules/i915_kbl_guc_ver9_14_bin.ko
/boot/modules/i915_kbl_huc_ver02_00_bin.ko
/boot/modules/i915_skl_dmc_ver1_26_bin.ko
/boot/modules/i915_skl_dmc_ver1_27_bin.ko
/boot/modules/i915_skl_guc_ver6_1_bin.ko
/boot/modules/i915_skl_guc_ver9_33_bin.ko
/boot/modules/i915_skl_huc_ver01_07_bin.ko

I tried to load all of them with kldload(8), but the resolution didn't
change (instead, IIRC, when i915kms.ko is loaded, the resolution
immediately improves).

Is there a way I can obtain a resolution higher than 640x480?

Thank you anyway!

Rocky


P.S.

1) I don't know if this is relevant, but after the boot menu and before
the first Copyright lines of the dmesg(8), there's a lag of some seconds,
during which the screen is blank.

2) After some minutes of usage, dmesg(8) is flooded by these lines:

ACPI Error: Aborting method \134_TZ.TZS1._TMP due to previous error (AE_NO_HARDWARE_RESPONSE) (20201113/psparse-689)
ACPI Error: AE_NO_HARDWARE_RESPONSE, Returned by Handler for [EmbeddedControl] (20201113/evregion-426)

3) Some of the devices are `Giant locked', as mentioned in my previous
message:

https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions/2021-April/293816.html

[Graham Perrin]

Post by Rocky Hotas
I installed drm-kmod (which seems to contain no files!)

drm-kmod is a meta port.

<https://www.freshports.org/graphics/drm-kmod/#description>

Post by Rocky Hotas
and gpu-firmware-kmod. However, there is no `i915kms.ko'.

Run this command to discover the package that installed the file:


pkg which /boot/modules/i915kms.ko


Also please note:

<https://www.freshports.org/graphics/drm-fbsd13-kmod/#message>

[Rocky Hotas]

Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at 8:27 PM
Subject: Re: Improve resolution from 640x480 on 32 bit laptop with FreeBSD 13-RELEASE
drm-kmod is a meta port.

[...]

pkg which /boot/modules/i915kms.ko

Ok, thanks for the clarification. I ran `pkg which
/boot/modules/i915kms.ko' and the result is:

/boot/modules/i915kms.ko was not found in the database

This confirms that for some reason drm-kmod does not install
i915kms.ko. As written in the description of the package, ``the most
recent supported stable DRM for a give[n] FreeBSD version will be
installed''. So, maybe there is no DRM available for this laptop?

For older systems, there was a package `drm-legacy-kmod', but it
has been moved to `drm-kmod' itself on 2020-12-31, as stated in
https://www.freshports.org/graphics/drm-kmod (`Port Moves').

<https://www.freshports.org/graphics/drm-fbsd13-kmod/#message>

If i915kms.ko is not present in my system, I think `kld_list="i915kms"'
in /etc/rc.conf has no effect.

Rocky

[Graham Perrin]

Post by Rocky Hotas

Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at 8:27 PM
Subject: Re: Improve resolution from 640x480 on 32 bit laptop with FreeBSD 13-RELEASE
drm-kmod is a meta port.

[...]

pkg which /boot/modules/i915kms.ko

Ok, thanks for the clarification. I ran `pkg which
/boot/modules/i915kms.ko was not found in the database
This confirms that for some reason drm-kmod does not install
i915kms.ko. As written in the description of the package, ``the most
recent supported stable DRM for a give[n] FreeBSD version will be
installed''. So, maybe there is no DRM available for this laptop?

For your use of FreeBSD 13.0-RELEASE, drm-kmod should have installed
drm-fbsd13-kmod

Try removing drm-kmod, then reinstall. What exactly happens?

Post by Rocky Hotas
For older systems, there was a package `drm-legacy-kmod', but it
has been moved to `drm-kmod' itself on 2020-12-31, as stated in
https://www.freshports.org/graphics/drm-kmod (`Port Moves').

<https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=253113#c3>

Post by Rocky Hotas

<https://www.freshports.org/graphics/drm-fbsd13-kmod/#message>

If i915kms.ko is not present in my system, I think `kld_list="i915kms"'
in /etc/rc.conf has no effect.
Rocky
_______________________________________________
https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions

[Rocky Hotas]

Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 7:11 PM
Subject: Re: Improve resolution from 640x480 on 32 bit laptop with FreeBSD 13-RELEASE
For your use of FreeBSD 13.0-RELEASE, drm-kmod should have installed
drm-fbsd13-kmod
Try removing drm-kmod, then reinstall. What exactly happens?

I tried and unfortunately nothing changes: still no file with i915kms*
name.

However, I installed manually drm-fbsd13-kmod and now the i915kms.ko
file is present in /boot/modules. After modifying /etc/rc.conf with
`kld_list="i915kms"', it works. It takes a while to load the module at
boot, but eventually it succeeds. I wonder why drm-kmod didn't do this
by its own.

Warning: to be able to run X server, it is also necessary to install
xf86-video-intel. I had the same issue as in this thread:

https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/require-opengl-version-2-1-or-later.79827/

Post by Rocky Hotas
For older systems, there was a package `drm-legacy-kmod', but it
has been moved to `drm-kmod' itself on 2020-12-31, as stated in
https://www.freshports.org/graphics/drm-kmod (`Port Moves').

<https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=253113#c3>

Sorry, I can't understand what you would like to mention.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Rocky

[Graham Perrin]

Post by Graham Perrin
For your use of FreeBSD 13.0-RELEASE, drm-kmod should have installed
drm-fbsd13-kmod
Try removing drm-kmod, then reinstall. What exactly happens?

… I installed manually drm-fbsd13-kmod …

For drm-kmod to _not_ automatically install drm-fbsd13-kmod smells like
a bug. Aim for:

<https://github.com/freebsd/drm-kmod/issues>

First, please check that versions are equal for your kernel and userland:

freebsd-version -kru

Post by Graham Perrin

Post by Rocky Hotas
For older systems, there was a package `drm-legacy-kmod', but it
has been moved to `drm-kmod' itself on 2020-12-31, as stated in
https://www.freshports.org/graphics/drm-kmod (`Port Moves').

<https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=253113#c3>

Sorry, I can't understand what you would like to mention.

Sorry, I was wrong to link to comment 3 of that bug. It relates to the
package message for drm-fbsd12.0-kmod, which wrongly describes use of
drm-legacy-mod

[Rocky Hotas]

Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 4:15 AM
Subject: Re: Improve resolution from 640x480 on 32 bit laptop with FreeBSD 13-RELEASE
For drm-kmod to _not_ automatically install drm-fbsd13-kmod smells like
<https://github.com/freebsd/drm-kmod/issues>
freebsd-version -kru

Ok! I checked it (they are the same, it's a fresh installation) and
filed the issue:

<https://github.com/freebsd/drm-kmod/issues/73>

Sorry, I was wrong to link to comment 3 of that bug. It relates to the
package message for drm-fbsd12.0-kmod, which wrongly describes use of
drm-legacy-mod

Oh, ok, no problem!

Thank you,

Rocky