Xorg Drivers

Introduction to libevdev

The libevdev package contains common functions for Xorg input drivers.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

libevdev Dependencies

Optional

Doxygen-1.8.14, Python-2.7.15, and Valgrind-3.13.0 (optional for tests)

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/libevdev

Kernel Configuration

Enable the following options in the kernel configuration and recompile the kernel if necessary:

Device Drivers  --->
  Input device support --->
    <*> Generic input layer (needed for...) [CONFIG_INPUT]
    <*>   Event interface                   [CONFIG_INPUT_EVDEV]
    [*]   Miscellaneous devices  --->       [CONFIG_INPUT_MISC]
      <*>    User level driver support      [CONFIG_INPUT_UINPUT]

Installation of libevdev

Install libevdev by running the following commands:

./configure $XORG_CONFIG &&
make

The regression tests can be run as the root user with make check, in a graphical session. Note that on some systems, the tests may cause a hard lockup and require a reboot.

Now, as the root user:

make install

Contents

Introduction to Xorg Evdev Driver

The Xorg Evdev Driver package contains a Generic Linux input driver for the Xorg X server. It handles keyboard, mouse, touchpads and wacom devices, though for touchpad and wacom advanced handling, additional drivers are required.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

Xorg Evdev Driver Dependencies

Required

libevdev-1.5.9, mtdev-1.1.5, and Xorg-Server-1.20.1

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/xorg-evdev-driver

Installation of Xorg Evdev Driver

Install Xorg Evdev Driver by running the following commands:

./configure $XORG_CONFIG &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user:

make install

Contents

Introduction to libinput

libinput is a library that handles input devices for display servers and other applications that need to directly deal with input devices.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

libinput Dependencies

Required

libevdev-1.5.9 and mtdev-1.1.5

Optional

Valgrind-3.13.0 (to run the tests), Doxygen-1.8.14 and Graphviz-2.40.1 (to build the documentation) GTK+-3.22.30 (to build the GUI event viewer), libunwind (required for tests), libwacom-0.29 , and PyParsing (for one non-root test)

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/libinput

kernel configuration for running the libinput testsuite

Although libinput works with the same kernel configuration used by libevdev-1.5.9, its extensive testsuite requires the presence of /dev/uinput (as well as both Valgrind-3.13.0 and libunwind).

If you wish to run the full tests, enable the following option in the kernel configuration and recompile the kernel if necessary:

Device Drivers --->
  Input device support --->
    Miscellaneous Devices --->
    <*/M>   User level driver support        [CONFIG_INPUT_UINPUT]

If you build this as a module, it needs to be inserted before the testsuite runs.

On an Xorg system you will also need to prevent the events generated during the testsuite from interfering with your desktop. Copy the file test/50-litest.conf into ${XORG_PREFIX}/share/X11/xorg.conf.d and restart X. For further information see libinput test suite.

Installation of libinput

Install libinput by running the following commands:

mkdir build &&
cd    build &&

meson --prefix=$XORG_PREFIX \
      -Dudev-dir=/lib/udev  \
      -Ddebug-gui=false     \
      -Dtests=false         \
      -Ddocumentation=false \
      -Dlibwacom=false      \
      ..                    &&
ninja

Now, as the root user:

ninja install

If Doxygen-1.8.14 and Graphviz-2.40.1 were present during the build, you can install the generated documentation by running the following commands as the root user:

install -v -dm755 /usr/share/doc/libinput-1.11.3 &&
cp -rv html/*     /usr/share/doc/libinput-1.11.3

Command Explanations

-Dudev-dir=/lib/udev: This switch specifies where UDev rules and hwdb files will be installed.

-Ddebug-gui=false: This switch disables creation of a visual debug helper for libinput. Remove if you want it, and you have GTK+-3.22.30 installed.

-Dtests=false: This switch disables compilation of the main tests. Even with the tests defined as false, you can still run the first four minor tests, as a regular user, but one will be skipped if https://pypi.org/project/pyparsing is not installed.

-Ddocumentation=false: This switch disables generation of the documentation. Remove if you want to generate it, and you have Doxygen-1.8.14 and Graphviz-2.40.1 installed.

-Dlibwacom=false: Remove this option if you have the external library libwacom installed.

Contents

Introduction to Xorg Libinput Driver

The X.Org Libinput Driver is a thin wrapper around libinput and allows for libinput to be used for input devices in X. This driver can be used as as drop-in replacement for evdev and synaptics.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

Xorg Libinput Driver Dependencies

Required

libinput-1.11.3 and Xorg-Server-1.20.1

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/xorg-libinput-driver

Installation of Xorg Libinput Driver

Install Xorg Libinput Driver by running the following commands:

./configure $XORG_CONFIG &&
make

To test the results, issue make check.

Now, as the root user:

make install

Contents

Introduction to Xorg Synaptics Driver

The Xorg Synaptics Driver package contains the X.Org Input Driver, support programs and SDK for Synaptics touchpads. Even though the evdev driver can handle touchpads very well, this driver is required if you want to use advanced features like multi tapping, scrolling with touchpad, turning the touchpad off while typing, etc.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

Xorg Synaptics Driver Dependencies

Required

libevdev-1.5.9 and Xorg-Server-1.20.1

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/xorg-synaptics-driver

Installation of Xorg Synaptics Driver

Install Xorg Synaptics Driver by running the following commands:

./configure $XORG_CONFIG &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user:

make install

Contents

Introduction to Xorg VMMouse Driver

The Xorg VMMouse Driver package contains the VMMouse input driver for the Xorg X server. The VMMouse driver enables support for the special VMMouse protocol that is provided by VMware virtual machines to give absolute pointer positioning. It can be used with Qemu, too.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

Xorg VMMouse Driver Dependencies

Required

Xorg-Server-1.20.1

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/xorg-vmmouse-driver

Kernel Configuration

To get kernel support for the VMMouse, enable the following options in the kernel configuration and recompile the kernel if necessary:

Processor type and features --->
  [*] Symmetric multi-processing support          [CONFIG_SMP]
  [*] Support for extended (non-PC) x86 platforms [CONFIG_X86_EXTENDED_PLATFORM]
  [*] ScaleMP vSMP                                [CONFIG_X86_VSMP]
Device Drivers --->
  Input device support --->
    [*] Mice --->                                 [CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSE]
      <*/M> PS/2 mouse                            [CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2]
      [*] Virtual mouse (vmmouse)                 [CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2_VMMOUSE]

Installation of Xorg VMMouse Driver

Install Xorg VMMouse Driver by running the following commands:

./configure $XORG_CONFIG               \
            --without-hal-fdi-dir      \
            --without-hal-callouts-dir \
            --with-udev-rules-dir=/lib/udev/rules.d &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user:

make install

Command Explanations

--with-udev-rules-dir=/lib/udev/rules.d: This switch specifies where udev rules should be installed.

--without-hal-*-dir: These switches disable installation of the HAL components which are not needed on Linux.

Contents

Introduction to Xorg Wacom Driver

The Xorg Wacom Driver package contains the X.Org X11 driver and SDK for Wacom and Wacom-like tablets. It is not required to use a Wacom tablet, the xf86-input-evdev driver can handle these devices without problems.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

Xorg Wacom Drivers Dependencies

Required

Xorg-Server-1.20.1

Optional

Doxygen-1.8.14 and Graphviz-2.40.1

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/xorg-wacom-driver

Kernel Configuration

To use a Wacom tablet with USB interface, enable the following options in your kernel configuration and recompile. Note that other configuration options could be required for tablet with a serial or bluetooth interface:

Device Drivers  --->
  HID support  --->
    <*/M> HID bus support                                      [CONFIG_HID]
            Special HID drivers --->
              <*/M> Wacom Intuos/Graphire tablet support (USB) [CONFIG_HID_WACOM]

Installation of Xorg Wacom Driver

Install Xorg Wacom Driver by running the following commands:

./configure $XORG_CONFIG \
            --with-udev-rules-dir=/lib/udev/rules.d \
            --with-systemd-unit-dir=/lib/systemd/system &&
make

To test the results, issue: make check.

Now, as the root user:

make install

Contents

Introduction to Xorg AMDGPU Driver

The Xorg AMDGPU Driver package contains the X.Org Video Driver for newer AMD Radeon video cards starting from Volcanic Islands. It can also be used for Southern and Sea Islands if the experimental support was enabled in the kernel.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

Xorg AMDGPU Driver Dependencies

Required

Xorg-Server-1.20.1 (must be built with glamor enabled)

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/xorg-amdgpu-driver

Kernel Configuration

Enable the following options in the kernel configuration and recompile the kernel if necessary:

Device Drivers  --->
  Graphics support --->
   <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 ... support) ---> [CONFIG_DRM]
   <*/M> AMD GPU                                           [CONFIG_DRM_AMDGPU]
    [ /*] Enable amdgpu support for SI parts               [CONFIG_DRM_AMDGPU_SI]
    [ /*] Enable amdgpu support for CIK parts              [CONFIG_DRM_AMDGPU_CIK]

The last two options enable experimental support for Southern and Sea Islands AMD GPUs so they can be used with this driver. Note that the support is marked experimental and disabled by default. Xorg ATI Driver-18.0.1 should be used for those GPUs.

Kernel Configuration for additional firmware

If you need to add firmware, install the file(s) and then point to them in the kernel configuration and recompile the kernel if necessary. To find out which firmware you need, consult the Decoder ring for engineering vs marketing names. Download any firmware for your card which is named like: <ENGINEERING_NAME>_rlc.bin, etc. Below is an example for Radeon R7 M340 GPU, which is codenamed Iceland/Topaz, along with a network card that also requires the firmware:

CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE="amdgpu/topaz_ce.bin amdgpu/topaz_k_smc.bin amdgpu/topaz_mc.bin
                       amdgpu/topaz_me.bin amdgpu/topaz_mec2.bin amdgpu/topaz_mec.bin
                       amdgpu/topaz_pfp.bin amdgpu/topaz_rlc.bin amdgpu/topaz_sdma1.bin
                       amdgpu/topaz_sdma.bin amdgpu/topaz_smc.bin rtl_nic/rtl8168e-3.fw"
CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE_DIR="/lib/firmware"

Alternatively, if you change CONFIG_DRM_AMDGPU to '=m' in your linux kernel .config the firmware can be loaded automatically from /lib/firmware/amdgpu/ when it installs the module. This offers a tiny space saving, but also means that the screen will be blank for a longer time before the framebuffer appears. Distros take this approach because it is not practical to specify every possible firmware and the kernel would be excessively big.

Installation of Xorg AMDGPU Driver

Install Xorg AMDGPU Driver by running the following commands:

./configure $XORG_CONFIG &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user:

make install

Contents

Introduction to Xorg ATI Driver

The Xorg ATI Driver package contains the X.Org Video Driver for ATI Radeon video cards including all chipsets ranging from R100 to the "Volcanic Islands" chipsets.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

Xorg ATI Driver Dependencies

Required

Xorg-Server-1.20.1 (recommended to be built with glamor enabled)

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/xorg-ati-driver

Kernel Configuration

Enable the following options in the kernel configuration and recompile the kernel if necessary:

Device Drivers  --->
  Graphics support --->
   <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 ... support) ---> [CONFIG_DRM]
   <*> ATI Radeon                                          [CONFIG_DRM_RADEON]

Kernel Configuration for additional firmware

If you need to add firmware, install the file(s) and then point to them in the kernel configuration and recompile the kernel if necessary. To find out which firmware you need, consult the Decoder ring for engineering vs marketing names. Download any firmware for your card which is named like: <ENGINEERING_NAME>_rlc.bin, etc. Note that for R600 and R700 family, generic R600_rlc.bin and R700_rlc.bin are necessary in addition to the model specific firmware, while for later generations you need the BTC_rlc.bin in addition to the model specific firmware. Below is an example for a Radeon HD6470 which is a "Northern Islands" GPU, plus an RTL network chip that also requests extra firmware:

CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE="radeon/BTC_rlc.bin radeon/CAICOS_mc.bin radeon/CAICOS_me.bin
radeon/CAICOS_pfp.bin radeon/CAICOS_smc.bin rtl_nic/rtl8168e-3.fw"
CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE_DIR="/lib/firmware"

Alternatively, if you change CONFIG_DRM_RADEON to '=m' in your .config the firmware can be loaded automatically from /lib/firmware/radeon when it installs the module. This offers a tiny space saving, but also means that the screen will be blank for a longer time before the framebuffer appears. Distros take this approach because it is not practical to specify every possible firmware and the kernel would be excessively big.

Installation of Xorg ATI Driver

Install Xorg ATI Driver by running the following commands:

./configure $XORG_CONFIG &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user:

make install

Contents

Introduction to Xorg Fbdev Driver

The Xorg Fbdev Driver package contains the X.Org Video Driver for framebuffer devices. This driver is often used as fallback driver if the hardware specific and VESA drivers fail to load or are not present. If this driver is not installed, Xorg Server will print a warning on startup, but it can be safely ignored if hardware specific driver works well.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

Xorg Fbdev Driver Dependencies

Required

Xorg-Server-1.20.1

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/xorg-fbdev-driver

Installation of Xorg Fbdev Driver

Install Xorg Fbdev Driver by running the following commands:

./configure $XORG_CONFIG &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user:

make install

Contents

Introduction to Xorg Intel Driver

The Xorg Intel Driver package contains the X.Org Video Driver for Intel integrated video chips including 8xx, 9xx, Gxx, Qxx, HD, Iris, and Iris Pro graphics processors.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

Xorg Intel Driver Dependencies

Required

xcb-util-0.4.0 and Xorg-Server-1.20.1

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/xorg-intel-driver

Kernel Configuration

Enable the following options in the kernel configuration. Only one of the lines “Intel I810” or “Intel 8xx/9xx...” needs to be selected. If you select the latter, “Enable modesetting...” is needed too. Recompile the kernel if necessary:

Device Drivers  --->
  Graphics support --->
   <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 ... support) ---> [CONFIG_DRM]
   <*> Intel 8xx/9xx/G3x/G4x/HD Graphics                   [CONFIG_DRM_I915]

Installation of Xorg Intel Driver

Install Xorg Intel Driver by running the following commands:

./autogen.sh $XORG_CONFIG     \
            --enable-kms-only \
            --enable-uxa      \
            --mandir=/usr/share/man &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user:

make install &&
      
mv -v /usr/share/man/man4/intel-virtual-output.4 \
      /usr/share/man/man1/intel-virtual-output.1 &&
      
sed -i '/\.TH/s/4/1/' /usr/share/man/man1/intel-virtual-output.1

Working around problems with the Intel driver

The SandyBridge New Acceleration (SNA) code is intended to replace the old UXA (UMA Acceleration Architecture), but it is a large body of code and may cause problems. However, the version of the code in the version control system listed above has been tested successfully with both SNA and UXA capabilities.

To work around this problem, as well as enabling support for UXA, it is necessary to force UXA to be used by creating a configuration file. If this problem applies to you, create the following file as the root user and modify it as needed:

cat >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf << "EOF"
Section   "Device"
        Identifier "Intel Graphics"
        Driver     "intel"
        #Option     "DRI" "2"            # DRI3 is default
        #Option     "AccelMethod"  "sna" # default
        #Option     "AccelMethod"  "uxa" # fallback
EndSection
EOF

Command Explanations

--enable-kms-only: This switch omits the UMS (User Mode Setting) code.

--enable-uxa: This switch allows the old UXA code to be compiled in addition to the default SNA.

Contents

Introduction to Xorg Nouveau Driver

The Xorg Nouveau Driver package contains the X.Org Video Driver for NVidia Cards including RIVA TNT, RIVA TNT2, GeForce 256, QUADRO, GeForce2, QUADRO2, GeForce3, QUADRO DDC, nForce, nForce2, GeForce4, QUADRO4, GeForce FX, QUADRO FX, GeForce 6XXX and GeForce 7xxx chipsets.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

Xorg Nouveau Drivers Dependencies

Required

Xorg-Server-1.20.1 (recommended to be built with glamor enabled)

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/xorg-nouveau-driver

Kernel Configuration

Enable the following options in the kernel configuration and recompile the kernel if necessary:

Device Drivers  --->
  Graphics support --->
   <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 ... support) ---> [CONFIG_DRM]
   <*> Nouveau (NVIDIA) cards                              [CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU]
      [*]   Support for backlight control                     [CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU_BACKLIGHT]

Installation of Xorg Nouveau Driver

Install Xorg Nouveau Driver by running the following commands:

./configure $XORG_CONFIG &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user:

make install

Glamor Acceleration

Glamor is an acceleration library which uses cards' 3D capabilities to accelerate 2D rendering. Glamor acceleration is enabled by default for the new “Maxwell” GPU's. According to the documentation, Glamor acceleration can be used with other chips as well, but that does not seem functional yet.

If you want anyway to try to enable Glamor for GPU's other than the new “Maxwell” ones, create the following file as the root user:

cat >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/nvidia.conf << "EOF"
Section "Device"
        Identifier "nvidia"
        Driver "nouveau"
        Option "AccelMethod" "glamor"
EndSection
EOF

Contents

Introduction to Xorg VMware Driver

The Xorg VMware Driver package contains the X.Org Video Driver for VMware SVGA virtual video cards.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

Xorg VMware Driver Dependencies

Required

Xorg-Server-1.20.1

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/xorg-vmware-driver

Kernel Configuration

Enable the following options in the kernel configuration and recompile the kernel if necessary:

Device Drivers  --->
  Graphics support  --->
   <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 ... support) --->  [CONFIG_DRM]
   <*> DRM driver for VMware Virtual GPU                    [CONFIG_DRM_VMWGFX]
      [*]   Enable framebuffer console under vmwgfx by default [CONFIG_DRM_VMWGFX_FBCON]

Installation of Xorg VMware Driver

Install Xorg VMware Driver by running the following commands:

./configure $XORG_CONFIG &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user:

make install

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Introduction to libva

The libva package contains a library which provides access to hardware accelerated video processing, using hardware to accelerate video processing in order to offload the central processing unit (CPU) to decode and encode compressed digital video. The VA API video decode/encode interface is platform and window system independent targeted at Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI) in the X Window System however it can potentially also be used with direct framebuffer and graphics sub-systems for video output. Accelerated processing includes support for video decoding, video encoding, subpicture blending, and rendering.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

Additional Downloads

libva Dependencies

Required

libdrm-2.4.93

Recommended

Mesa-18.1.6

Optional

Doxygen-1.8.14 and Wayland-1.15.0

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/libva

Installation of libva

Install libva by running the following commands:

./configure $XORG_CONFIG &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user:

make install

Installation of intel-vaapi-driver

The intel-vaapi-driver is designed specifically for video cards based on an Intel GPU. Unpack the intel-vaapi tarball using the normal procedures and install the driver by running the following commands:

./configure $XORG_CONFIG &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user:

make install

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Introduction to libvdpau

The libvdpau package contains a library which implements the VDPAU library.

VDPAU (Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix) is an open source library (libvdpau) and API originally designed by Nvidia for its GeForce 8 series and later GPU hardware targeted at the X Window System This VDPAU API allows video programs to offload portions of the video decoding process and video post-processing to the GPU video-hardware.

Currently, the portions capable of being offloaded by VDPAU onto the GPU are motion compensation (mo comp), inverse discrete cosine transform (iDCT), VLD (variable-length decoding) and deblocking for MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 ASP (MPEG-4 Part 2), H.264/MPEG-4 AVC and VC-1, WMV3/WMV9 encoded videos. Which specific codecs of these that can be offloaded to the GPU depends on the version of the GPU hardware; specifically, to also decode MPEG-4 ASP (MPEG-4 Part 2), Xvid/OpenDivX (DivX 4), and DivX 5 formats, a GeForce 200M (2xxM) Series (the eleventh generation of Nvidia's GeForce graphics processing units) or newer GPU hardware is required.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

libvdpau Dependencies

Required

Xorg Libraries

Optional

Doxygen-1.8.14, Graphviz-2.40.1, and texlive-20180414 or install-tl-unx

Runtime Dependency

Mesa-18.1.6

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/libvdpau

Installation of libvdpau

Install libvdpau by running the following commands:

./configure $XORG_CONFIG \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/libvdpau-1.1.1 &&
make

To test the results, issue: make check.

Now, as the root user:

make install

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Introduction to libvdpau-va-gl

The libvdpau-va-gl package contains a library which implements the VDPAU library. Libvdpau_va_gl uses OpenGL under the hood to accelerate drawing and scaling and the VA-API (if available) to accelerate video decoding. For now VA-API is available on some Intel chips, and on some AMD video adapters with the help of the libvdpau driver.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

libvdpau-va-gl Dependencies

Required

CMake-3.12.1, FFmpeg-4.0.2, libvdpau-1.1.1, and libva-2.2.0

Optional

Doxygen-1.8.14, Graphviz-2.40.1, and texlive-20180414 or install-tl-unx

Runtime Dependency

Mesa-18.1.6

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/libvdpau

Installation of libvdpau-va-gl

Install libvdpau-va-gl by running the following commands:

mkdir build &&
cd    build &&

cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$XORG_PREFIX .. &&
make

To test the results, issue: make check. The tests must be run from an Xorg environment.

Now, as the root user:

make install

Configuration

To allow libvdpau to find libvdpau-va-gl, set an environment variable. As the root user:

echo "export VDPAU_DRIVER=va_gl" >> /etc/profile.d/xorg.sh

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