Skip to content

xorg: explain DDX vs modesetting #304

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Merged
ericonr merged 1 commit into from
May 30, 2020
Merged

xorg: explain DDX vs modesetting #304

Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
1 commit
Select commit
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
56 changes: 41 additions & 15 deletions src/config/graphical-session/xorg.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -24,21 +24,28 @@ Void provides both open-source and proprietary (non-free) video drivers.

### Open Source Drivers

The open source drivers are installed with the `xorg` package by default, or may
be installed individually if the `xorg-minimal` was installed. Below is a table
of device brands and their driver packages.

| Brand | Type | Driver Package |
|--------|-------------|----------------------|
| AMD | Open Source | `xf86-video-amdgpu` |
| ATI | Open Source | `xf86-video-ati` |
| Intel | Open Source | `xf86-video-intel` |
| NVIDIA | Open Source | `xf86-video-nouveau` |

> Note: Fourth generation Intel users may want to use the default xorg driver,
> rather than installing `xf86-video-intel` driver package. For more
> information, see the [Arch wiki
> page](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel_graphics#Installation).
Xorg can use two categories of open source drivers: DDX or modesetting.

#### DDX

The DDX drivers are installed with the `xorg` package by default, or may be
installed individually if the `xorg-minimal` package was installed. They are
provided by the `xf86-video-*` packages.

For advanced configuration, see the man page corresponding to the vendor name,
like [intel(4)](https://man.voidlinux.org/intel.4).

#### Modesetting

Modesetting requires the `mesa-dri` package, and no additional vendor-specific
driver package.

Xorg defaults to DDX drivers if they are present, so in this case modesetting
must be explicitly selected: see [Forcing the modesetting
driver](#forcing-the-modesetting-driver).

For advanced configuration, see
[modesetting(4)](https://man.voidlinux.org/modesetting.4).

### Proprietary Drivers

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -77,6 +84,25 @@ Section "InputClass"
EndSection
```

### Forcing the modesetting driver

Create the file `/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-modesetting.conf`:

```
Section "Device"
Identifier "GPU0"
Driver "modesetting"
EndSection
```

and restart Xorg. Verify that the configuration has been picked up with:

```
$ grep -m1 '(II) modeset([0-9]\+):' /var/log/Xorg.0.log
```

If there is a match, modesetting is being used.

## Starting X Sessions

### startx
Expand Down