Ubuntu MATE 16.04 LTS - v0.1 beta - GPU & VPU drivers

javimotta98 · Published in 2016-5-10 05:48:39

Edited by javimotta98 at 2016-5-31 01:42

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS - MATE Desktop - Mali and vdpau drivers

Hello, this is the first image I've made (and also the first thread in this forum, hello all!) ~~so please don't expect the best performance and keep in mind it may have some bugs~~ After some time using it, I think it's stable enough for everyday use. I'm open to suggestions and advice on how to improve it

Because I wanted to try latest Ubuntu version on my Orange Pi and there wasn't any 16.04 distro here, I tried to modify the Loboris image build script to be able to create an Ubuntu xenial (16.04) image... And it worked! Here are the changes I made:

In create_image file:
trusty|utopic|precise|vivid|wily*) --> trusty|utopic|precise|vivid|wily|xenial*)

In install_mate_desktop file:
if [ ! "${_REL}"=jessie" ] && [ ! "${_REL}"=vivid" ] && [ ! "${_REL}"=wily" ]; then --> if [ ! "${_REL}"=jessie" ] && [ ! "${_REL}"=vivid" ] && [ ! "${_REL}"=wily" ] && [ ! "${_REL}"=xenial" ]; then

In install_xfce_desktop file:
if [ ! "${_REL}"=jessie" ] && [ ! "${_REL}"=vivid" ] && [ ! "${_REL}"=wily" ]; then --> if [ ! "${_REL}"=jessie" ] && [ ! "${_REL}"=vivid" ] && [ ! "${_REL}"=wily" ] && [ ! "${_REL}"=xenial" ]; then

In params.sh file:
distro=xenial

Features:

Based on Loboris image
English language
MATE desktop installed
GPU acceleration [Mali r4p0-00rel0 modules and binaries]
VPU acceleration [vdpau-sunxi]
glmark2-es2 installed for testing
mpv and SMPlayer configured for accelerated video playback with vdpau
CPU usage, frequency and temperature in top panel
Two 1080p h.264 videos for testing (in Videos folder)

Problems:

WARNING: This release doesn't include the Allwinner exploit fix. For now use this: http://www.orangepi.org/orangepibbsen/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1537 (thanks jacer!)
~~Low glmark2 score, only 40 points but other distros can score up to 75 points~~ Problem solved, disable composite manager to get full performance. 77 points and 82 FPS in horse test. See this for more info: http://www.orangepi.org/orangepibbsen/forum.php?mod=redirect&goto=findpost&ptid=1506&pid=13252&fromuid=863897
Bad SMPlayer video playback performance when using one window mode - as a temporary fix I've enabled "Run mpv in its own window"
Chromium 49 doesn't work, so I have installed Chromium 48 and pinned the packages to this version. Just in case you accidentally update Chromium, there is a script to downgrade to latest working version in Scripts folder

To do:

Improve performance
Switch to a hardware accelerated composite manager
Increase CMA memory (memory used for video decoding)
Install Kodi

User: orangepi
Password: orangepi

File info:
Compressed file: 1.09 GiB - MD5: f24cd0d26278fdf33876cbfa353d3835
Uncompressed file: 2.83 GiB - MD5: ccf746c7b4ceffb7cb37f35ac4ee861e

Downloads:
MEGA: https://mega.nz/#!yNNx0RZZ!A6O2kD_VtWWGlHhPR-acAk3vXWq3NSH_Wpc5zbR-mHs
Google Drive: https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B595BwgvkDicXzZMdjRHMEc2MFE

kakawkin · Published in 2016-6-8 10:29:57

Youtube in browser not support, lags

simplyngo · Published in 2016-5-10 10:46:02

have you consider the security root problem? Thanks for your good work

javimotta98 · Published in 2016-5-10 16:00:20

simplyngo replied at 2016-5-10 10:46
have you consider the security root problem? Thanks for your good work

Not in this version, but I'll try to include the patch in next release

aegrotatio · Published in 2016-5-24 11:23:42

Wow, great work!

How much effort would it take to get onto a 4.x kernel?

jacer · Published in 2016-5-26 20:51:58

@javimotta98 Bravo. Keep up the good work.

javimotta98 · Published in 2016-5-30 22:23:22

aegrotatio replied at 2016-5-24 11:23
Wow, great work!

How much effort would it take to get onto a 4.x kernel?

Thanks! I don't have enough knowledge to make the necessary patches to make the mainline Linux kernel work with our Orange Pi, although there are some people working on it. You can find more information here: https://linux-sunxi.org/Orange_Pi_PC#Mainline_kernel

javimotta98 · Published in 2016-5-31 00:37:07

Edited by javimotta98 at 2016-5-31 01:45

OK, I have good news! I've found the cause of low OpenGL ES performance. It's all because of the compositing window manager, the component that draws windows and their borders. The composite manager used in MATE desktop isn't compatible with OpenGL ES. Because of that, the composite manager is software-rendered, so all things that are shown on screen passes through this software-accelerated compositing manager, including all the frames generated by Mali GPU, causing a bottleneck. Disabling the composite manager results in a huge boost in OpenGL performance. For example, the 3D horse test from glmark2-es2 benchmark goes up from 44 FPS to 82 FPS and now it scores 77 points. This problem is also present in other distros, like Ubuntu MATE from melanrz. Some other distros, like Lubuntu 15.10 from the Orange Pi russian forum, don't suffer this problem because they use OpenGL ES compatible compositing window managers, like KWin. So, if you want the best 3D performance, just disable the composite manager in MATE Tweaks. There are some drawbacks though, like losing shadows in windows. I will probably switch to other compositing window manager in next release, maybe KWin. What do you think?
Apart from that, I haven't found any more performance-related problems or bugs so far. I think it's stable enough for everyday use. I will edit the first post to reflect that. In next version I'll also try to include Kodi. What else would you like to see in next release?

dD78 · Published in 2016-5-31 19:36:19

Yes, i still looking for linux desktop with hw accelerated kodi. I will be wait for your distro.

iotdevnet · Published in 2016-6-4 22:38:32

Orange pi one palying quake3 on lubuntu 16.04.
http://www.iot-dev.net/full.php?ar=30