PS3RSX Binary driver support

[Akta77]

This topic deals with the PS3RSX Binary driver support.

I have provided a "Ubuntu" .deb package including PS3RSX kernel module for 2.6.22-14-cell and the associated Xorg driver. The deb checks the kernel version but be sure to have the 2.6.22-14-cell kernel (uname -a).

The current ubuntu drivers are available at the following URL :

For standard Ubuntu kernel :
http://www.choeursdaromes.com/ps3rsx-1.0-1.deb (initial revision)
http://www.choeursdaromes.com/ps3rsx-1.0-3.deb (revision 47)
http://www.choeursdaromes.com/ps3rsx-1.0-4.deb (revision 51)
http://www.choeursdaromes.com/ps3rsx-1.0-5.deb (revision 52)

For 2.6.23rc7 Custom kernel :
http://www.choeursdaromes.com/ps3rsx-1. ... .23rc7.deb

d-range's Gentoo package is available here :
http://www.choeursdaromes.com/ps3/ps3rs ... .23.tar.gz

The package adds a line to /etc/modules (ps3rsx) but does not modify the xorg.conf. You still have to do it yourself.

It will soon do this "automatically".

Regards

[mitran]

Nice i realy love how things are working out right now :D useing Ubuntu 7.04 on my ps3 right now , the extra ram seems to help a whole lot , strange that the os speeds up so much from 196-213,5 megs ram ,
just want to post ceep the good work up ,

[darkshadow]

Can you also compile modules against the 2.6.23 kernel that most psubuntu users have upgraded to. It is available as deb's here.

http://psubuntu.com/2007/11/10/ps3-firm ... eaks-wifi/

Adds support for udf2.5 / wifi / sixaxis over bluetooth

[warrennn]

I installed the .deb file (dpkg -i <package>.deb ) and modified the xorg.conf. Killing and restarting X resulted in a blank screen. I am using Ubuntu 7.10 with kernel 2.6.22-14-cell.

Thanks to a remote connection, I was able to quickly restore things. Any suggestions welcomed.

-Warren Nagourney

[warrennn]

It seems to work now. 2D behavior seems much faster, with no redraw artifacts in most instances. The only exception is a large firefox window: Moving another window over it will display redrawing images (but they last a much shorter time than previously). Scrolling speed is not affected, so far as I can tell. There is some tearing during fast window moves, but the updates are not being done during vertical blanking, I believe.

I am running Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-cell, video mode 13 (scaled down to the 1440x900 native resolution of my LCD) and windowmaker.

Is my experience in accord with others?

Thanks for the excellent work!

[PhusionDev]

Is it possible to get the source so we could build them against our current gentoo kernels maybe? Or do you already have a gentoo package or know how I may go about doing this? =) Thank you!!

[Akta77]

Is it possible to get the source so we could build them against our current gentoo kernels maybe? Or do you already have a gentoo package or know how I may go about doing this? =) Thank you!!

I think someone is already building an ebuild. It should be posted soon.

Regards.

[d-range]

I was planning to write a source-level Gentoo ebuild for ps3rsx, but after mucking around a bit to do a manual install first I think this is not going to work. The stock Gentoo kernel kernel doesn't work on the PS3, and the gentoo-ps3 kernel sources cannot be installed automatically. Things would get very, very messy you install custom kernel sources from outside portage.

So what I did was to build a kernel from Geoff Levands tree, which also proved difficult because the version in repo as of yesterday does not compile cleanly without (trivial) source fixes. The idea was to compile a module against this tree and provide that, together with step-by-step instructions to switch kernel and rebuild yourself if desired. That turned out to be very messy as well, because the kernel did noot boot with the original gentoo kboot. So I upgraded that as it says on Geoff's webpage, but with no luck, kboot loads the image, but the PS3 locks up immediately with a flashing red light (it does not turn off). Anyway, I tried putting back the gentoo-ps3 kernel (2.6.16), but it didn't boot anymore, I tried upgrading the kernel & kboot.conf to the lates installcd versions (2.6.23), but no luck there either. Both don't get past the kboot: prompt anymore. The installcd still boots and runs and I can still access /dev/ps3da1, but beyond that my system is hosed.

Eventually I'll fix this, most likely its just a matter of kboot config. The devices changed from /dev/sda1 to /dev/ps3da1 between the kernels, so likely it's related, though I haven't found the combination of gentoo-ps3 kernel and kboot.conf that seem to work.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is so you know that I will not try to write an source-level ebuild for ps3rsx for now. When I figured out what I'm doing wrong replacing the gentoo-ps3 with geoff's tree I will post detailed installation instructions. Writing an ebuild that installs a pre-built ps3rsx binary would still be a piece of cake, if I can boot into the latest gentoo-ps3 kernel again and compiled the module against it, that's what I will try next.

[d-range]

I finally managed to fix my hosed gentoo setup and get it to boot the custom kernel I built to compile the ps3rsx module against. Turned out that for some obscure reason the bootable flag of the /dev/ps3da1 partition was cleared.

Anyway, I now have a working ps3rsx and xf86-ps3-video setup including step by step instructions how to get there from a clean gentoo install. I will post the instructions here for other people along with download links to the module and the X driver, but i can not assume responsibility for their correctness, you will still need to use your head to interpret the instructions correctly, and know what you're doing. That said, if you *do* know what you're doing building and installing is a piece of cake.

A few notes:
1) You *will* need to build your own kernel. The stock gentoo-ps3 kernel does not have module versioning compiled in, so you will not be able to use the prebuilt binary module unless you have the *exact* same kernel version magic, which is unlikely as I tweaked some settings
2) The build instructions and module are for linux-powerpc64-2.6.23-ps3. You need a 64-bit kernel to load the module, 32-bit will *not* work. Older kernel versions *might* work, but I can't guarantee that. Newer kernels *should* work.
3) I assume anyone following these instructions has enough experience to interpret them correctly, ie: know when/how to substitute their own kernel versions in some steps, what directories they put stuff in etc.
4) Your gentoo installation should be pretty much completely working before starting. I assume X is installed etc.
5) I assume you are root for all steps, so watch out what you are doing. For some steps root privileges are not really necessary btw.
6) UPDATED: make sure your kboot & kboot.conf are up to date, ie: don't try this with the old otheros.bld that was on older gentoo installcd's! The device names changed from /dev/sda to /dev/ps3da, and the old kboot doesn't get that.

That said: here are the build instructions. There are three steps: 1) building a usable kernel, 2) getting/building ps3rsx and xf86-ps3-video, 3) installing ps3rsx and xf86-ps3-video

SETTING UP & BUILDING THE KERNEL

1) emerge layman:

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# emerge layman subversion
# echo "source /usr/portage/local/layman/make.conf" >> /etc/make.conf

layman is needed to install portage overlays for experimental ebuilds, in this case the ps3 cell overlay. The echo line ensures portage will use the layman overlays.

2) get portage cell overlay:

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# layman --fetch
# layman --add cell

3) emerge dtc:

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# echo "=sys-apps/dtc-1.0.0 ~ppc" >> /etc/portage.package.keywords
# echo "=sys-apps/dtc-1.0.0" >> /etc/portage/package.unmask
# emerge \=sys-apps/dtc-1.0.0

You need dtc to build the kernel. The package is masked so you need to unmask it, which is what the echo lines are for.

4) emerge kgcc64:

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# emerge kgcc64

The stock gcc installed with gentoo cannot be used to build a 64-bit kernel (at least not the one in the 32-bit userland stage4 I used), so you need kgcc64

5) emerge the ps3 kernel sources from the cell overlay.

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# emerge ps3-sources

6) build the kernel using genkernel.

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# cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.23
# make ps3_defconfig
# cp .config /etc/kernels/kernel-config-ppc64-2.6.23
# genkernel --kernel-config=/etc/kernels/kernel-config-ppc64-2.6.23 \
  --kerneldir=/usr/src/linux-2.6.23/ \
  --kernel-cross-compile=powerpc64-unknown-linux-gnu- \
  --menuconfig \
  all

This assumes the ps3-sources installed was version 2.6.23, if you have another version make sure to use that version in the commands. The first 2 steps configure the kernel for the PS3 and copies the config to /etc/kernels, where the stock config also resides.

The genkernel command will use the copied kernel config, and cross-compiles the kernel, modules and initrd image using kgcc64. Before starting the build it will run menuconfig so you can change extra settings if you need to. To use the prebuilt binaries you have to enable module versioning here, or the modules will not load. To do this, expand the 'enable loadable module support' section in the menuconfig screen and make sure 'module versioning' is checked. Then exit & save.

After closing menuconfig the kernel will build, which will take a while.

7) Configure kboot for new kernel:

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# cd /boot
# rm kernel initrd
# ln -s kernel-genkernel-ppc64-2.6.23 kernel
# ln -s initramfs-genkernel-ppc64-2.6.23 initrd

Again, make sure you use the actual version you just built in these commands.


8) UPDATED: Reboot!!

I forgot to mention this step when I first posted these instructions. You have to reboot into the new kernel because otherwise the ps3rsx module will try to build against the running kernel, which will fail.

BUILDING PS3RSX AND XF86-VIDEO-PS3

1) emerge git with http support:

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# USE="curl" emerge git

2) checkout ps3rsx & xf86-video-ps3:

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# git clone http://mandos.homelinux.org/~glaurung/git/ps3rsx.git
# git clone http://mandos.homelinux.org/~glaurung/git/xf86-video-ps3.git

3) edit ps3rsx makefile:

In the directory where you checked out ps3rsx and xf86-video-ps3:

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# cd ps3rsx

Edit the makefile there. Put this in it. Make sure not to change tabs into spaces accidentally:

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list-m := ps3rsx
obj-m := ps3rsx.o

KSRC=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
PWD=$(shell pwd)
CROSS_COMPILE=powerpc64-unknown-linux-gnu-

all:
	$(MAKE) CROSS_COMPILE=$(CROSS_COMPILE) -C $(KSRC) M=$(PWD) modules

clean:
	rm -f *.mod.c *.mod *.o *.ko .*.cmd .*.flags .lst *.lst

The makefile changes are needed to make sure kgcc64 is used to compile the kernel module instead of the stock gcc.

Then just do a 'make' to build the module. To load the module after you built it do a

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# insmod ps3rsx.ko

If it's working you should not see any output, but you can check dmesg. On my system the last lines show:

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 # dmesg
...
ps3rsx: PS3 RSX access module, 1.0.0
ps3rsx: reserved XDR memory is @c000000000c00000, len 18874368
ps3rsx: 254MB of DDR video ram at 0x700190000000 mapped at d000080080780000 handle 5a5a5a5b
ps3rsx: context 0x55555554 dma=440000381000 driver=4000001a4000 reports=4800006d0000 reports_size=10000
ps3rsx: ctrl=d00008008010c000 drv=d0000800905c0000 reports=d0000800804e0000
ps3rsx: version 2.11 RSX rev17 0MB RAM channel 1 core 500MHz mem 650MHz
ps3rsx: remapped XDR apperture at c000000000c00000 size 18432kB to RSX

4) build xf86-video-ps3:

In the directory where you checked out ps3rsx and xf86-video-ps3:

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# cd xf86-video-ps3
# ./configure
# make

INSTALLING PS3RSX AND X DRIVER

1) installing ps3rsx module and enable autoloading at reboot

In the directory where you checked out the ps3rsx module:

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# cd ps3rsx
# cp ps3rsx.ko /lib/modules/2.6.23/kernel/drivers/ps3/
# depmod -a
# echo "modprobe ps3rsx" >> /etc/conf.d/local.start

This copies the module to /lib/modules and updates the module dependency database for modprobe. The last line adds a line to the local.start file sourced by /etc/init.d/local to load the module on boot. Again make sure the kernel versions in the commands match your environment.

2) installing X driver:

In the directory where you checked out the x86-video-ps3 driver:

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# cd xf86-video-ps3
# cp src/.libs/ps3_drv.so /usr/X11R6/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/

Then edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to use the ps3 driver. Search for 'Section "Device"' in that file and change 'Driver "fbdev"' to 'Driver "ps3"'

That's all. The kernel module and X driver binaries I built this way can be downloaded here:

http://www.speedyshare.com/941863634.html

My own webserver is down atm, if someone can put this on a somewhat more reliable download location, be my guest ;-)

They should work on other distro's than gentoo as well, as long as you have a kernel with module versioning support built in. I don't know what distro's have this (I think Ubuntu has), but gentoo doesn't so you will need to roll your own kernel anyway. That's also the reason why I'm not going to try to write an ebuild that does all this stuff. Compared to building the kernel installing the module and X driver is trivial.

If the kernel part is already ok for your setup you can skip directly to 3rd part of the installation procedure.

Let me know if you have any problems with performing the installation, as I spent the better part of 2 days fixing all the things I did wrong, and may be able to save you a lot of trouble...

[Audball]

d-range,
Thanks for the detailed instructions! One small question though, are you running a 32 bit or 64 bit Userland? Can you run a 32 bit UL with a 64 bit kernel? Again, thanks for the hard work and detailed instructions.
Audball

[warrennn]

Can someone suggest a way to confirm that Xorg acceleration is active? I still get redraw rectangles as I move windows over large firefix windows and I thought that this wasn't supposed to happen (particularly using "composite"). One clue is that monitor shows 0 bytes for Xorg. Are there any other indications? (Window moving seems faster).

Thanks.

[naivri]

system > administration > system monitor

resources tab shows 213.1mb available, not 196 odd

thats all the indication i know of.

Thanks to OP, the package worked a treat. I got a blank screen last time i tried it, but i realise now thats because i was on the updated kernel (offering wifi/sixaxis etc)

Format, reinstall and try again, desktop does seem a bit quicker.

Is there anyway I can now upgrade to 2.6.23 without losing this driver? (as in this post http://psubuntu.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=904 )

[d-range]

d-range,
Thanks for the detailed instructions! One small question though, are you running a 32 bit or 64 bit Userland? Can you run a 32 bit UL with a 64 bit kernel? Again, thanks for the hard work and detailed instructions.
Audball

I'm running 32-bit userland, it saves some RAM. So yes you can. 64-bit userland does not really have any advantages unless you want to run high-performance server tasks.

[jyck]

hi,

its neccessary to apply the Glaurung's kernel patch to ps3fb.c before to compile ps3rsx?

Thanks

[warrennn]

I had formerly wondered whether the accelerated Xorg was really accelerated. I based this on the fact that I was still getting multiple redraw rectangles when moving windows.

Well, I had forgotten a critical step: run xcompmgr. No more redraw artifacts, no matter how large the windows and how many on the screen. Window moving is smooth and fast now!

Great job!!!

[andlommy]

Hi guys.

Great work with PS3 accelerated driver. I wonder, if you can build an ubuntu installation package for newer kernel (2.6.23-rc7), so that both PS3 annoyances are resolved - broken wifi and fast video :)

[d-range]

Hi guys.

Great work with PS3 accelerated driver. I wonder, if you can build an ubuntu installation package for newer kernel (2.6.23-rc7), so that both PS3 annoyances are resolved - broken wifi and fast video :)

Maybe you can check the module I built on Gentoo, I'd be interested to know if it loads. It was built against 2.6.23, so if your kernel has module versioning enabled it should work. It's not an ubuntu package but if the module loads setting it up to autoload on boot is easy.

http://www.speedyshare.com/941863634.html

Your kernel has to be 64bit btw.

[andlommy]

Heya!
Saw your post with gentoo driver package when was rushing off to work. I wonder what i must replace in kboot.conf to load your driver for .23 kernel, and existing driver for .22 kernel. It's been ages since i last played with linux. I'll figure that out, and i'll try it as soon as i get home tonight. I've read that PS3 hypervisor slows things down tremendously, and i thing that's another major showstopper.

Eventually i want my PS3 to be a media center connected to the telly, so that i can stream HD movies from my storage through LAN and onto the telly. We'll see how it goes :)

[d-range]

Heya!
Saw your post when was rushing off to work. I wonder what i must replace in kboot.conf to load your driver for .23 kernel, and existing driver for .22 kernel. It's been ages since i last played with linux. I'll figure that out, and i'll try it as soon as i get home tonight.

If you already have a dualboot kboot.conf you should not have to change anything, because the different module versions are in different /lib/modules/2.6.xx/ directories. If you have a single-kernel kboot.conf you have to add an extra entry to kboot.conf. Just copy the default kernel line, change the label and change the location of the kernel and initrd to match your second kernel.

The kboot.conf end-result would look somewhat similar to this on my system.

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default=linux
timeout=5

linux='ps3da1:/boot/kernel initrd=ps3da1:/boot/initrd root=/dev/ram0 real_root=/dev/ps3da1 init=/linuxrc video=ps3fb:mode:8 rhgb'

linux-2.6.23='ps3da1:/boot/kernel-2.6.23-ps3 initrd=ps3da1:/boot/initramfs-2.6.23-ps3 root=/dev/ram0 real_root=/dev/ps3da1 init=/linuxrc video=ps3fb:mode:8 rhgb'

This is assuming you symlinked /boot/kernel and /boot/initrd to your primary kernel, and installed the .23 alongside it as kernel-2.6.23-ps3 and initramfs-2.6.23-ps3 in /boot/. You have to check what the kernel is named on your system. You can then pick a kernel on boot by entering its label (so that means linux-2.6.23 for the .23 kernel).

[andlommy]

Yea, i got multiboot. Will try that around 5 pm GMT :) Will post results here.

Now...how do we get out of PS3's sandbox. I seriously doubt that with PS3 specs, the performance of 158 BogoMIPS and `terminal` starting for 3 seconds is what this box can do. Or is it just my weird installation?...

[d-range]

Yea, i got multiboot. Will try that around 5 pm GMT :) Will post results here.

Now...how do we get out of PS3's sandbox. I seriously doubt that with PS3 specs, the performance of 158 BogoMIPS and `terminal` starting for 3 seconds is what this box can do. Or is it just my weird installation?...

The BogoMIPS value is useless, don't look at that. Even a slow Pentium-II has a higher value. I don't think the hypervisor has much impact on linux performance. Apart from restricting some forms of HW acceleration the overhead is minimal. That said, the HD in the PS3 appears to be very, very slow compared to decent new HDDs. So stuff starting slowly is probably almost completely due to that. I wouldn't worry about the performance you can get out of sandboxed PS3 linux.

[andlommy]

Is it the hard disk, or the controller, or the fact that it goes through PIO and you can't change it?

[d-range]

Is it the hard disk, or the controller, or the fact that it goes through PIO and you can't change it?

Likely a combination of these, I didn't know it didn't do DMA, that might explain a lot. But disk performance is not really an issue if you want to build a media center, emulator, etc. For desktop purposes you're constrained by the 256MB RAM anyway.

But this is getting a little off-topic. Let me know if you managed to load the gentoo module on ubuntu.

[andlommy]

Status report:

2.6.23-rc7 (my kernel version, taken from forum thread where guys managed to fix wireless in it)
and

2.6.23 (supplied by d-range)
don't go togehter too well, because of different kernel names.

If there's a way to override it, lemme know, but insmod doesn't like me so far...

[ralferoo]

2.6.23-rc7 (my kernel version, taken from forum thread where guys managed to fix wireless in it)

I notice that there were a load more gelic patches released today which allow wired and wireless to exist at the same time.

[Akta77]

Hi guys.

Great work with PS3 accelerated driver. I wonder, if you can build an ubuntu installation package for newer kernel (2.6.23-rc7), so that both PS3 annoyances are resolved - broken wifi and fast video :)

I will prepare a new package related to the 2.6.23-rc7 kernel tomorrow. I do not have much time to do it right now. D-Range, i will host your build on my server :)

Regards

[d-range]

Status report:

2.6.23-rc7 (my kernel version, taken from forum thread where guys managed to fix wireless in it)
and

2.6.23 (supplied by d-range)
don't go togehter too well, because of different kernel names.

If there's a way to override it, lemme know, but insmod doesn't like me so far...

Let me guess, it says 'insmod failed: -1', and if you do a 'dmesg' you see stuff about module version magic mismatch? If it does you probably don't have module versioning enabled in the kernel... It's a shame the default ps3-kernel config has that disabled because it basically limits binary modules to the exact same kernel versions and distribution. That doesn't really make it easier for beginners to try out stuff like this...

I think you can get around this by doing an 'insmod -f ps3rsx.ko' to force it to load, but generally speaking, that's not a very nice thing to do. I'm not sure what will happen if your kernel has some other incompatibilty, most likely it will hang the system.

[d-range]

Hi guys.

Great work with PS3 accelerated driver. I wonder, if you can build an ubuntu installation package for newer kernel (2.6.23-rc7), so that both PS3 annoyances are resolved - broken wifi and fast video :)

I will prepare a new package related to the 2.6.23-rc7 kernel tomorrow. I do not have much time to do it right now. D-Range, i will host your build on my server :)

Regards

Thanks! Can you post a download link here?

[Akta77]

Hi guys.

Great work with PS3 accelerated driver. I wonder, if you can build an ubuntu installation package for newer kernel (2.6.23-rc7), so that both PS3 annoyances are resolved - broken wifi and fast video :)

I will prepare a new package related to the 2.6.23-rc7 kernel tomorrow. I do not have much time to do it right now. D-Range, i will host your build on my server :)

Regards

Done :)

2.6.23-rc7 kernel users can download the package @ the usual place :
http://www.choeursdaromes.com/ps3rsx-1. ... .23rc7.deb New version, please update!
d-range's package is available here :
http://www.choeursdaromes.com/ps3/ps3rs ... .23.tar.gz

Think i will start a new virtualhost soon :p

Regards

[tephra]

Hey guys,

What exactly does this driver provide, I am trying to get MythTV to work(properly) on my PS3 and am hoping that this driver will help.

Can I get XV out of it?

I don't know enough about the different layers of video in XWindows so my question probably doesn't make sense :)

Cheers
Dave