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RadeonHD Driver

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:50:05 +1200

The goal of this project is to write Amiga OS 4.x graphics drivers for R5xx and higher graphics cards, both 2D and 3D. One of the motivations for this is that, my computer vision research extensively uses shaders that are present in modern GPUs. None of the existing supported graphics cards for Amiga OS 4.x support shaders. Shaders are rapidly becoming an essential component for running newer games. Rather than write 3D drivers from scratch, Gallium3D - the new driver system for MESA - will be used.

IMPORTANT: Developing a driver will take a considerable amount of time. This page will be updated as and when progress occurs. For those wishing to follow progress, keep an eye on the development log.

Current Project Status

The following features/functionality are operational:

Framebuffer,
VGA and DVI output for all cards,
Full 2D acceleration for R5xx to Northern Islands chipsets (Radeon X1000 series, and the Radeon HD 2000-6000 series), including compositing,
Composited video (a variant of textured video) for accelerating video playback
Hardware mouse pointer, and
RadeonHD_RM.resource backend for 3D drivers (the render manager)

Release Status

At present, the AmigaOS 4.1 CDs for the AmigaOne-X1000 and Sam460ex includes a beta version of the driver which includes 2D acceleration minus compositing. Sam460ex owners can purchase the latest driver (which adds support for Radeon HD 5000-6000) from A-Eon Technology. AmigaOne-X1000 customers will receive updated drivers automatically. Owners of other motherboards can purchase the driver if they wish, but please consult the compatibility list beforehand to make sure that the driver will work with your hardware.

It is not available on any other hardware. There is no set release date for the final (version 1) driver.

The Development Log

Follow the progress of this project in the RadeonHD Development Log.

The Screen Mode Preferences test screen as displayed by a Radeon X1300.

Workbench being displayed by a Radeon X1300 graphics card.

RadeonHD Card Recommendations for AmigaOS 4.x

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:48:56 +1300

Many people have been asking me for advice as to which Radeon HD graphics card they should buy for their Amiga. So, here are my recommendations. For the lazy, there is a quick summary at the end of the page. But first, a quick disclaimer:

Disclaimer: These recommendations are my personal opinion based on my current knowledge and experience with these cards. They are not based on objective testing; I have not tried and tested every card. As such I make no claims as to the accuracy of these recommendations. Moreover, I could change my mind later based on new data. Ultimately, only you can decide which card you think us best for your situation.

At present the RadeonHD.chip driver supports any card from the Radeon X1300 to the Radeon HD 7000 series, and some Radeon R5/R7/R9 cards. While the driver has not been tested with every single card available in that range; to date, almost all cards have worked. If you are worried that certain cards may not work, check the compatibility page for a list of tested cards.

These recommendations are made from the viewpoint of what will be best once both the 2D and 3D drivers have been completed. When I started writing the drivers my goal was to bring support for modern graphics cards complete with shader support to the Amiga, and it will happen. There are no release dates yet, but it is coming. Anyone who is nervous about buying before the drivers are finished are going to wait anyway.

PCI-Express Capable Amigas

My first word of advice for those with a brand new PCI-Express (PCIe) capable Amiga, is to forget about the low-end cards, unless you get one for almost nothing. The reason is that low-end really does mean just that: low -end. They have slower Video RAM (VRAM), lower clock-speeds and fewer stream processing units (or shader units in the Radeon X1000 series). For example, a Radeon HD 4890 has 800 stream processors running at 850 MHz and a VRAM bandwidth of 124.8 GiB/s, whereas a Radeon HD 4350 has 80 stream processors running at 575 MHz and the VRAM bandwidth is 8 GiB/s. This makes a big difference. A Radeon HD 3870 has 320 cores at 725 MHz and VRAM bandwidth of 57.6-72 GiB/s, and it will leave a Radeon HD 4350 in the dust. In fact, a Radeon X1950 pro will beat the Radeon HD 4350 at simple operations such as 2D blits, because it has greater VRAM bandwidth.

That is not to say that the Radeon HD 4350 is a bad card; because that would be wrong. After all, it has greater capabilities than older generation cards. However, if you have spent money on a new PCIe capable Amiga, then get a graphics card with performance to match. A mid-range to high-end card would make much more sense.

So, which card would be best? My suggestion would be to choose a card from the Radeon HD 5000/6000 series. Sure, the 2000 - 4000 series will work, but why bother? You are unlikely to save money, and the newer series have more capabilities. The 5000/6000 series will also have 3D support soon via Warp3D drivers (as at 12 November 2012), which is another reason to choose one of them. The only reason that I can think of to use an older card is because you happen to have a spare one lying around.

The next question is which specific model within the range. Well, that depends entirely on what you are looking for, and how much you are willing to pay. For example, you may be like me, and want high performance, but not the noise that typically comes with it. The first GLSL capable card that I ever used was the Radeon X800 that I used for my university research. At the time it was the most powerful graphics card ever made. It also sounded like a rumbling jet when running under load. I like quieter machines, particularly if they are located in my bedroom. The HIS iCooler and iceQ are quieter than most, and the Sapphire Vapor-X series are advertised as being quiet too.

What about VRAM? Generally speaking, more is better, but more VRAM also uses more power (e.g., GDDR5 has a reputation for being power hungry). Having said that, even 512 MiB is significantly more than existing Amiga OS 4.x users with Radeon cards are used to. Unlike the older Radeon cards, these cards do not have the split device problem that prevented most 256 MiB card owners from using the full 256 MiB. The drivers will eventually be able to use all of the available VRAM. However, there is one slight issue. Picasso96 assumes that all VRAM is accessible via the CPU, but this assumption no longer applies. Only the first 256 MiB on these cards is actually directly accessible and the rest is only directly accessible by the GPU. This was most likely done to avoid running out of addressing space (2 GiB of VRAM would only leave 2 GiB for all other devices and RAM on a 32-bit system). Regardless, as a consequence Picasso96 will only be able to use 256 MiB. I can almost hear people saying, "but I thought that you said..." Yes, the rest of the VRAM will still be used. The 3D drivers will be able to make full use of the additional VRAM, and I am investigating additional possible uses. The current drivers (as on Saturday 15 January 2011) already use the additional VRAM as a temporary buffer for overlapped blits.

AmigaOne-X1000

If you have one of these machines, congratulations on getting the most powerful Amiga to-date. The AmigaOne-X1000 (A1-X1000) will come as a complete machine, and will already have a suitable graphics card.

Sam 460ex

When selecting a card for the SAM 460ex, it is important that you check the thickness of the card. The reason for this is that many cards take up two slots, and the PCI bus is right next to the 4x PCIe bus (which uses a 16x slot so that graphics cards fit). If you have any interest in using the PCI slot - and believe me, you probably do want to use that slot - then you will need a card that takes up a single slot. This rules out the high-end cards, as all of those (as far as I know) have a big cooler attached to the top that takes up an additional slot. Likewise, some of the passively cooled cards have a double-height heat sync. My Radeon HD 4350 PCI card is like that. Many of the mid-range cards take up only one slot, although not all of them. I have personally got a Sapphire Radeon HD 4650 Ultimate Edition, which fits nicely. I can also confirm that the Radeon X1950 pro (at least some of them), also fit nicely, if you prefer one of those. The best thing to do is to check the card's size before you buy.

The Sapphire Radeon HD 4650 Ultimate Edition's passive heat-sync wraps around the board, so it does not interfere with the next slot

PCI Only Amigas

While I would recommend that people upgrade to one of the newer motherboards that support PCIe, I realise that many will want to upgrade their existing machines instead.

With older AmigaOS 4.x machines, the choice is rather more limited. The performance will be limited by the PCI bus' bandwidth, and the lower CPU speed. Nevertheless, I still see upgrading to a Radeon HD (or Radeon X1000 series) card as a step up. Not in terms of speed, but in terms of capability. These cards will introduce the ability to use shaders, which opens up a whole new set of possibilities. Here are some general things to keep in mind:

WARNING: Do not try to use an AGP version of these cards in your Amiga! Despite having made it clear that this is not possible, I still see people talking about it occasionally on various web forums (or fora, whichever you prefer). I want to make it clear right now that this will not work, and will likely damage both your graphics card and your Amiga. The reason is that the Radeon HD cards are all AGP 4x/8x cards, and do not support the higher voltage of the AGP 2x slot. The AmigaOne XE mistakenly has a universal AGP connector, so the graphics card will physically fit. Please do not try this
If you use a PCI-to-PCIe bridge card, get one with a PEX8112. The Radeon HD driver has code to optimise the settings of the PEX 8111 and 8112, but not other PCI-to-PCIe bridges. Plus, it supports blind-prefetching, which increases VRAM read access speed. Also, you will need a low-profile graphics card, or your card will be dangling over the edge, with connectors blocked by your case
A Radeon HD 4650 plus a PCI-to-PCIe bridge card will outperform a Radeon HD 4350 PCI. This is a case of my original assumption being wrong. Originally I said that, due to the slow PCI bus and lower CPU power, the Radeon HD 4650 would be a waste. Well, someone decided to try anyway and, it does have a noticeable improvement over the Radeon HD 4350 PCI. Yes, the PCI bus and lower CPU power is a bottleneck, and you'll never be able to get the maximum out of the card. Nevertheless, testing has shown that it does make for a snappier machine overall

SAM 440-Flex and SAM 440ep

At this stage I would recommend that Sam 440-flex users to get either a Radeon HD 4350 PCI, or get a PEX 8112 based PCI-to-PCIe bridge card and a low-profile Radeon HD 4650** if they wish to upgrade to a Radeon HD card. It is faster than older cards, and offers all of the capabilities of the Radeon HD 4000 series. If you want to get a Radeon X1000 series card, then the Radeon X1550 has the best performance.

** NOTE: I say "low-profile" because a PCI-to-PCIe plus a low-profile Radeon HD card should be able to fit into a full-size slot, whereas plugging a full-size

AmigaOne-XE (without the DMA Fix) and the AmigaOne-SE

My recommendations for these motherboards are the same as for the Sam 440-flex.

AmigaOne-XE (With DMA Fix) and the Micro AmigaOne

It is well known that the Micro AmigaOne (uA1) has trouble with using a plug-in graphics card. Some have managed to use plug-in graphics cards, but had to sacrifice DMA for their hard-drives, and USB. AmigaOne-XE (A1-XE) boards with the DMA fix have the same problem as the uA1 with graphics cards plugged into the 33 MHz bus. Unfortunately UBoot does not initialise Radeon HD cards properly when plugged into the 66 MHz PCI slot since it cannot handle nested PCI bridges. I hope that the AmigaOne UBoot update project manages to fix this issue. In the meantime, know that using Radeon HD cards (or Radeon X1000 series cards) will require sacrificing DMA for IDE and USB.

Pegasos-II

IMPORTANT: Radeon HD cards will not work with the Pegasos-II.

The Pegasos-II's openfirmware will not detect and initialise the graphics card. It will quite happily detect and initialise the PCI-to-PCIe bridge on the card, but it will not detect the actual graphics chipset that resides behind the bridge. Attempts have been made to contact Genesi and B-Plan regarding getting the firmware updated, but to no avail.

Classic Amigas with PowerPC Accelerators

IMPORTANT: Radeon HD cards do not work in Classic Amigas.

Apart from being impractical, PCI-to-PCI bridges are not supported on any of the Classic Amiga bus-boards. Since connecting a Radeon HD card to a PCI bus requires a PCI-to-PCIe bridge (either soldered on to the card, or separate), this will not work. The bridge chip is detected, but not the graphics card behind it. Even if this problem were solved, I have been told that the 256 MiB of CPU-accessible VRAM into the Zorro address space (NOTE: The 256 MiB must also be 256 MiB aligned, due to PCI alignment rules).

To be honest, the Classic Amiga is so underpowered relative to these cards that using them together makes little sense. You really need a modern PCI-Express capable Amiga to be able to take full advantage of Radeon HD cards.

A Quick Summary

If your Amiga has a PCIe slot, then it is recommended to choose a mid to high-end Radeon HD 5000+ series card
When choosing a card for the Sam 460ex, be mindful that the PCI slot is right next to the 4x PCIe slot. Choose a card that takes up only a single slot, and does not have an oversized heat-sync/fan that would block use of the PCI adjacent slot
A1-XE motherboards with the DMA fix and uA1 motherboards require disabling DMA for the IDE drives and USB in order to use any PCI graphics card (in the 33 MHz slot)
Radeon HD cards (and Radeon X1000 cards) do not work in the Pegasos-II
These graphics do not work in Classic Amigas
The drivers will eventually be able to use the full amount of VRAM that these cards have
The ultimate choice in card is up to you. Whatever you choose, enjoy

RadeonHD Driver Hardware Compatibility

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:17:16 +1300

This page lists all hardware that has been tested with the RadeonHD.chip driver. A list of places to buy these cards can be found here.

DISCLAIMER: While every effort will be made to keep these lists accurate and up to date, it depends on the testing and feedback of others. As such, I do not guarantee the completeness or accuracy.

Graphics Cards

The "driver version" column lists the most recent driver version that a particular card was tested with. Unless stated otherwise, all cards are PCI-Express.

Graphics Card	Chipset	Driver Version	Status	Notes
*Radeon X1000 series*
VisionTek Radeon X1300 256MB PCI	RV515	0.49	Working
ATI Radeon X1550 256 MB PCI	RV516	0.12	Working
HIS Radeon X1550 256 MB PCI	RV516	0.7	Working
Sapphire Radeon X1550 256 MB	RV516	0.12	Working
ASUS EAX1600 Silent 256MB	RV530	0.32	Working	UBoot often does not appear
Sapphire Radeon X1650 Pro 512 MB	RV530	0.12	Working	When tested on a Sam 460ex, UBoot did not display, but it works fine in AmigaOS 4.x. Also, you will not be able to use the PCI slot in the Sam 460ex with this card plugged in (it physically blocks access to the PCI slot)
ATI Radeon X1950 pro 256 MB	RV570	0.17	Working	Sam460ex users are recommended to use U-Boot 2010.06.04 or better
Radeon HD 2000 series
ATI Radeon HD 2400 PCI 256 MB	RV610	0.12	Working
Club3D Radeon HD 2400 Pro PCI 256MB low profile	RV610	0.7	Working
Diamond Radeon HD 2400 Pro PCI, SB Edition 256 MB	RV610	0.12	Working
PowerColor Radeon HD 2400 Pro 256 MB PCI	RV610	0.12	Working
*Radeon HD 3000 series*
Asus ATI Radeon EAH3450	RV620	0.12	Working
*Radeon HD 4000 series*
ATI Radeon HD 4350 PCI 512MB	RV710	0.12	Working
HIS Radeon HD 4350 PCI 512MB	RV710	0.7	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 4350 256MB	RV710	0.12	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 4350 512MB	M92	0.16	Working
XFX Radeon HD 4350 512MB DDR2 (HD-435X-YNHR)	RV710	0.49	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 4550 512MB low profile	RV710	0.15	Working
XFX Radeon HD 4550 1GB (HD-455X-ZNH2)	RV710	0.57	Working	Passively cooled
ASUS 4650 EAH 4650/DI/512MD2	RV730	0.15	Working
GigaByte HD 4650 1GB	RV730	0.49	Working
HIS Radeon HD 4650 1GB	RV730	0.12	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 4650 1GB Ultimate (11140-23-20R)	RV730	0.53	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512MB Ultimate (11138-15-20R)	RV730	0.53	Working
HIS Radeon HD 4670 iSilence4 (H467PR1GH)	RV730	0.53	Working
HIS Radeon HD4670 1GB DDR3	RV730	0.53	Working
MSI Radeon HD 4670 1 GB (R4670-MD)	RV730	1.8	Working
XFX Radeon HD 4670 1GB DDR2 (HD-467X-ZDF2)	RV730	0.49	Working
ASUS EAH6770 1GB GDDR5	RV740	0.53	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 4830 1 GB	RV770	0.15	Working
GigaByte Radeon HD 4850 1GB Passive Cooler (GV-R485MC-1GH)	RV770	0.53	Working	Large heat sink takes up two slots, and works best with good airflow in the case
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 512MB DDR3 (11132-11-20R)	RV770	0.49	Working	Large card; may have trouble putting it into small cases
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 512 MB (11133-00-20R)	RV770	0.55	Working	Large card; may have trouble putting it into small cases. Requires two power cables
Sapphire Radeon HD4890 Vapor-X 2Gb	RV790	0.54	Working
XFX Radeon HD 4890 XXX	RV790	0.53	Working
XFX Radeon HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 (HD-489A-ZD)	RV790	0.53	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB GDDR3 (11139-00-40R)	R700	0.53	Working	Very bulky card; may have trouble putting it into small cases. NOTE: This is a dual-GPU card, but the driver will only use one of the two onboard GPUs (there is no crossfire support)
*Radeon HD 5000 series*
Club3D Radeon HD 5450 512MB DDR2 (CGA-5452PLI)	Cedar	0.49	Working
HIS Radeon HD 5450 Silence 1GB DDR3 (H545HR1G)	Cedar	2.21	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 5450 1GB DDR3 (11166-02-20R)	Cedar	0.49	Working
XFX Radeon HD 5550 (HD-555X-ZNF2)	Redwood	0.54	Working
ASUS Radeon HD 5670 1GB DDR5 (EAH5670-PCIE-1GB)	Redwood	0.49	Working	Cooler takes up two slots
Sapphire Radeon HD 5670 1GB Ultimate (11168-15-20R)	Redwood	0.49	Working
Gigabyte Radeon HD 5870 1GB (GV-587D5-1GD-B)	Cypress	0.54	Partial	User reports having trouble getting it to work with a 24" BenQ monitor, and only being able to use lower resolutions on a Samsung SyncMaster 226B
*Radeon HD 6000 series*
ASUS Radeon HD 6450 (EAH6450 SILENT/DI/1GD3(LP))	Caicos	1.0 RC1 (0.55)	Failed	No output
ASUS Radeon HD 6450 (Silent/DI/512MD3(LP))	Caicos	1.8	Partial	User reports that HDMI & DVI out don't work
ASUS Radeon HD 6570 (EAH6570/DI/1GD3(LP))	Turks	0.54	Working
ATI Radeon HD 6570 1GB DDR3 (HD5670-PCIE-1024PB)	Turks	0.49	Partial	User reports that it only works when a DVI to VGA adaptor is used
HIS Radeon HD 6570 2GB DDR3	Turks	0.49	Failed	No output to monitor obtained, but AmigaOS does boot in the background
Sapphire Radeon HD 6570 1GB DDR3 (11191-26-20G)	Turks	0.49	Working	It seems that there are a few bad batches of this card that boot to a black screen approx. 9 out of 10 times. Most should work perfectly though.
Sapphire Radeon HD 6570 2GB DDR3 (11191-02-20G)	Turks	0.54	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 6570 1GB Ultimate (11191-05-20G)	Turks	0.49	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 6570 1GB Ultimate (11191-27-20G)	Turks	0.49	Working	User reports very occasionally booting to a black screen, but booting correctly in the vast majority of cases
ASUS Radeon HD 6670 (HD6670-2GD3)	Turks	0.54	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 6670 Low Profile (11192-18-20G)	Turks	0.55	Working	NOTE: Sam460ex (lite) users, please make sure that you're using the latest UBoot. Older versions can cause trouble with this card (e.g., inability to soft-reset).
Sapphire Radeon HD 6670 Low Profile (11192-18-40G)	Turks	0.49	Working	Fits into a single slot
XFX Radeon HD 6670 1GB (HD-667X-ZWF4)	Turks	1.0	Working
Diamond Multimedia Radeon HD 6770 1GB GDDR5 (6770PE51GV2)	Juniper	0.49	Partial	VGA output displays up to 1024x768 and then 1440x900. NOTE: DVI output was not tested
Afox Radeon HD 6850 1024MB 256Bits (AF6850-1024D5S1)	Barts	1.8	Partial	A user reports that HDMI doesn't work
ASUS EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5	Barts	0.53	Working	Needs 2 PCIe power connectors. Double-slot.
PowerColor AX6850 1GB GDDR5 (AX6850 1GBD5-I2DH)	Barts	0.49	Working	Single-slot model
Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 TOXIC 1GB (11180-03-40R)	Barts	1.0	Working	Dual-slot, and requires 2 power connections
XFX Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 (HD-685X-ZNFC)	Barts	0.54	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 (11179-00-40R)	Barts	0.49	Working	Dual-slot
Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 (11179-09-20G)	Barts	0.53	Working	Also tested and working in a Sam440-flex via a PCI-to-PCIe adaptor
GigaByte Radeon HD 6950 (GV-R695OC-1GD)	Cayman	0.49	Working	A very big card and power hungry card. It takes up two slots, and requires 2 power connections
MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II	Cayman	0.54	Working
GigaByte Radeon HD 6990 (GV-R699D5-4GD-B)	Antilles	0.53	Partial	Some graphics corruption and AmiUpdate freezes reported. A monster of a card; you may have trouble fitting it into your case (it only just fits into the A1-X1000 case). NOTE: This is a dual-GPU card, but the driver will only use one of the two onboard GPUs (there is no crossfire support)
*Radeon HD 7000 series*
ASUS Radeon HD 7750 (HD7750-1GD5-V2)	Cape Verde	1.0 RC1 (0.55)	Working	NOTE: Tested on a Sam460ex.
ASUS Radeon HD 7750 1GB GDDR5 (HD7750-DCSL-1GD5)	Cappe Verde	2.7	Working
Club3D Radeon HD 7750 1GB GDDR5 (CGAX-7752)	Cape Verde	1.0	Working
Connect3D Radeon HD7750 1GB GDDR5	Cape Verde	1.0	Working
Gigabyte Radeon HD 7750 DDR3 (GV-R775OC-2GI)	Cape Verde	1.4/2.7	Failed	NOTE: Radeon HD 7xxx series cards with DDR3 RAM appear to be very problematic
HIS Radeon HD 7750 iSilence5 (H775P1GD)	Cape Verde	2.7	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 7750 ULTIMATE Fanless 1G GDDR5	Cape Verde	0.54	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 7750 2Gb DDR3 (11202-13-20G)	Cape Verde	1.0 RC1 (0.55)	Failed	No output to monitor obtained (except for UBoot). NOTE: Tested on a Sam460ex.
VisionTek Radeon HD 7750 1GB GDDR5 (900549)	Cape Verde	1.0	Caution	This card's behaviour appears to be hit and miss. It worked with some machines (incl. a Sam460ex), but failed on both a Sam460ex and Sam440. NOTE: It failed to even show UBoot in one test.
VTX3D Radeon HD 7750 DDR3 (HD7750-1GBK3-HE)	Cape Verde	1.0 RC1 (0.55)	Failed	Stops before the boot screen NOTE: Tested on an AmigaOne-X1000
VTX3D Radeon HD 7750 GDDR5 (VX7750-1GBD5-DH)	Cape Verde	2.7	Working
HIS Radeon HD 7770 iCooler GHz Edition (H777F1G2M)	Cape Verde	0.54	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 OC 1GB GDDR5 (11201-20-20G)	Cape Verde	1.4	Failed	NOTE: Tested on a Sam440 flex, which is known to have problems with newer Radeon HD cards (may need a UBoot update)
Radeon HD 7790 (all models)	Bonaire	1.0	Unsupported	IMPORTANT: This card contains a Sea Islands GPU, and those GPUs are currently not supported.
Club3D Radeon HD 7850 2GB (CGAX-785613)	Pitcairn	1.7	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB (11200-07-20G)	Pitcairn	2.21	Failed
XFX Radeon HD 7870 Double Dissipation (FX-787A-CD FX-787A-CDF V3.0)	Tahiti	2.10	Failed	GPU locks up on booting (Tested on an A1-X5000)
Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3G GDDR5 PCI-E (21197-00-40G)	Tahiti	0.54	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3G GDDR5 OC with Boost (1197-03-40G)	Tahiti	1.0	Working
Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 Vapor-X GHz Edition 3GB (11197-12-40G)	Tahiti	1.0	Working
Radeon R5 Series
Sapphire Radeon R5 230 2G (11233-02)	Caicos	1.10	Working	Tested on an A1-X5000
Not tested yet, but should work: Radeon R5 235/235X
Radeon R5 240	Oland	1.2	Unsupported	IMPORTANT: This card contains a Sea Islands GPU, and those GPUs are currently not supported.
Radeon R7 Series
Club3D R7 250E (CGAX-R7252L)	Cape Verde	2.7	Working	Single slot card
XFX Radeon R7 250E 1GB (R7-250E-ZNP4)	Cape Verde	2.7	Working	Single slot card
Sapphire Radeon R7 250X 1G GDDR5(11229-00-20G)	Cape Verde	2.7	Working
Asus Radeon R7 265 DirectCU II (R7265-DC2-2GD5)	Curaçao Pro	1.4	Working
ASUS Radeon R7 240 (R240-2GD3-L)	Oland Pro	2.21/1.19	Working	IMPORTANT: This card contains a Sea Islands GPU, and those GPUs are currently not supported.
HIS Radeon R7 240 iCooler 2G D3 (H240F2G)	Oland Pro	2.21	Working
Lenovo Radeon R7 240 2GB GDDR3 (11202407)	Oland Pro	2.21	Working	Tested in Sam460ex
Radeon R7 250 (all models)	Oland XT	1.2		Should work, but no tested models known
Radeon R7 260 (all models)	Bonaire	1.2	Unsupported	IMPORTANT: This card contains a Sea Islands GPU, and those GPUs are currently not supported.
Radeon R7 260X (all models)	Bonaire XTX	1.2	Unsupported	IMPORTANT: This card contains a Sea Islands GPU, and those GPUs are currently not supported.
Radeon R9 Series
ASUS R9 270 DirectCU II OC (R9270-DC2OC-2GD)	Curaçao Pro	1.4	Working
Gigabyte Radeon R9 270 2048MB GDDR5 Windforce OC Version (GV-R9270C-2GD)	Curaçao Pro	1.2	Working
ASUS DirectCU II Radeon R9 270X (R9270X-DC2T-2GD5)	Curaçao XT	1.2	Working
Gigabyte Radeon R9 270x Windforce 2GB GDDR5 (GV-R297XOC-2GD)	Curaçao XT	1.16 / 2.17	Working	NOTE: Needs at least version 1.16+ or 2.17+
Sapphire Dual-X Radeon R9 270X 2G D5 (11217-10-25G)	Curaçao XT	1.2	Working
Not tested, but should work: Radeon R9 280
Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3G GDDR5 OC Version (11221-00-25G)	Tahiti XT2/XTL	1.2	Working
Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Tri-X 3G GDDR5 OC (11221-08-40G)	Tahiti XT2/XTL	1.4	Working
XFX Radeon R9 280X Double Dissipation 1000M BOOST 3GB DDR5 PCI-E (R9-280X-TDFD)	Tahiti XT2/XTL	1.4	Working
Radeon R9 285 (all models)	Tonga Pro	1.2	Unsupported	IMPORTANT: This card contains a Volcanic Islands GPU, and those GPUs are currently not supported.
Radeon R9 290 (all models)	Hawaii Pro	1.2	Unsupported	IMPORTANT: This card contains a Volcanic Islands GPU, and those GPUs are currently not supported.
Radeon R9 290X (all models)	Hawaii XT	1.2	Unsupported	IMPORTANT: This card contains a Volcanic Islands GPU, and those GPUs are currently not supported.
Radeon R9 S95X2 (all models)	Vesuvius	1.2	Unsupported	IMPORTANT: This card contains a Volcanic Islands GPU, and those GPUs are currently not supported.

Motherboards

The "driver version" column lists the most recent driver version that a particular card was tested with.

Motherboard	Driver Version	Status	Notes
AmigaOne SE	0.5	Working	Use Amiga OS 4.1 update 1 or higher for stability (previous versions had stability issues when Radeon HD cards were plugged in, whether in use or not)
AmigaOne XE (Unfixed)	0.7	Working	33 MHz slot only; UBoot does not detect the card properly when plugged into the 66 MHz slot.
AmigaOne XE (with DMA fix)	0.7	Partial	USB must be disabled or the machine will freeze. The DMA fix appears to cause a hard lockup when large amounts of data (e.g., bitmaps) are sent over the bus and USB is active (possibly a conflict with USB DMA transfers)
Micro AmigaOne	N/A	Untested	The Micro AmigaOne has the AmigaOne-XE's DMA fix built in, so it will probably behave in the same manner as fixed AmigaOne-XE motherboards
SAM 440ep	N/A	Working	NOTE: Their might be a UBoot issue with some 5770,6750, 6770 cards on this platform. This is being investigated.
SAM 440-flex	0.7	Working	NOTE: Their might be a UBoot issue with some 5770,6750, 6770 cards on this platform. This is being investigated.
Pegasos 2	N/A	Failed	OpenFirmware fails to detect the card, so the driver cannot even be tested
SAM 460ex	0.12	Working	NOTE: Their might be a UBoot issue with some 5770,6750, 6770 cards on this platform. This is being investigated.
AmigaOne X1000	0.12	Working

Submitting Updates

If you have a card that is not on this list, or whose entry is incorrect, then please post the full details to this thread, or send them via email.

The details required are:

Manufacturer;
Model name;
The manufacturer's part number/ID (if available);
The newest version of the driver that it was tested with; and
If it works, and any pertinent notes (e.g., if it partially works, describe what works and doesn't).

Thanks in advance for your help in keeping this list up-to-date.

E1420U-C HD6670-2GD3

Want to Learn How to Use Warp3D Nova in Your Software?

Hans de Ruiter — Thu, 26 May 2016 11:16:19 +1200

The announcement of Warp3D Nova in late March 2016 caused quite a bit of excitement. It's a new and modern shader-based 3D graphics API, and it opens up new possibilities. However, those possibilities only matter if people (software developers) turn them into reality.

To help developers get started, I've written the first of what should become a series of tutorials about how to use Warp3D Nova. Check the first tutorial out, here:

https://keasigmadelta.co.nz/blog/getting-started-with-warp3d-nova-setting-up-a-render-context/

If you're interested in graphics/games programming on AmigaOS, then this tutorial is for you. Enjoy!

NOTE: There is an OpenGL ES 2 wrapper in the works, and that's an option for developers who need their software to work on other platforms. If you're writing just for AmigaOS, though, then you can also use Warp3D Nova directly. The tutorials will teach you how.

Interested in Aerospace Engineering?

Hans de Ruiter — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 13:15:37 +1300

If you're interested in doing postgraduate (a.k.a., graduate for North Americans) or postdoctoral research in aerospace engineering, then you may want to check out my brother's research group at Ryerson University (Toronto, Canada):
Ryerson Aerospace Control Systems Research Group

He currently has a few openings for new researchers. This would suit someone who is interested in spacecraft control systems.

Have a look at this page, for more on the specific research areas that you could be a part of.

Bitcoin - A Digital Currency

Hans de Ruiter — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 02:09:09 +1300

Bitcoin is a digital currency that is designed to work like cash. I first heard about it in the June 2012 edition of the IEEE Spectrum magazine. The idea of a digital currency that was not centrally controlled and worked like cash intrigued me, and the fact that it appeared in the primary magazine of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers added credibility. So, I decided to check it out.

How BitcoIn Works in Brief

Bitcoin is built primarily on two technologies: peer-to-peer networking, and cryptography. Peer-to-peer networking ensures that the system is fully decentralised, so that no one central authority can control it. Cryptography makes sure that transactions can be both ananymous (like cash), and secure. I'll explain the basics here. Those who want the technical details can go here.

Mining for Bitcoins

A Bitcoin miner is a computer/machine that calculate cryptographic hashes to validate blocks. Miners are rewarded for creating valid blocks with a set amount of Bitcoins (currently 50), and any transaction fees in that block. The difficulty level of validating blocks is adjusted such that valid blocks are created at a set rate. This is done so that no-one can print money, and it is also the basis by which the Bitcoin network is kept secure.

There is a catch with the mining; only the miner that finds the solution earns the 50 Bitcoins for that block. The more processing power that a miner has, the more likely it is that he/she will get the reward.

This process might sound strange, but it will become clear later.

Sending and Receiving Money

Each Bitcoin user has a wallet containing their Bitcoins. These coins are transferred between one user and another via public and private keys (of which each wallet can have many). To send money to another user, a transaction is created to one of their public keys (a.k.a., an address), and is signed by the sender using a private key. Only the sender knows the private key, but everyone else can use the public keys to verify the transaction.

At this point, the Bitcoin miners come into play. Transactions are assembled into blocks every ten minutes, and the miners validate each block, and add it to an ever increasing block-chain. This locks the transactions into place. If some nasty person wanted to change a transaction (e.g., to redirect the money to their pocket, or spend money twice), they would have to revalidate not only the block containing the transaction, but every block that has been validated since then. Thanks to the sheer size of the total processing power of all miners in the Bitcoin network, the processing power required to achieve this is so immense, as to be almost completely impossible. Hence, the transactions are irreversible, anonymous, and yet the system is secure (unless someone can control huge amounts of processing power).

How Can I Become a Bitcoin Miner?

Woah there, slow down a bit. Yes, it sounds like a dream come true to be able to earn money simply by running a computer program. However, remember how I said that the difficulty level for validating blocks (and hence, earning Bitcoins) is adjusted to keep block production constant? Well, there are lots of others with exactly the same idea, so the cost of mining tends (i.e., the cost of the hardware and electricity) to be at or just above the amount earned.

Bitcoin mining is very competitive. Initially, a powerful CPU was enough, then as more miners joined in, powerful GPUs were required. Now, it's more cost-effective to use FPGAs, and soon, ASICs will provide an even more energy efficient way to mine. It is unlikely that you will earn much of anything by yourself.

If you do want to try Bitcoin mining, then you may want to consider using a mining contractor like Pyramining instead of investing in your own mining rig.

How do I Use Bitcoin?

First you need to download a Bitcoin client. I suggest using something like MultiBit, as it's faster than the original client. Next, you need to put some coins into your new wallet. There are a few places where you can get some free (micro) Bitcoins; just search for "free Bitcoins" on the internet. Or, you can do things the normal way, and use a Bitcoin exchange to transfer money from standard currencies - such as dollars - to Bitcoins. These currency exchanges are bidirectional, so you can also exchange Bitcoins back to your local currency.

Is Bitcoin Worth Using?

I'm not 100% convinced that it is worth using yet. There are some advantages:

The currency is decentralised, so no one central authority can take control
Since there is no central authority, transaction fees are lower
Transactions are as anonymous as cash
Transactions are irreversible (i.e., no credit-card charge reversals, which is good if you're the seller)

but, there are also disadvantages:

Transactions take approx. 10 minutes to be validated
If someone can hack into your computer they might be able to steal your coins remotely (NOTE: This risk can be minimised by encrypting your wallet)
Transactions are irreversible (bad, if you're a buyer who has been scammed)
The anonymity can be abused by those with low moral and ethical standards (just like physical cash)

The more people who use the currency, the more useful it becomes. Right now, the number of Bitcoin users is steadily increasing, and it looks like it could reach critical mass. Real transactions are taking place, and real items are being bought using this currency. However, there are no guarantees. Maybe it will become widely accepted; maybe something else will take its place. Or, maybe governments and financial institutions will try to shut it down because they can't control it. Who knows? Nothing is without risk.

For now, I'll say that it is an interesting idea that looks like it has a good chance of succeeding. It's definitely something worth keeping an eye on.

P.S., If you want to test out sending money using Bitcoin, you can donate some to me via this address: 1kCb9s1NtrzxkeYELxHM9DGezp8SEz1ZV

;-)

Warp3D Driver Development in Pictures - The W3D_SI Driver

Hans de Ruiter — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 16:41:32 +1200

The Warp3D driver for Southern Islands GPUs has been in the hands of users for months now, so this blog post is well overdue. I always intended to give you a glimpse into the development process for this driver, and even saved screenshots regularly during the development process. I just never managed to find the time to publish it. So, I've stolen some time out of my schedule to finally get it online.

Developing software involves taking small steps at a time. Gradually features and functionality get added one by one, until the software is ready for release. Developing the Warp3D driver has given me the unique opportunity to show you this process in pictures. In the slideshow, you'll see the driver grow from a skeleton driver that does almost nothing, through to the first driver that was publicly released.

To start your journey through the development process, go to the gallery page, and click on the first screenshot. It'll open a "lightbox," and you'll be able to step through the slideshow. The captions tell the story.

Click Here to Go to the Gallery Page

NOTE: Occasionally the gallery page's lightbox doesn't open, and you get redirected to the image file instead. When that happens, reload the gallery page, and try again. Usually the javascript is loaded properly the second time round.

Backup and Restore of Trac and Subversion

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:54:09 +1200

Whilst the SubVersioN (SVN) repository acts as a backup in many ways, it is still worth making a backup. The repository holds more than just a backup of the developer files, it holds a record of every change that anyone has ever made to the source files.The Trac project pages can also hold important information. Given that keeping this data is critical to a software project's existence (and possibly the livelihood of the company/induviduals that own it), it is worth protecting.

Procedures to backup and restore data from projects are given below. However, it is highly recommended that the provided scripts are used instead. These scripts reduce the whole process to single commands. It is also an idea to schedule automatic daily, weekly, and/or monthly backups via crontab, or to use an online backup service (I will be examining those in more detail later).

IMPORTANT: Those performing a backup to a remote server may prefer to use the scripts presented here.

Backup and Restore Scripts

These scripts backup/restore to/from *.tgz archives. It does require some disk space in the /tmp directory in order to temporarily store intermediate files. The scripts are:

Backup a project: devserver-backupproject.sh. Backs up a single Trac project and its SVN repository. The project name (i.e., base-directory name) to back up must be specified; optionally, an output directory can be given too, or the backup will be saved to the current directory, e.g.:

devserver-backupproject.sh TestProject
< or >
devserver-backupproject.sh TestProject /home/user/backups

Backup all projects: devserver-backupall.sh. Performs a backup of all projects on a Trac server and their SVN repositories. The output directory can optionally be specified, or the backup will be saved. This will create a time-stamped directory containing *.tgz archives of each project. This makes it easy to restore individual projects as necessary. Example usage:

devserver-backupall.sh
< or >
devserver-backupall.sh /home/user/backups

Restore a project: devserver-restoreproject.sh. Restores a project from the specified backup archive that was produced by devserver-backupproject.sh, e.g.:

devserver-restoreproject.sh TestProject_200812311105.tgz

Restore all projects: devserver-restoreall.sh. This will restore all Trac projects and SVN repositories from a backup. Either run this from within the directory containing all the *.tgz files created by devserver-backupall.sh, or specify the directory containing the backups, e.g.:

devserver-restoreall.sh /home/user/backups/tracsvn_200812311105.tgz

NOTES:

Devserver-backupall.sh and devserver-restoreall.sh require the other two scripts to be present in the same directory; be sure to download them all.
The scripts must all be marked as executable. This can be achieved via the chmod command. Thus, downloading and installing these scripts would be achieved as follows:

su
<it will prompt for your root (administrator) password>
wget https://hdrlab.org.nz/assets/Articles/TracSVNUse/devserver-backupproject.sh
wget https://hdrlab.org.nz/assets/Articles/TracSVNUse/devserver-backupall.sh
wget https://hdrlab.org.nz/assets/Articles/TracSVNUse/devserver-restoreproject.sh
wget https://hdrlab.org.nz/assets/Articles/TracSVNUse/devserver-restoreall.sh
chmod 766 devserver-*

Backup of a Trac Project and It's SVN Repository

Since the Trac and SVN servers are functionally separate, a combined backup is, in fact, two separate backup operations. This can be achieved as follows (replace proj_dirname with the directory name of the project):

Make sure that you have administrator privileges:

su
<it will prompt for your root (administrator) password>

Create a temporary backup directory:

mkdir /tmp/tracsvn_backup

Backup the SVN repository:

svnadmin dump -q home/svn/proj_dirname >/tmp/tracsvn_backup/proj_dirname_$(date +"%Y%m%d%H").svn

Backup the Trac repository:

trac-admin /home/trac/proj_dirname hotcopy /tmp/tracsvn_backup/proj_dirname_$(date +"%Y%m%d%H")

Put all the files into a *.tgz file (replace output_path with the directory that the archive should be put in):

cd /tmp/tracsvn_backup
tar -czvf output_path/proj_dirname_$(date +"%Y%m%d%H").tgz *

Delete the temporary directory:

rm -R /tmp/tracsvn_backup

NOTE: $(date +"%Y%m%d%H") will insert a timestamp formatted as: YYYYMMDDHH, where YYYY is the year, MM is the month, DD is the day, and HH is the hour. It is advisable to insert the date in this format for two reasons: it indicates when the backup was made, and, the backups will appear in order of date when sorted "alphabetically."

Restoring a Trac Project and SVN Repository

Restoring is almost the reverse of the backup process. Additionally, it is necessary to temporarily shut down the server and to delete any old files. In the instructions below, replace archive_basename, with the basename (i.e, minus the .tgz) of the archive created using the procedure above, and replace proj_dirname with the directory name of the project:

Make sure that you have administrator privileges:

su
<it will prompt for your root (administrator) password>

Shut down the server:

/etc/init.d/apache2 stop

Delete any old files on the Trac and SVN server that belong to the project:

rm -R /home/svn/project_dirname
rm -R /home/trac/project_dirname

Create a temporary directory:

mkdir /tmp/tracsvn_backup

Decompress the archive (replace archive_path with the full path to the archive, e.g., /home/user/backups/tracsvn_backup_200812311205.tgz):

cd /tmp/tracsvn_backup
tar xvzf archive_path

Copy the Trac project files and set appropriate permissions:

mv archive_basename/* /home/trac/project_name
chown -R www-data /home/trac/project_name

Recreate and restore the SVN repository:

su www-data -c "svnadmin create /home/svn/project_name"
sudo svnadmin load /home/svn/$project_name < archive_basename.svn

Delete the temporary directory:

rm -R /tmp/tracsvn_backup

Restart the server:

/etc/init.d/apache2 start

HDRLab Home

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:33:42 +1200

Kia-Ora! Welcome to HDRLab. My name is Hans de Ruiter, and this website is devoted to various software development/engineering projects of mine (mostly Amiga OS 4 related) and anything else that I find interesting (e.g., electronics, mechatronics, or anything engineering related). If you're into technology, building things, or are just curious, browse through this site using the menu above, or have a look at the recent updates below. Feel free to contact me if you have any suggestions.

About Me

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:33:42 +1200

Hans de Ruiter

I am an electrical & electronic engineer from New Zealand, with a Ph.D. in applied science/engineering from the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As can be expected, many of my interests are computer and engineering related. However, I also enjoy hiking and the outdoors. Playing violin and piano are also spare time hobbies of mine.

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, 2008, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Thesis title: "3D-Tracking of A Priori Unknown Objects in Cluttered Dynamic Environments" (link)

Supervisor: Prof. B. Benhabib

Bachelor of Engineering (Honours), 2003, Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Current Research Interests

Computer vision (3D object tracking)
Computer graphics
Robotics

Publications

H. de Ruiter and B. Benhabib, “Tracking of rigid bodies for autonomous surveillance,” IEEE Int. Conf. on Mechatronics and Automation, Niagara Falls, Canada, July 2005, pp. 928–933 (link).
H. de Ruiter and B. Benhabib, “Colour-Gradient Redundancy for Real-time Spatial Pose Tracking in Autonomous Robot Navigation,” Canadian Conference on Computer and Robot Vision, Québec City, Canada, June 2006, pp. 20–28 (link).
H. de Ruiter and B. Benhabib, “Real-time Visual Vehicle Tracking for Autonomous Convoy Control,” Int. Conf. on Autonomous Robots and Agents, Palmerston North, New Zealand, December 2006, pp. 195–200 (link).
H. de Ruiter and B. Benhabib, “Online Modeling for Real-Time, Model-Based, 3D Pose Tracking,” in Advances and Innovations in Systems, Computing Sciences and Software Engineering, Khaled Elleithy, Ed., Dordrecht, The Netherlands, Springer, 2007, ch. 96, pp. 555-560 (link).
H. de Ruiter and B. Benhabib, “Object-of-Interest Selection for Model-Based 3D Pose Tracking with Background Clutter,” in Novel Algorithms and Techniques in Telecommunications, Automation and Industrial Electronics, Tarek Sobh et al., Ed., Dordrecht, The Netherlands, Springer, 2008, Ch. 17, pp.93-98.
H. de Ruiter and B. Benhabib, “Visual-Model Based Spatial Tracking in the Presence of Occlusions,” Canadian Conf. on Computer and Robotic Vision, Windsor, Canada, May 2008, pp. 163-170.
H. de Ruiter and B. Benhabib, “Visual-Model-Based, Real-Time 3D Pose Tracking for Autonomous Navigation: Methodology and Experiments,” Autonomous Robots, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 267-286, October 2008 (link).
H. de Ruiter, "3D-tracking of A Priori Unknown Objects in Cluttered Dynamic Environments," Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, September 2008 (link).
H. de Ruiter and B. Benhabib, “On-line Modeling for Real-Time 3D Target Tracking,” Machine Vision and Applications, Springer, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 17-32, November 2009 (link).
H. de Ruiter, M. MacKay, and B. Benhabib, “Autonomous Three-Dimensional Tracking for Reconfigurable Active-Vision-Based Object Recognition,” Proc. IMechE, Part B: J. Engineering Manufacture, vol. 224, no. B3, pp. 343-360, 2010 (link).