Groovy Arcade - Incredibly Slow and No Sound [Solved by changing hardware]

[Cucurbitacée]

Hi guys,

I continue my journey on the Groovy Arcade Linux boat. I now use a HD4850 patched with ATOM-15 (that stuff is awesome, by the way! Huge congrats and thanks to Calamity for this) but any game is slow to the point you'd think the system has frozen and there is no sound, I'm not sure this are related.

The hardware:
- ECS GS7610 Ultra with Athlon 64 3200+ and 512 Mb of RAM. Some really old hardware, but as I was hoping to emulate games up to the mid 90's, I guessed it would be enough.
- Commodore 1085S for display.

The software:
- GroovyArcade-Arch2015.02.15-x86_64.iso

I've tried to start Attract Mode frontend and it's like frozen too, unlike AdvanceMenu that I can use normally. Could this be OpenGL related? I've tried with a X300 card, it's the same.

Another strange thing, at some point Gridlee was running at normal speed. After another install, it's not the case anymore. LXDE is working fine too.

Now for the sound part, the card is listed as SIS-SI7012 in GASETUP, I don't get any error. Just no sound. The chip may be dead, I will burn another Linux Distro to make sure of  it.

So, if anybody could help me tracking the problem, running tests, that would be great! Could be the hardware too limited? Even a game like Crash runs at less that 1 FPS, an Athlon 64 should be enough for a game of 1979, right?

Anyway, thanks in advance.

++

[Cucurbitacée]

Hi again,

I continue to try to get this thing to work. Using LXDE I've run groovymame in verbose mode, without any game. Just to get the basic interface. And it's slow and unresponsive too.

Validating the command, waiting for the program to load, hammering the ESC key to quit and waiting for the program to finally quit took about one full minute. Here is the output of the verbose:

SwitchRes: v0.015f, Monitor: generic_15, Orientation: vertical, Modeline generation: enabled
SwitchRes: Monitor range 15625.00-15750.00,49.50-65.00,2.000,4.700,8.000,0.064,0.192,1.024,0,0,192,288,448,576
SwitchRes: Found output connector 'DVI-1'

SwitchRes: Entering switchres_modeline_setup
SwitchRes: v0.015f:[empty] Calculating best video mode for 480x640@61.000000 orientation: rotated

SwitchRes: (   1)x(   1)_(60=0.0000Hz)
   rng(0):  632 x 472_61.000i 15.707 [fract] scale(1, 1, 1) diff(35.02, 0.00, 0.0000) ratio(1.317, 0.738)

SwitchRes: [empty] (1) vertical (480x640@61.00)->(632x472@61.00)
   rng(0):  632 x 472_61.000i 15.707 [fract] scale(1, 1, 1) diff(35.02, 0.00, 0.0000) ratio(1.317, 0.738)
SwitchRes: Modeline "632x472_60 15.71KHz 61.00Hz" 12.94 632 656 720 824 472 475 481 515 interlace  -hsync -vsync
SwitchRes: Running 'xrandr  --newmode "632x472_61.00" 12.94 632 656 720 824 472 475 481 515 interlace  -hsync -vsync'
SwitchRes: Running 'xrandr  --addmode DVI-1 "632x472_61.00"'
SwitchRes: Running 'xrandr  --output DVI-1 --mode "632x472_61.00"'
SwitchRes: Setting option -rotate
SwitchRes: Setting option -ror
SwitchRes: Setting option -noautoror
SwitchRes: Setting option -norol
SwitchRes: Setting option -noautorol
SwitchRes: Setting option -noblack_frame_insertion
SwitchRes: Setting option -multithreading
SwitchRes: Setting option -syncrefresh
SwitchRes: Setting option -waitvsync
SwitchRes: Setting option -keepaspect
SwitchRes: Setting option -unevenstretch
SwitchRes: Setting option -filter
SwitchRes: Setting option -prescale 1
Available videodrivers: x11 wayland dummy
Current Videodriver: x11
   Display #0
      Renderdrivers:
             opengl (0x0)
          opengles2 (0x0)
           opengles (0x0)
           software (0x0)
Available audio drivers:
   pulseaudio         
   alsa               
   dsp                 
   disk               
   dummy               
Build version:      0.158 (Feb 14 2015)
Build architecure:  SDLMAME_ARCH=
Build defines 1:    SDLMAME_UNIX=1 SDLMAME_X11=1 SDLMAME_LINUX=1
Build defines 1:    LSB_FIRST=1 PTR64=1 DISTRO=generic SYNC_IMPLEMENTATION=tc
SDL/OpenGL defines: SDL_COMPILEDVERSION=2003 USE_OPENGL=1 USE_DISPATCH_GL=1
Compiler defines A: __GNUC__=4 __GNUC_MINOR__=9 __GNUC_PATCHLEVEL__=2 __VERSION__="4.9.2 20150204 (prerelease)"
Compiler defines B: __amd64__=1 __x86_64__=1 __unix__=1
Compiler defines C: __USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL=0
Enter init_monitors
Adding monitor screen0 (632 x 472)
Leave init_monitors
Enter sdlwindow_init
Using SDL multi-window OpenGL driver (SDL 2.0+)
Loaded opengl shared library: <default>
/dev/dri/card0 successfully opened

Hints:
   SDL_FRAMEBUFFER_ACCELERATION             (null)
   SDL_RENDER_DRIVER                        (null)
   SDL_RENDER_OPENGL_SHADERS                (null)
   SDL_RENDER_SCALE_QUALITY                 (null)
   SDL_RENDER_VSYNC                         (null)
   SDL_VIDEO_X11_XVIDMODE                   (null)
   SDL_VIDEO_X11_XINERAMA                   (null)
   SDL_VIDEO_X11_XRANDR                     (null)
   SDL_GRAB_KEYBOARD                        (null)
   SDL_MOUSE_RELATIVE_MODE_WARP             (null)
   SDL_VIDEO_MINIMIZE_ON_FOCUS_LOSS         (null)
   SDL_IOS_IDLE_TIMER_DISABLED              (null)
   SDL_IOS_ORIENTATIONS                     (null)
   SDL_XINPUT_ENABLED                       (null)
   SDL_GAMECONTROLLERCONFIG                 (null)
   SDL_JOYSTICK_ALLOW_BACKGROUND_EVENTS     (null)
   SDL_ALLOW_TOPMOST                        (null)
   SDL_TIMER_RESOLUTION                     (null)
   SDL_RENDER_DIRECT3D_THREADSAFE           (null)
   SDL_VIDEO_ALLOW_SCREENSAVER              (null)
   SDL_ACCELEROMETER_AS_JOYSTICK            (null)
   SDL_MAC_CTRL_CLICK_EMULATE_RIGHT_CLICK   (null)
   SDL_VIDEO_WIN_D3DCOMPILER                (null)
   SDL_VIDEO_WINDOW_SHARE_PIXEL_FORMAT      (null)
   SDL_VIDEO_MAC_FULLSCREEN_SPACES          (null)
   SDL_HINT_RENDER_DIRECT3D11_DEBUG         (null)
   SDL_VIDEO_HIGHDPI_DISABLED               (null)
   SDL_HINT_WINRT_PRIVACY_POLICY_URL        (null)
   SDL_HINT_WINRT_PRIVACY_POLICY_LABEL      (null)
   SDL_HINT_WINRT_HANDLE_BACK_BUTTON        (null)
Leave sdlwindow_init
OpenGL: X.Org
OpenGL: Gallium 0.4 on AMD RV770
OpenGL: 3.0 Mesa 10.4.4
OpenGL: texture rectangle supported
OpenGL: non-power-of-2 textures supported (new method)
OpenGL: vertex buffer supported
OpenGL: pixel buffers supported
OpenGL: framebuffer object supported
OpenGL: GLSL supported, but disabled
OpenGL: max texture size 8192 x 8192
Keyboard: Start initialization
Input: Adding Kbd #0: System keyboard
Keyboard: Registered System keyboard
Keyboard: End initialization
Mouse: Start initialization
Input: Adding Mouse #0: System mouse
Mouse: Registered System mouse
Mouse: End initialization
Lightgun mapping: Logical id 1: WiiMote0
Lightgun mapping: Logical id 2: WiiMote1
Input: Adding Gun #0: WiiMote0
Input: Adding Gun #1: WiiMote1
Lightgun: End initialization
Joystick: Start initialization
Joystick: End initialization
output: unable to open output notifier file /tmp/sdlmame_out
Audio: Start initialization
Audio: Driver is alsa
Audio: Initialization failed. SDL error: ALSA: Couldn't open audio device: No such file or directory
Region ':user1' created
Searching font Liberation Sans in -fontpath
font Liberation Sans is not TrueType or BDF, using MAME default
OpenGL: VBO supported
OpenGL: PBO supported
OpenGL: FBO supported
OpenGL: using vid filter: 1
Starting No Driver Loaded ':'
  (missing dependencies; rescheduling)
Starting Video Screen ':screen'
Optional device 'finder_dummy_tag' not found
Starting No Driver Loaded ':'
drmWaitVBlank failed
drmWaitVBlank failed
drmWaitVBlank failed
drmWaitVBlank failed
sdl_kill: closing audio
Enter sdlwindow_exit
drmWaitVBlank failed
drmWaitVBlank failed
drmWaitVBlank failed
drmWaitVBlank failed
drmWaitVBlank failed
drmWaitVBlank failed
drmWaitVBlank failed
drmWaitVBlank failed
drmWaitVBlank failed
drmWaitVBlank failed
Leave sdlwindow_exit
Joystick: Start deinitialization
Joystick: End deinitialization
SwitchRes: Restoring desktop resolution: 648x480x60.00
SwitchRes: Running 'xrandr --output DVI-1 --mode 648x480x60.00'
SwitchRes: Running 'xrandr  --delmode DVI-1 "632x472_61.00"'
SwitchRes: Running 'xrandr  --rmmode "632x472_61.00"'

In the terminal, there was 4 times this line:

sdlwindow_sync: Sleeping...

I've played a game with Zsnes (probably not the best comparison point, but it's bundled with the bistro, so it's easy) and no speed issue there.

So, does anyone have a clue of what's going on? The drmWaitVBlank failed seems fishy, but I couldn't find anything that I could understand on the subject...

Thanks in advance.

++

[Doozer]

Hi,

The VBlank detection is handled through the Linux DRM API. As I can see, you have at least access to it via DRI0.

Code: [Select]

/dev/dri/card0 successfully opened

Do you have single or dual graphic cards on your system? Could you please provide a lspci output?

[Cucurbitacée]

Hi, thanks a lot for giving a look to my problem. There is an onboard graphics chip. I think I've deactivated it in the BIOS, though. I'll check it and list the PCI devices when I'll get home tonight.

[Cucurbitacée]

Hi again,

Here is the lspci output:

Code: [Select]

00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 761/M761 Host (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] PCI-to-PCI bridge
00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS965 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 48)
00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:03.0 USB controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.1 USB controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.2 USB controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.3 USB controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
00:06.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] PCI-to-PCI bridge
00:07.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] PCI-to-PCI bridge
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV770 [Radeon HD 4850]
01:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV770 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 4850/4870]

I think there is only one graphics adapter....

[Doozer]

I think there is only one graphics adapter....

Indeed, the second adapter does not seem to be the issue. I see that your are using 0.159 version. Could you please give 0.171 a try and check?

On the other hand, is your distro up to date? Otherwise, upgrading to latest package versions with 'Pacman -Syyu' would also be recommended and could help you out.

[ves]

Hello,

You have little ram memory, but it should work.
1º Your video card has hdmi? select from gasetup sound card motherboard.
2ºHave you tried to start disabling intel / msi card from the boot?
3ºIf all this does not work, try to regenerate the kernel,  from Ttyx and root type this "mkinitcpio -p linux"

[Cucurbitacée]

Hi,

Thanks Doozer and ves for your support.

So, things are not going smoothly:

1. Update to 0.171. I did the update using the gasetup function. There was no error during the update process. But when I try to start groovymame, here is the output:

Code: [Select]

groovymame: error while loading shared libraries: libQt5Widgets.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
I tried to install qt5-base using pacman, but I get dependencies conflict.

2. The update of the distribution using pacman -Syyu, the download goes well, but at the end I get this error:

Code: [Select]

(405/405) checking package integrity               [######################] 100%
error: package-query: missing required signature
error: yaourt: missing required signature
error: failed to commit transaction (invalid or corrupted package)
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.And it stops there.

3. I doubled the RAM, now there 1 GB. I thought 512 MB was necessary, my bad.

4. The video card has no HDMI, only two DVI and one S-Video.

5. I've just tried these options, and there is something! Nothing different with the intel flag (which makes sense, as there are no Intel chip on this board), but with the "nomsi" flag, it's almost running well. Now, I can use Attract Mode. But the performance is still not very good.
Please have a look at this , to illustrate my point. You can see there is garbage on screen when switching mode, is any of this could be related to the fact I was using the Live DVD and not the installed version?

6. I didn't try to regenerate the kernel yet, could I get some performance boost from it?

Many thanks again guys, I'm feeling it's going forward.

[Doozer]

Your signature db is causing you troubles. Edit '/etc/pacman.conf' file and change LocalFileSigLevel to 'LocalFileSigLevel = Optional'. Ensure that all other LocalFileSigLevel are comments '#'. After that 'Pacman -Syyu' should run fine.

Next, redo the qt5-base installation step.

pacman -S qt5-base

[Cucurbitacée]

Damn, it seems I'm really out of luck here... The only line with "LocalFileSigLevel" has already "Optional" as value...

EDIT:
After following instructions from Arch Linux forums, I was able to update the distribution... But now X doesn't start anymore I'll look up to see why...

EDIT2:
It is Attract Mode that doesn't run anymore, in fact:

Code: [Select]

attract: error while loading shared libraries: libsmfl-graphics.so.2.0.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
After the installation of QT5, GroovyMAME 0.170 runs, but the speed seems about the same. One thing, tough. Back to the terminal, it was full of this line over and over:

Code: [Select]

Maximum number of clients reachedunable to connect to display

[Doozer]

Code: [Select]

Maximum number of clients reachedunable to connect to display

Indeed, you are really unlucky with your setup.

@Ves will release "soon" a new version of the groovyarcade distribution. May be it is worthwhile waiting for it as it will contains the latest tested setup and features.

The maximum number of clients allowed to connect to X is set to 256 at compile time. Have you issued a ps or top to see how many X processes were running?

[Doozer]

Here is the command to list X enabled clients.

Code: [Select]

# lsof +c0 /usr/lib/libX11.so | cut -d' ' -f1
COMMAND
xinit
Xorg
openbox
xterm


[Cucurbitacée]

Here the result of the lsof +c0 /usr/lib/libX11.so | cut -d' ' -f1 command:

Code: [Select]

COMMAND
xinit
openbox
lxsession
lxpolkit
lxpanel
pcmanfm
lxclipboard
lxterminal

Way less than 256... Anyway, at this point I feel this hardware is just a pile of crap and I don't think it's worth insisting. I'll get some more motherboards and make more tests. And maybe a new version of Groovy Arcade will be available in the mean time.

Thanks a million for your help, even if it didn't totally solved the problem, it was very instructive and I'll try to capitalize on this knowledge.

[Doozer]

I wish you a more relaxing installation on your new hardware. Indeed, your issue does not seem to be a few minutes away from being solved. But it would have been interesting to find the roots.

Please report your next success. I don't like closing a thread with remaining issues :-/

[Cucurbitacée]

Hi,

I have swapped the previous ECS motherboard for a ABIT IB9 with a Core 2 Duo. The thing is literally flying compared to the previous one. Even the install was 4 or 5 times faster. Which makes me think again that the ECS is sort of broken.

Now my unexpected problem is that the ABIT is a full ATX form factor, I fear some woodworking is expected.

Thanks again for the help. If you need crappy hardware to make tests, I'll keep the ECS board in a drawer.