Constellation Lines - since OS4.1 update

HI,

Can users of Digital Universe who have OS4.1 update 1 please confirm a problem I have found when drawing constellation lines at the left hand edge of the screen.

It affects all versions of DU so any version from 1.5 will do, no one needs the current beta 1.7 to test this.

For example set the time to 2010/02/26 11:00:00
it will not have to be exact.

Then using the control panel set the following:

Field: 36:00:00.00
RA: 03:30:00.00
Dec: 08:45:00.00


The lines in Taurus do not display correctly, one is missing entirely, the other truncates before reaching the edge of the screen and points in the wrong direction.

Note this affect only happens at the left egde of the screen.

Going back to OS4.1 pre-update or OS4.0, and using the appropriate Kickstart files each time, the constellation lines draw as they should and always have done before the new update.

Can anyone else confirm any oddities they have seen since installing the OS4.1 update.

I am currently suspecting the graphics.library.kmod file as temporarily replacing it with the old one seemed to work but I do not want to really mix and match Kickstart files permanently.


Bill.

@BillE

hello,

I can confirm the truncated line, but it's hard to say if it's pointing in a wrong direction, since generally the edge of the screen seems to (rightfully I guess :) distort the lines because of the plane being projectet on a "spinning sphere" effect.
As for the missing line, I have not noticed any line missing from Taurus?

DU 1.6 on a SamFlex 800 Radeon 9250 128MB and the screenmode is set to 1920x1080 32bit

@Amigo1

well, yes you blind lad, there is a line missing!

And there are more with this setting at the same time:

Field: 36:00:00.00
RA: 03:03:59.96
Dec: 02:31:06.50

@BillE

email with a grab send. i hope it will help.

@Amigo1

Quote:

Yes you can find a few when you look. Also you can occasionally get the line drawn but split.

Do you use an Amiga One or a SAM, I am now thinking it will only affect the Amiga One. It looks like the ATIRadeon.chip in Kickstart that is causing the problem, and that is machine specific, the SAM would have a different one.

@amije

Quote:


Thanks it certainly did.

Your grab shows nothing untoward at all, it is exactly as it should be. As you use a SAM it looks as if the kickstart module that I think is the cause, will not be the same on the SAM as it is on the A1, and it appears your ATIRadeon.chip file works for the SAM with no corruption problems.


[Edit]
See the thread at http://www.amigans.net/modules/newbb/ ... hp?topic_id=3669&forum=25
for the suspicion of the ATIRadeon,chip file, but it seems my assumption that they would be different for A1 and SAM is incorrect, so you /should/ be getting the corruption too ???

Bill.

@BillE

The ATIRadeon.chip driver is the same across A1, Sam and Peg2.

Simon

@Rigo


Wow, lightning quick reply

Quote:

Oh, I thought kickstart modules were hardware specific ? Not all then.

I do know that since you suggested rolling back to the old OS4.1 pre-update ATIRadeon file that I have not had the corrupted lines since and have not been able to reproduce the problem I was getting with the newer file.

I have now gone back to the update version of the graphics.library.kmod (which was my first suspect) and as long as I use the older ATIRadeon file I do not get the drawing problem anymore.

I still suspect the ATIRadeon.chip even though someone with a SAM seems to be getting correct output with OS4.1 update 1.

@BillE

In that case, Hans is the best person to comment on the ATIRadeon.chip driver as he has contributed to it.

My suggestion is to try to find an easily reproducible example that could be submitted along with any potential bug report. Information would include your system specs (especially the gfx card in use). Unfortunately, a problem like this which is only visible to one application doesn't make a very portable test case, unless that application is available to the person trying to find any possible bug.

I'm sure Hans will chip in once he sees this thread, hopefully he can advise you better on how to proceed.

Simon

@BillE

as wrote on my reply to you (the other one was to myself ;),
I am using a SamFlex 1GiB Ram, Ati Radeon 9250 128MiB and the screen mode set for DU 1.6 is 1920x1080.

@BillE

btw the screen resolution is 1280x1024. tommorow i will check in pegasos witch have a radeon 9250/128

Quote:

A test case that reproduces the bug reliably would help a lot, otherwise there's not much that I can do.

Is the SAM owner sure that he's not experiencing the same bug? I'm asking because I've wasted a lot of time in the past chasing down phantom bugs that were caused by other problems (e.g., hardware). If it's confirmed to be the atiradeon.chip driver, and only some people have the problem, then looking at which graphics cards people are using might help.

Is there any pattern to which lines are missing/incorrect? Angles, start/end points? Anything that might be a consistent pattern?

Hans

@Hans


I will send both yourself and Rigo screenshots today showing how and when the bug occurs. It is certainly repeatable on my sytem - if using the ATIRadeon.chip from the update.

The screenshot I was sent by the SAM owner did not show the bug, but this may have other causes. The angles of the lines are dependant on the users location so he may not have exactly the same conditions. The other SAM user did state that they too found missing lines.

I can check whether or not the graphics card makes any difference later today, as I have a Radeon 7500 I can try out.

The crad I have in at the moment using info from Ranger is:

Board: 0: Radeon 9200 M
PCI Device: 0x5C63 (M9+ 5C63 [Radeon Mobility 9200 (AGP)])
PCI Vendor: 0x1002 (ATI Technologies Inc)

I will send you and Rigo copies of DU so you can try to repeat the problem on your systems.

@thread

I confirm I get the same effect with the Radeon 7500 as I do with the 9250.

@BillE

Quote:

Consistency is good. As bad as this may sound, I hope that everyone has this problem. That would mean that it's a driver issue, and not one particular graphics card model misbehaving.

Hans

@amije

Quote:


Thanks for the new grabs from your Pegasos wqhich you emailed to me.

These do demonstrate the missing line effects without a doubt.

@BillE

? in all grabs? i thought that in my 1st local the lines was ok...
i will send some extra grabs from sam but can't send them earlier than evening on monday.

@amije

In one of your Pegasos grabs Taurus was OK as it was in the middle, but there are corruptions to Auriga and Gemini at the left edge.

I used Taurus as an example because it is easy to spot the missing lines but it is not the only one affected, your grab was useful in showing the problem affects other constellations too, just not quite as noticeably.

It would be interesting to see more from the SAM as the one grab you first sent from that machine looked unaffected.

@OS4 Devs & Beta testers


Any news on this problem ?


Is there going to be an updated kickstart file for the one broken in the OS4.1 Update 1 ?


In the meantime is there any reason I should not advise people to revert to using the ATIRadeon.chip from the pre update version of OS4.1 which works perfectly.

I have been using the older file for a good while now with no (noticeable to me) adverse effects on any other applications. Is there any reason at all to use the newer one - unless of course anyone actually likes corrupted line drawing


I just read the thread at http://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/v ... p?topic_id=31221&forum=14 about reporting bugs to the OS4 dev team.

I have not replied yet as it would be nice to actually hear if there is any update to this problem before considering mentioning that bug reports just tend to fall into black holes with no further feedback !



Bill.

@BillE
Quote:
I think you should be emailing Hans and Rigo directly instead of using web forums at this stage.