Slow performance due to llvmpipe being used despite Radeon kernel and X modules being loaded

Hello. Sorry for the length of this problem, but I am trying to get the X server to use my graphics card, AMD Radeon 9200 SE (RV280), instead of my CPU to render things on the desktop. I actually have a newer computer, but I use the older computer for experiments. Here's how the problem goes.

Last month, I have installed Debian 10 on my old computer for testing purposes, and upgraded it to testing to test newer versions of packages to see if there are bugs.

When I installed XScreenSaver to have fancy idling animations because MATE Screensaver has only generic ones, I have noticed that the screensavers were running slower than usual, even after increasing frame rate (-delay 0) in screensavers.

I have looked up for clues, and found the command, glxinfo, to list details about the OpenGL rendering. So, I executed the command, and found that it is using llvmpipe instead of the Radeon driver (open source, not fglrx).

"glxinfo | grep OpenGL":

OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.

OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM 9.0.1, 128 bits)

OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 19.3.3

OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30

OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)

OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile

OpenGL core profile extensions:

OpenGL version string: 3.1 Mesa 19.3.3

OpenGL shading language version string: 1.40

OpenGL context flags: (none)

OpenGL extensions:

OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.1 Mesa 19.3.3

OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.10

OpenGL ES profile extensions:

To ensure that all of the necessary Radeon modules were loaded correctly, I have grepped the X server logs (/var/log/Xorg.0.log) and dmesg with "radeon" and "drm", as well as the "inxi -G" output, and found the following information:

X server logs "cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep -i radeon":

[ 55.616] (II) Applying OutputClass "Radeon" to /dev/dri/card0

[ 55.616] loading driver: radeon

[ 55.617] (==) Matched radeon as autoconfigured driver 0

[ 55.617] (II) LoadModule: "radeon"

[ 55.859] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/radeon_drv.so

[ 56.161] (II) Module radeon: vendor="X.Org Foundation"

[ 56.951] (II) RADEON: Driver for ATI/AMD Radeon chipsets:

-truncated-

..., ATI Radeon 9200, ATI Radeon 9200SE, ...

-truncated-

[ 57.164] (II) RADEON(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section

[ 57.164] (==) RADEON(0): Depth 24, (--) framebuffer bpp 32

[ 57.165] (II) RADEON(0): Pixel depth = 24 bits stored in 4 bytes (32 bpp pixmaps)

[ 57.165] (==) RADEON(0): Default visual is TrueColor

[ 57.165] (==) RADEON(0): RGB weight 888

[ 57.165] (II) RADEON(0): Using 8 bits per RGB (8 bit DAC)

[ 57.165] (--) RADEON(0): Chipset: "ATI Radeon 9200SE" (ChipID = 0x5964)

[ 57.527] (II) RADEON(0): KMS Color Tiling: disabled

[ 57.527] (II) RADEON(0): KMS Color Tiling 2D: disabled

[ 57.527] (==) RADEON(0): TearFree property default: auto

[ 57.527] (II) RADEON(0): KMS Pageflipping: enabled

[ 57.527] (II) RADEON(0): SwapBuffers wait for vsync: enabled

[ 57.756] (II) RADEON(0): Output VGA-0 has no monitor section

[ 57.766] (II) RADEON(0): Output S-video has no monitor section

[ 57.828] (II) RADEON(0): EDID for output VGA-0

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): Manufacturer: ACR Model: 1a Serial#: 2451600041

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): Year: 2009 Week: 22

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): EDID Version: 1.3

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): Analog Display Input, Input Voltage Level: 0.700/0.300 V

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): Sync: Separate

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): Max Image Size [cm]: horiz.: 41 vert.: 26

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): Gamma: 2.20

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): DPMS capabilities: StandBy Suspend Off; RGB/Color Display

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): First detailed timing is preferred mode

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): redX: 0.636 redY: 0.349 greenX: 0.290 greenY: 0.589

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): blueX: 0.143 blueY: 0.080 whiteX: 0.313 whiteY: 0.329

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): Supported established timings:

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): 720x400@70Hz

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): 640x480@60Hz

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): 640x480@67Hz

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): 640x480@72Hz

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): 640x480@75Hz

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): 800x600@56Hz

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): 800x600@60Hz

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): 800x600@72Hz

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): 800x600@75Hz

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): 832x624@75Hz

[ 57.831] (II) RADEON(0): 1024x768@60Hz

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): 1024x768@70Hz

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): 1024x768@75Hz

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): 1280x1024@75Hz

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): 1152x864@75Hz

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): Manufacturer's mask: 10

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): Supported standard timings:

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): #0: hsize: 1440 vsize 900 refresh: 60 vid: 149

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): #1: hsize: 1440 vsize 900 refresh: 75 vid: 3989

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): #2: hsize: 1280 vsize 1024 refresh: 60 vid: 32897

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): #3: hsize: 1280 vsize 960 refresh: 60 vid: 16513

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): #4: hsize: 1152 vsize 864 refresh: 75 vid: 20337

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): Supported detailed timing:

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): clock: 106.5 MHz Image Size: 410 x 256 mm

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): h_active: 1440 h_sync: 1520 h_sync_end 1672 h_blank_end 1904 h_border: 0

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): v_active: 900 v_sync: 903 v_sync_end 909 v_blanking: 934 v_border: 0

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): Serial No: LBP0C0034008

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): Ranges: V min: 50 V max: 75 Hz, H min: 30 H max: 82 kHz, PixClock max 145 MHz

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): Monitor name: V193W

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): EDID (in hex):

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): 00ffffffffffff0004721a00a9722092

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): 1613010308291a78ead7a5a2594a9624

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): 145054bfef909500950f81808140714f

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): 0101010101019a29a0d0518422305098

[ 57.832] (II) RADEON(0): 36009a001100001c000000ff004c4250

[ 57.834] (II) RADEON(0): 3043303033343030380a000000fd0032

[ 57.834] (II) RADEON(0): 4b1e520e000a202020202020000000fc

[ 57.834] (II) RADEON(0): 0056313933570a2020202020202000b3

[ 57.834] (II) RADEON(0): Printing probed modes for output VGA-0

[ 57.834] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1440x900"x59.9 106.50 1440 1520 1672 1904 900 903 909 934 -hsync +vsync (55.9 kHz eP)

[ 57.834] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1280x1024"x75.0 135.00 1280 1296 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync (80.0 kHz e)

[ 57.834] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1280x1024"x60.0 108.00 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync (64.0 kHz e)

[ 57.834] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1440x900"x75.0 136.75 1440 1536 1688 1936 900 903 909 942 -hsync +vsync (70.6 kHz e)

[ 57.834] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1280x960"x60.0 108.00 1280 1376 1488 1800 960 961 964 1000 +hsync +vsync (60.0 kHz e)

[ 57.836] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1152x864"x75.0 108.00 1152 1216 1344 1600 864 865 868 900 +hsync +vsync (67.5 kHz e)

[ 57.836] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1024x768"x75.0 78.75 1024 1040 1136 1312 768 769 772 800 +hsync +vsync (60.0 kHz e)

[ 57.836] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1024x768"x70.1 75.00 1024 1048 1184 1328 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync (56.5 kHz e)

[ 57.836] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "1024x768"x60.0 65.00 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync (48.4 kHz e)

[ 57.836] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "832x624"x74.6 57.28 832 864 928 1152 624 625 628 667 -hsync -vsync (49.7 kHz e)

[ 57.836] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "800x600"x72.2 50.00 800 856 976 1040 600 637 643 666 +hsync +vsync (48.1 kHz e)

[ 57.836] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "800x600"x75.0 49.50 800 816 896 1056 600 601 604 625 +hsync +vsync (46.9 kHz e)

[ 57.836] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "800x600"x60.3 40.00 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync (37.9 kHz e)

[ 57.836] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "800x600"x56.2 36.00 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync (35.2 kHz e)

[ 57.836] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "640x480"x75.0 31.50 640 656 720 840 480 481 484 500 -hsync -vsync (37.5 kHz e)

[ 57.836] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "640x480"x72.8 31.50 640 664 704 832 480 489 492 520 -hsync -vsync (37.9 kHz e)

[ 57.836] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "640x480"x66.7 30.24 640 704 768 864 480 483 486 525 -hsync -vsync (35.0 kHz e)

[ 57.836] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "640x480"x59.9 25.18 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -hsync -vsync (31.5 kHz e)

[ 57.836] (II) RADEON(0): Modeline "720x400"x70.1 28.32 720 738 846 900 400 412 414 449 -hsync +vsync (31.5 kHz e)

[ 57.853] (II) RADEON(0): EDID for output S-video

[ 57.853] (II) RADEON(0): Output VGA-0 connected

[ 57.853] (II) RADEON(0): Output S-video disconnected

[ 57.853] (II) RADEON(0): Using exact sizes for initial modes

[ 57.853] (II) RADEON(0): Output VGA-0 using initial mode 1440x900 +0+0

[ 57.855] (II) RADEON(0): mem size init: gart size :7dff000 vram size: s:8000000 visible:7ace000

[ 57.855] (II) RADEON(0): EXA: Driver will allow EXA pixmaps in VRAM

[ 57.855] (==) RADEON(0): DPI set to (96, 96)

[ 57.855] (==) RADEON(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)

[ 57.917] (II) RADEON(0): [DRI2] Setup complete

[ 57.917] (II) RADEON(0): [DRI2] DRI driver: r200

[ 57.918] (II) RADEON(0): Front buffer size: 5175K

[ 57.918] (II) RADEON(0): VRAM usage limit set to 108490K

[ 57.935] (==) RADEON(0): DRI3 disabled

[ 57.935] (==) RADEON(0): Backing store enabled

[ 57.935] (II) RADEON(0): Direct rendering enabled

[ 57.936] (II) RADEON(0): Render acceleration enabled for R200 type cards.

[ 57.936] (II) RADEON(0): Acceleration enabled

[ 57.936] (==) RADEON(0): DPMS enabled

[ 57.936] (==) RADEON(0): Silken mouse enabled

[ 57.992] (II) RADEON(0): Set up textured video

[ 57.992] (II) RADEON(0): [XvMC] Associated with Radeon Textured Video.

[ 57.992] (II) RADEON(0): [XvMC] Extension initialized.

[ 59.881] (II) RADEON(0): Setting screen physical size to 380 x 238

X server logs "cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep -i drm":

[ 53.370] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card0)

Kernel logs "dmesg | grep -i radeon":

[ 7.260656] [drm] radeon kernel modesetting enabled.

[ 7.260837] radeon 0000:01:00.0: vgaarb: deactivate vga console

[ 7.265598] radeon 0000:01:00.0: putting AGP V3 device into 8x mode

[ 7.265609] radeon 0000:01:00.0: GTT: 128M 0xE0000000 - 0xE7FFFFFF

[ 7.265621] radeon 0000:01:00.0: VRAM: 128M 0x00000000D0000000 - 0x00000000D7FFFFF

F (128M used)

[ 7.265965] [drm] radeon: 128M of VRAM memory ready

[ 7.265969] [drm] radeon: 128M of GTT memory ready.

[ 7.266458] radeon 0000:01:00.0: WB disabled

[ 7.266469] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 0 use gpu addr 0x00000000e00

00000 and cpu addr 0x(ptrval)

[ 7.266534] [drm] radeon: irq initialized.

[ 7.266683] radeon 0000:01:00.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware radeon/R200_cp.

bin

[ 7.266977] [drm] radeon: ring at 0x00000000E0001000

[ 7.270017] [drm] Radeon Display Connectors

[ 7.335429] fbcon: radeondrmfb (fb0) is primary device

[ 7.417746] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fb0: radeondrmfb frame buffer device

[ 7.417896] [drm] Initialized radeon 2.50.0 20080528 for 0000:01:00.0 on minor 0

Kernel logs "dmesg | grep -i drm":

[ 7.260656] [drm] radeon kernel modesetting enabled.

[ 7.264268] [drm] initializing kernel modesetting (RV280 0x1002:0x5964 0x1462:0x95

20 0x01).

[ 7.265614] [drm] Generation 2 PCI interface, using max accessible memory

[ 7.265645] [drm] Detected VRAM RAM=128M, BAR=128M

[ 7.265647] [drm] RAM width 64bits DDR

[ 7.265965] [drm] radeon: 128M of VRAM memory ready

[ 7.265969] [drm] radeon: 128M of GTT memory ready.

[ 7.266476] [drm] Supports vblank timestamp caching Rev 2 (21.10.2013).

[ 7.266478] [drm] Driver supports precise vblank timestamp query.

[ 7.266534] [drm] radeon: irq initialized.

[ 7.266558] [drm] Loading R200 Microcode

[ 7.266977] [drm] radeon: ring at 0x00000000E0001000

[ 7.267003] [drm] ring test succeeded in 0 usecs

[ 7.267281] [drm] ib test succeeded in 0 usecs

[ 7.270017] [drm] Radeon Display Connectors

[ 7.270023] [drm] Connector 0:

[ 7.270024] [drm] VGA-1

[ 7.270028] [drm] DDC: 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60

[ 7.270029] [drm] Encoders:

[ 7.270031] [drm] CRT1: INTERNAL_DAC1

[ 7.270033] [drm] Connector 1:

[ 7.270034] [drm] SVIDEO-1

[ 7.270035] [drm] Encoders:

[ 7.270036] [drm] TV1: INTERNAL_DAC2

[ 7.334151] [drm] fb mappable at 0xD0040000

[ 7.334153] [drm] vram apper at 0xD0000000

[ 7.334155] [drm] size 5185536

[ 7.334156] [drm] fb depth is 24

[ 7.334157] [drm] pitch is 5760

[ 7.335429] fbcon: radeondrmfb (fb0) is primary device

[ 7.417746] radeon 0000:01:00.0: fb0: radeondrmfb frame buffer device

[ 7.417896] [drm] Initialized radeon 2.50.0 20080528 for 0000:01:00.0 on minor 0

[ 20.518600] systemd[1]: Condition check resulted in Load Kernel Module drm being skipped.

Graphics card "inxi -G":

Graphics:

Device-1: AMD RV280 [Radeon 9200 SE] driver: radeon v: kernel

Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: ati,radeon

unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1440x900~60Hz

OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 9.0.1 128 bits) v: 3.3 Mesa 19.3.3

I have installed the desktop using "sudo apt install task-mate-desktop" before the upgrade, and I have installed Debian using the firmware netinst iso because the computer only has the WiFi USB dongle; there is no Ethernet adapter. To make matters even worse, the vesa, fbdev, and modesetting X11 modules were unloaded.

Also, I have checked the modules list to see if everything related about Radeon is loaded. The output will be put below. I even put the "radeon" on my /etc/modules if you want to ensure that it gets loaded. However, nothing changed.

"lsmod | grep radeon":

radeon 1363968 2

i2c_algo_bit 16384 1 radeon

ttm 86016 1 radeon

drm_kms_helper 147456 1 radeon

drm 372736 5 radeon,ttm,drm_kms_helper

I was wondering if I am missing something essential. I couldn't see anything wrong in configurations and packages. What can I do to solve this problem? Am I missing some packages about Mesa? By the way I am using Linux 5.6 from testing, if that matters.