Radeon X.Org Driver Still Trying To Eliminate Tearing, Adds TearFree Option

In trying to reduce/eliminate visible tearing on the screen, the xf86-video-ati driver is preparing to introduce a new TearFree X.Org option.

The TearFree option hasn't yet been committed to the xf86-video-ati Git but is currently up to its third revision in patch form on the Radeon driver's mailing list. The option is described by the patch as, "Enable tearing prevention using the hardware page flipping mechanism. This option currently doesn't have any effect for rotated CRTCs. It requires allocating two separate scanout buffers for each non-rotated CRTC. Enabling this option currently disables Option EnablePageFlip. The default is off."

The open-source AMD Linux driver doesn't yet support FreeSync setups as another way to reduce tearing while gaming.

The TearFree option is being worked on by AMD's Michel Dänzer. Michel also sent out today some new xf86-video-ati patches for providing a smoother start-up when initializing the driver/hardware. The changes are making sure the buffers to be scanned out have been initialized and supporting the -background none option with GLAMOR acceleration.