DRM Driver Installation on Raspberry Pi

[esky-sh]

In Linux world, DRM driver is becoming more and more popular. And BeadaPanel can support DRM driver as well. Take Raspberry Pi as example. In this procedure, we will install BeadaPanel as a secondary monitor, along with Raspberry Pi's main monitor.



Section 1, Install DRM Driver
Pre-requirements

• A BeadaPanel Media Display
• A Raspberry Pi Model 3B+(with Bookworm)

Procedures

1. Connect Micro-USB cable with Raspberry Pi and BeadaPanel
2. Login to Raspberry Pi main monitor
3. Open a term window
4. Compile the driver

   Code: Select all

   git clone -b rpi-6.6.y https://github.com/JT365/beada # download code
   cd beada/src
   make -C /usr/src/linux-headers-`uname -r`/ M=`pwd` modules # compile
   

5. Install the driver

   Code: Select all

   sudo cp beadaDRM.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/tiny/ # install module
   sudo depmod -a # load at bootup

Section 2, Screen Configuration on LXDE Desktop
Raspberry Pi will automatically discover an USB screen as soon as BeadaPanel plugin. There are steps needed for fine tune of screen appearance.

1. Fine tune in Screen Configuration
   
   
   
   New discovered screen is in inactive state by default, so user should active it at first.
   
   
   Note: Manually click shutdown machine once you made changes into Gnome Screen Configuration, otherwise changes may get lost between power cycles.
2. Fine tune in Appearance Settings
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Section 3, Set BeadaPanel as Primary Monitor in Xorg Environment
   In order to set BeadaPanel as a primary monitor to the Xorg environment, we will have to set BeadaPanel as a primary GPU device in a Xorg config file.
   Proceduces
   1. Open a term window
   2. Change to Xorg config folder

      Code: Select all

      cd /etc/X11/xorg.config.d/
      

   3. Create a new config file for BeadaPanel

      Code: Select all

      sudo nano 10-beada.conf
      

   4. Type the following text into it:

      Code: Select all

      Section "OutputClass"
        Identifier "beada"
        MatchDriver "beada"
        Driver "modesetting"
        Option "PrimaryGPU" "true"
      EndSection
      

   5. Press Control+x, you will get a prompt at the bottom of the screen asking you to "Save modified buffer (Answering No will DESTROY CHANGES)". Press y as we want to save the changes, and then Enter to Save Changes and exit the nano editor.
   6. Reboot the machine
   Section 4, Adjust backlight of BeadaPanel
   Proceduces
   1. Open a term window
   2. Find current BeadaPanel DRM device

      Code: Select all

      pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ls /sys/class/drm/
      card0  card0-HDMI-A-1  card0-Writeback-1  card1  card1-USB-1  renderD128  version
      

   3. Check current BeadaPanel backlight level

      Code: Select all

      pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /sys/class/drm/card1-USB-1/backlight/brightness
      77
      

   4. Modify backlight:

      Code: Select all

      pi@raspberrypi:~ $ echo 99 >  /sys/class/drm/card1-USB-1/backlight/brightness
      pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat /sys/class/drm/card1-USB-1/backlight/brightness
      99