FS-UAE with Freesync on Linux works

[arcanist]

A heads up for fellow Linux users.

The Linux display server space has been a mess for quite some years, in part due to the Xorg / Wayland transition. Until now I've been unable to get buttery smooth 50Hz output to work. Setting the refresh rate manually to 50Hz / 100Hz stutters periodically due to small timing differences. That's quite a bummer when put next to my Windows system with WinUAE.

I've now got it working. Here are the pieces:

• Any monitor with Freesync support and enabled in its settings.
• FS-UAE 3.1 with configuration option: video_sync = 0
• AMD RX 6700 XT. Any AMD GPU should work. NVIDIA might work too. I'm using DisplayPort, HDMI VRR support was added later I think.
• KDE on Wayland (set Adaptive Sync to auto in Display Settings). GNOME has in-progress work for VRR but it's not implemented yet. Xorg... YMMV. I've never got it to work. Some people have.

With this configuration the monitor shows Freesync engage whenever FS-UAE is set to fullscreen (with Alt+Enter). Frame delivery is stutter-free.

(One caveat is the refresh rate will revert to maximum while you move a hardware mouse pointer over the screen. That's a work in progress - and I think the main blocker for GNOME.)

Smooth scrolling is a thing of beauty.