XFree 4.0.1 & GeForce 2 Help Needed

[Troy McClure]

I am new to Linux and I am trying to get my GeForce 2 to work in X-Windows.

I have tried so many things and I always end with the same result...FAILURE!

Could someone please analyze what I am doing and give me some direction

Here are my steps;

I do a fresh full install of Slackware 7.1

Log into the system as root

ftp to ftp.xfree86.org and grab all of the 4.0.1 tar.gz files from the Linux-ix86-glibc21 directory
ftp to ftp1.detonator.nvdiai.com and grab the NVIDIA_GLX-0.9-5.tar.gz and the NVIDIA_kernel-0.9-5.tar.gz files

From reading other posts, I do the following command

ln -s /lib/libncurses.so.5 /usr/lib/libncurses.so.4 (why, I don't know!)

from the directory I have downloaded my files to I type the following

sh Xinstall.sh

X Installs I believe successfully?

then I gunzip and tar -xvf the two nvidia files

From the NVIDIA_GLX-0.9-5 I type make, then make install (I think they both do the same)
from the NVIDIA_kernel-0.9-5 I type make, then make install (once again, I think they both do the same)

I then run xf86config and set the basics and select the TNT2 card #353

I then edit the XF86Config file and take out the # infront of GLX and change the driver from nv to nvidia

I then go into the /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions and delete libglx.a & libGLcore.a (why, I don't know!)

I then edit my rc.modules files in the /etc/rc.d directory and add a line at the end that says /usr/sbin/modprobe NVdriver

I then verify that the line alias char-major-195 NVdriver is added to my /etc/modules.conf file

Reboot

startx

This is what I get

FAILED TO ALLOCATE DMA PUSH BUFFER CONTEXT
FAILED DRIVER ENABLED

Fatal server error:
AddScreen/Screeninit failed for driver 0

I have been trying to get this going for days and it is really frustrating, I know I am a newbie but man, installing a video driver should not be this hard.

TIA

Troy

[pointreyes]

XFree 4.0.2 fully supports GeForce2. Finally.

[Troy McClure]

Ya know, I did DL and install 4.0.2 last night since it is the latest and greatest but then proceeded to install the NVIDIA drivers and still had no success. I am wondering if I just installed the 4.0.2 and don't mess with anything else if it would work? Hmm, can't wait to get home and try it now.

Only thing though, I cannot seem to find any information on Xfree86.org that specifically states that there is added support for the GeForce 2 card.

Thanks!

Troy

[bobarian]

I just read that 4.0.2 does fully support the geforce 2. That means that you probably don't have to use the kernel driver. Try to find some docs at their web site.

[Avatar]

I think it just supports 2D operation, not 3D acceleration. So, you would want to install the drivers anyhow. Here is how I got it working:

Using DragonLinux V2R1, which is based on Slackware 7.1, I picked up the XFree86 4.0.1 file from here:
http://www.linuxmafia.org/pcentral/sview.php3?name=XFree86

I installed it with installpkg. I then ran xf86config to get a generic XF86Config file written. Next, I moved the MESA libraries out of the way and ran make on both the NVIDIA kernel module & GLX module. Finally, I change the XF86config file to load up GLX & use the NVIDIA driver, and that was that.



------------------
Avatar

Linux Editor | www.evil3d.net (http://www.evil3d.net)

[davolfman]

In 4.0.1 you need to use NVidia's drivers (which you probably should anyway) in the case of Mandrake they should be compiled from the sRPM. You should probably do this anyway to get maximum performance. In either version you need to manually edit your config file to make it work. The nvidia ftp site has not only the driver files but console-based instructions for their installation (including to a limited extent the editing of the config file). These are very useful when you can't get X to work at all yet.

P.S. If I recall correctly their are now two config files, the one you really want to edit is the one labeled 4.

[Avatar]

One the Mandrake side, I would personally suggest getting the straight source version, and never a form of the rpms. Personal experience is that the rpms never work right.

As for the two different config files, it really depends on what version of which distro you are running. Some will have the "-4", while others will not.

------------------
Avatar

Linux Editor | www.evil3d.net (http://www.evil3d.net)

[This message has been edited by Avatar (edited 23 December 2000).]

[davolfman]

That's why I said sRPM rather than just RPM. I tried it once (before I gave my linux harddrive it's own box) and it didn't work whatsoever with the RPM-which was precompiled for RedHat 6.2. I had to build it from the source package. The instructions from NVidia also told how to do it from the SRPM and theyt worked with very little modification (namely finding the newly compiled RPM in the 586 rather than 386 directory).

[demetrius]

The first thing you should do IMO is get X working with the default "nv" driver. You're probably better off using 4.0.2 as the geforce2 is 'offically' supported under it. Once you've got X running with the default driver and have a working XF86Config (or XF86Config-4 depending on distro) then grab the tar.gz versions of the kernel module and GLX drivers from Nvidia and go from there. You will probably need to remove/rename all your GL/GLX files before installing the drivers to get openGL working properly (i.e. not just libglx.a and liblgcore.a) ... leave the GLU files alone though. Then make the changes you mentioned to your XF86Config(-4) file and you should be good to go.

[roman]

You might want to check out the xfree4.02 review on the opening page. The reviewer mentioned that the latest version had hardware acceleration enabled. Read the "what needs to be done" section, third page.

If I'm not mistaken Nvidia and XFree have worked out the location of where everything should go and the drivers are...less conflicting. I don't know check it out tell me if that is what you got out of the article.