Nvidia support

[Bill Fink]

On Thu, 16 May 2002, brad allison wrote:

> On Thu, 16 May 2002, Bill Fink wrote:
> 
> > HOWTO For Setting Up Accelerated X using NVIDIA Graphics Cards on YDL
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > 
> > 1.  Get a very recent Linux kernel.  I recommend the 2.4.19-pre8-ben0
> >     kernel.
> 
> [jackal@isis jackal]$ uname --release
> 2.4.18-0.9a

I'd really recommend using the 2.4.19-pre8-ben0 kernel, which you can
rsync from rsync.penguinppc.org.  The standard 2.4.18 kernel doesn't have
Ani Joshi's riva PPC patch. so be sure you *DO NOT* have CONFIG_FB_RIVA
enabled in the kernel.  Failure to do say may very well cause your
system to crash when you try to use the accelerated "nv" X driver.

> > 2.  Either make sure that the kernel is built *WITHOUT* CONFIG_FB_RIVA
> >     support, or make sure that the "novideo" option is used in your
> >     /etc/yaboot.conf file (which causes video=ofonly to be passed as a
> >     boot argument to the kernel).  This causes the console video system
> >     to use the OpenFirmware video (OFFB).
> 
> [root@isis jackal]# grep default /etc/yaboot.conf
> defaultos=linux
> default=linux-novideo
> 
> > 3.  Make sure you have a recent XFree86 4.2 suite of RPMs, such as
> >     XFree86-4.2.0-0.6.24a (or more recent).
> 
> [root@isis jackal]# X -version
> 
> XFree86 Version 4.2.0 (echo Yellow Dog Linux release: 4.2.0-6.30d) / X Window System

That should be good.

> > 4.  Initially, set the "initdefault" level in /etc/inittab to:
> > 
> >     id:3:initdefault:
> > 
> >     so that the system does not start a graphical login.
> 
> [root@isis jackal]# grep ":initdefault" /etc/inittab
> id:3:initdefault:
> 
> > 5.  Login to the console as root, and run Xconfigurator, which will
> >     generate an /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file.  Select the desired screen
> >     resolution and color depth when you run Xconfigurator.  Afterward,
> >     edit the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file, and change the "Driver" entry
> >     in the Section "Device" to "nv" (including the quote characters).
> >     This is what activates the X acceleration.  The accelerated "nv"
> >     X driver can not currently coexist with the accelerated "riva"
> >     console video driver, and that is why you must use the OpenFirmware
> >     console video (which is not accelerated).
> 
> [root@isis jackal]# grep nv /etc/X11/XF86Config-4
>         Driver "nv"

Was this generated by Xconfigurator?  I believe that the XF86Config-4
generated by Xautoconfig4 will not work properly with the NVIDIA cards
(although I had previously generally preferred Xautoconfig4 over
Xconfigurator).

> > 6.  Test the accelerated "nv" X driver by running /etc/X11/X.  If all
> >     goes well, you should get a grey screen with an X mouse cursor which
> >     you should be able to move around the screen.  Switch back to virtual
> >     terminal 1 by entering <Control-Alt-F1> and kill X by typing
> >     <Control-C>.
> 
> When I ran "startx" at this point the box -completely- hung... as in even 
> my ssh sessions into the host were hung.

Do not test with startx.  Just run /etc/X11/X as described.  If the X
server doesn't work there's no chance that startx will work.  But if the
X server does work, then the problem could be somewhere else.  Always
try and use the lowest level test possible before moving on to higher
level functions.  BTW when I was testing all this to get it to work on
my system, I first converted all my file systems to ext3, so that when
the system would hang, it wasn't quite as traumatic to reboot.  Oh and
I would always do a couple of syncs before firing up the X server.

						-Bill