Trouble with Y-HPC on G5 2x2.5 + NVIDIA 6800 Ultra DDL

[Peter van der Heide]

Hi All -

We've just purchased Y-HPC for use on one of our G5 workstations. The 
machine it has been designated for is a Dual G5 2.5GHz, 8GB RAM, dual 
250GB drives (one linux, one OS X), with a 30" cinema display.

We have paid for installation support, but have received no reply 
several days later despite a 24hr turnaround claim; I have also emailed 
terrasoft's presale address and received no reply.

It appears that YDL 4.0.1 as shipped does not support the NVIDIA 6800 
Ultra video card in this computer, and is possibly also having trouble 
with the 30" display. Using the "nv" X driver causes startx to fail 
with "No Monitor Found" or similar. The extended error information in 
/var/log shows a list of supported NVIDIA cards, and the 6800 Ultra is 
not on this list.

Using the "fbdev" video driver, it is possible to get a semi-functional 
KDE desktop up, but only if the display is set to 8 bit, and even then 
the colours are revolting and there are artifacts galore - it looks 
like it's actually running in 16 colour/4-bit mode.

A notable aside - the Fedora Core 4 (Test 3) install DVD, which uses 
X.org over XFree86, recognizes the NVIDIA 6800 during install with its 
drivers, but there are still artifacts present on the 30" display.

Has anybody had any success installing YDL on a G5 with an NVIDIA 6800 
Ultra? If not, is it likely that terrasoft will provide support any 
time in the near future? We may have a Dual 2.7GHz G5 on the way, which 
also has been highlighted as having compatibility issues - has anybody 
had any luck with this brand new configuration?

If there is no compatibility with the 2.5GHz or 2.7GHz G5s, we may have 
to use a slightly older computer. Can anybody confirm compatibility 
with 2x2.0GHz G5 workstations using ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video cards 
(128MB)?

Historically, how long does it normally take terrasoft to bring 
compatibility up to spec with current hardware? It seems odd that the 
operating system that's being pushed as the ultimate 64-bit powerpc 
linux does not have support for apple's two most recent flagship 
workstations. It's even more odd that terrasoft are offering 2.7GHz G5s 
with preinstalled despite acknowledging incompatibility with the 
motherboard.

Does anybody have any suggestions on how I might be able to get X 
working satisfactorily with the NVIDIA 6800 Ultra, guesses on when 
official support might be available, or confirmation of compatibility 
with 2.0GHz + ATI Radeon 9800 or 2.7GHz + ATI Radeon 9650 G5 models?

Many thanks in advance,

Peter van der Heide
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
University of Queensland