On Thu, 2004-05-27 at 14:59, Michael JasonSmith wrote:
> I am also having issues installing the close-source NVidia
> drivers, but that is probably due to me not reading the README!
Continuing this little discussion with myself, I solved my problem with
the NVidia drivers. It turns out that I was not to blame for the
difficulties that I was having! In summary, you have to build your own
kernel if you want to use the NVidia drivers with Fedora Core 2. For
those of you who want an explanation, read on.
Fedora Core 2 is based on the 2.6 kernel, which is good. The NVidia
drivers are also based on the 2.6 kernel, which is also good. The NVidia
installer runs smoothly, compiling the adaption layer without a problem.
Goodness abounds. The module loads successfully, with the kernel rightly
complaining that the NVidia module taints the kernel[1]. At this point
my computer was almost bursting with goodness. The xorg.conf file is
altered so the cool NVidia drivers are used, rather than the poxy NV
drivers. X is restarted[2].
Darkness.
The blank monitor
Says nothing to me,
Grasshopper.
Besides the blank monitor, the keyboard is unresponsive and the ssh
session that is logged into the machine is locked tight. It appears the
kernel has seized. After a lot of faffing about, making sure that
everything was done correctly, and reading "/var/log/messages" and
"/var/log/Xorg.log", Google is called in to play. It turns out that in
there infinite wisdom, Fedora built the kernel with a 4k stacks. This
is arguably a good thing, as it reduces the load on the kernel. However,
it makes the kernel incompatible with the binary NVidia drivers which
are based on the assumption that the kernel uses 8k stacks, like the
previous kernels.
The solution is to build your own kernel, and set it to use 8k
stacks[3]. This, oddly, was the first time I had ever built a kernel
under RedHat or its successors. Still, building kernels is fun ;)
Anyway, my machine now goes. Fedora is more usable than RedHat9, the
audio is a lot better (my sound card uses the ForteMedia 801 chipset),
and the machine feels more responsive. Back to playing Neverwinter
Nights :)
[1] A tainted kernel is one that uses closed-source components, such as
the NVidia drivers.
[2] I use "telinit 3" and "telinit 5" to start and stop X on Fedora.
[3] CONFIG-4STACKS=n in kernel terminology.
--
Michael JasonSmith http://www.ldots.org/
