On Thursday 19 August 2004 05:19 am, SnapafunFrank wrote:
> Thereidos wrote:
> >I'm not sure but those built into the kernel are something
> > like generic video drivers. They doesn't handle so called
> > 'acceleration' (OpenGL thing). Am I right?
No, on both counts. The drivers are not 'built-in' to the
kernel, they're in /lib/modules/* and /usr/lib/*
> >As for the NVidia installer I haven't got any problems with
> > that. You just have to remember to turn your X server off and
> > run it as a root (and try to read carefully :)).
>
> And if'n you get it right you'll see the nVidia splash screen
> when either rebooting or firing up your X .
> And Cezary 'Thereidos' Morga is correct. The generic driver
> doesn't support OpenGL. OpenGL is required for glxgears and the
> like to actually run, though if you installed it correctly you
> ought to hear sounds and see the start 'page' , before you give
> up on it. [ I guess I need a new graphics card...... bugger!]
The open source xorg (or previously XFree) driver for
nvidia cards does support OpenGL (and has for well over a year).
It's DRI (direct hardware rendering) that is not yet supported.
And due to the legal entanglements of licensing agreements video
vendors have (primarily with M$), xorg might never have DRI
support.
tom $ lspci |grep -i nvidia
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV18
[GeForce4 MX 440 AGP 8x] (rev a2)
(using xorg's open source driver)
tom $ glxinfo |grep -i open
OpenGL vendor string: Mesa project: www.mesa3d.org
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
OpenGL version string: 1.2 (1.4 Mesa 5.0.2)
<snip>
tom $ glxgears
806 frames in 5.0 seconds = 161.200 FPS
(nothin to brag about but it does run ;)
The _only_ thing you need DRI for is 3d/accel games. Video
apps like xine, totem, mplayer, etc., do not need 3d/accel, and I
even think they work better without it. IMO, if you can do
without games that require DRI, you're better off _not_ using
nvidia (or any video card's) proprietary drivers. Y'allsMMV, but
it is inaccurate to say that the open source drivers don't
support video acceleration. They do, and you don't have to fret
with the bugs, security issues, and kernel taints and problems
that closed source drivers introduce to your system. lkml won't
even accept bug reports when closed source drivers are in use.
IMO Mandrake shouldn't either as they are by nature of being
closed and proprietary, unsupportable and at best, beta quality.
--
Tom Brinkman Corpus Christi, Texas
Proud to be an American
____________________________________________________
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft?
Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Join the Club : http://www.mandrakeclub.com
____________________________________________________
