Aus
Gaming in the third dimension
Learn to avoid common pitfalls by reading Joe Barr's tale
http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-2000-08/lw-08-vcontrol_4.html
told me that XFree86 --configure would break the nvidia driver,
though he wasn't sure why. He told me to use xf86cfg instead. I did. It
worked.
I knew that X would require some tinkering
and I couldn't afford to give up my primary
desktop box while that effort was
underway, so I decided to move my 3D
pursuit to my test machine. That box has a
Guillemot 3D Prophet (Nvidia GeForce
DDR) video card instead of another 3dfx,
but no problemo: Nvidia has Linux drivers, too. The test machine also has a 300 MHz K-6
with 128 MB of SDRAM.
I downloaded the installer and the requisite files from the XFree86.org site and installed it
with the supplied binaries. I ran XFree86 --configure to create the new
configuration file. The resulting file required some tweaking to get X running in the modes
I wanted to run, but other than that small problem, all went well.
Then it was off to the Nvidia site to grab the tarballs for the Mesa replacement libraries
and the driver. The drivers hook into the kernel, so if you download a binary RPM file,
make sure that you're grabbing the right one for your release of the kernel. I downloaded
the source for both the driver and the Nvidia GLX libraries.
I ran into another nasty twist while building the driver. Variations in directory structure and
usage is a problem that I believe the Linux Standards Base is working on. I hope so. You
see, in SuSE 6.4, the /usr/src directory contains a linux-2.2.14 directory, a
linux-2.2.14.SuSE directory, and another directory named PACKAGES. There is
also a symbolic link called linux, which points to the linux-2.2.14 directory. In Red
Hat 6.2, the /usr/src directory contains a linux-2.2.14 subdirectory, a redhat
subdirectory, and a symbolic link which, just like on SuSE 6.4, points to linux-2.2.14.
The problem is that the kernel header files needed to build the Nvidia driver are not
located in the same directory on both distributions. In Red Hat 6.2 they live in the
linux-2.2.14 subdirectory, and thus can be reached using the symbolic link. In SuSE
6.4, they live in the linux-2.2.14.SuSE subdirectory and cannot be reached via the
symbolic link.
I am known to be a hardheaded old coot at times who doesn't like computers to get the
best of him. And I was inspired by my friend Ramon Fernandez, who feels the same way
and acts on those feelings. I refused to give in. I tracked down the header files that the
Nvidia make complained about and was then able to puzzle out the problem. I changed
the symbolic link to point at the SuSE directory and all was well -- at least as far as that
make was concerned. I need to remember to change it back now, since it points to a
nearly empty linux-2.2.14 directory.
But when the curse visits your machine, she does not leave that easily. Now armed with a
brand spanking new X 4.01, and a brand spanking new driver (I also had to change the
XF86Config file to load nvidia instead of the old nv driver), I charged blindly ahead. X
started without a whimper. I was encouraged. I started Soldiers of Fortune. X crashed. I
was disheartened.
A cry for help
I want to point out that by this time, and the process had dragged on for several days,
though I had found a new source of support: the #loki and #nvidia channels on the Open
Project network IRC (see Resources for a link). Actually, I had written to Nvidia PR
begging for help with Nvidia's unsupported Linux drivers. That was at least two weeks
ago and I have yet to hear back.
So it was to IRC that I took my latest tale of woe. And as nice as those folks are, I think
they must have cringed when they saw me coming back again. But it was there that I
found the final piece of the puzzle. It was iCEBaLM on #nvidia who provided it. He was
walking me (again) step by step through everything I had done, when he asked: "You
didn't use XFree86 --configure to create your config file, did you?"
And of course I had. iCEBaLM told me that XFree86 --configure would break the
nvidia driver, though he wasn't sure why. He told me to use xf86cfg instead. I did. It
worked.
Anonym
