LinuxQuestions.org - 3D acceleration

- Linux - Hardware (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/)

- - 3D acceleration (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/3d-acceleration-396283/)

Is it possible for me to play PlanetPenguin (formerly TuxRacer)? Currently, I have not been able to. This leads me to my next question: Is it possible for me to have 3D acceleration that is capable of rendering the game PlanetPenguin? Searching for information via Google, on Linux, and 3D acceleration, is enough to drive anyone insane. Straight forward answers do not seem in the realm of the Linux universe. But I digress.

Back to my question. I have a Pentium III, 450 MHz system, running Debian Sarge with a 2.6.8-2-386 kernel image. My VGA compatible controller is ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage Pro AGP 1X/2X (rev 5c), which I believe is 8mb. So, is the name "3D Rage Pro" just a lie, to enrage me?

Thanks in advance for all answers.

There are numerous threads on Ati. Here are a couple of links that may help.

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/flavio.sta...installer.html
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...searchid=60991

actually you might try to add Load "dri" to your X config (/etc/X11/xorg.conf) (add it to the section where you see Load "glx" etc.), but I think the card is waaaaay too old.
The official ATI drivers don't support Rage cards.

Quote:

Originally Posted by my first post in this thread

So, is the name "3D Rage Pro" just a lie, to enrage me?

I believe the answer to my question is "yes". Anyway, I read that the "mach64" driver is what I need. I also was not able to find this driver anywhere to download. I suspect, even if I did find and successfully installed it, that it would not make a difference.

So, I'm throwing in the towel, and buying a new video card which hopefully will just work via my xfree86 setup. The file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 indicates that:

Quote:

Originally Posted by XF86Config-4

Section "Module"
Load "dri"
Load "glx"
Section "DRI"
Mode 0666

Granted, there's nothing in this file about mach64, or ati drivers, but I'm skeptical it would make a difference anyway.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what video card I should buy? Preferably one that just works? I'm itching for some PlanetPenguin-Racer.

This question has been coming up a lot lately. Look at this page for the Gatos drivers for ATI cards.

http://gatos.sourceforge.net/supported_cards.php

I believe that you will find what you need. Good luck.

Thanks SJ. I went to the site and installed the All-in-Wonder classic (Mach64) file, which I assume is the file "ati2", and "drm-kernel". I initially got a zillion errors when I tried to install drm-kernel, but when I tried it on my 2.4 kernel image, it worked. I had no trouble with the file "ati2". It is a replacement file for X11R6.

However, I've rebooted, and nothing is different (Tux, very slowly, bashed into a tree). Here is the result of checking to see if acceleration is happening:

Code:

mark@debian:~$ glxgears

Xlib:  extension "XFree86-DRI" missing on display ":0.0".

467 frames in 6.0 seconds = 77.833 FPS

273 frames in 5.0 seconds = 54.600 FPS

436 frames in 5.0 seconds = 87.200 FPS

420 frames in 5.0 seconds = 84.000 FPS

420 frames in 5.0 seconds = 84.000 FPS

560 frames in 6.0 seconds = 93.333 FPS

560 frames in 6.0 seconds = 93.333 FPS

420 frames in 5.0 seconds = 84.000 FPS

560 frames in 6.0 seconds = 93.333 FPS

560 frames in 6.0 seconds = 93.333 FPS

420 frames in 5.0 seconds = 84.000 FPS

It doesn't yet seem to be accelerating anything. I also installed any Debian package that I thought might help, including one from the oldstable repository named xserver-mach64. Anyway, any further thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Could it be that acceleration is working, but my card is so old that it does not matter?

That's all that I've got. :scratch:
Maybe you could get an inexpensive used video card at a computer show and/or more RAM for the main memory? I can remember when the PIII was the king of the microprocessors so I hate to think that it isn't powerful enough to run Planet Penguin. On the other hand I'm using my 350 MHz PII computer as a firewall with no graphics. It may be time to save your pennies for newer hardware.

You could get a new 1.2 GHz Celeron processor for (US)$75.00, a new motherboard for the Celeron for (US)$45.00, 1 GB Corsair RAM DDR400 Cas 3 for (US)$85.00, Antec Tru-Power 450 Watt power supply for (US)$100.00, Better ATI graphic card (US)$25.00. Total cost (US)$330.00. Put all of that into your existing computer case. It may be worth considering. I know that $330 doesn't come easily but you can get one heck of a system with that money.

I tried the debian user mailing list, and got the following suggestion for getting 3d-acceleration for the ATI Mach64 3d Rage Pro card:

Add to your sources.list:

Code:

#new DRI locations?

deb http://www.nixnuts.net/files/ ./

deb-src http://www.nixnuts.net/files/ ./

Initially, this seemed to work. But, I still do not have 3d acceleration. When I installed the package drm-trunk-module-src, I got the following feedback:

Code:

make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernel-headers-2.6.8-2-386'

/usr/src/drm-modules/linux-core/Makefile:279: *** CONFIG_X86_CMPXCHG needs to be enabled in the kernel.  Stop.

make[1]: *** [_module_/usr/src/drm-modules/linux-core] Error 2

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernel-headers-2.6.8-2-386'

make: *** [modules] Error 2

Is this error, for the drm-kernel module, something that can be fixed?

Okay, ignore my previous post. I figured out what was wrong. I needed to change my kernel headers from kernel-headers-2.6.8-2-386 to kernel-headers-2.6.8-2-686. Thanks again for all your suggestions.

Code:

mark@debian:~$ glxgears

712 frames in 5.0 seconds = 142.400 FPS

711 frames in 5.0 seconds = 142.200 FPS

713 frames in 5.0 seconds = 142.600 FPS

710 frames in 5.0 seconds = 142.000 FPS

713 frames in 5.0 seconds = 142.600 FPS

708 frames in 5.0 seconds = 141.600 FPS

Note, this ancient card has sped up rendering almost twofold. I'm assuming this means I've achieved 3d-acceleration:

Code:

mark@debian:~$ glxinfo | grep direct

direct rendering: Yes