Am I using the Neomagic driver on my Sony or not?

chris1379 · 11-22-2009, 03:01 AM

I have been running Ubuntu Hardy on a Sony PCG-F540 for a couple of months now. Everything seems to be working OK but running lshw makes me question my video driver. I installed the X.Org X server -- Neomagic display driver but it is listed as "unclaimed"

*-display UNCLAIMED
description: VGA compatible controller
product: NM2380 [MagicMedia 256XL+]
vendor: Neomagic Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: 10
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: vga_controller bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=128 maxlatency=255 mingnt=16

but my xorg.conf file shows this:

Section "Device"
# Boardname "NeoMagic MagicMedia (laptop/notebook)"
# Vendorname "NeoMagic"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "neomagic"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen 0
EndSection

Section "Device"
# Boardname "NeoMagic MagicMedia (laptop/notebook)"
# Vendorname "NeoMagic"
Identifier "device1"
Driver "neomagic"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen 1
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
# Vendorname "Generic LCD Display"
# Modelname "LCD Panel 1024x768"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
HorizSync 31.5-48.0
VertRefresh 56.0 - 65.0
DisplaySize 271 203
Gamma 1.0
Modeline "640x480@60" 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -vsync -hsync
Modeline "800x600@56" 36.0 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync
Modeline "800x600@60" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
Modeline "1024x768@60" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -vsync -hsync
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "monitor1"
Gamma 1.0
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Configured Video Device"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "screen1"
Device "device1"
Monitor "monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

So am I or am I not using the Neomagic driver?

Chris

GrapefruiTgirl · 11-22-2009, 08:05 PM

You might try:

lspci -v

and/or

lsmod

to see more info. The first one should show you detailed info about the video device, including what driver/kernel module is associated with it. The second command shows you all of the modules currently loaded into the kernel, so you can verify that the one you are checking on, is there (or is not there!)

PS - On Ubuntu, you may need to use `sudo` for one or both of these, for root privilege.

Cheers!

Sasha

chris1379 · 11-23-2009, 06:43 AM

Thanks, Sasha. From lspci -v I get

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Neomagic Corporation NM2380 [MagicMedia 256XL+] (rev 10) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Unknown device 8088
Flags: bus master, fast Back2Back, medium devsel, latency 128, IRQ 9
Memory at fc000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
Memory at fe800000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
Memory at fec00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
Capabilities: [d0] AGP version 1.0
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 1

and then I ran sudo lsmod
Module Size Used by
af_packet 23812 4
ipv6 268036 8
binfmt_misc 12808 1
rfcomm 41744 2
l2cap 25728 13 rfcomm
bluetooth 61028 4 rfcomm,l2cap
b44 28560 0
ssb 34308 1 b44
mii 6400 1 b44
ndiswrapper 192920 0
sonypi 23192 0
ppdev 10372 0
speedstep_lib 6532 0
cpufreq_conservative 8712 0
cpufreq_userspace 5284 0
cpufreq_ondemand 9740 0
cpufreq_powersave 2688 0
cpufreq_stats 7104 0
freq_table 5536 2 cpufreq_ondemand,cpufreq_stats
video 19856 0
output 4736 1 video
sbs 15112 0
sbshc 7680 1 sbs
dock 11280 0
container 5632 0
iptable_filter 3840 0
ip_tables 14820 1 iptable_filter
x_tables 16132 1 ip_tables
sbp2 24072 0
lp 12324 0
arc4 2944 0
ecb 4480 0
blkcipher 8324 1 ecb
joydev 13120 0
pcmcia 40876 0
snd_ymfpci 63040 4
gameport 16008 1 snd_ymfpci
snd_ac97_codec 101028 1 snd_ymfpci
ac97_bus 3072 1 snd_ac97_codec
battery 14212 0
ac 6916 0
snd_pcm_oss 42144 0
snd_mixer_oss 17920 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 78724 4 snd_ymfpci,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_opl3_lib 12928 1 snd_ymfpci
snd_hwdep 10500 1 snd_opl3_lib
snd_page_alloc 11400 2 snd_ymfpci,snd_pcm
snd_mpu401_uart 9728 1 snd_ymfpci
snd_seq_dummy 4868 0
sony_laptop 35420 0
snd_seq_oss 35584 0
evdev 13056 5
parport_pc 36260 1
parport 37832 3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
snd_seq_midi 9376 0
serio_raw 7940 0
snd_rawmidi 25760 2 snd_mpu401_uart,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 8320 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
psmouse 40336 0
snd_seq 54224 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
button 9232 0
snd_timer 24836 4 snd_ymfpci,snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 9612 6 snd_opl3_lib,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd 56996 21 snd_ymfpci,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib,snd_hwdep,snd_mpu401_uart,s nd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
pcspkr 4224 0
soundcore 8800 1 snd
i2c_piix4 9612 0
yenta_socket 27276 3
rsrc_nonstatic 13696 1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core 40596 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
i2c_core 24832 1 i2c_piix4
intel_agp 25492 1
shpchp 34452 0
pci_hotplug 30880 1 shpchp
agpgart 34760 1 intel_agp
ext3 136968 1
jbd 48404 1 ext3
mbcache 9600 1 ext3
sg 36880 0
sr_mod 17956 0
cdrom 37408 1 sr_mod
sd_mod 30720 3
floppy 59588 0
ohci1394 33584 0
ieee1394 93752 2 sbp2,ohci1394
ata_piix 19588 2
ata_generic 8324 0
pata_acpi 8320 0
uhci_hcd 27024 0
libata 159728 3 ata_piix,ata_generic,pata_acpi
usbcore 146412 3 ndiswrapper,uhci_hcd
scsi_mod 151692 5 sbp2,sg,sr_mod,sd_mod,libata
thermal 16796 0
processor 36616 2 thermal
fan 5636 0
fuse 50708 3
vesafb 8964 1
fbcon 42912 72
tileblit 3584 1 fbcon
font 9472 1 fbcon
bitblit 6784 1 fbcon
softcursor 3072 1 bitblit

GrapefruiTgirl · 11-23-2009, 09:47 AM

Interesting. It's hard to tell what driver is in use exactly. As an example of my outputs from those commands, I get:

Code:

lspci -v:

02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV44 [GeForce 7100 GS] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: eVga.com. Corp. Device c411
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
	Memory at fd000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Memory at fc000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	[virtual] Expansion ROM at feae0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
	Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [68] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
	Capabilities: [78] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel <?>
	Capabilities: [128] Power Budgeting <?>
	Kernel driver in use: nvidia
	Kernel modules: nvidia

and

Code:

lsmod:

Module                  Size  Used by
forcedeth              52756  0 
ohci_hcd               22356  0 
nvidia               9610648  52 
snd_seq_dummy           3116  0 
snd_seq_oss            29792  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      7560  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                54096  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          7628  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss            42240  0 
snd_mixer_oss          15368  1 snd_pcm_oss
dummy                   3144  0 
8250_pci               34488  0 
8250                   22264  1 8250_pci
serial_core            20168  1 8250
sg                     27104  0 
sr_mod                 14036  1

I see several video-related modules in your lsmod output, but I don't see "neomagic". Hmmm..

chris1379 · 11-23-2009, 12:54 PM

Is there a way to force Linux (Ubuntu) to re-detect the video card? I would know how to do it in Windoze, lol.

Thanks,
Chris

chris1379 · 11-27-2009, 11:58 AM

Well, it does seem to be giving me 2D accelleration, but not 3D. I believe the card is capable, How can I get 3D accelleration working? It looks like the framebuffer is being used. If I run glxinfo, it reports

direct rendering: no. (If you want to find out why, try setting LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose)

how do I do this?

Chris

exvor · 11-27-2009, 07:22 PM

Quote:

LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose

This is telling you to create an environment variable with this information. You would do this by going to a console and typing "export LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose" and that will give you more detailed output for why its not working. Also the neomagic driver is a X windows driver not a kernel module so I don't think it gets loaded in a way that you can find it with lsmod. Then again I could be wrong since the only external driver I have ever had to use was for nvidia and that has a separate installer altogether. At least for 3d acceleration, I kinda try and keep everything I own with nvidia products since they are so well supported. I actually had not heard of neomagic and had to look them up in a google search. Alot of what I found was very old like circa 1998 stuff, and the only rummings of any sorta accelerated driver was in regards to a special redhat driver and no where else. It is possible that the 3d acceleration was never implemented and only 2d was achieved by the driver in xwindows. This normally occurs when the device manufacutre would not realse chip specs so that one can be either developed or would not release a binary driver that can be loaded ( like in the case for nvidia tho I thought I remember something that said they finally gave up what was needed for devs to make a 3d accelerated driver separate from the one on there page )