TUX Racer.... Sooooooo sloooooow

bxb32001 · 07-04-2002, 08:07 AM

Hi again everyone!

I'm trying out games that came with my Red Hat 7.3, for some reason Tux Racer performs like it was on a 386... I have a P3-800 with 384 MB RAM and a 32 MB Riva TNT video card. Why so slow?

danrees · 07-04-2002, 08:18 AM

You need to download the NVIDIA drivers rather than use the ones that come with RedHat because the default drivers do not offer 3D acceleration.

Head over to http://www.nvidia.com and you will find Linux drivers listed on the drivers page; you should then download the -glx and -kernel RPMs for Red Hat 7.3 and your kernel (e.g. athlon, i386 etc)

bxb32001 · 07-04-2002, 09:03 AM

Thanks Danrees,

I'm on the nvidia site right now... would you know another download location? The nvidia site's links aren't coming through....

Aussie · 07-04-2002, 09:26 AM

The nvidia site is it for the linux drivers, make sure you download and read the readme file before you install, it will save you a lot of grief if you read it first, pay particular attention to the parts that deal with tnt cards.

bxb32001 · 07-04-2002, 09:40 AM

That's the problem... I've downloaded the rpm, but for some reason the readme link just won't work....

Aussie · 07-04-2002, 10:01 AM

Download the .tar.gz format files, the readme is in the glx package.

bxb32001 · 07-05-2002, 11:03 AM

[Sorry I couldn't reply sooner, holidays have been good to me]

Thanks Aussie, and quite a big text file that was... Quite scared of tackling XFree86, as all average joes/newbies are.... I'm trying to summon up my courage.....

danrees · 07-05-2002, 12:33 PM

bxb32001 - there is no need to be scared, just use su to login as root and follow the instructions in the readme file. Before you start editing /etc/X11/XF86Config-4, you can make a backup by doing something like:

# cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.old

If something goes wrong, you can just restore the backup config file.

bxb32001 · 07-06-2002, 05:17 AM

Thanks Danrees,

Tried it... first installed the NVIDIA_kernel.... it said it installed successfully but the NVIDIA_kernel module was not found - what does this mean?

Anyway I went through with it and when the time tame came to edit XF86Config-4 I suddenly realized I did not know how.

I took a deep breath and typed pico -w XF86Config-4

exited and saved....

Bottom line is, it wasn't successful (X wouldn't load) and I had to uninstall the rpms and run setup to get X working again....

A litlle guidance please?

danrees · 07-06-2002, 08:19 AM

Have you got the right RPM for your kernel? Unfortunately if you upgrade your Red Hat kernel via up2date / Red Hat network then the Nvidia drivers won't work, in which case you should probably follow the instructions for using the source RPM.

Quote:

Instructions:

To build a custom NVIDIA_kernel rpm for your system, pass rpm the
'--rebuild' flag:

$ rpm --rebuild NVIDIA_kernel.src.rpm

Watch for the line that looks something like (the path may be different):

Wrote: /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/NVIDIA_kernel.i386.rpm

and use that as input to rpm to install:

$ rpm -ivh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/NVIDIA_kernel.i386.rpm

or upgrade:

$ rpm -Uvh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/NVIDIA_kernel.i386.rpm

To install the NVIDIA_GLX package, follow the instructions above for
either installing or upgrading NVIDIA_GLX from rpm.

It is crucial that if you are using a Pentium II or higher, you get the "i686" one. If you are using an AMD Athlon, you must get the "athlon" kernel RPM.

bxb32001 · 07-07-2002, 10:18 PM

I tried... I really tried.

I tried the RPMs, quite sure I had the right ones.... displayed the error: coundn't find the module...

I tried the source and I just get command line options... red the FAQ and it said I don't have the rpm build packages installed... grrr.

Found a great post at the nvidia forum that you can read

here

... and I tried the tar files but still won't work, says
You appear to be compiling the NVdriver kernel module with a compiler different from the one that was used to compile the running kernel. This may be perfectly fine, but there are cases where this can lead to unexpected behaviour and system crashes.... blah blah

... read the FAQ and it says something about compiling the thing with the same version used for the kernel ....

....Ooooh my aching head.

- Bxb

bxb32001 · 07-07-2002, 10:25 PM

.... Maybe I don't have the kernel source installed. Maybe I don't have the damn build packages installed.... maybe my installation got screwed up.

I'll try again, but I think I need some aspirin and a nap...

- bxb

bxb32001 · 07-08-2002, 12:52 AM

Hmmm,

Can't you just install the source files directly? Why do you have to --rebuild?

bxb32001 · 07-09-2002, 11:54 PM

YESSSSSS!!!

I've done it! Thanks everyone (Danrees, Aussie)... I installed the kernel development and RPM development packages. Then I rebuilt the source RPMs... didn't know how to vim so I picoed my XF86Config-4...

And now I see Tux fly (got too excited, forgot about the fish). Seriusly, Tux needs some for of protection with all the landings I've put him through

danrees · 07-10-2002, 03:47 AM

What's your best time?