A Guide: Enabling 3D Acceleration in X11

modprob · 07-16-2009, 09:17 AM

Hi everybody (in dr nick voice),
I've installed Slackware 64 current on my pc: a Gigabit DS4H which has an ati HD3300 onboard IGP. Everything is working great (thanks to all the Slackware developpers and contributors) except that i could not get the xserver/display manager to use my 2 monitors properly.
The problem is that i want to extend my desktop to the second monitor but all i get now is two identical display (mirroring).

So far, i've tried:

1) I tried to install the proprietary ATI driver Catalyst 9.6 But apparently, the module does not compile with kernel 2.6.29.

2) I edited the xorg.conf file to use the open source "Radeon" driver and set the "Virtual" option to fit my two monitors. Using xrandr, i could see the extended desktop but then the primary monitor is forced off

It seems with this method, i could not get both monitors turned on at the same time.
i found this in the /var/log/Xorg.0.log

Quote:

drmOpenDevice: node name is /dev/dri/card14
drmOpenDevice: open result is -1, (No such device)
drmOpenDevice: open result is -1, (No such device)
drmOpenDevice: Open failed
(EE) RADEON(0): [dri] RADEONDRIGetVersion failed to open the DRM
[dri] Disabling DRI.

What's weird is that /usr/bin/glxinfo tells me that direct rendering is on.

3) After reading around, i found out that the error i was getting in the log file is related to kernel module named "agpart" which i could not find in my system.
seeing that "agpart" is missing, i tried to recompile the kernel (using Alien's awesome guide) but i could not find the module or "character devices >> /dev/agpart" anywhere in the kernel configuration.

so after a week of trying anything i could think of, i come to you for help.

PC configuration:
Monitors: 2 X Samsung SyncMaster 2253BW
Processor: Phenom 9550
RAM: 4 GIG
Motherboard: Gigabit DS4H with onboard ATI HD3300

PS: forgive my bad english

modprob · 07-17-2009, 02:57 PM

I finally got it working by using the "randeonhd" instead of the "Radeon" driver.

I hope it helps people with the same problem.

mlpa · 07-26-2009, 10:16 AM

Hi, sorry I'm a newbie, but when I install nvidia drivers and execute

Quote:

glxinfo

I see

Quote:

direct rendering: Yes

, without DRI in Xorg.conf, can anyone explain?

I use slackware-current.

Eternal_Newbie · 07-29-2009, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlpa

Hi, sorry I'm a newbie, but when I install nvidia drivers and execute I see , without DRI in Xorg.conf, can anyone explain?

I use slackware-current.

Direct Rendering and Compositing are enable by default in recent versions of XOrg, if the driver supports them.

rdsherman · 08-07-2009, 06:42 PM

I just upgraded all the new X rebuilds & upgrades in Slackware-Current from 2009 August 06. All functions just fine except that when I built a new system on a separate partition, drm, dri, glx, etc were dead because there was no /dev/dri/card0 device node. Copying the old one to the new partition fixed it. But, why is the X server no longer creating this node?

Anyone else seen this? If you are simply upgrading, it will not appear because the old dev/dri/... remains. Thanks for any assistance.

modprob · 08-08-2009, 12:46 AM

You shouldn't be creating devices nodes manually because you do not know their minor and major numbers. Most of the devices in /dev are dynamically created.

Do you have a /etc/X11/xorg.conf file ?

What video card/driver are you using ?

You could start looking for the problem in /var/log/Xorg.0.log

let us know what you find

rdsherman · 08-08-2009, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by modprob

You shouldn't be creating devices nodes manually because you do not know their minor and major numbers. Most of the devices in /dev are dynamically created.

Do you have a /etc/X11/xorg.conf file?

What video card/driver are you using?

You could start looking for the problem in /var/log/Xorg.0.log

let us know what you find

In my kernel, 2.6.30.3, I do have DRM enabled for the i915 driver, yet, with the latest X updates, no node is created. (It was just 2 days ago before I did the upgrade.)

My Lenovo R61e has an Intel 965 chipset, Xorg log says i915 drivers are loaded just fine.

Yes, xorg.conf, has been working fine for the last few months. Nothing special since X autodetects all modules, screens, these days.

I'm studying Xorg.0.log hourly trying to get a clue. With all the X pkgs prior to Thursday, I had no problems at all.

cwwilson721 · 08-13-2009, 09:57 PM

As soon as Slackware 13 comes out, I'll update this thread for 64bit.

I have recently installed 12.2 on my 'new' 64-bit system (AMD 5200+, 4GB DDRII, Nvidia 6150 onboard, Nvidia 9800GT PCIx16, multi SATAII hdd), and everything works just the same as the 'old' 32-bit system, so no real update is required yet. However, I haven't installed SW-Current64, nor done any tests. I'm waiting for it to be a 'final' release of Slackware 13-64bit.
I feel that the wait will be worth it, due to SW13 being only in RC status at the moment, and things are still being wrung out. Waiting until final is the only way to make sure that x/kde/kernel/whatever else doesn't change and makes the work invalid.

So stay tuned....

onebuck · 09-14-2009, 04:00 PM

Hi,

Any progress on the Thread addition/update for Slackware® 13.0 x86_64?

cwwilson721 · 09-17-2009, 07:23 AM

Still downloading it. SLOW internet
Plus, wife is taking college classes online, can't get it then.
When I've got it up, I'll let this thread know

Martinezio · 09-18-2009, 03:27 AM

Well, the only change I made to run DRI accelerated xorg in Slack64 was to install new, 64-bit drivers from NVidia

Just work. Currently, I'm using KDE environment with Compiz and Emerald

You should let the drivers installer make a config file, or use Your old config, but remember to change all paths pointing previously to /usr/lib/ - it should pointed to /usr/lib64/.

atters · 09-24-2009, 05:41 PM

I'm having some difficulty in getting a machine to enable OpenGL compositing within KDE.

Slackware 13 was installed using the "Full" install option.

NVIDIA-Linux-x86-96.43.13-pkg1.run (current as of 9-24-09) was then used to install the Nvidia drivers. I allowed the driver installer to edit xorg.conf to its satisfaction, but I've been led to understand xorg.conf no longer *has* to exist to start X in Slack 13. (I observed this after trying to compare the xorg.conf file from a Slack 13 install on my Acer Aspire One netbook which shows only xorg.conf-vesa at /etc/X11/. The AAO properly sets its 1024x600 screen resolution and works perfectly with OpenGL compositing which indicates to me that xorg.conf-vesa is definetly not being used.)

I made only minor edits to xorg.conf on the machine in question. Two lines in the "Monitor" section to set HorizSync and VertRefresh, and another line in the "Device" section to manually specify the monitor's 1280x1024 screen resolution (which were not detected correctly out-of-the-box, unlike the netbook).

KDE gives me the "Failed to activate desktop effects using the given configuration options." error message when trying to use OpenGL *or* Xrender.

I'd be happy to provide my xorg.conf if requested, but I won't waste the space unless someone wants to take a peek at it.

Any and all assistance will be appreciated and thank you just for reading.

Martinezio · 09-25-2009, 02:59 AM

For my screen, I've been forced to setup proper VertRefresh and ModeLine to get use my screen resolution.

For my Asus VW192s proper and working modeline is:

Code:

Section "Monitor"
    ...
    VertRefresh   60.0 - 60.0
    ModeLine      "1440x900"  106  1440 1540 1692 1916 900 903 909 934
    ...
EndSection

Without this values for vertical refresh and modeline xorg refuses to work with error: X11: no screen found.
Try to find out yours modeline.

cwwilson721 · 09-26-2009, 11:02 AM

OK.. I finally got Slackware 13/64 downloaded. I decided to wait for my new sata drive before installing.

Well, I installed. Using the exact same steps as in post #1, I installed the Nvidia drivers.

And all works fine.

Next step: A new pci-e card (Currently running a 8400GS..Too slow for most games)

Stay tuned!

Switch7 · 09-26-2009, 07:04 PM

I'm trying to install Slackware 13 64bit on this PC. I'm seeing people having trouble with it and I'm not sure if I should install it yet. Searching threads doesn't come up with much information with the things I need for slackware 13. The only things I'm planning on doing is browse the internet, watch videos, and use virtual machine to use other operating systems on slackware 13. I'm not able to watch any videos on any of the other PC I setup (ATI driver problem?) with linux and it seems like people are having trouble with mplayer as well. It works smoothly when the mplayer's windows is small but if I maximize the screen, the fps drops significantly.

Following this wiki (http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/ATI...uild_%28ENG%29) with slackware 13 still works the same way correct?

PC configuration:
Processor: Intel i7 950 (I'm not sure why I have this processor, I ordered a cheaper processor but Hewlett-Packard sent me a i7 950.)
RAM: 12 GB DDR3
Graphic card: ATI radeon HD4850