Hey all. First off, I have to say this place rocks! This is my first time posting so if I do, or don't do something that offends anyone, please let me know. One of my computers is running a Matrox Millennium II PCI video card. The motherboard is a dual 300 PII, if that's even relevant, with 128MB RAM. I started off with a google search in the linux directory and went from there, scouring the internet for drivers. Typically, I'm fairly creative and effective when it comes to searches (Google Hacks by O'Reilly is a good book, btw), but this particular search comes up empty-handed. If anyone has better luck in searches for linux drivers, specifically video cards, I'd sure like to know. I know there are those of you out there that have a real good set of Linux-related bookmarks. Thanks ahead of time for any tips/advice.

You'll just have to recomplie the kernel if
framebuffer support isn't enabled, and re-configure
X to either use the matrox framebuffer or it's native
matrox support ...

Starting with the kernel, however, is a good idea.

If you have no idea what I'm going on about, there's
a pretty exhaustive thread on kernel compilation at
the very top of this forum, and The Linux Documentation
Project's Kernel-HOWTO

Btw, try THIS Google search ;)

Cheers,
Tink

If the Matrox-specific framebuffer stuff is as bad as the Radeon fb stuff then I'd wouldn't even bother trying, just stick with the VESA fb and be done with it, you'll only have 60Hz but it's better than an 80x25 text console.

As for X, you'll most likely have to use the DRI drivers as I took a look at the Matrox driver page and theres a "none planed" mark in the linux column for the Millenium II.

Use the mga driver that comes with XFree86 4.3.0 for the Matrox Millenium II. It works pretty well.

I know this question will sound dumb, but as I am still a n00b, oh well...: The mga driver, is this automatically loaded when the hardware is probed by Slackware so all I'd have to do is specify Driver "mga" within the XF86Config file? Also, when someone says "install drivers", this of course means I need to find some sort of .tar.gz file, or manually configuring an existing file, or both. Thanks in advance.

The required mga driver should be included with Slackwares XFree86 distribution. Just run the xf86config script (as root) and when you get to the configuration section, look for the generic Matrox driver in the first couple of driver pages.

What problems do you have using radeon fb? It works fine
on my notebook... mobility R6

Cheers,
Tink

I can't get more than 640x480 using it on my Radeon 9500 Pro, I've tried every permutation of readeon, vesa, vga and video lines I can think of and the best I can get is 640x480.

Yes.
However, if you don't already have a working XF86Config file, the easiest way to get one would be to run an XFree86 configuration program just as LSD suggested. Although there are other configuration programs besides xf86config, it is the one I tend to use as well.

If someone says "install drivers," then they probably mean download them from somewhere, and by extension, do some configuration related to them. However, drivers for video cards other than more recent 3D cards that manufacturers release drivers for don't usually need to be installed. They are already included in XFree86 and merely need to be selected. Even most cards that you can get a manufacturer released driver for have reasonable 2D drivers already available in XFree86.

An additional note: Since DRI (what LSD referred to in his earlier post) has been incorporated into XFree86 4.x, you should load the DRI module in your XF86Config file for drivers that make use of this feature, such as the mga one. The DRI site that LSD pointed out may also provide a more updated DRI driver than the one supplied with XFree86 4.3.0 (although it also may not), but I have never tried to install a more up to date DRI driver than one included in X, so I don't know how much trouble this would be, or whether it would be worth it.

Awesome. I'll locate the info in the XF86Config file ya'll mentioned and go from there. I've tried installing Slack, RH9 (for a school project, not by choice), NetBSD and Debian. None of these distros were successful in loading the default configuration for starting X so I have to believe I may be better served by simply replacing my existing vidcard with a more compatible one. I'll try the fix first, but I believe I'm fighting a losing battle. I really appreciate all of you guys's advice!

Just a small piece of information. I've loaded Slackware 9 on a machine at work with a Millenium II card, and I had no difficulty with it at all. I did not use the DRI module (so apparently the driver will work without it), but it was no more difficult to get working without it than any other card I've used.

If you read the man page for "mga" you'll see that the driver cannot probe available memory limit on the M-II. So if you want to set higher resolutions you can add a "VideoRam" entry in the "Device" sectin of your XF86Config file.

Actually I messed mine up and had to get to console mode, fix the typo, and restart X. But it now works beautifully.

For example, my MII has 16MB onboard (1024*16):

VideoRam 16384

I also added modes:
"1280x1024" "1024x768"


-shane