Most modern machines come with a video card which is able to accelerate the rendering of 3D graphics - the most common manufacturers of GPUs (Graphics Processing Unit) are
ATi and
NVidia.
Both of these companies provide proprietry drivers that enable acceleration for cards that user their GPUs - please not that these drivers are not open source and so, by installing them, will 'taint' your kernel. This change does not affect the running of your machine in any way, but is due to the licensing nature of both the kernel and the proprietry drivers.
ATi:
Instructions for Slackware 10:
1) Download the latest ATi driver for XFree86 4.3: fglrx-4.3.0-3.12.0.i386.rpm from
ATi's linux drivers page
Note: It is probably best if you return to the CLI (command line interface) by exiting X now
2) Convert this rpm to a Slackware package, by running:
$ rpm2tgz fglrx-4.3.0-3.12.0.i386.rpm
3) Install this newly created Slackware package, by running:
$ su -
<enter your root password as prompted>
# installpkg fglrx-4.3.0-3.12.0.i386.rpm
4) Build the ATi driver, by running:
# cd /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod
# chmod +x make.sh
# sh make.sh
5) Install the ATi drivers, by running:
# cd /lib/modules/fglrx
# chmod +x make_install.sh
# sh make_install.sh
6) Create a new X.org config file that contains the information for 3D acceleration:
# fglrxconfig
Enter the information as prompted, allow the file to be saved at /etc/X11/XFree86-4
# mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.bak
# mv /etc/X11/XFree86-4 /etc/X11/xorg.conf
7) Start X as a normal user:
# exit
$ startx
8) You can check if you are using the fglrx accelerated module by running:
$ fglrxinfo
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
Instead of, 'Mesa'
NVidia:
1. Download NVIDIA driver from :
http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux.html (choose IA32 for Intel/AMD 32 bits processors, IA64 for Intel 64 bits, AMD64 for AMD 64 bits)
2. Install driver with :
exit X session if it is running
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86.xxx.pkgx.run
And follow the instruction
If install complains about kernel, indicate your kernel version to the installer (example for 2.6.7) :
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86.xxx.pkgx.run -k 2.6.7
3. Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf or /etc/X11/XF86Config :
- At Module section, make sure this option is enabled :
Load "glx"
And comment or remove Load "dri" and Load "GLcore" if present.
- Scroll down until Device section for video card
.required setting :
Driver "nvidia"
.optional settings :
read APPENDIX D: X CONFIG OPTIONS of /usr/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/README
Save your x config...
4. Make sure nvidia module is loaded :
lsmod | grep nvidia
if not, load it : /sbin/modprobe nvidia
5. startx
6. For VIA agp chipset owners only :
You can add performances by tweaking nvidia driver before install it :
- extract driver package :
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-xxx-pkgx.run -x
cd NVIDIA-Linux-x86-xxx-pkgx
from this directory, edit :
usr/src/nv/os-registry.c
And set values :
* static int NVreg_EnableVia4x = 1;
* static int NVreg_EnableAGPSBA = 1;
* static int NVreg_EnableAGPFW = 1;
Save the file and install driver from NVIDIA-Linux-x86-xxx-pkgx directory :
./nvidia-installer
