GeForce4 MX480 supported (debian sarge)?

Moloko · 07-27-2004, 05:56 PM

Trying to upgrade an older k7 system, is the GeForce4 MX480 fully supported in xfree86 (debian sarge)?

HappyTux · 07-27-2004, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moloko
Trying to upgrade an older k7 system, is the GeForce4 MX480 fully supported in xfree86 (debian sarge)?

Never heard of a 480 but my 440 SE works fine I am using the Nvidia driver but it worked fine with the X's nv driver off the start.

Moloko · 07-27-2004, 06:40 PM

Is opengl working? I do want a card which works completely. This card is budget-minded, so I might get it if it works.

The 480 is probably just a newer version of the 440.

auditek747 · 07-27-2004, 07:20 PM

I have a GeForce4 MX480 that I use on Slack.
It is picked up as a GeForce4 MX440 with 8x agp.
It works well with both XFree and Xorg using the
NVIDIA driver.

HappyTux · 07-27-2004, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moloko
Is opengl working? I do want a card which works completely. This card is budget-minded, so I might get it if it works.

The 480 is probably just a newer version of the 440.

You would have to install the Nvidia driver to get the GL working but that would be the same for any distro. Just to be sure go to the Nvidia driver page and check out the README file for supported cards I can't see why it wouldn't be though they have just about everything supported in that F***in huge driver it is like 1+ mb in size when loaded.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_d..._1.0-6106.html

Just checked the damn thing is just about 5mb now!

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
nvidia               4815124  12

Moloko · 07-27-2004, 07:40 PM

It doesn't list the 480...thnx for helping.

auditek747 · 07-27-2004, 08:09 PM

It'll run it.

Moloko · 07-28-2004, 09:28 AM

Ok, I'll take my changes. Any caveats with the nvidia installer for sarge?

HappyTux · 07-28-2004, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moloko
Ok, I'll take my changes. Any caveats with the nvidia installer for sarge?

Well the 5336 and 6106 driver seems to want a fully configured source tree on a 2.6 instead of the kernel-headers being installed and being linked to /usr/src/linux like they used too be happy with this started around 2.6.5 IIRC. Then there are the usual changes that need to be made you have to edit the file /etc/modutils/aliases and put the line.

Code:

# Added by me for Nvidia card
alias char-major-195 nvidia

In the file and then run update-modules to have the information entered into the /etc/modules.conf for use on boot. You also have to comment out the Load "GLcore" & Load "dri" if present in your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file in this section.

Code:

Section "Module"
#       Load  "GLcore"
#       Load  "dri"
        Load  "ddc"
        Load  "int10"
        Load  "bitmap"
        Load  "dbe"
        Load  "vbe"
        Load  "extmod"
        Load  "glx"
        Load  "record"
        Load  "xtrap"
        Load  "speedo"
        Load  "freetype"
        Load  "type1"
EndSection

Other than that it is fairly easy to install the driver.

Moloko · 07-28-2004, 03:02 PM

Thnx

let's see if I can be a Happy Tux as well

Moloko · 07-28-2004, 03:41 PM

hmm, if I try the Debian way it wants to install an i386 optimised kernel along with nvidia-glx, which I'm not happy about. I already have a k7 optimised kernel. What is the best way? The Debian way or the Nvidia installer? And what's the point of having a nvidia-agp kernel module if you have to built your own???

(at times like this I really hate using Linux...

)

Moloko · 07-28-2004, 04:24 PM

Update: nvidia-glx wants to install nvidia-kernel-2.4.26-1-386, but I just built 2.6.6 nvidia modules, so that would be pointless. Will it work with 2.6.6?

HappyTux · 07-28-2004, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moloko
Update: nvidia-glx wants to install nvidia-kernel-2.4.26-1-386, but I just built 2.6.6 nvidia modules, so that would be pointless. Will it work with 2.6.6?

The 2.4 will not work with the 2.6 kernel. How exactly did you build the module for 2.6 if you used the Nvidia installer then you only need to make the changes in the XF86Config-4 file and check to make sure that the alias line for nvidia is in the file /etc/modprobe.d/aliases if not there then add it ignoring the warning not to edit the file. If you used the Debian method then just install the .deb you built for 2.6.6. Oh and since you have a 2.6 kernel have you made the /sys directory and put this in the /etc/fstab to have the sysfs mounted at boot.

Code:

## Needed for kernel 2.6
none            /sys            sysfs   defaults                0       0

Moloko · 07-28-2004, 07:01 PM

It works now

I'm very pleased

Excellent framerates the Debian way.

I first added the nvidia info to /etc/modutils/aliases as you pointed out and got to work:

I use the k7 prebuilt kernel, so I installed nvidia-kernel-source, nvidia-kernel-common and kernel-source-2.6.6. I then compiled the nvidia module against the kernel source of 2.6.6 and after installing the nvidia-deb I copied it into the prebuilt kernel tree.

I first installed the nvidia-glx (which unhappily also installed nvidia-kernel-2.4.26-1-386, but is left unused) and then loaded the (already present in the kernel) nvidia-agp and the (just compiled) nvidia module. Last, but not least I reconfigured X, choose the nvidia driver instead of the nv driver and unchecked GLcore and DRI.

I fired up X and thus direct rendering was present. A quick test with Armagetron made me happy. Very good rendering at 1280x1024 at 60 to 70 fps (which is much more than my previous Voodoo could handle).

Hopefully more readers find this helpful, because the several guides I found were more confusing than helpfull (noobs need straight answers, not a tech guide) and next to that, the debian modules are not completely ready. Apparently dependencies are incorrect and a package called nvidia-graphics-driver is not available at all at the moment.

I will try the drivers from nvidia some other time, for now the Debian provided packages do a decent job.

p.s. the card is a 440 anyway (oops...)