I have read every GL related post on this site. Any of the OpenGL screensavers are very 'stuttery'. You can practically see each frame refreshing. How do I configure OpenGL? I have googled, but the articles & questions usually start at specifics of getting it to work with Nvidia.

My kernel is 2.4.20-8
RedHat 9
Video card: ATI mobility 128.

From what I've read, I know that GL is on my machine in some shape of form.

I ran glxinfo and got a lot of output. If its asked for I'll post it. The only interesting thing it think was

direct rendering: no

But anyway, thanks in advance. I'd like to play tuxracer especially

In case it helps, the console output when I run tuxracer (also very klunky) is..

Xlib: extension "XFree86-DRI" missing on display ":0.0".

I have the correct driver for my card installed (r128), but the "enable hardware acceleration" box is greyed out. The DPI is "unknown".

A few questions:

What resolution do you have set?

Is the ATI mobility 128 card actually a 128MB card?

Do you have the latest ATI drivers from their site?

also what fps [frames per sec] does
glxgears
produce?

1400 x 1050 is the resolution.
Its actually only an 8 meg card.
According to a website I visited http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO/video.html
my driver is up to date. I'll check the website also, but I think it's up to date.

glxgears (when running in the small default window) gives me...
Xlib: extension "XFree86-DRI" missing on display ":0.0".
635 frames in 5.0 seconds = 127.000 FPS (this is the average of the outputs +/- 50FPS).

I'd say try this........in your /etc/X11/XF86Config file
in the Section "Devices" put this under the Driver line-

Mossy, the website says:

I should also mention that this is a laptop display. I've just been looking at the xfreeconfig, and the display is a generic laptop display panel. The driver seems to be bang on, but the display info is vague?

The display driver supplied with a given notebook has been customized for:

* the built-in flat panel display
* any other graphics or video options installed in that specific computer.

As a result of these customizations, ATI Customer Care is unable to offer drivers for notebooks.
We recommend that you:

* use the driver supplied with your notebook computer, or,
* obtain a driver update from the manufacturer of your notebook computer.




320mb, I'll try that when my download is finished and reboot.

Thanks both of you.

320mb, I tried that, but It made no difference. (As far as tuxracer is concerned anyway).
I changed my display config from the generic one to "Dell 1400 X 1050 Laptop Display", and everything works the same. No better, no worse.

I think the resolution may be set too high for your card to run 3d apps. I would set it on 1024x768 - this will allow it to divert more attention to the applications.

hmm. Is the frame rate any better after res change?

No, theres no real improvement after changing the display. Would changing my desktop to 1024 x 768 be the same as running the app in a window of that size?

You see, I was able to play castle wolfenstein and halflife with no problems on a "previous non linux OS", so I know my hardware is up to it ( with the correct software support").

Right but I think they default to 800x600 ~ what res are you trying to play the game?

It may not be the res but - however I don't know how to config Open GL if that's what's necessary.

Are you able to get anything 3D to work without lagging?

I tried to find the res of the game, but couldnt get any verbose output. No config files for tuxracer to be found either. The game is in a little screen just over half the size of my display so I'd estimate around 800 x 600.

And no, I don't get any 3d working without lagging. Maybe it is a GL config thing then.

you say you dont have DRI. that means you don't have 3D acceleration, so any graphical software will run quite slow.
I have an ATI radeon 9000, and without DRI tuxracer gave me a framerate of about 1fps. really not playable. after i got the driver for my videocard working, i did have DRI, and all graphicall software is running MUCH faster.

So i don't think you should search for the solution in the openGL stuff. It's your videodriver which isn't working right. Does your XFREE log say anything about DRI?

What is the brand name and model of the laptop?

We may be able to dig up a better driver or somthing as referred to in the link.