My graphic card is S3 ViRGE-VX PCI (988) with accelerator 3Dfx Voodoo2.

I just installed Slackware 9.1, and the graphic card seems OK (gnome started with no problem), but I can't say the same for the accelerator (I'm rying to watch a DVIX movie with gxine and it is very very slow).

May be the basic Slackware has not the correct driver for that accelerator?
How do I set it up?

Please understand that I am just a Newbie trying right now to migrate from Windows...

Thanks

Well, first of all, have a look at
/var/log/XFree86.0.log
and check which driver X actually usues...

Secondly: Voodoo (2, 3 ,...) are 3-D accelerators.
I wouldn't expect that chipset to be very beneficial
for playing movies....

Thirdly: what are the CPU and RAM specs of
your machine?


Cheers,
Tink

OK. Let's answer to the three questions.

1) Let's have a look at /var/log/XFree86.0.log

I report here the sections of it that seem to be of interest:

....
(II) Module ABI versions:
XFree86 ANSI C Emulation: 0.2
XFree86 Video Driver: 0.6
XFree86 XInput driver : 0.4
XFree86 Server Extension : 0.2
XFree86 Font Renderer : 0.4

.....
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libpcidata.a
46 (II) Module pcidata: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
47 compiled for 4.3.0, module version = 1.0.0
48 ABI class: XFree86 Video Driver, version 0.6

.....
(--) PCI:*(0:11:0) S3 Inc. 86c988 [ViRGE/VX] rev 2, Mem @ 0xdc000000/26, BIOS @ 0x000c0000/16
(--) PCI: (0:12:0) 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 2 rev 2, Mem @ 0xe2000000/24
......
......
(II) Loading extension XVideo
(II) Loading extension XVideo-MotionCompensation
.....
.....
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.o
(II) Module vesa: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
compiled for 4.3.0, module version = 1.0.0
Module class: XFree86 Video Driver
ABI class: XFree86 Video Driver, version 0.6
.....
.....
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libvbe.a
(II) Module vbe: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
compiled for 4.3.0, module version = 1.1.0
ABI class: XFree86 Video Driver, version 0.6
....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2) I know that Voodoo2 is not a fine card, but in Windows 98 it works. Barely, but it works. It should do also in Linux (actually: I expect better performances on Linux, I am confident it is a far more efficient system than Windows).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3) RAM: 256K
CPU: Intel Penthium III (Katmai), 451.031 MHz


I really thank you of your assistance. I long to prove my friends that Linux is better...

I add useful data to the problem. I found the suggestion on Mplayer docs to verify which driver I am using by typing

xvinfo

and what I get is

X-Video Extension version 2.2
screen #0
no adaptors present

I get there is not a video driver being used for my accelerator. How can I do to fix the problem?

It's using the vesa-driver. No acceleration
what so ever. The PCI reading just says it
found a PCI device that it recognises as
video device.

Run xf86config and set the machine up
manually.


Cheers,
Tink

Yes, but... How? I tryed and it asked many things of which I know nothing, like the sync frequency of my monitor and so on. I don't want to risk to upset what is working. Can't you indicate me an example of the instructions I have to insert into the xf86config file? Maybe it's better that I edit it by hand.

Thanks

I tryed running xf86config. For devices 3Dfx it counsels the driver tdfx, but it gives an error (apparently, it can't find any device suitable for that driver).

I saw in the list of drivers that there is a s3virge (which matches the name of my graphic card) and I tryed that. It works, and it is definitely an improvement respect to the vesa driver. But still, there is no acceleration, the "xvinfo" still gives "no adaptors present".

Is it just a matter of finding the correct driver for 3dfx Voodoo2, or is there something else?

Can I please see the output of
lspci -v
?


Cheers,
Tink

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64
Memory at e4000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: [a0] AGP version 1.0

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 64
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=64

00:04.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:04.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01) (prog-if 80 [Master])
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32
I/O ports at d800 [size=16]

00:04.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
I/O ports at d400 [size=32]

00:04.3 Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 02)
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 9

00:0b.0 VGA compatible controller: S3 Inc. 86c988 [ViRGE/VX] (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
Memory at dc000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64M]
Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [disabled] [size=64K]

00:0c.0 Multimedia video controller: 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 2 (rev 02)
Flags: fast devsel
Memory at e2000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=16M]

Right, so you actually do have two cards.
The virge and a voodoo ... is the virge's output
looped through the voodoo?

http://dri.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/m...HardwareVendor

Have a look at the link above ...


Cheers,
Tink

MMhh... the indicated link says that for Voodoo2 there is no support... Is there really no hope, then?

I am not such a hardware expert. What does it mean that the "virge's output is looped through the voodoo"? And how do I find out?

That means that you only can attach one monitor?

As for the acceleration: you should be able to use
the standard tdfx driver for 2D accelerated output.


Cheers,
Tink

I tryed using tdfx. Here is the relevant section of the XF86 configuration file I edited by hand.
This is the file that works.

Section "Device"
Identifier "S3_VIRGE"
Driver "s3virge"
BusID "PCI:0:11:0"
#VideoRam 4096
# Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Voodoo2"
Driver "tdfx"
BusID "PCI:0:12:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "S3_VIRGE"
Monitor "My Monitor"
EndSection

As I said, this works well, but doesn't use the accelerator. I tryed to substitute in the same file the line
Device "S3_VIRGE"
with
Device "Voodoo2"

and I got a FATAL ERROR.

I report below the final part of the log file (Iknow i should report all the file and I will do so if you think it is useful, but it's so long...)

(II) TDFX: Driver for 3dfx Banshee/Voodoo3 chipsets: 3dfx Banshee,
3dfx Voodoo3, 3dfx Voodoo5
(II) Primary Device is: PCI 00:0b:0
(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

The problem I think is this: the indication of the PCI address os the Voodoo2 card is not getting through. Actually, that Primary Device at PCI 00:0b:0 that is being seeked, is the same that is used with the ViRGE card.

Where's the bug??

Thanks