bigjohn Posted December 22, 2005 Report Share Posted December 22, 2005 I know that it's been a while since I'd had Mandriva/Mandrake installed, sure I expect a few things to have changed, but some I don't quite follow. For instance, when I did my weekly updates a while ago, I noticed an update for the kernel-sources. OK thinks me, that means theres a new kernel available and I'll have to sort the nvidia driver. No problem. While I was completing the updates, I noticed a package called "dkms nvidia-something something 8174 something 20060.plf". OK so I can see that it's a plf package somehow related to the nvidia driver. So I installed it. I thought I'd just check with the howtos and things, and started follow aru's guide, fortunately I hadn't got too far and was able to restart the xserver so that I could fire up the package manager to get rid of that package - I'd noticed that the nvidia-driver at "their" site was a slightly later number - so I got that instead. Again, the only thing I had to do that I don't recall from previous mandriva/mandrake installs, was the chmod thing that aru suggests, I did it anyway. So the nvidia-driver is all installed with no probs (just a small mod to the /boot/grub/menu.1st file so as to make the new kernel version default), and away I went. My query is that the dkms nvidia ??????????8174?????20060.plf package is 4 mb in size - the nvidia driver from nvidia directly is 11.something megs. Whats the difference? and whats dkms - surely I would have been better off using that, instead of having to mess around with the "bin file version" from nvidia? It's not that I've got a problem/issue with it or anything, though I seem to remember seeing this dkms thing else where - is there some guidance notes and/or instructions for it ??? TVM. regards John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarecrow Posted December 22, 2005 Report Share Posted December 22, 2005 The dkms package is a specific one which allows you to update kernels without having to re-run the nvidia stock script. In theory it works fine, but practice is another thing... I suggest downloading the stock nvidia script, and running it whenever you switch kernel (kernel headers- not the full kernel-source, must be present). It sounds troublesome, but it actually is simpler than using dkms stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjohn Posted December 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2005 The dkms package is a specific one which allows you to update kernels without having to re-run the nvidia stock script. In theory it works fine, but practice is another thing...I suggest downloading the stock nvidia script, and running it whenever you switch kernel (kernel headers- not the full kernel-source, must be present). It sounds troublesome, but it actually is simpler than using dkms stuff. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It did make me wonder, because that's how I screwed up the initial install of this 2006. I got a bit "click happy" and installed the plf dkms nvidia thing and when I rebooted it complained like hell - obviously I'd made proper preparation and didn't have a bloody clue how to get rid if it with urpmi cli commands and had to re-install. And this evening it was as I first posted - except now it's not showing as an upgrade - presumably because the stock version of the nvidia driver that I downloaded is later than the dkms plf version(???). Curiously enough, I've still got the main dkms package installed. Do you think it's worth uninstalling that - afterall, I'm familiar with installing nvidia in "traditional" way - don't really care if I get the kernel and kernel sources or just the kernel and kernel headers for that. Though if it's likely that theres still some stuff that needs "ironing out" with this dkms thing then ????? I suppose it's rather like "smart" ???? or not (I'm just guessing - as I've read about using smart packages/manager, but I'm not really "au fait" with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelcole Posted December 23, 2005 Report Share Posted December 23, 2005 DKMS Dynamic Kernel Modules Support.. I think .. What it allows for is loading modules that are not in the standard Kernel after Compliation.. Since the Kernel must all be Open source they will not include drivers(Modules) which are no OS by standard so the only way to load them is after. Or that is what i understood it to be... DKMS works well when you need it in the past i did for some modules.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted December 23, 2005 Report Share Posted December 23, 2005 I found that the dkms-nvidia driver was pants. It didn't work, I only got 200fps on a 128MB card. I removed it, I installed the driver from nvidia's website, and now 4000fps and higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjohn Posted December 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2005 I found that the dkms-nvidia driver was pants. It didn't work, I only got 200fps on a 128MB card. I removed it, I installed the driver from nvidia's website, and now 4000fps and higher. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I did wonder what the difference in package size would make! (dkms version is 4 megs, stock nvidia version is about 11 megs) - so obviously whatever the great and good of the plf have done to try to make it "easier", seem to have detrimental effects is some cases. Oh well, it looks like I'll stick to the stock version then! Funny that you mention the frame rates ianw1974, because I just fired up glx gears and got this bash-3.00$ glxgears3769 frames in 5.0 seconds = 753.777 FPS 3539 frames in 5.0 seconds = 707.763 FPS 3624 frames in 5.0 seconds = 724.764 FPS 3717 frames in 5.0 seconds = 743.239 FPS 504 frames in 5.0 seconds = 100.680 FPS 280 frames in 5.0 seconds = 55.563 FPS 289 frames in 5.0 seconds = 57.720 FPS 279 frames in 5.0 seconds = 55.619 FPS 286 frames in 5.0 seconds = 57.114 FPS X connection to :0.0 broken (explicit kill or server shutdown). bash-3.00$ Which doesn't look brilliant - but thats with a generic 64 meg Geforce 4 MX420 - the higher rate is just the small window that opens after the glxgears command, the lower after maximisation - all at 1600 x 1200 resolution (21 inch monitor) - it's good enough for what I do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted December 23, 2005 Report Share Posted December 23, 2005 I found that even with 200fps it's good enough for basic stuff. But I like the opengl screensavers, which you need around 550fps or higher for it to be any good. Plus none of the free games with mandriva would work if they were opengl based. My laptop comes in about 600fps and is fine for most stuff, but games are a no-no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniewicz Posted December 23, 2005 Report Share Posted December 23, 2005 bigjohn: do you have AGP enabled? Check with: cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status I have an ancient Geforce2 card with 64MB, and I get 850 on glxgears Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarecrow Posted December 23, 2005 Report Share Posted December 23, 2005 dkms sort-of-worked for me, but with some annoying side issues, like "nvidia-settings" as user popping up a very simplistic configuration UI, instead of the real stuff. Why? I frankly don't know, I simply don't use DKMS and have no worries... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dexter11 Posted December 23, 2005 Report Share Posted December 23, 2005 DKMS is what michaelcole wrote. If you installed a new kernel you ha to reinstall the drivers, this thing does it automatically. As for the package size: my guess is that the dkms-nvidia package contains only the kernel module. If you look at the packages you can see there are other nvidia packages too like libnvidia-opengl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjohn Posted December 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2005 bigjohn: do you have AGP enabled? Check with: cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status I have an ancient Geforce2 card with 64MB, and I get 850 on glxgears <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well that gives me this daniewicz, bash-3.00$ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/statusStatus: Enabled Driver: AGPGART AGP Rate: 4x Fast Writes: Disabled SBA: Disabled bash-3.00$ So whether the Fast Writes and SBA have anything to do with that I don't know. ianw1974's comment re the games ? well I only tend to play gnubg, kpatience, Crack Attack! (solo) and very occassionally tux racer, rocks & diamonds, and frozen bubble - all of which seem to run OK. I did notice today when customising my partners login (ha! she's finally got to start using linux until I can crack this bloody samba - I've got all the photos from our digital camera on the system as well - he he! ) that some of the opengl screen savers don't want to do a preview - I presume that that means that I really need to do something to get the frame rate up ????? regards John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjohn Posted December 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2005 DKMS is what michaelcole wrote. If you installed a new kernel you ha to reinstall the drivers, this thing does it automatically.As for the package size: my guess is that the dkms-nvidia package contains only the kernel module. If you look at the packages you can see there are other nvidia packages too like libnvidia-opengl. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Description: NVIDIA OpenGL 1.2 libraries for most GeForce/Quadro based video cards. Supported cards include some of the GeForce2 based cards, most of the Quadro based cards and all GeForce3 based or never cards. See /usr/share/doc/nvidia-xorg-8174/README.txt after installation for the full list of supported cards. You should install this package if you want to enable the NVIDIA hardware OpenGL acceleration for those cards. This is in PLF for it's non-free license. is what it says about that - and it's related to the dkms-nvidia-8174????????????20060-plf package - which I now don't need as I've installed the stock 8178 version from nvidia.com The package is about 8.3 megs, so with the libnvidiaOpengl + the dkms-nvidia-8174 (@4 megs) + the little bit of coding for the dkms thing - I'd suspect thats why the stock driver is 11.4 or so, and the dkms version and libs come to just over the 12 megs (or am I thinking in the wrong direction ????? I suppose that I must have something not quite right, because just occassionally the mouse scrolling takes a little while, and can be slightly jerky when I start the scroll movement, also another occassional thing is that just as I try to do something (often with more than one window open) the screen suddenly splits with a large fuzzy line down the middle and across the bottom, but the viewable section(s) are inverted i.e. the left half of the screen is on the right and vice versa. The only way I know of sorting that is a "bit of the old Ctrl+Alt+Backspace" to kill that login - when the session restarts the screen is fine. Hum? curious? regards John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniewicz Posted December 23, 2005 Report Share Posted December 23, 2005 (edited) Well it looks like you have AGP enabled. Check whether your card and motherboard support Fast Writes and SBA (side band addressing) with these: cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/card cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge edit: It wouldn't hurt to insure that AGP 4X is selected in your BIOS as well. Edited December 23, 2005 by daniewicz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjohn Posted December 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2005 Well it looks like you have AGP enabled. Check whether your card and motherboard support Fast Writes and SBA (side band addressing) with these: cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/card cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge edit: It wouldn't hurt to insure that AGP 4X is selected in your BIOS as well. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> [root@johnspc john]# cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/cardFast Writes: Supported SBA: Not Supported AGP Rates: 4x 2x 1x Registers: 0x1f000017:0x1f000104 [root@johnspc john]# cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge Host Bridge: PCI device 8086:1a30 Fast Writes: Supported SBA: Supported AGP Rates: 4x 2x 1x Registers: 0x1f000217:0x00000104 [root@johnspc john]# Hum? not sure what that means (or how to switch it on), well the fast writes anyway - obviously it says that the SBA isn't supported on the card??? or is that because it's not "switched on" at the host bridge??? I'm just off to have a look at the BIOS to see about the AGP 4x. regards John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjohn Posted December 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2005 My BIOS doesn't seem to have any way of setting the AGP to 4X specifically, unless theres a setting I'd have to change and then set the 4X regards John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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