Linux+nVidia good noos

just upgraded to the latest nVidia drivers- used to be that I’d get a garbeled mozilla browser whenever blender was running. No longer. So if you’re on linux, use blender and nVidia card, I’d say an upgrade is worthwhile.
brought to you by one who is excited by small things.

I can concur with this post!

I am a Linux newbie using Redhat 7.2 and could not get the dymanic version of Blender to run using an old Riva 128 based card.

I just put in a 32 Mb TNT2 card and followed some brilliant simple instructions from someone in the Nvidia Linux forum.

See:
http://www.nvnews.net/forum/showthread.php?s=d00f508a990fc95c8339a41ed2a81bb5&threadid=11207

Just ran it this afternoon and hey presto. Dynamic Blender works!

(Note: I am using 2.22 at present because of an apparent “Append” bug in 2.23).

Having spent a week and a half of spare time on this, I can see why Linux users can indeed become thrilled at “small things”. I am very pleased with this result.

ApplicatioNZ :o

Is 24 bpp mode available in X ? with the old drivers I got only 16 bpp mode (TNT2 and XFree 4.1.0)

I have a TNT2 32 mb pci card and am running Mandrake 7.1? Think it will work?
BTW was at FRYS electronics and they sell this little "Internet Ready " compurter for 249.00(usd) 750 mhz 3 pci slots no AGP 20mb HD and 128m ram. Runs a stripped down linux WITH DVD! China Brand Computer.
Hopping to add 50.00 card and have cute little blender box for 300.00
Whadya think.
Daniel

I’m using 24bpp colors on X, no problemo.
I’m not sure if TNT2 uses the same driver as the Geforce (ApplicatioNZ’s post seems to indicate that it does, if I understand correctly); check at the driver page at www.nvidia.com, or at http://www.xfree.org/ to see if the open source driver does what you want.

Yep I downloaded the appropriate nVidia driver from

http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=linux

I did run the NVchooser script they link to on that page, to identify the correct GLX and Kernel driver files for my system. See:

http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86_40/1.0-2880/NVchooser.sh

Good Luck
ApplicatioNZ

Unplug the phone and put on some coffee, I’ll let you know my results, and check back here to make sure I don’t drown…
D

Hmmm varying degrees of failure. How do you run the NVchooser script?

I put the file in a directory called ‘Nvida’ (not that the name matters) and then opened a “Shell” window, used the “cd” command to navigate to the directory, then typed

“sh NVchooser.sh” and a (suprisingly, for Linux) friendly message came back. This is the line where I entered the command and what I saw when it completed:

[admin@localhost Nvidia]$ sh NVchooser.sh
Please download and install the following files:
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2802.rh72up.i686.rpm
NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-2802.i386.rpm

What flavour of Linux have you got? Have you read the “Readme” available on the Nvidia drivers page? It might have some specific info for your distribution. I also recommend a search in the Nvidia Linux forum too - you can almost be certain someone has had similar issues…

Persistance is the key :wink:

ApplicatioNZ

i’m running the older nvidia drivers, which seem to work just fine… and I don’t really like to update if there is nothing wrong :slight_smile:
so, have you noticed anything else whats new on these drivers?? (except the mozilla/blender thing you mentioned)

the only thing I am missing is overlay-support. but what I read from the nvidia site, in the newer drivers, this is not supported either :frowning:

.b

I used to have the occasional nasty crash/hang. (display lockup). This hasn’t happened since I’ve gotten the new drivers. infact, the only crash I’ve had is $%^&*@ mozilla which hangs everytime I goto a site that has java (not javascript)
performance is the same, and I guess if you weren’t having problems before no need to upgrade.

Well I’m going to start off (again) with a clean redant 7.2 install. Celleron 750mhz 128mb ram, PCI TNT2 32mb card (Kaser M64-32P). And yes I have
NV Read Me and everything points me the same way so I don’t feel to lost.
Check back with me, thanks previous and in advance.
Daniel

I have had two or three total lockups, and that maybe also becase I have AMD processor… couple of days ago I locked my computer while playing FooBilliard… it seems very random. blender hasn’t ever locked. so I don’t know, perhaps I give it a go then…

about your java problem: does this happen on all the java apps? or just this one? what is the page? I have java running quite nicely, allthough, when it firsts loads up, it’s kind of slow starter.

.b

Well some success. The NVidia splash screen comes up, I insatlled 2802 as per NVchooser. But blender still runs s l o w as toast. The Nvidia readme suggest a lobrary conflict with old symliknks. (Slow OpenGL) Suggestions?
:-/
Daniel

SUCSESS ON ALL FRONTS !!! My problem was related to being a China Brand CPU so i compiled from source Edited the Etc/Config-4 and voilla a $300(usd) Accellerated X server. Running RH 7.2 but followed instructions from Mandrake discusion . . . NVidias’ unified driver arch . rules. I’m going to reNVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set README & Installation Guide

Last Updated: $Date: 2002/03/22 $
Most Recent Driver: 1.0-2880

The NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set brings both accelerated 2D
functionality and high performance OpenGL support to Linux x86 with the
use of NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs).

These drivers provide optimized hardware acceleration of OpenGL
applications via a direct-rendering X Server and support nearly all
NVIDIA graphics chips (please see APPENDIX A for a complete list of
supported chips). TwinView, TV-Out and flat panel displays are also
supported.

This README describes how to install, configure, and use the NVIDIA
Accelerated Linux Driver Set. This file is posted on NVIDIA’s web site
(www.nvidia.com), and is installed in /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/
when the NVIDIA_GLX package is installed.


CONTENTS:

    (sec-01) CHOOSING THE NVIDIA PACKAGES APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR SYSTEM
    (sec-02) INSTALLING THE NVIDIA_KERNEL AND NVIDIA_GLX PACKAGES
    (sec-03) EDITING YOUR XF86CONFIG FILE

(sec-01) CHOOSING THE NVIDIA PACKAGES APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR SYSTEM


NVIDIA has a unified driver architecture model; this means that one driver
set can be used with all supported NVIDIA hardware. Please see Appendix
A for a list of the NVIDIA hardware supported by the current drivers.

The NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set consists of two packages
which you will need to download and install: the NVIDIA_GLX package
which contains the OpenGL libraries and the XFree86 driver, and the
NVIDIA_kernel package which contains the NVdriver kernel module needed
by the X driver and OpenGL libraries in the NVIDIA_GLX package (for
more details on the components of each package, please see Appendix C).
You will need to install both packages, with matching version numbers
(eg NVIDIA_GLX-0.9-6 should only be used with NVIDIA_kernel-0.9-6 and
not NVIDIA_kernel-0.9-3).

The packages are available in several formats: rpm, srpm, and tar file.
Installation of each package type is described below. The package
type is largely a matter of personal preference, though please note
that the binary rpms are for use only with the kernel shipped with a
particular distribution (eg NVIDIA_kernel-0.9-6.rh62.i386.rpm should
only be used with the uni-processor kernel shipped with RedHat 6.2).
Where appropriate, NVIDIA has provided separate rpms for the distinct SMP
and uni-processor kernels of each distribution. If you have upgraded
your kernel (either manually, or through a distribution upgrade), or
a specific NVIDIA_kernel rpm is not available for your distribution,
then use either the NVIDIA_kernel srpm or tar file.

In the case where distributors ship multiple kernels (as is often
the case with uni-processor and SMP machines), there will be
multiple rpms available, ie: NVIDIA_kernel-0.9-7.rh62.i386.rpm and
NVIDIA_kernel-0.9-7.rh62.smp.i386.rpm.

The NVIDIA_GLX rpm, however, is not dependent upon the kernel version,
and therefore an srpm is not needed. Install the NVIDIA_GLX package
either by rpm or tar file.


(sec-02) INSTALLING THE NVIDIA_KERNEL AND NVIDIA_GLX PACKAGES


BEFORE YOU BEGIN DRIVER INSTALLATION

Before beginning the driver installation, you should exit the X server.
In addition you should set your default run level so you will boot to
console and not start up X (please consult the documentation that came
with your Linux distribution if you are unsure how to do this). This will
make it easier to recover if there is a problem during the installation.

Please note that package revision numbers have been omitted in the
following directions to make them as general as possible. While the
directions might say “NVIDIA_kernel.tar.gz” you should replace
that with the name of the driver version you are installing; eg:
“NVIDIA_kernel.0.9-6.tar.gz”.

INSTALLING BY RPM

Instructions for the Impatient:

    $ rpm -ivh NVIDIA_kernel.i386.rpm
    $ rpm -ivh NVIDIA_GLX.i386.rpm

Instructions:

Before installing from rpm, make sure that you have downloaded the
NVIDIA_kernel rpm appropriate for your kernel. Once you have verified
that you do indeed have the correct rpm, install NVIDIA_kernel by doing:

    $ rpm -ivh NVIDIA_kernel.i386.rpm

Next, install the NVIDIA_GLX rpm by doing:

    $ rpm -ivh NVIDIA_GLX.i386.rpm

UPGRADING BY RPM

Instructions for the Impatient:

    $ rpm -Uvh NVIDIA_kernel.i386.rpm
    $ rpm -e NVIDIA_GLX
    $ rpm -ivh NVIDIA_GLX.i386.rpm

Instructions:

Before upgrading from rpm, make sure that you have downloaded the
NVIDIA_kernel rpm appropriate for your kernel. Once you have verified
that you do indeed have the correct rpm, upgrade the NVIDIA_kernel
package by doing:

    $ rpm -Uvh NVIDIA_kernel.i386.rpm

You should not use the ‘-U’ option to rpm to upgrade the NVIDIA_GLX
rpm because a bug in the uninstall section of older NVIDIA rpms will
cause some files to be removed that shouldn’t be. Instead, use ‘-e’
to remove the old NVIDIA_GLX rpm, and then install the new one:

    $ rpm -e NVIDIA_GLX
    $ rpm -ivh NVIDIA_GLX.i386.rpm

INSTALLING/UPGRADING BY SRPM

Instructions for the Impatient:

    $ rpm --rebuild NVIDIA_kernel.src.rpm
    $ rpm -ivh /path/to/rpms/RPMS/i386/NVIDIA_kernel.i386.rpm
    $ rpm -ivh NVIDIA_GLX.i386.rpm

Instructions:

To build a custom NVIDIA_kernel rpm for your system, pass rpm the
‘–rebuild’ flag:

    $ rpm --rebuild NVIDIA_kernel.src.rpm

Watch for the line that looks something like (the path may be different):

    Wrote: /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/NVIDIA_kernel.i386.rpm

and use that as input to rpm to install:

    $ rpm -ivh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/NVIDIA_kernel.i386.rpm

or upgrade:

    $ rpm -Uvh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/NVIDIA_kernel.i386.rpm

To install the NVIDIA_GLX package, follow the instructions above for
either installing or upgrading NVIDIA_GLX from rpm.

INSTALLING/UPGRADING BY TAR FILE

Instructions for the Impatient:

    $ tar xvzf NVIDIA_kernel.tar.gz
    $ tar xvzf NVIDIA_GLX.tar.gz
    $ cd NVIDIA_kernel
    $ make install
    $ cd ../NVIDIA_GLX
    $ make install

Instructions:

To install from tar file, unpack each file:

    $ tar xvzf NVIDIA_kernel.tar.gz
    $ tar xvzf NVIDIA_GLX.tar.gz

cd into the NVIDIA_kernel directory. Type ‘make install’. This will
compile the kernel interface to the NVdriver, link the NVdriver, copy
the NVdriver into place, and attempt to insert the NVdriver into the
running kernel:

    $ cd NVIDIA_kernel
    $ make install

Next, move into the NVIDIA_GLX directory. Type ‘make install’ – this
will copy the needed OpenGL and XFree86 files into place:

    $ cd ../NVIDIA_GLX
    $ make install

Note that the “make install” for each package will remove any previously
installed NVIDIA drivers.


(sec-03) EDITING YOUR XF86CONFIG FILE


When XFree86 4.0 was released, it used a slightly different XF86Config
file syntax than the 3.x series did, and so to allow both 3.x and 4.x
versions of XFree86 to co-exist on the same system, it was decided that
XFree86 4.x was to use the configuration file “/etc/X11/XF86Config-4”
if it existed, and only if that file did not exist would the file
“/etc/X11/XF86Config” be used (actually, that is an over-simplification
of the search criteria; please see the XF86Config man page for a complete
description of the search path). Please make sure you know what
configuration file XFree86 is using. If you are in doubt, look for a
line beginning with “(==) Using config file:” in your XFree86 log file
("/var/log/XFree86.0.log"). This README will use “XF68Config” to refer
to your configuration file, whatever it is named.

If you do not have a working XF86Config file, there are several ways
to start: there is a sample config file that comes with XFree86, and
there is a sample config file included with the NVIDIA_GLX package (it
gets installed in /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/). You could also use
a program like ‘xf86config’; some distributions provide their own tool
for generating an XF86Config file. For more on XF86Config file syntax,
please refer to the man page.

If you already have an XF86Config file working with a different driver
(such as the ‘nv’ driver), then all you need to do is find the relevant
Device section and replace the line:

    Driver "nv" 

with

    Driver "nvidia"  

In the Module section, make sure you have:

    Load   "glx"

You should also remove the following lines:

    Load  "dri"
    Load  "GLcore"

if they exist. There are also numerous options that can be added to
the XF86Config file to fine-tune the NVIDIA XFree86 driver. Please see
Appendix D for a complete list of these options.

Once you have configured your XF86Config file, you are ready to restart
X and begin using the accelerated OpenGL libraries. After you restart X,
you should be able to run any OpenGL application and it will automatically
use the new NVIDIA libraries. If you encounter any problems, please
see the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS section below.


TO RECOMPILE FROM SOURCE (For China brand CPU)
try with this file:
GLX file:NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-2802.src.rpm

and

kernel file: NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2802.src.rpm

download this files and,
rpm --rebuild kernel file
rpm --rebuild GLXfile

and goto:
/usr/src/rpm/build/i686 (or i386 or i586)
you find two rpm file one nvidia.blabla.kernel.rpm and one nvidia.blabla.GLX.rpm.

this file compiled binary for your system (mdk8.2)

use its. (rpm -ivh nvidia.blabla.kernel.rpm and rpm -ivh nvidia.blabla.GLX.rpm )

good luck

Red Hat rpms located under /usr/src/redhat/ -.-.-

Hoo Raa. I’m sooooooooo happy
regards
Daniel

to basse: as far as I know, its just mozilla and the java plugin. I haven’t tried any java apps so I don’t know yet. Which version of the jre should I download? which plugin is right for the latest mozilla- ns600 or ns610?
to pannomatte: congrats.

hmm… if you are on a direct connection (adsl or so) you can just remove your current java engine, and then browse to a page where there is java application with your mozilla, and it downloads and installs correct one automaticly (you have to be root).

I don’t remember the version of jre I have… I think it was the blackdown package. I can check this out when I get home later on… www.blackdown.org is the place anyways…

.b