Good newss and bad news. I got a new computer a three days ago. But Linux (Mandrake 9.0), and therefore Blender, runs rather chopily on it. It always ran smoothly on my old computer. So I’m just wondering what may be the problem. Here’s the specs on the computer.
2.4 ghz P4 processor
512MB DDR ram
64MB Nvidia GeForce4
And it’s running on the same 40GB hard drive that I had it on in the old computer, although now the entire drive is dedicated to Linux. The computer runs alright and it still renders faster than the old computer, but it’s very hard to work because it runs chopily.
I’m also having problems with the old computer, ever since I removed the second hard drive. It gets as far as “Verifying DMI Pool Data” and then it starts listing 01 01 01… for ten lines. That’s as far as I can get it to go.
do you ahev all the drivers for your Graphics card etc… installed.
i know my linux (mandrake 9.1) worked out of the box but it was also choppy when using blender, because of the graphics drivers.
not that have installed them yet LOL
I’m pretty sure it has the graphics drivers. When I was setting Linux up, I was asked which of three drivers I wanted to use for my video card (at least that’s what I think it was asking) Two were normal and one was experimental. I tried the experimental one, but it wouldn’t work with my monitor so I just used a normal one.
Have you just decided to cope with a choppy Blender?
Well, I could explain this problem first hand, I fix up a computer for donation, so when I installed some cool freeware screensavor it ran choppy, so I updated my adapter driver and installed a upgraded version of DirectX, then the screensavor ran find. But I try using Blender, but it was a little slow, but not as choppy as it was when I upgraded my drivers. It was an onboard Matronix G-200 AGP.
you´re probably using xfree´s nv driver. the good driver is not GPLed which means it´s normally not included in any distro cd. so you have to go to www.nvidia.com to download one package matching your system or recompile. then edit yout xfree86config-4 according to nvidia´s readme.
restart X
>I’m also having problems with the old computer, ever since I removed the second hard drive. It gets as far as “Verifying DMI Pool Data” and then it starts listing 01 01 01… for ten lines. That’s as far as I can get it to go.
this is a lilo related error. boot your linux with a install/rescue-cd, then check your /etc/lilo.conf file and if the settings are ok. (like root=/dev/hdaX and boot=/dev/hdX for example)
if the settings are ok (check with ´dmesg´ if your left HD is recognized as ´hda hdb´ or whatever)
at the command prompt type ´lilo´, then reboot.
if that don´t work you may suffer from bios problems recognizing the geometry of your HD. I had that problem, when I installed lilo beyond 1024 cylinder on a 20GB disc on a VERY old machine. when I fixed that lilo booted linux fine again.
I’ve had the exact same problem with the “verifying DMI Pool Data”. And this was on a win XP computer with a 40 GB drive. this happened right after I’ve installed and plugged up a 120 GB drive. The computer store that i goes to told me that the 40 GB drive failed (it was only about 3 months old at that time) so i just chucked the 40 GB drive (the win XP was on this drive) and installed Linux (on the 120 GB drive) for the first time. I gotta say that this problem was a blessing in disguise for me ever since i’ve Started to learn how linux works. though i wish i’ve kept that hard drive
Oh well just be careful about what your computer technicain says about the hard drive cause some of them may not have experienced this problem or know how to fix it without losing datas.
What everyone said above about the “nv” driver is correct. It is an ancient driver that does little for OpenGL. There is enough of a driver to sort of function without blowing up X, but that’s about it. The system will seem to run fine until you try something like Blender. Mandriva (Mandrake) never ships stock drivers unless you’re part their club (huge waste of money). Grab the NVidia drivers. If you need help installing them, come back here. (Also, you can find them on PLF mirrors. Usually it’s easier just to do it by hand).
By the way, the newest NVidia driver (1.0-8756) is buggy as hell on my FX5600 card. I reverted back to the 1.0-8178 driver, and everything works beautifully again. You can find it in the “archive” section for Linux drivers on the NVidia site.
Yep the “nv” driver has no hardware 3d-acceleration at all AFAIK, because nvidia of course doesn’t disclose the technical details.
But also the 2d acceleration is at best medicore…
Skottish: What kind of problems do you have with 8756? I installed them through Ubuntu’s nvidia-glx package and have a GF 6600. The only thing i noticed so far is a flicker when it seems to exit 3d-mode (i.e. a few seconds after you exit and OpenGL app), but some windows drivers had that too…
There is tons of flickering going on with that particular driver on my machine. It’s really, really bad. The previous driver works flawlessly though.
Yeah, that’s good advice. I have the driver that works backed up already. I’m kind of secretly hoping something on this box stops working so I’m “forced” to build a new system.
