DRI User Guide
: Hardware-Specific Information and Troubleshooting
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10. Hardware-Specific Information and Troubleshooting
This section presents hardware-specific information for normal
use and troubleshooting.
10.1. 3dfx Banshee, Voodoo3, Voodoo4 and Voodoo5 Series
10.1.1. Requirements
The 3dfx DRI driver requires special versions of the 3dfx Glide
library.
Different versions of Glide are needed for Banshee/Voodoo3 than
for Voodoo4/5.
The Glide libraries can be downloaded from the DRI website.
10.1.2. Configuration
Your XF86Config file's device section must specify the
tdfx device. For example:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Voodoo3"
VendorName "3dfx"
Driver "tdfx"
EndSection
Or,
Section "Device"
Identifier "Voodoo5"
VendorName "3dfx"
Driver "tdfx"
EndSection
The Screen section should then reference the Voodoo device:
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "Voodoo3"
Monitor "High Res Monitor"
DefaultDepth 16
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection
Or,
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "Voodoo5"
Monitor "High Res Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection
The kernel module for 3dfx hardware is named tdfx.o and
should be installed in /lib/modules/2.4.x/kernel/drivers/char/drm/.
It will be automatically loaded by the Xserver if needed.
The DRI 3D driver for 3dfx hardware should be in
/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri/tdfx_dri.so.
This will be automatically loaded by libGL.so.
The Voodoo5 supports 3D rendering in 16 and 32 bpp modes.
When running in 32bpp mode an 8-bit stencil buffer and 24-bit
Z (depth) buffer are offered.
When running in 16bpp mode only a 16-bit Z (depth) buffer is
offered and stencil is implemented in software.
A software-based accumulation buffer is available in both
16 and 32bpp modes.
10.1.3. Troubleshooting
10.1.4. Performance and Features
- Normally, buffer swapping in double-buffered applications is
synchronized to your monitor's refresh rate.
This may be overridden by setting the
FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL
environment variable.
The value of this variable indicates the maximum number of
swap buffer commands can be buffered.
Zero allows maximum frame rate.
- On Voodoo4/5, rendering with 16-bits/texel textures is faster
than using 32-bit per texel textures.
The
internalFormat parameter to glTexImage2D can be
used to control texel size.
Quake3 and other games let you control this as well.
- The
glTexEnv mode GL_BLEND is not directly supported
by the Voodoo3 hardware.
It can be accomplished with a multipass algorithm but it's not
implemented at this time.
Applications which use that mode, such as the Performer Town
demo, may become sluggish when falling back to software
rendering to render in that mode.
- The Voodoo3/Banshee driver reverts to software rendering under
the following conditions:
- Setting
GL_LIGHT_MODEL_COLOR_CONTROL to
GL_SEPARATE_SPECULAR_COLOR.
- Enabling line stippling or polygon stippling.
- Enabling point smoothing or polygon smoothing.
- Enabling line smoothing when line width is not 1.0.
That is, antialiased lines are done in hardware only when
the line width is 1.0.
- Using 1-D or 3-D texture maps.
- Using the GL_BLEND texture environment.
- Using stencil operations.
- Using the accumulation buffer.
- Using
glBlendEquation(GL_LOGIC_OP).
- Using
glDrawBuffer(GL_FRONT_AND_BACK).
- Using
glPolygonMode(face, GL_POINT) or
glPolygonMode(face, GL_LINE).
- Using point size attenuation
(i.e.
GL_DISTANCE_ATTENUATION_EXT).
- Using
glColorMask(r, g, b, a) when r!=g or g!=b.
- The Voodoo5 driver reverts to software rendering under the
same conditions Voodoo3 with three exceptions.
First, stencil operations are implemented in hardware when the
screen is configured for 32 bits/pixel.
Second, the
GL_BLEND texture env mode is fully supported in
hardware.
Third, glColorMask is fully supported in hardware when
the screen is configured for 32 bits/pixel.
- As of January, 2001 the second VSA-100 chip on the Voodoo5 is
not yet operational.
Therefore, the board isn't being used to its full capacity.
The second VSA-100 chip will allow Scan-Line Interleave (SLI)
mode for full-screen applications and games, potentially doubling
the system's fill rate.
When the second VSA-100 chip is activated
glGetString(GL_RENDERER) will report Voodoo5 instead of Voodoo4.
- The lowest mipmap level is sometimes miscolored in trilinear-
sampled polygons.
- The GL_EXT_texture_env_combine extension is supported on the
Voodoo4 and Voodoo5.
10.1.5. Known Problems
- The lowest mipmap level is sometimes miscolored in trilinear-
sampled polygons (Voodoo3/Banshee).
- Fog doesn't work with orthographic projections.
- The accuracy of blending operations on Voodoo4/5 isn't always
very good.
If you run Glean, you'll find some test failures.
- The Glide library cannot be used directly; it's only meant to
be used via the tdfx DRI driver.
- SSystem has problems because of poorly set near and far
clipping planes.
The office.unc Performer model also suffers from this problem.
10.2. Intel i810
10.2.1. Requirements
A kernel with AGP GART support (such as Linux 2.4.x) is needed.
10.2.2. Configuration
Your XF86Config file's device section must specify the
i810 device, and specify a usable amount of video
ram to reserve.
Section "Device"
Identifier "i810"
VendorName "Intel"
Driver "i810"
Option "AGPMode" "1"
VideoRam 10000
EndSection
The Screen section should then reference the i810 device:
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "i810"
Monitor "High Res Monitor"
DefaultDepth 16
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection
The kernel module for the i810 is named i810.o and
should be installed in /lib/modules/2.4.x/kernel/drivers/char/drm/.
It will be automatically loaded by the Xserver if needed.
The DRI 3D driver for the i810 should be in
/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri/i810_dri.so.
This will be automatically loaded by libGL.so.
10.2.3. Troubleshooting
- 3D acceleration for the i810 is only available in the 16
bit/pixel screen mode at this time. 32bpp acceleration is
not supported by this hardware.
Use
xdpyinfo to verify that all your visuals are depth 16.
Edit your XF86Config file if needed.
- The i810 uses system ram for video and 3d graphics. The X
server will ordinarily reserve 4mb of ram for graphics,
which is too little for an effective 3d setup. To tell
the driver to use a larger amount, specify a VideoRam
option in the Device section of your XF86Config file. A
number between 10000 and 16384 seems adequate for most
requirements. If too little memory is available for DMA
buffers, back and depth buffers and textures, direct
rendering will be disabled.
10.2.4. Performance and Features
Basically all of the i810 features which can be exposed through
OpenGL 1.2 are implemented.
However, the following OpenGL features are implemented in software
and will be slow:
- Stencil buffer and accumulation buffer operations
- Blend subtract, min/max and logic op blend modes
- glColorMask when any mask is set to false
- GL_SEPARATE_SPECULAR_COLOR lighting mode
- glDrawBuffer(GL_FRONT_AND_BACK)
- Using 1D or 3D textures
- Using texture borders
10.3. Matrox G200 and G400
10.3.1. Requirements
A kernel with AGP GART support (such as Linux 2.4.x) is needed.
10.3.2. Configuration
Your XF86Config file's device section must specify the
mga device:
Section "Device"
Identifier "MGA"
VendorName "Matrox"
Driver "mga"
Option "AGPMode" "1"
VideoRam 32768
EndSection
The Screen section should then reference the MGA device:
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "MGA"
Monitor "High Res Monitor"
DefaultDepth 16
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection
To use a 32bpp screen mode, use this Screen section
instead:
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "MGA"
Monitor "High Res Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
DefaultFbBpp 32
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection
The kernel module for the G200/G400 is named mga.o and
should be installed in /lib/modules/2.4.x/kernel/drivers/char/drm/.
It will be automatically loaded by the Xserver if needed.
The DRI 3D driver for the G200/G400 should be in
/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri/mga_dri.so.
This will be automatically loaded by libGL.so.
10.3.3. Performance and Features
Software rendering will be used under any of the
following conditions:
- Using glDrawBuffer(GL_FRONT_AND_BACK).
- Using point, line, or triangle smoothing.
- Using glLogicOp.
- Using glPolygonStipple or glLineStipple.
- Using 1D or 3D textures.
- Using texture borders.
- Using glDepthFunc(GL_NEVER).
- Using the accumulation buffer.
The AGP mode may be set to 1, 2, or 4. One is used by default.
Higher AGP speeds may result in unreliable performance depending
on your motherboard.
Compaq has funded the implementation of AGP accelerated
ReadPixels and DrawPixels in this driver. With this
implementation, on a G400 drawing directly from AGP memory
(exported to the client), throughput of up to 1 GB/sec has
been measured.
Additionally Compaq's funding has produced several new
extensions in Mesa, including one (packed_depth_stencil_MESA)
which enables Read/DrawPixels functionality to operate
directly on the packed 24/8 depth/stencil buffers of this
hardware.
In order to access this functionality, the application must
ensure that all pixel processing operations are disabled.
There are in addition a fairly complex set of rules regarding
which packing/unpacking modes must be used, and which data
formats are supported, and alignment constraints. See the
files in lib/GL/mesa/src/drv/mga/DOCS for a summary of these.
The extension definitions are included in the Mesa 3.4 source
distribution.
10.3.4. IRQ Assignment
There have been problems in the past with the MGA driver being very
sluggish when the DRI is enabled (to the point of being unusable.)
This is caused by the graphics card not having an interrupt assigned
to it.
The current DRI trunk will attempt to detect this condition and
bail out gracefully.
The solution to the above problem is to assign an interrupt to your
graphics card.
This is something you must turn on in your system BIOS configuration.
Please consult your system BIOS manual for instructions
on how to enable an interrupt for your graphics card.
10.3.5. MGA HAL lib
MGAHALlib.a is a binary library Matrox has provided for use under
Linux to expose functionality for which they can not provide
documentation.
(For example TV-Out requires MacroVision be enabled on the output.)
This binary library also sets the pixel/memory clocks to the optimal
settings for your Matrox card.
Currently the MGAHAL library is required for the G450 to work.
You can download this from the driver section on Matrox's website:
www.matrox.com/mga
Here modifications to the DRI build instructions which make the
mga ddx driver use the MGAHAL library:
1.Put the following define in your host.def file
#define UseMatroxHal YES
2. Place mgaHALlib.a in the following directory
xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/drivers/mga/HALlib/
You can use DualHead on the G400/G450 DH cards by creating two
device sections which both point to the same BusID.
For most AGP devices the BusID will be "PCI:1:0:0".
Configure your screen section as you would normally configure
XFree86 4.x Multihead. It should be noted that currently
the second head does not support direct rendering.
10.3.6. Known Problems
None.
10.4. ATI Rage 128
10.4.1. Requirements
A kernel with AGP GART support (such as Linux 2.4.x) is needed.
10.4.2. Configuration
Your XF86Config file's device section must specify the
ati device:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Rage128"
VendorName "ATI"
Driver "ati"
Option "AGPMode" "1"
Option "UseCCEFor2D" "false"
EndSection
The Screen section should then reference the Rage 128 device:
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "Rage128"
Monitor "High Res Monitor"
DefaultDepth 16
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 32
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection
The kernel module for the Rage 128 is named r128.o and
should be installed in /lib/modules/2.4.x/kernel/drivers/char/drm/.
It will be automatically loaded by the Xserver if needed.
The DRI 3D driver for the Rage 128 should be in
/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri/r128_dri.so.
This will be automatically loaded by libGL.so.
You may also set your screen depth to 32 for 32bpp mode.
10.4.3. Performance and Features
While PCI Rage 128 based cards are supported, they do not yet
support PCI GART, so they will not perform as well as their
AGP counterparts.
For AGP cards, the AGP mode may be set to 1, 2, or 4. One is
used by default.
Higher AGP speeds may result in unreliable performance depending
on your motherboard.
Note that even at 32bpp there is no alpha channel.
The following OpenGL features are implemented in software and
will be slow:
- accumulation buffer operations
- stencil, when using a 16bpp screen
- Blend subtract, min/max and logic op blend modes
- GL_SEPARATE_SPECULAR_COLOR lighting mode
- glDrawBuffer(GL_FRONT_AND_BACK)
- Using 1D or 3D textures
- Using texture borders
10.4.4. Known Problems
If you experience stability problems you may try setting the
UseCCEFor2D option to true. This will
effectively disable 2D hardware acceleration. Performance will
be degraded, of course.
10.5. ATI Radeon
10.5.1. Requirements
A kernel with AGP GART support (such as Linux 2.4.x) is needed.
10.5.2. Configuration
Your XF86Config file's device section must specify the
ati device:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Radeon"
VendorName "ATI"
Driver "ati"
Option "AGPMode" "1"
EndSection
The Screen section should then reference the Radeon device:
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "Radeon"
Monitor "High Res Monitor"
DefaultDepth 16
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 32
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection
The kernel module for the Radeon is named radeon.o and
should be installed in /lib/modules/2.4.x/kernel/drivers/char/drm/.
It will be automatically loaded by the Xserver if needed.
The DRI 3D driver for the Radeon should be in
/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri/radeon_dri.so.
This will be automatically loaded by libGL.so.
You may also set your screen depth to 32 for 32bpp mode.
10.5.3. Performance and Features
While this driver supports many of the features of ATI Radeon
cards, we do not yet fully support the card's TCL
features. This work is progressing, but is not yet ready.
The AGP mode may be set to 1, 2, or 4. One is used by default.
Higher AGP speeds may result in unreliable performance depending
on your motherboard.
The following OpenGL features are implemented in software and will
be slow:
- Blend subtract, blend min/max and blend logicops
- Stencil and accumulation operations
- 1D and 3D textures
- Texture borders
The GL_EXT_texture_env_combine, GL_EXT_texture_env_add and
GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3 extensions are supported (or will be
soon supported in the new driver based on Mesa 3.5).
We hope to implement support for the following features in the
future:
- Vertex transformation, clipping and lighting (TCL)
- Hardware stencil buffer
- Cube map textures
- 3D textures
- Three texture units
10.5.4. Known Problems
Certain (early?) revisions of the AMD Irongate chipset have
AGPGART problems which effect Radeon, and other graphics cards.
The card may work unreliably, or not work at all. If the DRM
kernel module is not loaded, the 2D Xserver may work. There's
hope that this can be fixed in the future.
10.6. 3DLabs Oxygen GMX 2000
The driver for this hardware was experimental and is no longer being
developed or supported.
DRI User Guide
: Hardware-Specific Information and Troubleshooting
Previous: General Trouble Shooting
Next: General Limitations and Known Bugs
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