Official FreeBSD drivers

[volt]

Yes folks it's here:

http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=freebsd_1.0-3203

Version: 1.0-3203
File Size: 3 MB
Release Date: November 7, 2002

Release Highlights:

Initial FreeBSD beta driver
Requires FreeBSD -STABLE, version 4.7 or later
To download and install the drivers, follow the steps below:

STEP 1: Review the NVIDIA Software License. You will need to accept this license prior to downloading any files.

STEP 2: Review Documentation
README - FreeBSD installation and configuration information.
README.linux - Information common to FreeBSD and Linux

STEP 3: Download the driver

NVIDIA_FreeBSD-1.0-3203.tar.gz

Download Alternatives: Mirror Site 1, Mirror Site 2, Mirror Site 3

STEP 4: Check dependencies
The dependencies are listed in the README. Please note that the NVIDIA driver set requires XFree version 4.2 or greater. If this is not available on your linux distribution, please go to the XFree86 web site (www.xfree86.org). FreeBSD -STABLE, version 4.7 or later is also required.

STEP 5: Install
See the README for detailed installation instructions. If you have any questions or problems, please check the linux discussion forum. If you don't find an answer to your question there, you can send email to freebsd-gfx-bugs@nvidia.com.

[Steve]

Thanks :)

A quick question, I notices it uses Linux compatibility. How much of the driver is linux based and how much is this likely to affect performance?

cheers,
- steve

[scott]

On the driver selection page (http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp) there is a note at the bottom saying :


NOTE: GeForce2 Go and GeForce4 Go mobile processors are not supported in this driver. Please contact the notebook's manufacturer for graphics drivers for your notebook PC.


However, in the readme file, the sample config section has this:


Section "Device"
Identifier "Device"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA"
BoardName "GeForce2 Go"
EndSection


Does this mean the Go cards are supported? What about the newer GF 4 Go 440's?

[volt]

Someone would have to investigate it as I don't run a FreeBSD system. Will have to wait. You can join the IRC network where we hang out and go into #nvidia they will probably know what the deal is.

EDIT: Actually all mobile cards will work. I can't find that note that says it wont. Read the README.linux or README

[Andy Mecham]

Yes, all mobile cards are supported by both the Linux and FreeBSD drivers.

--andy

[putte_xvi]

Hm. I can't get OpenGL to work properly with these drivers...

Hardware:
Creative GraphicsBlaster Riva TNT

Software:
FreeBSD 4.7-RELEASE
XFree86-Server-4.2.1_5
XFree86-clients-4.2.1_2
XFree86-libraries-4.2.1_3

The first time I run something (for example glplanet or glxinfo) it works. But if I run it again, the system reboots. :/

Additionally, it takes quite a while before the logo i shown and X starts. With Matthew N. Dodd's drivers, this was much faster.

Can anyone provide insight on this?

[Kerion]

I am currently in the process of upgrading my system to 4.7-STABLE, so I haven't tried the drivers yet...but...over all I think this is a great step forward. It shows that both major free unices (Linux and FreeBSD) are gaining in popularity, and that there still are companies out there who listen to what their customers want (thanks nVidia for listening to the small, but vocal, FreeBSD using nVidia owners population).

Its also nice now that Linux users can't poke fun at me for not having an accelerated driver for my geForce 3 ;)

[darius]

I can't get it to work at all :(

If I have glx in my modules list X hangs while showing the nvidia splash screen, the X log says that it seg faulted (sig 11).

The computer is still alive, but X is spinning chewing CPU, the only way to kill it is -9 and that stuffs the console up (I had to login via network to kill it anyway :)

If I remove glx from the X modules list then the computer hangs hard (numlock doesn't work for example, and it won't respond to pings at all). I don't have a null modem cable handy so I can't check wether I can break into DDB or not.

I just upgraded to 4-STABLE last night.

If it helps the 'preliminary' driver that Matthew Dodd put together using the Linux code worked on this computer.

It has XFree86-4.2.0_1 installed - I can upgrade it though if you think it would help.

Here is the log file->
http://www.dons.net.au/~darius/nvidia-XF86log.txt
And the config file ->
http://www.dons.net.au/~darius/nvidia-XF86conf.txt

[putte_xvi]

Make sure to upgrade XFree86-libraries, XFree86-clients and XFree86-Server to the absolute latest versions.

It crashed for me too when I used version 4.2.0_2 of those packages.

[zander]

A quick question, I notices it uses Linux compatibility. How much of the driver is linux based and how much is this likely to affect performance?


The driver doesn't use Linux ABI compatibility, it supports it with a special build of the Linux OpenGL libraries. With native applications, you're using a 100% native driver.

[zander]

The first time I run something (for example glplanet or glxinfo) it works. But if I run it again, the system reboots. :/


Are there any interesting messages in the system log files (kernel panics, etc)?

[tig]

darius: I think you will need to upgrade XFree to get it working. The FreeBSD README clearly states which version you need

[darius]

[i]It crashed for me too when I used version 4.2.0_2 of those packages. [/B]

Hmm I just finished the upgrade and it get's further but still crashes :(

It starts running my desktop and then hands the PC :(

I can still ping it, but userland is dead. I can't seem to get a panic, but I guess if I hook up a serial console I probably should be able to get some sort of back trace.

Time to break out the null modem cable :)

Ahah!
I added the VESA option to my kernel config and now it seems to work fine.

During my testing I noticed that a colour changed image of a movie I used to test Xv with appeared in the console, and then in the main display. Weird.. When I ran the player again (mplayer) the trash image disappeared.

[darius]

Originally posted by tig
darius: I think you will need to upgrade XFree to get it working. The FreeBSD README clearly states which version you need
Gah, sorry, you are right :(

I mistakenly looked at the XFree86 meta port version and assumed they were all the same :(

I have upgraded now, but it still doesn't work 100%.

(I have another post about it)

[putte_xvi]

Originally posted by zander
Are there any interesting messages in the system log files (kernel panics, etc)?

Nope... At least not in /var/log/messages. Is there somewhere else I should look?

I'm going to try upgrading to 4.7-STABLE (from release) now and see if that helps.

[zander]

Please post a copy of your bootup messages (dmesg.boot); if your system is brought to its knees by kernel panics, the best way to catch them is via a serial console and ddb enabled; if this is not an option for you, you may want to try the steps outlined by the following two articles:

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2002/03/21/Big_Scary_Daemons.html
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2002/04/04/Big_Scary_Daemons.html

[putte_xvi]

Originally posted by zander
Please post a copy of your bootup messages (dmesg.boot); if your system is brought to its knees by kernel panics, the best way to catch them is via a serial console and ddb enabled; if this is not an option for you, you may want to try the steps outlined by the following two articles:

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2002/03/21/Big_Scary_Daemons.html
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2002/04/04/Big_Scary_Daemons.html

OK, I'm attaching dmesg.boot and the backtrace from gdb.

I got the panic by running glxinfo twice.

[microshaft]

Just upgraded to 4.7-S and upgrade X to latest. X loads just fine and runs -- very speedily at that. However, I'm getting some kind of artifact in the upper right hand corner, a square block of color that obsures any window behind it. It changes when windows are moved -- sometimes.

Cursors, however, overlay ontop of this box. glxgears runs fine.

Any ideas?

nvidia0: <RIVA TNT2 Model 64> mem 0xfa000000-0xfbffffff,0xf8000000-0xf8ffffff irq 9 at device 0.0 on pci1

XFree86 Version 4.2.1 / X Window System
(protocol Version 11, revision 0, vendor release 6600)
Release Date: 3 September 2002
If the server is older than 6-12 months, or if your card is
newer than the above date, look for a newer version before
reporting problems. (See http://www.XFree86.Org/)
Build Operating System: FreeBSD 4.7-STABLE i386 [ELF]
Module Loader present
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/XFree86.0.log", Time: Mon Nov 11 15:26:30 2002
(==) Using config file: "/etc/XF86Config"
(EE) Failed to load module "GLcore" (module does not exist, 0)
Symbol __glXActiveScreens from module /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libdri.a is unresolved!
Symbol __glXActiveScreens from module /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libdri.a is unresolved!
(II) [GLX]: Calling GlxExtensionInit
Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/, removing from list!
DCOPServer up and running.

[darius]

Originally posted by microshaft
Just upgraded to 4.7-S and upgrade X to latest. X loads just fine and runs -- very speedily at that. However, I'm getting some kind of artifact in the upper right hand corner, a square block of color that obsures any window behind it. It changes when windows are moved -- sometimes.

Cursors, however, overlay ontop of this box. glxgears runs fine.

Any ideas?

Tried the tips at http://www.thirteenandtwo.org/nvidia/faq.html ?

I had a machine doing weird things and I disabled MTRR's and AGP and now it works.

I haven't bothered seeing which thing actually fixed it yet, but I would suggest starting from an 'everything off' situation and adding things and seeing what breaks :)

[microshaft]

Actually, looks like just using the OS's AGP driver has fixed it. I'll investigate a tweak later.

Thanks!

[shooter]

First of all, I can't get over how much I apreciate that nVidia has gone to great lengths to make their hardware FreeBSD compatible -- I just bought one of your boards and will buy them on all of my boxes from here on out.

The meat of my message is that I am encountering the same troubles that Zander has mentioned earlier: upon the second instantiaion of a glx process, either glxinfo or glxgears, the system crashes and reboots itself. I am running

FreeBSD barnesos.net 4.7-STABLE FreeBSD 4.7-STABLE #0: Sat Nov 9 13:31:57 MST 2002

and

XFree86 4.2.1

I've included my dmesg.boot (though it probably won't be terribly useful). I will investigate Zander's suggestion of serial console and ddb (as soon as I discover what they are) and I'll post any new info I find here.

Thanks to anyone who has any ideas as to how to solve this problem,

- Shooter

[AlphaChild]

i was also pleasantly surprised to see the nvidia freebsd drivers finally released. they installed perfectly on my current system (Pentium II 350 on an Intel SR440BX m/b with a 16MB RIVA TNT built in, along with 512MB of SDRAM), but there is the problem with the startup of my X server. whenever i start up, the screen 'pauses' just previous to the nvidia logo and doesnt go into the server until i press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace at exactly the right time (i have a 1/3s window every 30s)

my guess is that this is either configured during driver installation or the XF86Config file. i'll post the parts of my config file that refer to the server flags and card config)

----- XF86Config -----

# ************************************************** ********************
# Module section -- this section is used to specify
# which dynamically loadable modules to load.
# ************************************************** ********************
#
Section "Module"

Load "bitmap"

# This loads the DBE extension module.

Load "dbe" # Double buffer extension

# This loads the miscellaneous extensions module, and disables
# initialisation of the XFree86-DGA extension within that module.
SubSection "extmod"
Option "omit xfree86-dga" # don't initialise the DGA extension
EndSubSection

# This loads the Type1 and FreeType font modules
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"

# This loads the GLX module
Load "glx"

EndSection


# ************************************************** ********************
# Server flags section.
# ************************************************** ********************

Section "ServerFlags"

Option "NvAgp" "1"

EndSection



# ************************************************** ********************
# Graphics device section
# ************************************************** ********************

Section "Device"
Identifier "NV AGP"
VendorName "nvidia"
Driver "nvidia"
# update this with the PCI id of your card. Consult the output
# of the 'lspci' command.
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

----- End of XF86Config -----

i have no idea what could be the problem. all in all, the server starts up with some effort, but if i could get it started without the hassle of 'fastest keyboard strokes wins', it would be a lot nicer

PS. i cvsuped just before i got the drivers. the latest XFree86 system was definitely installed:
XFree86-4.2.0_1,1
|\__ freetype2-2.1.2_1
|\__ imake-4.2.0_1
|\__ XFree86-libraries-4.2.1_3
|\__ XFree86-Server-4.2.1_5
|\__ XFree86-fontEncodings-4.2.0
|\__ XFree86-fontScalable-4.2.0
|\__ XFree86-fontDefaultBitmaps-4.2.0
|\__ XFree86-fontCyrillic-4.2.0_4
|\__ XFree86-font75dpi-4.2.0
|\__ XFree86-font100dpi-4.2.0
|\__ XFree86-documents-4.2.0
|\__ XFree86-clients-4.2.1_2
|\__ wrapper-1.0_2
\__ XFree86-FontServer-4.2.0_1

[kentri]

The nvidia drivers seems to work when i load them, X works fluent, and basically nothing seems to be wrong.

Exception: nothing that tries to use opengl manages it with success. Could it be me doing it wrong? or are there any settings/additional software i've totally missed?

Any suggestion/sollutions are welcome.

PS. I'm glad freebsd finally get some nvidia-love. :cool:

[AlphaChild]

are you trying to load up a DRI module with X? that may be the problem. make sure that the only 3D module loading up is "glx". its the first thing to look for

[shooter]

Wow, removing DRI allows my system to run glx twice without crashing and rebooting. Thanks AlphaChild!

- J