nvidia GeForce 4 mx 440

[mindglow]

Hullo! Just tried getting RH 8.0 to work with the nvidia drivers for a GeForce 4 mx 440. Followed the instructions (used NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-3123.src.rpm as well as NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-3123.src.rpm) and everything worked fine until i tried VMware 3.2. The vm started but the screen would not refresh and had weird special effects. I use vmware a LOT. Can't actually live without it.

Anybody got that setup to work ?

[bwkaz]

Which OS are you running as the host for VMware?

The client OS has to be configured for just plain SVGA video, I believe...

[mindglow]

I'm using win2k pro (sp1). But the virtual machine was in use on another machine b4. So i'm sure that it works. I actually use this same vm on 2 other setups.

I'll still do another test 2night, but I'll use another vm i have. Problem is, i re-installed RH 8.0 vanilla when i realised the driver was not behaving with vmware , so i'll need to install the drivers again...

[bwkaz]

If 2K is the host OS, then you will not be able to use hardware acceleration in Linux. Period. That's a limitation of VMware.

Likewise, if Linux was the host and 2K was the client that ran under VMware, then 2K would have to use the SVGA drivers, and it wouldn't have hardware acceleration.

The reason is that VMware does not provide access to your real hardware to the client OS. All it does is abstract the real stuff into a virtual machine with certain properties -- the video card acts like a plain old SVGA card, the network card is one specific chipset, etc., etc.

Was your other machine that the VM was on using an nVidia video card, with the 3D drivers? I doubt it... ;)

[mindglow]

Sorry, I think I misunderstood your first question. Here is my goal setup clarified :

Host : Redhat 8.0 with all nvidia drivers installed properly

Guest : Win2k, sp1, running the vmware tools using SGA II(1024x768, 32bit True color) usually in full screen mode.

Here is the other setup I currently use :

Host : RedHat 7.2, running on a Thinkpad A21m (ATI rage mobility) with an accelerated driver (doesn't come with XFree, but easily found on the web).

Guest : Win2k, sp1, running the vmware tools using SGA II(1024x768, 32bit True color) usually in full screen mode.

VMware does take advantage of accelerated hardware, because when your driver in X doesn't support it (like in the current distro of RH 8.0 with the nvidia GeForce 4), vmware complains about it before booting the vm. It happened when I was using the Thinkpad with RedHat 7.2 vanilla and it stopped when I installed the accelerated drivers. Of course, the guest operating system doesn't know about it, cuz it uses the SVGA II driver from vmware.

Hope this clarifies it a bit. I still plan on doing the test again soon. I'll keep you posted...

[bwkaz]

Oh, OK, I see what you're doing.

I don't know why it might be doing that, though... unless it has something to do with the mode Windows was using to boot? Did it clear up after you got a 2K login screen?

[mindglow]

I promised to keep you posted, so here goes it:
It works. Turns out that my vm had the VMware tools for version 3.1 and I was running 3.2. I knew that, but I never had problems with backward compatibility for VMware b4, and moreover, how do you upgrade the vmware tools when you can't even access the screen? On another machine of course! (love that thinkpad sometimes...). Another thing, I can't go to full screen if the RTC device is connected (!?!). And VMware crashes slightly on power off... But it's workable otherwise. I'll be sending a report to the guys (and galls) at VMware 'bout those.

Cheers and thx for bouncing ideas !