Linux Games

[seeker]

When I recently asked about enabling 3D hardware accelleration in Linux, I was told that it was already enabled, regardless of the fact that Linux said that it wasn't. However, I'm unable to play any of the action games that come with SuSe 9.2 because they also say that the 3D accelleration is disabled. The frame rates are too slow for the games to work properly, and the suggestions given by the games to solve this do not help. What do I have to do to make these work?

[netllama]

Please generate and post a bug report, along with the output from 'glxinfo'.

Thanks,
Lonni

[seeker]

I don't understand what you mean by "generate" a bug report. However, this is the output that I got from glxinfo:

wallwalker@linux:~> glxinfo
name of display: :0.0
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: No
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.2
server glx extensions:
GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating,
GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGI_make_current_read,
GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig
client glx vendor string: SGI
client glx version string: 1.4
client glx extensions:
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_MESA_allocate_memory,
GLX_MESA_swap_control, GLX_MESA_swap_frame_usage, GLX_OML_swap_method,
GLX_OML_sync_control, GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGI_swap_control,
GLX_SGI_video_sync, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig,
GLX_SGIX_pbuffer, GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group
GLX extensions:
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_OML_swap_method,
GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig
OpenGL vendor string: Mesa project: www.mesa3d.org
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
OpenGL version string: 1.2 (1.5 Mesa 6.1)
OpenGL extensions:
GL_ARB_depth_texture, GL_ARB_imaging, GL_ARB_multitexture,
GL_ARB_point_parameters, GL_ARB_point_sprite, GL_ARB_shadow,
GL_ARB_shadow_ambient, GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp,
GL_ARB_texture_cube_map, GL_ARB_texture_env_add,
GL_ARB_texture_env_combine, GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar,
GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3, GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat,
GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_ARB_window_pos, GL_EXT_abgr, GL_EXT_bgra,
GL_EXT_blend_color, GL_EXT_blend_func_separate, GL_EXT_blend_logic_op,
GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_EXT_blend_subtract, GL_EXT_clip_volume_hint,
GL_EXT_copy_texture, GL_EXT_draw_range_elements, GL_EXT_fog_coord,
GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays, GL_EXT_packed_pixels, GL_EXT_point_parameters,
GL_EXT_polygon_offset, GL_EXT_rescale_normal, GL_EXT_secondary_color,
GL_EXT_separate_specular_color, GL_EXT_shadow_funcs,
GL_EXT_stencil_two_side, GL_EXT_stencil_wrap, GL_EXT_subtexture,
GL_EXT_texture, GL_EXT_texture3D, GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp,
GL_EXT_texture_env_add, GL_EXT_texture_env_combine,
GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3, GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias, GL_EXT_texture_object,
GL_EXT_texture_rectangle, GL_EXT_vertex_array, GL_APPLE_packed_pixels,
GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3, GL_ATI_texture_mirror_once,
GL_ATIX_texture_env_combine3, GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat,
GL_INGR_blend_func_separate, GL_MESA_pack_invert, GL_MESA_ycbcr_texture,
GL_NV_blend_square, GL_NV_point_sprite, GL_NV_texgen_reflection,
GL_NV_texture_rectangle, GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap,
GL_SGIS_texture_border_clamp, GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp,
GL_SGIS_texture_lod, GL_SGIX_depth_texture, GL_SGIX_shadow,
GL_SGIX_shadow_ambient, GL_SUN_multi_draw_arrays
glu version: 1.3
glu extensions:
GLU_EXT_nurbs_tessellator, GLU_EXT_object_space_tess

visual x bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer ms cav
id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro r g b a bf th cl r g b a ns b eat
----------------------------------------------------------------------
0x22 16 tc 0 16 0 r y . 5 6 5 0 0 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x23 16 tc 0 16 0 r y . 5 6 5 0 0 16 8 16 16 16 0 0 0 None
0x24 16 tc 0 24 0 r y . 5 6 5 8 0 16 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x25 16 tc 0 24 0 r . . 5 6 5 8 0 16 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
wallwalker@linux:~>

[netllama]

Based on your glxinfo output:
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.2

you're not using the nvidia driver's GLX. Either the driver is not installed, or is not correctly installed.

See here:
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=46678

Thanks,
Lonni

[seeker]

I tried running nvidia-bug-report.sh and nothing happened. I'm assuming that this means that the driver did not install. I ran the SuSe update, for the Nvidia driver, but I saw something about fetchnvidia.sh, but it only lasted for seconds and obviously was not enough time to download a driver. I suspect that this was just a patch rather than the driver itself. So how do I get the driver, from the Nvidia website?

[netllama]

I'm afraid that I don't understand what you mean by "I tried running nvidia-bug-report.sh and nothing happened". Was there an error? Did it just silently fail to generate a bug report?

The NVIDIA driver is always available from NVIDIA's website.

-Lonni

[seeker]

I'm afraid that I don't understand what you mean by "I tried running nvidia-bug-report.sh and nothing happened". Was there an error? Did it just silently fail to generate a bug report?

The NVIDIA driver is always available from NVIDIA's website.

-Lonni

Yes, the latter. Silent without any error.

I took a look at the Nvidia website, but the instructions for SuSe recommended using YaST Online Updates, to prevent needing to rebuild the kernel, which I'm totally unprepared for. I tried running YOU again, with the "reload all patches" checked, and found the driver and let it go through the installation procedure, but glxinfo said the same thing. After reading the Nvidia instructions on the update, I thought that I had done it wrong, and ran YOU again, the same way, but this time the driver did not appear in the list. At this point, I don't know what got installed.

[netllama]

If you're having problems with YOU, then you should contact SuSE for assistance with their software.

I'm afraid that I don't understand why you'd need to rebuild a kernel to install the nvidia driver. That has never been a requirement.

Have you tried installing the official NVIDIA driver package from NVIDIA's website, per the instructions in the README (not the SuSE specific instructions)?

Thanks,
-Lonni

[seeker]

If you're having problems with YOU, then you should contact SuSE for assistance with their software.

You are right, but when I have done so in the past, I never found them to be of much use. This was due mostly to myself though, because I'm still in the early learning stages with Linux, and techs too often make too many assumptions about what I do or do not understand, and it ends up with me going in circle.

I'm afraid that I don't understand why you'd need to rebuild a kernel to install the nvidia driver. That has never been a requirement.

Have you tried installing the official NVIDIA driver package from NVIDIA's website, per the instructions in the README (not the SuSE specific instructions)?

No, I haven't tried any nonSuSe specific procedures, because of the mention of the kernel, and that was on the Nvidia website, not SuSe.

[netllama]

The only kernel related requirement from NVIDIA is that you have the source or at least the headers for the kernel that you're using, installed. SuSE includes a kernel-source RPM with all of their distributions.

-Lonni

[seeker]

Yes, you are correct, I had misread it. I have downloaded the driver, and I think that I understand how to proceed, but one question remains. Since I am afraid to reboot now, to get to runlevel3, I was wondering about using the init 3 command. I assume that this is similar to switching users, and it works without rebooting. This is new territory for me, because I have never used it before. Will this runlevel give me a graphical environment, or is it something like DOS in Windows? I would normally just experiment, but right now, I have another problem to contend with and am afraid of doing anything to force me to reboot.

[netllama]

Runlevel 3 is without X, which is what is required to install the NVIDIA driver. 'init 3' will switch to run level 3.

-Lonni

[seeker]

I was having some problems with init 3, but I finally got past that and executed the command to install the driver. First it produced an error message that it could not connect to nvidia, but when I hit the enter key, it proceeded to produce a warning"

"Your Linux kernel has known problems in it's implementation of the change_page_attr () kernel" It continued with a message recommending to 2.6.11 or newer. And said that if I wanted that it would try to work around the problem, but that it might cause system instability.

I bailed out, and came back here to see what you could tell me. I do not want to upgrade the kernel, and I do not want to mess up the system. How likely is it that installing the driver will foul things up? Is there any alternative, except to not install the driver at all?

[netllama]

The change_page_attr bug is a kernel bug, not an nvidia driver bug. Please see the NVIDIA README for more information on this bug.

Thanks,
Lonni

[seeker]

Okay, when I get back into Linux, I'll check it out. How about the first message about it not being able to contact Nvidia? Is the 9+mb download that I have the driver, or is there something else that needs to be downloaded?

[mwdowns]

Not to take anything away from netllama's help, but there are some SUSE specific forums that are pretty good at answering your questions (when they pertain to SUSE). Check out

www.suseforums.net
www.suselinuxsupport.de

They are both very helpful and (this is probably the most important) very understanding towards linux newbies.

Also, just to ask...have you updated your kernel using YOU?

[seeker]

Not to take anything away from netllama's help, but there are some SUSE specific forums that are pretty good at answering your questions (when they pertain to SUSE). Check out

www.suseforums.net
www.suselinuxsupport.de

They are both very helpful and (this is probably the most important) very understanding towards linux newbies.

Also, just to ask...have you updated your kernel using YOU?
Thanks for the links, but I have used those forums before, and not found them too helpful. Yet, I may do so again. I used YOU to update everything except the kernel, because the last time I did this, it borked up Grub and I couldn't boot to either XP or SuSe. I'm waiting til I have the confidence to be able to handle repairing that situation. It probably was my own lack of understanding, but the SuSe repair rescue was of no help.

[mwdowns]

Granted, I am using 10.0 now (and used 9.1 and 9.3 before), so my experience with 9.2 is nil. However, I think there shouldn't be too much of a difference. Then again, I am also relatively new to Linux...been using it for just over a year.

Do you know which kernel is being offered now during the update. I have updated my kernel without a problem with grub and without too much of a problem with anything else (messes up ati and nvidia drivers, but all you have to do is reinstall...takes about 2 minutes).

When you updated and messed up grub last time, what option did you choose when you used the SUSE disk to repair GRUB? There should be an option (after choosing installation from the first screen) called "other" (the other options are "new installation" and "update an existing system" or something like that). If you choose "other," you should be given a choice to "boot installed system" or "repair installed system". If you choose "repair installed system" then you should see an option called "install new boot loader". Run this, and it should fix GRUB.

Either way, I would suggest giving the forums another try (personally I prefer suseforums.net...just an opinion). Be sure to try and give as much info as you can about your problem. You'll get more indepth help than I can offer! :)

[seeker]

My memory is such, that I can't give specific steps that I took in the repair section, but I tried everything that I could find. I do recall the option about repairing Grub though, and it did not help. Actually, I had a similar problem with LILO, I can't recall which was which, but when I tried booting to one system I got a black half filled with 99s, and with the other, a black screen with L04 at the top. After checking around, I found that these referred to LILO boot issues. The only reason that I tried Grub, was assurances from friends that Grub would handle this on it's own, but that turned out to be wrong. The same friends tried to help resolve the problem, but we got nowhere. That is why that I'm now trying to make a Grub Boot Floppy, but so far, that hasn't worked, even though I followed an instruction sheet to the letter. However, even if it had worked, at the moment, I'm not really sure how to use it.

[mwdowns]

Hmmm. Yeah, that seems to be a bigger problem than I think I can help with. Sorry.

I'd suggest, though, if you don't mind taking the time and have your stuff backed up, downloading and installing the OSS version of SUSE 10.0 (not the betas for 10.1, as they're still pretty buggy). I've been running SUSE 10.0 since it's release with very few problems. There are a couple of good guides posted in the above mentioned forum's "tips and tricks" sections to help getting it set up just right.

Sorry I couldn't be of any more help.

[seeker]

It's always a help to be able to talk about a problem, whether it results in a solution or not. I already have a copy of SuSe 10.0, which I tried to install, but it went very badly. This may have been due to something with my hardware configuration, I'm not really sure. I tried to install it on a secondary IDE drive of a pair that was jumped to use cable select, but with the BIOS set to choose it as the boot drive. All that I got after installing, was a screen fill of errors and it couldn't get to desktop. I have been planning on installing it on another partition of the same drive that 9.2 is on, but have been stalling, because I wanted to make any mistakes on 9.2 first. Also, I want to keep both versions installed, but I'm not yet sure about editing Grub, so that all OSs will work properly.

[NightsPaladin]

Seeker,

The fetchnvidia.sh script you saw in YaST is supposed to be the script that fetches, and installs the Official NVIDIA Drivers for you from SuSE. I had some issues with it as well, and had to manually install them from the Nvidia website. For me, this was an easy task, but it is a little involved. Forgive me if I'm making assumptions that you're still pretty new to Linux, and you have more experience than I give you credit for. :)

I'll do my best to explain from memory. With the latest NVIDIA drivers some of the steps are easier.

1) First, download the NVIDIA drivers from the website. It'll be the NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-<ver>.run file. Remember where you save it (most likely /home/<your user>/). You may need to have the Kernel Headers/Source installed, though I'm not really sure.

1) You need to logout of your Window Manager (KDE/GNOME), and get back to the main login screen so you don't have a session started, it isn't required, but it insures that you aren't running anything that you don't want to lose info from.

2) Press Ctrl+Alt+F6 to get to a console screen, it'll be asking for a login, you need to login as "root", so do so.

3) Once logged in, you need to type "init 3" to shutdown X completely, otherwise the NVIDIA drivers won't install.

4) CD to the directory/folder you saved the .run file in (cd /home/<your user>/), and run "sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-<ver>.run". It'll go through a process of asking questions, etc, based on whether it can find and install a pre-compiled module, or has to compile it's own (why you'd need the kernel headers/source installed). Once finished, it should ask if you want it to configure X for you, I recommend doing so, as it eases the final steps for getting it setup.

5) Once it's finishes completely and exits, you can type "init 4" to start X back up (I believe it's init 4, but it may be init 5, most distro's setup runlevel 5 for X, and 4 is unused, but I think SuSE actually uses 4 for X, and 5 is unused). When it starts back up, you should see the NVIDIA logo on a white screen, and then it'll bring you to the system login prompt, or right to the desktop, depending on how it's setup. Open a console, and try running "glxgears" and "glxinfo" and check to make sure it's using the NVIDIA drivers GLX, and such. If it is, then your set to go.

I recommend greatly that you should upgrade from SuSE 9.2 to at least 9.3, if not 10.0. I also re-read your latter posts, and noticed you're having issues with LILO, though I've not ever had any real issues with it, and I don't know anything about the error you speak of, I tend to like GRUB better. It allows for upgrading the kernel without the need to do any major changes, other than adding a menu entry for the new kernel.

In dealing with the SuSE rescue setup, I actually liked it, and it was helpful, but it's been months since I've used SuSE, so I don't recall how it worked specifically, on top of the fact that system setup's differ greatly from one system to another.

If you could give more info on your system setup, such as where SuSE is installed (ie. if you have more than one HD, which HD), etc, I may be able to help. :)

NP

[seeker]

NightsPaladin,,

Your assumption about my experience is just about right, but it wouldn't matter if it wasn't, because I never take offense to someone trying to help. I scanned over your post, and it appears to indicate the procedure that I have used to date, however I have put it on hold until I know how to deal with the updating of the kernel. Currently, I am using Grub. LiLo was in the past tense. Your statement about adding a menu entry for the kernel, caught my eye. I'm uncertain now, what I did or did not do. Are you referring to the grub/menu.st? Can you give me any specifics on how this is done? I can remember doing alot of editing with the help of a friend, but that help came after the fact, and it did not cure the problem. I have four HDs. as you will see in my signature. XP is on the first SATA partition...E:, and SuSe is on the First partition of the first IDE...J:.

EDIT: I spoke a bit hastily, the XP on the SATAs is corrupt, and I have an archive on the second partition of the second IDE drive D:

Perhaps it would just be better to paste etc/fstab:

/dev/hdc3 / reiserfs acl,user_xattr 1 1
/dev/hdd1 /windows/D vfat users,gid=users,umask=0002,iocharset=utf8 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /windows/E ntfs ro,users,gid=users,umask=0002,nls=utf8 0 0
/dev/hdc2 swap swap pri=42 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs noauto 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0
/dev/cdrecorder /media/cdrecorder subfs fs=cdfss,ro,procuid,nosuid,nodev,exec,iocharset=ut f8 0 0
/dev/dvdrecorder /media/dvdrecorder subfs fs=cdfss,ro,procuid,nosuid,nodev,exec,iocharset=ut f8 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy subfs fs=floppyfss,procuid,nodev,nosuid,sync 0 0
/dev/hdc1 /windows/C ntfs ro,users,gid=users,umask=0002,nls=utf8 0 0

Between some failed installations, and the differences in the way that SuSe and XP designates drives and partitions, I tend to get a bit confused. You can ignore the VFAT and NTSF installations on hdd1 and sdb1.

[NightsPaladin]

Seeker,

Yes, I was referring to the /boot/grub/menu.lst. Usually, if you upgrade the kernel via a package from SuSE (or any other for that matter) it automatically adds an entry into that file for you.

If you're compiling your own from scratch, it would require you to edit that file by hand. Usually you can just look for the entry that you use with the current Kernel, copy and paste that code, and edit it, accordingly. Of course there's always the possibility that your current kernel would be replaced by the compiled kernel, and therefore, require you to just edit that entry.

Can you post your current /boot/grub/menu.lst file, and whether you're trying to upgrade via a package from SuSE, or compile from scratch? (If you stated this earlier in your post, then let me know, and I'll re-read.)

Thanks,
NP

[seeker]

Here is the menu:


# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Thu Feb 9 23:19:21 2006


color white/blue black/light-gray
default 0
timeout 30
gfxmenu (hd0,2)/boot/message

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title SUSE LINUX 9.2
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdc3 vga=0x317 selinux=0 splash=silent console=tty0 resume=/dev/hdc2 desktop elevator=as showopts
initrd (hd0,2)/boot/initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: floppy###
title Floppy
root (fd0)
chainloader +1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- SUSE LINUX 9.2
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdc3 showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off vga=normal noresume selinux=0 barrier=off iommu=noforce maxcpus=0 3
initrd (hd0,2)/boot/initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: memtest86###
title Memory Test
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/memtest.bin

I'm not really sure what it did, but when I allowed SuSe to update the kernel via the online update, it borked the system twice. I never edited this menu in any way, except to add XP to it. The update is automatic, and I do not know if it is actually replacing the kernel, or modifying the one that I have. I do not see anything in the listing for SuSe that is kernel specific.