Some quick questions

[placebojunkie]

I've just about given up on getting my GF4 MX440 running on my Red Hat 8 platform, but I have some questions anyway.

First, I have an AthlonXP 1800+ Processor. When fine tuning the kernel, what should it be set at for processor type. The first time I installed RedHat it defaulted to AMD K7. The second time I installed RedHat it defaulted to 386. Which is the proper setting?

Second, has anybody else had problems using NVchooser to get the proper rpm's for the nvidia drivers? When I first installed RedHat, my kernel version was 2.4.18-4. After auto-updating, my kernel version changed to 2.4.18-26.80. However, when I run NVchooser it says to use kernel-1.0-4191.rh80up_2.4.18_18.8.0.athlon.rpm. Which I was told by a forum member is the wrong one for my system.

Can anybody answer these questions for me. I'm just wondering if I should keep on trying or just give up.

[bwkaz]

Originally posted by placebojunkie
First, I have an AthlonXP 1800+ Processor. When fine tuning the kernel, what should it be set at for processor type. The first time I installed RedHat it defaulted to AMD K7. The second time I installed RedHat it defaulted to 386. Which is the proper setting? Those will both (386 and K7) work, but the K7 choice will tell your compiler (if it supports the option) to optimize for the "athlon" arch, rather than the default "i386" arch. This schedules instructions a bit better, and also allows the kernel to use some opcodes that the 386 didn't have (like cache flushing, which was added in the 486). But 386 will still work.

Second, has anybody else had problems using NVchooser to get the proper rpm's for the nvidia drivers? When I first installed RedHat, my kernel version was 2.4.18-4. After auto-updating, my kernel version changed to 2.4.18-26.80. However, when I run NVchooser it says to use kernel-1.0-4191.rh80up_2.4.18_18.8.0.athlon.rpm. Which I was told by a forum member is the wrong one for my system. That is indeed the wrong RPM... hmmm.

Were you running the updated kernel when you ran NVchooser? Most of the info in NVchooser is based on what uname -r prints, so if you were running the old kernel, it might have gotten confused. Unlikely, I'll admit, but (remotely) possible...

Maybe there are bugs in NVchooser? Do you get anything remarkable (that would point out where a possible bug might be) if you edit NVchooser to include a set -x line near the beginning of it?

[placebojunkie]

Thanx for replying bwkaz.

I figured K7 would be the best choice but I wanted to be sure.

As for NVchooser, I was running the updated kernel when I executed it. Maybe the program is buggy. Anyway, I reinstalled Red Hat 8 so now I am back to the original kernel version 2.4.18-14. Now I am wondering if I should auto-update the system again or leave it as is.

Is there a way I can update the system so that it matches an available nvidia rpm so that I don't have to try and compile a kernel myself. Because if I do auto-update, I'll have kernel version 2.4.18-26.80 and be back where I started from.

Please reply!

[bwkaz]

Looks like the newest kernel they have a binary for is 2.4.18-18.8.0, so if you updated only to that, it should work.