Index of /~tcs3/tcs3/computers/linux/1203-archive-centos4/0510_nvidia
Name Last modified Size Description
![[PARENTDIR]](/icons/back.gif)
Parent Directory -
![[TXT]](/icons/text.gif)
NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg1.run.txt 2005-10-17 10:19 11M
README.txt 2005-10-17 10:19 178K
NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set README and Installation Guide
NVIDIA Corporation
Last Updated: 2005/06/17
Most Recent Driver Version: 1.0-7676
__________________________________________________________________________
Preface
__________________________________________________________________________
The NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver set brings accelerated 2D functionality
and high-performance OpenGL support to Linux x86 with the use of NVIDIA
graphics processing units (GPUs).
These drivers provide optimized hardware acceleration for OpenGL and X
applications and support nearly all recent NVIDIA graphics chips (please see
Appendix A for a complete list of supported chips). TwinView, TV-Out and flat
panel displays are also supported.
This README describes how to install, configure, and use the NVIDIA
Accelerated Linux Driver Set. Answers to frequently asked questions and
problem diagnoses for common issues are also provided. These pages are posted
on NVIDIA's web site (http://www.nvidia.com), and are installed in
'/usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/'.
__________________________________________________________________________
Introduction
__________________________________________________________________________
This document provides instructions for the installation and use of the NVIDIA
Accelerated Linux Driver Set. Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 walk the user
through the process of downloading, installing and configuring the driver.
Chapter 4 addresses frequently asked questions about the installation process,
and Chapter 5 provides solutions to common problems.
In case additional information is required, Chapter 6 provides contact
information for NVIDIA Linux driver resources, and Chapter 7 provides a brief
listing of external resources.
It is assumed that the user has at least a basic understanding of Linux
techniques and terminology. However, Chapter 8 provides details on parts of
the installation process that new users may find helpful.
Additional information is presented in several Appendices. These include
supported hardware and system requirements, comprehensive lists of options for
various utilities associated with the driver, setup details for specific
configurations, and advanced topics and features.
CONTENTS:
Preface
Introduction
I. Installation Instructions
1. Selecting and Downloading the NVIDIA Packages for Your System
2. Installing the NVIDIA Driver
3. Configuring X for the NVIDIA Driver
II. Additional Information
4. Frequently Asked Questions
5. Common Problems
6. NVIDIA Contact Info
7. Additional Resources
8. Tips for New Linux Users
9. Acknowledgements
III. Appendices
A. Supported NVIDIA Graphics Chips
B. Minimum Software Requirements
C. Installed Components
D. X Config Options
E. OpenGL Environment Variable Settings
F. Configuring AGP
G. Configuring Twinview
H. Configuring TV-Out
I. Configuring a Laptop
J. Programming Modes
K. Flipping and UBB
L. Known Issues
M. Proc Interface
N. XVMC Support
O. GLX Support
P. Configuring Multiple X Screens on One Card
Q. Power Management Support
R. Display Device Names
S. The X Composite Extension
T. The nvidia-settings Utility
U. The XRandR Extension
V. Support for GLX in Xinerama
__________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 1. Selecting and Downloading the NVIDIA Packages for Your System
__________________________________________________________________________
NVIDIA drivers can be downloaded from the NVIDIA website
(http://www.nvidia.com).
The NVIDIA driver follows a Unified Architecture Model in which a single
driver set is used for all supported NVIDIA graphics chips (please see
Appendix A for a list of supported chips). The burden of selecting the correct
driver is removed from the user, and the driver set is downloaded as a single
file named
'NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg1.run'
The package suffix ('-pkg#') is used to distinguish between packages
containing the same driver, but with different precompiled kernel interfaces.
The file with the highest package number is suitable for most installations.
Support for "legacy" GPUs has been removed from the unified driver. These
legacy GPUs will continue to be maintained through special legacy GPU driver
releases. Please see Appendix A for a list of legacy GPUs.
The downloaded file is a self-extracting installer, and you may place it
anywhere on your system.
__________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 2. Installing the NVIDIA Driver
__________________________________________________________________________
This chapter provides instructions for installing the NVIDIA driver. Note that
after installation, but prior to using the driver, you must complete the steps
described in Chapter 3. Additional details that may be helpful for the new
Linux user are provided in Chapter 8.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Prior to beginning the installation, you should exit the X server and kill all
OpenGL applications (note that it is possible that some OpenGL applications
persist even after the X server has stopped). You should also set the default
run level on your system such that it will boot to a VGA console, and not
directly to X. Doing so will make it easier to recover if there is a problem
during the installation process. Please see Chapter 8 for details.
STARTING THE INSTALLER
After you have downloaded the file 'NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg#.run',
change to the directory containing the downloaded file, and as 'root' user run
the executable:
# cd yourdirectory
# sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg#.run
The '.run' file is a self-extracting archive. When executed, it extracts the
contents of the archive and runs the contained 'nvidia-installer' utility,
which provides an interactive interface to walk you through the installation.
Installation will also install the utility 'nvidia-installer' which may be
used at some later time to uninstall drivers, auto-download updated drivers,
etc. The use of this utility is detailed later in this chapter.
You may also supply command line options to the '.run' file. Some of the more
common options are listed below.
Common '.run' Options
--info
Print embedded info about the '.run' file and exit.
--check
Check integrity of the archive and exit.
--extract-only
Extract the contents of './NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676.run', but do not
run 'nvidia-installer'.
--help
Print usage information for the common commandline options and exit.
--advanced-options
Print usage information for common command line options as well as the
advanced options, and then exit.
INSTALLING THE KERNEL INTERFACE
The NVIDIA kernel module has a kernel interface layer that must be compiled
specifically for each kernel. NVIDIA distributes the source code to this
kernel interface layer, as well as precompiled versions for many of the
kernels provided by popular Linux distributions.
When the installer is run, it will determine if it has a precompiled kernel
interface for the kernel you are running. If it does not have one, it will
check if there is one on the NVIDIA ftp site (assuming you have an internet
connection), and download it.
The installer will determine if it has a precompiled kernel interface for your
specific system. If not, it will attempt to download one from the NVIDIA ftp
site and link it against the binary kernel module. If one cannot be
downloaded, either because of network connectivity or because one is not
provided, the installer will check your system for the required kernel sources
and compile the interface for you. If the installer must compile the kernel
interface, you must install the kernel-sources package for your kernel.
If 'nvidia-installer' must compile a kernel interface for your kernel, you
will need the required support files installed on your system. On most
systems, this means that you will need to locate and install the correct
kernel-source or kernel-headers package; on some newer distributions, no
additional packages are required (e.g. Fedora Core 3, Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4).
Note that linking of the kernel interface (in the case that the interface was
downloaded or compiled at installation) requires you to have a linker
installed on your system. The linker, usually '/usr/bin/ld', is part of the
binutils package. If a precompiled kernel interface is not found, you must
install a linker prior to installing the NVIDIA driver.
FEATURES OF THE INSTALLER
Without options, the '.run' file executes the installer after unpacking it.
The installer can be run as a seperate step in the process, or can be run at a
later time to get updates, etc. Some of the more important commandline options
of 'nvidia-installer' are:
'nvidia-installer' options
--uninstall
During installation, the installer will make backups of any
conflicting files and record the installation of new files. The
uninstall option undoes an install, restoring the system to its
pre-install state.
--latest
Connect to NVIDIA's FTP site, and report the latest driver version and
the url to the latest driver file.
--update
Connect to NVIDIA's FTP site, download the most recent driver file,
and install it.
--ui=none
The installer uses an ncurses-based user interface if it is able to
locate the correct ncurses library. Otherwise, it will fall back to a
simple commandline user interface. This option disables the use of the
ncurses library.
Note that, as suggested by the options, the installer has the ability to
download updated precompiled kernel interfaces from the NVIDIA FTP site (for
kernels that were released after the NVIDIA driver release).
__________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 3. Configuring X for the NVIDIA Driver
__________________________________________________________________________
The X configuration file provides a means to configure the X server. This
section describes the settings necessary to enable the NVIDIA driver. A
comprehensive list of parameters is provided in Appendix D.
In April 2004 the X.org Foundation released an X server based on the XFree86
server. While many Linux distributions will use the X.org X server in the
future, rather than XFree86, the differences between the two should have no
impact on NVIDIA Linux users with two exceptions:
The X.org configuration file is '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' while the XFree86
configuration file is '/etc/X11/XF86Config'. The files use the same
syntax. This document refers to both files as "the X config file".
The X.org log file is '/var/log/Xorg.#.log' while the XFree86 log file
is '/var/log/XFree86.#.log' (where '#' is the server number -- usually
0). The format of the log files is nearly identical. This document
refers to both files as "the X log file".
In order for any changes to be read into the X server, you must edit the file
used by the server. While it is not unreasonable to simply edit both files, it
is easy to determine the correct file by searching for the line
(==) Using config file:
in the X log file. This line indicates the name of the X config file in use.
If you do not have a working X config file, there are a few different ways to
obtain one. A sample config file is included both with the XFree86
distribution and with the NVIDIA driver package (at
'/usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/'). Tools for generating a config file (such as
'xf86config') are included in many distributions. Additional information on
the X config syntax can be found in the XF86Config manual page (`man
XF86Config` or `man xorg.conf`).
If you have a working X config file for a different driver (such as the "nv"
or "vesa" driver), then simply edit the file as follows.
Remove the line:
Driver "nv"
(or Driver "vesa")
(or Driver "fbdev")
and replace it with the line:
Driver "nvidia"
Remove the following lines:
Load "dri"
Load "GLCore"
In the "Module" section of the file, add the line (if it does not already
exist):
Load "glx"
There are numerous options that may be added to the X config file to tune the
NVIDIA X driver. Please see Appendix D for a complete list of these options.
Once you have completed these edits to the X config file, you may restart X
and begin using the accelerated OpenGL libraries. After restarting X, any
OpenGL application should automatically use the new NVIDIA libraries. If you
encounter any problems, please see Chapter 5 for common problem diagnoses.
__________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 4. Frequently Asked Questions
__________________________________________________________________________
This section provides answers to frequently asked questions associated with
the NVIDIA Linux x86 Driver and its installation. Common problem diagnoses can
be found in Chapter 5 and tips for new users can be found in Chapter 8. Also,
detailed information for specific setups is provided in the Appendices.
NVIDIA-INSTALLER
Q. How do I extract the contents of the '.run' without actually installing the
driver?
A. Run the installer as follows:
# sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg1.run --extract-only
This will create the directory NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg1, conataining
the uncompressed contents of the '.run' file.
Q. How can I see the source code to the kernel interface layer?
A. The source files to the kernel interface layer are in the usr/src/nv
directory of the extracted .run file. To get to these sources, run:
# sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6629-pkg1.run --extract-only
# cd NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6629-pkg1/usr/src/nv/
Q. How and when are the the NVIDIA device files created?
A. Depending on the target system's configuration, the NVIDIA device files
used to be created in one of three different ways:
at installation time, using mknod
at module load time, via devfs (Linux device file system)
at module load time, via hotplug/udev
With currrent NVIDIA driver releases, device files are created or modified
by the X driver when the X server is started.
By default, the NVIDIA driver will attempt to create device files with the
following attributes:
UID: 0 - 'root'
GID: 0 - 'root'
Mode: 0666 - 'rw-rw-rw-'
Existing device files are changed if their attributes don't match these
defaults. If you wish for the NVIDIA driver to create the device files with
different attributes, you can specify them with the "NVreg_DeviceFileUID"
(user), "NVreg_DeviceFileGID" (group) and "NVreg_DeviceFileMode" NVIDIA
Linux kernel module parameters.
For example, the NVIDIA driver can be instructed to create device files
with UID=0 (root), GID=44 (video) and Mode=0660 by passing the following
module parameters to the NVIDIA Linux kernel module:
NVreg_DeviceFileUID=0
NVreg_DeviceFileGID=44
NVreg_DeviceFileMode=0660
The "NVreg_ModifyDeviceFiles" NVIDIA kernel module parameter will disable
dynamic device file management, if set to 0.
Q. I just upgraded my kernel, and now the NVIDIA kernel module will not load.
What is wrong?
A. The kernel interface layer of the NVIDIA kernel module must be compiled
specifically for the configuration and version of your kernel. If you
upgrade your kernel, then the simplest solution is to reinstall the driver.
ADVANCED: You can install the NVIDIA kernel module for a non running kernel
(for example: in the situation where you just built and installed a new
kernel, but have not rebooted yet) with a command line such as this:
# sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg1.run --kernel-name='KERNEL_NAME'
Where 'KERNEL_NAME' is what 'uname -r' would report if the target kernel
were running.
Q. Why does NVIDIA not provide rpms anymore?
A. Not every Linux distribution uses rpm, and NVIDIA wanted a single solution
that would work across all Linux distributions. As indicated in the NVIDIA
Software License, Linux distributions are welcome to repackage and
redistribute the NVIDIA Linux driver in whatever package format they wish.
Q. nvidia-installer does not work on my computer. How can I install the driver
contained within the .run file?
A. To install the NVIDIA driver contained within the .run file without using
nvidia-installer, you can use the included Makefile:
# sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg1.run --extract-only
# cd NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg1
# make install
This method of installation is not recommended, and is only provided as a
last resort, should nvidia-installer not work correctly on your system.
Q. Can the nvidia-installer use a proxy server?
A. Yes, because the ftp support in nvidia-installer is based on snarf, it will
honor the 'FTP_PROXY', 'SNARF_PROXY', and 'PROXY' environment variables.
Q. What is the significance of the 'pkg#' suffix on the '.run' file?
A. The 'pkg#' suffix is used to distinguish between '.run' files containing
the same driver, but different sets of precompiled kernel interfaces. If a
distribution releases a new kernel after an NVIDIA driver is released, the
current NVIDIA driver can be repackaged to include a precompiled kernel
interface for that newer kernel (in addition to all the precompiled kernel
interfaces that were included in the previous package of the driver).
'.run' files with the same version number, but different pkg numbers, only
differ in what precompiled kernel interfaces are included. Additionally,
'.run' files with higher pkg numbers will contain everything the '.run'
files with lower pkg numbers contain.
Q. I have already installed NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg1.run, but I see that
NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg2.run was just posted on the NVIDIA Linux
driver download page. Should I download and install
NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg2.run?
A. This is not necessary. The driver contained within all 1.0-7676 '.run'
files will be identical. There is no need to reinstall.
Q. Can I add my own precompiled kernel interfaces to a '.run' file?
A. Yes, the --add-this-kernel '.run' file option will unpack the '.run' file,
build a precompiled kernel interface for the currently running kernel, and
repackage the '.run' file, appending '-custom' to the filename. This may be
useful, for example. if you administer multiple Linux machines, each
running the same kernel.
Q. Where can I find the source code for the 'nvidia-installer' utility?
A. The 'nvidia-installer' utility is released under the GPL. The latest source
code for it is available at:
ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nvidia-installer
NVIDIA DRIVER
Q. Where should I start when diagnosing display problems?
A. One of the most useful tools for diagnosing problems is the X log file in
'/var/log'. Lines that begin with "(II)" are information, "(WW)" are
warnings, and "(EE)" are errors. You should make sure that the correct
config file (i.e. the config file you are editing) is being used; look for
the line that begins with:
(==) Using config file:
Also make sure that the NVIDIA driver is being used, rather than the "nv"
or "vesa" driver. Search for
(II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
Lines from the driver should begin with:
(II) NVIDIA(0)
Q. How can I increase the amount of data printed in the X log file?
A. By default, the NVIDIA X driver prints relatively few messages to stderr
and the X log file. If you need to troubleshoot, then it may be helpful to
enable more verbose output by using the X command line options -verbose and
-logverbose, which can be used to set the verbosity level for the 'stderr'
and log file messages, respectively. The NVIDIA X driver will output more
messages when the verbosity level is at or above 5 (X defaults to verbosity
level 1 for 'stderr' and level 3 for the log file). So, to enable verbose
messaging from the NVIDIA X driver to both the log file and 'stderr', you
could start X by doing the following
% startx -- -verbose 5 -logverbose 5
Q. Where can I get 'gl.h' or 'glx.h' so I can compile OpenGL programs?
A. Most systems come with these header files preinstalled. However, NVIDIA
provides its own 'gl.h' and 'glx.h' files, which get installed by default
as part of driver installation. If you prefer that the NVIDIA-distributed
OpenGL header files not be installed, you can pass the --no-opengl-headers
option to the 'NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg1.run' file during
installation.
Q. Can I receive email notification of new NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set
releases?
A. Yes. Fill out the form at: http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?FO=driver_update
Q. What is NVIDIA's policy towards development series Linux kernels?
A. NVIDIA does not officially support development series kernels. However, all
the kernel module source code that interfaces with the Linux kernel is
available in the 'usr/src/nv/' directory of the '.run' file. NVIDIA
encourages members of the Linux community to develop patches to these
source files to support development series kernels. A web search will most
likely yield several community supported patches.
Q. Why does X use so much memory?
A. When measuring any application's memory usage, you must be careful to
distinguish between physical system RAM used and virtual mappings of shared
resources. For example, most shared libraries exist only once in physical
memory but are mapped into multiple processes. This memory should only be
counted once when computing total memory usage. In the same way, the video
memory on a graphics card or register memory on any device can be mapped
into multiple processes. These mappings do not consume normal system RAM.
This has been a frequently discussed topic on XFree86 mailing lists; see,
for example:
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=xfree-xpert&m=96835767116567&w=2
The 'pmap' utility described in the above thread is available here:
http://web.hexapodia.org/~adi/pmap.c and is a useful tool in distinguishing
between types of memory mappings. For example, while 'top' may indicate
that X is using several hundred MB of memory, the last line of output from
pmap:
mapped: 287020 KB writable/private: 9932 KB shared: 264656 KB
reveals that X is really only using roughly 10MB of system RAM (the
"writable/private" value).
Note, also, that X must allocate resources on behalf of X clients (the
window manager, your web browser, etc); X's memory usage will increase as
more clients request resources such as pixmaps, and decrease as you close X
applications.
Q. Where can I find the tarballs?
A. Plain tarballs are no longer available. The '.run' file is a tarball with a
shell script prepended. You can execute the '.run' file with the
--extract-only option to unpack the tarball.
Q. Where can I find older driver versions?
A. Please visit ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86_40/
Q. I want to use Valgrind with OpenGL applications, but my distribution uses
ELF TLS, and Valgrind cannot yet deal with NVIDIA's ELF TLS OpenGL. What do
I do?
A. You can set the environment variable 'LD_ASSUME_KERNEL' to something below
"2.3.99" (e.g. 2.3.98). Please see the new user guide, Chapter 8, for more
tips on setting environment variables.
NVIDIA's OpenGL libraries contain an OS ABI ELF note that indicates the
minimum kernel version that is required to use the library. The ELF TLS
OpenGL libraries have an OS ABI of 2.3.99 (the first Linux kernel that
contained the necessary LDT support for ELF TLS), while the non ELF TLS
OpenGL libraries contain an OS ABI of 2.2.5.
The run-time loader will not load libraries with an OS ABI greater than the
current kernel version. The 'LD_ASSUME_KERNEL' environment variable can be
used to override the kernel version that the run-time loader uses in this
test.
By setting 'LD_ASSUME_KERNEL' to any kernel version below 2.3.99, you can
force the loader to not use the ELF TLS OpenGL libraries, and fall back to
the regular OpenGL libraries.
If, for some reason, you need to remove this OS ABI note from the NVIDIA
OpenGL libraries, you can do so by passing the '.run' file the
--no-abi-note option during installation.
Q. Why does X crash when starting on Fedora Core 4?
A. There are interaction problems with SELinux (enabled by default on Fedora
Core 4) and the NVIDIA graphics driver. NVIDIA is investigating this, but
it is recommended that you append the kernel boot option "selinux=0" to the
kernel boot line in your grub.conf file. You must reinstall the NVIDIA
driver after adding this option.
Q. Using GNOME configuration utilities, I am unable to get a resolution above
800x600. What is wrong?
A. The installation of GNOME provided in distributions such as Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 4 contain several competing interfaces for specifying
resolution:
'System Settings' -> 'Display'
which will update the X configuration file, and
'Applications' -> 'Preferences' -> 'Screen Resolution'
which will update the per-user screen resolution using the XRandR
extension. Your desktop resolution will be limited to the smaller of the
two settings. Please be sure to check the setting of each.
Q. My X server log file contains the message:
(WW) NVIDIA(0): You appear to be using the XFree86-DGA extension. Please
(WW) NVIDIA(0): be aware that support for this extension will be
(WW) NVIDIA(0): removed from the NVIDIA driver in a future driver
(WW) NVIDIA(0): release. See the NVIDIA README for details.
What is NVIDIA's plan for support of the XFree86-DGA extension?
A. Support for the XFree86-DGA extension will be removed from the NVIDIA
driver in a future driver release. This means that while the extension will
continue to be advertised and XDGASelectInput() will still function
properly so that DGA clients can acquire relative pointer motion, DGA entry
points such as XDGASetMode() and XDGAOpenFramebuffer() will fail.
If you would prefer that DGA support not be removed from the NVIDIA X
driver, please feel free to make your concerns known on the Linux forum on
nvnews.net.
Q. My kernel log contains messages that are prefixed with "Xid"; what do these
messages mean?
A. "Xid" messages indicate that a general GPU error occurred, most often due
to the driver misprogramming the GPU or to corruption of the commands sent
to the GPU. These messages provide diagnostic information that can be used
by NVIDIA to aid in debugging reported problems.
Q. On what NVIDIA hardware is the EXT_framebuffer_object OpenGL extension
supported?
A. EXT_framebuffer_object is supported on GeForce FX, Quadro FX, and newer
GPUs.
__________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 5. Common Problems
__________________________________________________________________________
This section provides solutions to common problems associated with the NVIDIA
Linux x86 Driver.
Q. My X server fails to start, and my X log file contains the error:
(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module!
The X driver will abort with this error message if the NVIDIA kernel module
fails to load. If you receive this error, you should check the output of
`dmesg` for kernel error messages and/or attempt to load the kernel module
explicitly with `modprobe nvidia`. If unresolved symbols are reported, then
the kernel module was most likely built against a Linux kernel source tree
(or kernel headers) for a kernel revision or configuration that doesn't
match the running kernel.
You can specify the location of the kernel source tree (or headers) when
you install the NVIDIA driver using the --kernel-source-path command line
option (see `sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg1.run --advanced-options` for
details).
Old versions of the module-init-tools include `modprobe` binaries that
report an error when instructed to load a module that's already loaded into
the kernel. Please upgrade your module-init-tools if you receive an error
message to this effect.
The X server reads '/proc/sys/kernel/modprobe' to determine the path to the
`modprobe` utility and falls back to '/sbin/modprobe' if the file doesn't
exist. Please make sure that this path is valid and refers to a `modprobe`
binary compatible with the Linux kernel running on your system.
The "LoadKernelModule" X driver option can be used to change the default
behavior and disable kernel module auto-loading.
Q. My X server fails to start, and my X log file contains the error:
(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA kernel module!
A. Nothing will work if the NVIDIA kernel module does not function properly.
If you see anything in the X log file like
(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA kernel module!
then there is most likely a problem with the NVIDIA kernel module.
The NVIDIA kernel module may print error messages indicating a problem --
to view these messages please check the output of `dmesg`,
'/var/log/messages', or wherever syslog is directed to place kernel
messages. These messages are prepended with "NVRM".
Q. My X server fails to start, and my X log file contains the error:
(EE) NVIDIA(0): The NVIDIA kernel module does not appear to be receiving
(EE) NVIDIA(0): interrupts generated by the NVIDIA graphics device.
(EE) NVIDIA(0): Please see the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS section in
(EE) NVIDIA(0): the README for additional information."
A. This can be caused by a variety of problems, such as PCI IRQ routing
errors, I/O APIC problems or conflicts with other devices sharing the IRQ
(or their drivers).
If possible, configure your system such that your graphics card does not
share its IRQ with other devices (try moving the graphics card to another
slot (if applicable), unload/disable the driver(s) for the device(s)
sharing the card's IRQ, or remove/disable the device(s)).
Depending on the nature of the problem, one of (or a combination of) these
kernel parameters might also help:
Parameter Behavior
------------------------------- -------------------------------
pci=noacpi don't use ACPI for PCI IRQ
routing
pci=biosirq use PCI BIOS calls to retrieve
the IRQ routing table
noapic don't use I/O APICs present in
the system
acpi=off disable ACPI
Q. X starts for me, but OpenGL applications terminate immediately.
A. If X starts, but OpenGL causes problems, you most likely have a problem
with other libraries in the way, or there are stale symlinks. See Appendix
C for details. Sometimes, all it takes is to rerun 'ldconfig'.
You should also check that the correct extensions are present;
% xdpyinfo
should show the "GLX" and "NV-GLX" extensions present. If these two
extensions are not present, then there is most likely a problem loading the
glx module, or it is unable to implicitly load GLcore. Check your X config
file and make sure that you are loading glx (see Chapter 3). If your X
config file is correct, then check the X log file for warnings/errors
pertaining to GLX. Also check that all of the necessary symlinks are in
place (refer to Appendix C).
Q. Installing the NVIDIA kernel module gives an error message like:
#error Modules should never use kernel-headers system headers
#error but headers from an appropriate kernel-source
A. You need to install the source for the Linux kernel. In most situations you
can fix this problem by installing the kernel-source package for your
distribution
Q. OpenGL applications crash and print out the following warning:
WARNING: Your system is running with a buggy dynamic loader.
This may cause crashes in certain applications. If you
experience crashes you can try setting the environment
variable __GL_SINGLE_THREADED to 1. For more information
please consult the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS section in
the file /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/README.txt.
A. The dynamic loader on your system has a bug which will cause applications
linked with pthreads, and that dlopen() libGL multiple times, to crash.
This bug is present in older versions of the dynamic loader. Distributions
that shipped with this loader include but are not limited to Red Hat Linux
6.2 and Mandrake Linux 7.1. Version 2.2 and later of the dynamic loader are
known to work properly. If the crashing application is single threaded then
setting the environment variable '__GL_SINGLE_THREADED' to "1" will prevent
the crash. In the bash shell you would enter:
% export __GL_SINGLE_THREADED=1
and in csh and derivatives use:
% setenv __GL_SINGLE_THREADED 1
Previous releases of the NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set attempted to
work around this problem. Unfortunately the workaround caused problems with
other applications and was removed after version 1.0-1541.
Q. Quake3 crashes when changing video modes.
A. You are probably experiencing a problem described above. Please check the
text output for the "WARNING" message described in the previous hint.
Setting '__GL_SINGLE_THREADED' to "1" as will fix the problem.
Q. I cannot build the NVIDIA kernel module, or, I can build the NVIDIA kernel
module, but modprobe/insmod fails to load the module into my kernel. What
is wrong?
A. These problems are generally caused by the build using the wrong kernel
header files (i.e. header files for a different kernel version than the one
you are running). The convention used to be that kernel header files should
be stored in '/usr/include/linux/', but that is deprecated in favor of
'/lib/modules/RELEASE/build/include' (where RELEASE is the result of 'uname
-r'. The 'nvidia-installer' should be able to determine the location on
your system; however, if you encounter a problem you can force the build to
use certain header files by using the --kernel-include-dir option. For this
to work you will of course need the appropriate kernel header files
installed on your system. Consult the documentation that came with your
distribution; some distributions do not install the kernel header files by
default, or they install headers that do not coincide properly with the
kernel you are running.
Q. There are problems running Heretic II.
A. Heretic II also installs, by default, a symlink called 'libGL.so' in the
application directory. You can remove or rename this symlink, since the
system will then find the default 'libGL.so' (which our drivers install in
'/usr/lib'). From within Heretic II you can then set your render mode to
OpenGL in the video menu. There is also a patch available to Heretic II
from lokigames at: http://www.lokigames.com/products/heretic2/updates.php3/
Q. My system hangs when vt-switching if I have rivafb enabled.
A. Using both rivafb and the NVIDIA kernel module at the same time is
currently broken. In general, using two independent software drivers to
drive the same piece of hardware is a bad idea.
Q. Compiling the NVIDIA kernel module gives this error:
You appear to be compiling the NVIDIA kernel module with
a compiler different from the one that was used to compile
the running kernel. This may be perfectly fine, but there
are cases where this can lead to unexpected behaviour and
system crashes.
If you know what you are doing and want to override this
check, you can do so by setting IGNORE_CC_MISMATCH.
In any other case, set the CC environment variable to the
name of the compiler that was used to compile the kernel.
A. You should compile the NVIDIA kernel module with the same compiler version
that was used to compile your kernel. Some Linux kernel data structures are
dependent on the version of gcc used to compile it; for example, in
'include/linux/spinlock.h' :
...
* Most gcc versions have a nasty bug with empty initializers.
*/
#if (__GNUC__ > 2)
typedef struct { } rwlock_t;
#define RW_LOCK_UNLOCKED (rwlock_t) { }
#else
typedef struct { int gcc_is_buggy; } rwlock_t;
#define RW_LOCK_UNLOCKED (rwlock_t) { 0 }
#endif
If the kernel is compiled with gcc 2.x, but gcc 3.x is used when the kernel
interface is compiled (or vice versa), the size of rwlock_t will vary, and
things like ioremap will fail. To check what version of gcc was used to
compile your kernel, you can examine the output of:
% cat /proc/version
To check what version of gcc is currently in your '$PATH', you can examine
the output of:
% gcc -v
Q. X fails with error
Failed to allocate LUT context DMA
A. This is one of the possible consequences of compiling the NVIDIA kernel
interface with a different gcc version than used to compile the Linux
kernel (see above).
Q. I recently updated various libraries on my system using my Linux
distributor's update utility, and the NVIDIA graphics driver no longer
works.
A. Conflicting libraries may have been installed by your distribution's update
utility; please see Appendix C for details on how to diagnose this.
Q. The command 'rpm --rebuild' gives an error "unknown option".
A. Recent versions of rpm no longer support the --rebuild option; if you have
such a version of rpm, you should instead use the command
% rpmbuild --rebuild
The 'rpmbuild' executable is provided by the rpm-build package.
Q. I have rebuilt the NVIDIA kernel module, but when I try to insert it, I get
a message telling me I have unresolved symbols.
A. Unresolved symbols are most often caused by a mismatch between your kernel
sources and your running kernel. They must match for the NVIDIA kernel
module to build correctly. Please make sure your kernel sources are
installed and configured to match your running kernel.
Q. How do I tell if I have my kernel sources installed?
A. If you are running on a distro that uses RPM (Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE,
etc), then you can use 'rpm' to tell you. At a shell prompt, type:
% rpm -qa | grep kernel
and look at the output. You should see a package that corresponds to your
kernel (often named something like kernel-2.4.18-3) and a kernel source
package with the same version (often named something like
kernel-source-2.4.18-3). If none of the lines seem to correspond to a
source package, then you will probably need to install it. If the versions
listed mismatch (e.g., kernel-2.4.18-10 vs. kernel-source-2.4.18-3), then
you will need to update the kernel-source package to match the installed
kernel. If you have multiple kernels installed, you need to install the
kernel-source package that corresponds to yourkernel (or make sure your
installed source package matches the running kernel). You can do this by
looking at the output of 'uname -r' and matching versions.
Q. I am unable to load the NVIDIA kernel module that I compiled for the Red
Hat Linux 7.3 2.4.18-3bigmem kernel.
A. The kernel header files Red Hat Linux distributes for Red Hat Linux 7.3
2.4.18-3bigmem kernel are misconfigured. NVIDIA's precompiled kernel module
for this kernel can be loaded, but if you wish to compile the NVIDIA kernel
interface files yourself for this kernel, then you will need to perform the
following:
# cd /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/
# make mrproper
# cp configs/kernel-2.4.18-i686-bigmem.config .config
# make oldconfig dep
Note: Red Hat Linux ships kernel header files that are simultaneously
configured for ALL of their kernels for a particular distribution version.
A header file generated at boot time sets up a few parameters that select
the correct configuration. Rebuilding the kernel headers with the above
commands will create header files suitable for the Red Hat Linux 7.3
2.4.18-3bigmem kernel configuration only, thus clobbering unusable the
header files for the other configurations.
Q. OpenGL applications leak significant amounts of memory on my system!
A. If your kernel is making use of the -rmap VM, the system may be leaking
memory due to a memory management optimization introduced in -rmap14a. The
-rmap VM has been adopted by several popular distributions, the memory leak
is known to be present in some of the distribution kernels; it has been
fixed in -rmap15e.
If you suspect that your system is affected, please try upgrading your
kernel or contact the distribution's vendor for assistance.
Q. Some OpenGL applications (like Quake3 Arena) crash when I start them on Red
Hat Linux 9.0.
A. Some versions of the glibc package shipped by Red Hat that support TLS do
not properly handle using dlopen() to access shared libraries which use
some TLS models. This problem is exhibited, for example, when Quake3 Area
dlopen() 's NVIDIA's libGL library. Please obtain at least glibc-2.3.2-11.9
which is available as an update from Red Hat.
Q. I have installed the driver, but my Enable 3D Acceleration checkbox is
still greyed out.
A. Most distribution-provided configuration applets are not aware of the
NVIDIA accelerated driver, and consequently will not update themselves when
you install the driver. Your driver, if it has been installed properly,
should function fine.
Q. X does not restore the vga console when run on a TV. I get this error
message in my X log file:
Unable to initialize the X int10 module; the console may not be
restored correctly on your TV.
A. The NVIDIA X driver uses the X Int10 module to save and restore console
state on TV out, and will not be able to restore the console correctly if
it cannot use the Int10 module. If you have built the X server yourself,
please be sure you have built the Int10 module. If you are using a build of
the X server provided by a Linux distribution, and are missing the Int10
module, please contact your distributor,
Q. When changing settings in games like Quake 3 Arena, or Wolfenstein Enemy
Territry, the game crashes and I see this error:
...loading libGL.so.1: QGL_Init: dlopen libGL.so.1 failed:
/usr/lib/tls/libGL.so.1: shared object cannot be dlopen()ed:
static TLS memory too small
A. These games close and reopen the NVIDIA OpenGL driver (via dlopen() /
dlclose()) when settings are changed. On some versions of glibc (such as
the one shipped with Red Hat Linux 9), there is a bug that leaks static TLS
entries. This glibc bug causes subsequent re-loadings of the OpenGL driver
to fail. This is fixed in more recent versions of glibc; please see Red Hat
bug #89692: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=89692
Q. X crashes during 'startx', and my X log file contains this error message:
(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to obtain a shared memory identifier.
A. The NVIDIA OpenGL driver and the NVIDIA X driver require shared memory to
communicate; you must have 'CONFIG_SYSVIPC' enabled in your kernel.
Q. When I try to install the driver, the installer claims that X is running,
even though I have exited X.
A. The installer detects the presence of an X server by checking for X's lock
files: '/tmp/.Xn-lock', where 'n' is the number of the X Display (the
installer checks for X Displays 0-7). If you have exited X, but one of
these files have been left behind, then you will need to manually delete
the lock file.remove this file is X is still running.
Q. My system runs, but seems unstable. What is wrong?
A. Your stability problems may be AGP-related. See Appendix F for details.
Q. OpenGL applications are running slowly
A. The application is probably using a different library still on your system,
rather than the NVIDIA supplied OpenGL library. Please see Appendix C for
details.
Q. There are problems running Quake2.
A. Quake2 requires some minor setup to get it going. First, in the Quake2
directory, the install creates a symlink called 'libGL.so' that points at
'libMesaGL.so'. This symlink should be removed or renamed. Second, in order
to run Quake2 in OpenGL mode, you must type
% quake2 +set vid_ref glx +set gl_driver libGL.so
Quake2 does not seem to support any kind of full-screen mode, but you can
run your X server at the same resolution as Quake2 to emulate full-screen
mode.
Q. I am using either nForce of nForce2 internal graphics, and I see warnings
like this in my X log file:
Not using mode "1600x1200" (exceeds valid memory bandwidth usage)
A. Integrated graphics have more strict memory bandwidth limitations that
limit the resolution and refresh rate of the modes you request. To work
around this, you can reduce the maximum refresh rate by lowering the upper
value of the VertRefresh range in the 'Monitor' section of your X config
file. Though not recommended, you can disable the memory bandwidth test
with the NoBandWidthTest X config file option.
Q. X takes a long time to start (possibly several minutes).
A. Most of the startx delay problems we have found are caused by incorrect
data in video BIOSes about what display devices are possibly connected or
what i2c port should be used for detection. You can work around these
problems with the X config option IgnoreDisplayDevices (please see the
description in Appendix D).
Q. Fonts are incorrectly sized after installing the NVIDIA driver.
A. Incorrectly sized fonts are generally caused by a monitor reporting an
incorrect physical size, which causes various X applications to render
fonts at the wrong size. You can check what X thinks the physical size of
your monitor is, by running:
% xdpyinfo | grep dimensions
This will report the size in pixels, and in millimeters. If the sizes in
millimeters are drastically incorrect, then you can correct this by adding
the DisplaySize field to the monitor section of your X config file (see the
XF86Config or xorg.conf manual pages for details).
You can check what your monitor reports its physical size is by running X
with verbose logging: `startx -- -logverbose`. Then, search your X log file
for a line that looks like:
(II) NVIDIA(0): Max H-Image Size [cm]: horiz.: 36 vert.: 27
(the numbers will be different) The NVIDIA driver uses these values to
compute the DPI.
__________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 6. NVIDIA Contact Info
__________________________________________________________________________
There is an NVIDIA Linux Driver web forum. You can access it by going to
http://www.nvnews.net and following the "Forum" and "Linux Discussion Area"
links. This is the preferable tool for seeking help; users can post questions,
answer other users' questions, and search the archives of previous postings.
If all else fails, you can contact NVIDIA for support at:
linux-bugs@nvidia.com. But please, only send email to this address after you
have explored the Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 chapters of this document, and asked
for help on the nvnews.net web forum. When emailing linux-bugs@nvidia.com,
please include the 'nvidia-bug-report.log' file generated by the
'nvidia-bug-report.sh' script (which is installed as part of driver
installation).
__________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 7. Additional Resources
__________________________________________________________________________
Resources
Linux OpenGL ABI
http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/ABI/
The XFree86 Project
http://www.xfree86.org/
XFree86 Video Timings HOWTO
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO/index.html
The X.org Foundation
http://www.x.org/
OpenGL
http://www.opengl.org/
__________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 8. Tips for New Linux Users
__________________________________________________________________________
This installation guide assumes that the user has at least a basic
understanding of Linux techniques and terminology. In this section we provide
tips that the new user may find helpful. While the these tips are meant to
clarify and assist users in installing and configuring the NVIDIA Linux
Driver, it is by no means a tutorial on the use or administration of the Linux
operating system. Unlike many desktop operating systems, it is relatively easy
to cause irreperable damage to your Linux system. If you are unfamiliar with
the use of Linux, we strongly recommend that you seek a tutorial through your
distributor before proceeding.
THE COMMAND PROMPT
While newer releases of Linux bring new desktop interfaces to the user, much
of the work in Linux takes place at the command prompt. If you are familiar
with the Windows operating system, the Linux command prompt is analogous to
the windows command prompt, although the syntax and use varies somewhat. All
of the commands in this section are performed at the command prompt. Some
systems are configured to boot into console mode, in which case the user is
presented with a prompt at login. Other systems are configured to start X
windows, in which case the user must open a terminal or console window in
order to get a command prompt. This can usually be done by searching the
desktop menus for a terminal or console program. While it is customizable, the
basic prompt usually consists of a short string of information, one of the
characters '#', '$', or '%', and a cursor (possibly flashing) that indicates
where the user's input will be displayed.
NAVIGATING THE DIRECTORY STRUCTURE
Linux has a hierarchical directory structure. From anywhere in the directory
structure, the 'ls' command will list the contents of that directory. the
'file' command will print the type of files in a directory. For example,
% file filename
will print the type of the file 'filename'. Changing directories is done with
the 'cd' command.
% cd dirname
will change the current directory to 'dirname'. From anywhere in the directory
structure, the command 'pwd' will print the name of the current directory.
There are two special directories, '.' and '..', which refer to the current
directory and the next directory up the hierarchy, respectively. For any
commands that require a file name or directory name as an argument, you may
specify the absolute or the relative paths to those elements. An absolute path
begins with the "/" character, referring to the top or root of the directory
structure. A relative path begins with a directory in the current working
directory. The relative path may begin with '.' or '..'. Elements of a path
are seperated with the "/" character. As an example, if the current directory
is '/home/jesse' and the user wants to change to the '/usr/local' directoy, he
can use either of the following commands to do so:
% cd /usr/local
or
% cd ../../usr/local
FILE PERMISSIONS AND OWNERSHIP
All files and directories have permissions and ownership associated with them.
This is useful for preventing non-administrative users from accidentally (or
maliciously) corrupting the system. The permissions and ownership for a file
or directory can be determined by passing the -l option to the 'ls' command.
For example:
% ls -l
drwxr-xr-x 2 jesse users 4096 Feb 8 09:32 bin
drwxrwxrwx 10 jesse users 4096 Feb 10 12:04 pub
-rw-r--r-- 1 jesse users 45 Feb 4 03:55 testfile
-rwx------ 1 jesse users 93 Feb 5 06:20 myprogram
-rw-rw-rw- 1 jesse users 112 Feb 5 06:20 README
%
The first character column in the first output field states the file type,
where 'd' is a directory and '-' is a regular file. The next nine colums
specify the permissions (see below) of the element. The second field indicates
the number of files associated with the element, the third field indicates the
owner, the fourth field indicates the group that the file is associated with,
the fifth field indicates the size of the element in bytes, the sixth, seventh
and eighth fields indicate the time at which the file was last modified and
the ninth field is the name of the element. As stated, the last nine columns
in the first field indicate the permissions of the element. These colums are
grouped into threes, the first grouping indicating the permissions for the
owner of the element ('jesse' in this case), the second grouping indicating
the permissions for the group associated with the element, and the third
grouping indicating the permissions associated with the rest of the world. The
'r', 'w', and 'x' indicate read, write and execute permissions, respectively,
for each of these associations. For example, user 'jesse' has read and write
permissions for 'testfile', users in the group 'users' have read permission
only, and the rest of the world also has read permissions only. However, for
the file 'myprogram', user 'jesse' has read, write and execute permissions
(suggesting that 'myprogram' is a program that can be executed), while the
group 'users' and the rest of the world have no permissions (suggesting that
the owner doesn't want anyone else to run his program). The permissions,
ownership and group associated with an element can be changed with the
commands 'chmod', 'chown' and 'chgrp', respectively. If a user with the
appropriate permissions wanted to change the user/group ownership of 'README'
from jesse/users to joe/admin, he would do the following:
# chown joe README
# chgrp admin README
The syntax for chmod is slightly more complicated and has several variations.
The most concise way of setting the permissions for a single element uses a
triplet of numbers, one for each of user, group and world. The value for each
number in the triplet corresponds to a combination of read, write and execute
permissions. Execute only is represented as 1, write only is represented as 2,
and read only is represented as 4. Combinations of these permissions are
represented as sums of the individual permissions. Read and execute is
represented as 5, where as read, write and execute is represented as 7. No
permissions is represented as 0. Thus, to give the owner read, write and
execute permissions, the group read and execute permissions and the world no
permissions, a user would do as follows:
% chmod 750 myprogram
THE SHELL
The shell provides an interface between the user and the operating system. It
is the job of the shell to interpret the input that the user gives at the
command prompt and call upon the system to do something in response. There are
several different shells available, each with somewhat different syntax and
capabilities. The two most common flavors of shells for Linux distributions
stem from the Borne shell ('sh') and the C-shell ('csh') Different users have
preferences and biases towards one shell or the other, and some certainly make
it easier (or at least more intuitive) to do some things than others. You can
determine your current shell by printing the value of the 'SHELL' from the
command prompt with
% echo $SHELL
You can start a new shell simply by entering the name of the shell from the
command prompt:
% csh
or
% sh
and you can run a program from within a specific shell by preceeding the name
of the executable with the name of the shell in which it will be run:
% sh myprogram
The user's default shell at login is determined by whomever set up his
account. While there are many syntactic differences between shells, perhaps
the one that is encountered most frequently is the way in which environment
variables are set.
SETTING EVIRONMENT VARIABLES
Every session has associated with it environment variables, which consist of
name/value pairs and control the way in which the shell and programs run from
the shell behave. An example of and environment variable is the 'PATH'
variable, which tells the shell which directories to search when trying to
locate an executable file that the user has entered at the command line. If
you are certain that a command exists, but the shell complains that it cannot
be found when you try to execute it, there is likely a problem with the 'PATH'
variable. Environment variables are differently depending on the shell being
used. For the Borne shell ('sh'), it is done as:
% export MYVARIABLE="avalue"
for the C-shell, it is done as:
% setenv MYVARIABLE "avalue"
In both cases the quotation marks are only necessary if the value contains
spaces. The 'echo' command can be used to examine the value of an environment
variable:
% echo $MYVARIABLE
Commands to set environment variables can also include references to other
environment variables (prepended with the "$" character), including
themselves. In order to add the path '/usr/local/bin' to the beginning of the
search path, and the current directory '.' to the end of the search path, a
user would enter
% export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH:.
in the Borne shell, and
% setenv PATH /usr/local/bin:${PATH}:.
in C-shell. Note the curly braces are required to protect the variable name in
C-shell.
EDITING TEXT FILES
There are several text editors available for the Linux operating system. Some
of these editors require the X Windows system, while others are designed to
operate in a console or terminal. It is generally a good thing to be competent
with a terminal based editor, as there are times when the files necessary for
X to run are the ones that must be edited. Three popular editors are 'vi',
'pico' and 'emacs', each of which can be started from the command line,
optionally supplying the name of a file to be edited. 'vi' is arguably the
most ubiquitous as well as the least intuitive of the three. 'pico' is
relatively straightforward for a new user, though not as often installed on
systems. 'emacs' is highly extensible and fairly widely available, but can be
somewhat unwieldy in a non-X environment. The newer versions each come with
online help, and offline help can be found in the manual and info pages for
each (please see the section on Linux Manual and Info pages). Many programs
use the 'EDITOR' environment variable to determine which text editor to start
when editing is required.
ROOT USER
Upon installation, almost all distributions set up the default administrative
user with the username 'root'. There are many things on the system that only
'root' (or a similarly priveledged user) can do, one of which is installing
the NVIDIA Linux Driver.There are three ways to become 'root'. You may log in
as root as you would any other user, you may use the substitute user command
('su') at the command prompt, or, some systems come with the 'sudo' utility,
which allows users to run programs as root while keeping a log of their
actions. This last method is useful in case a user inadvertently causes damage
to the system and cannot remember what he has done (or prefers not to admit
what he has done). It is generally a good practice to remain root only as long
as is necessary to accomplish the task requiring root privledges (another
useful feature of the 'sudo' utility).
BOOTING TO A DIFFERENT RUNLEVEL
Run-levels in Linux dictate what services are started and stopped
automatically when the system boots or shuts down. The run-levels typically
range from 0 to 6, with run-level 5 typically starting X Windows as part of
the services (runlevel 0 is actually a system halt, and 6 is a system reboot).
It is good practice to install the NVIDIA Linux Driver while X is not running,
and it is a good idea to prevent X Windows from starting on reboot in case
there are problems with the installation (otherwise you may find yourself with
a broken system that automatically tries to start X, but then hangs during the
startup, preventing you from doing the repairs necessary to fix X). Depending
on your network setup, run-levels 1, 2 or 3 should be sufficient for
installing the Driver. Level 3 typically includes networking services, so if
utilities used by the system during installation depend on a remote
filesystem, Levels 1 and 2 will be insufficient. If your system typically
boots to a console with a command prompt, you should not need to change
anything. If your system typically boots to X Windows with a graphical login
and desktop, you must both exit X Windows and change your default runlevel.
On most distributions, the default runlevel is stored in the file
'/etc/inittab', although you may have to consult the guide for your own
distribution. The line that indicates the default runlevel appears as
id:n:initdefault:
or similar, where "n" indicates the number of the runlevel. '/etc/inittab'
must be edited as root. Please read the sections on editing files and root
user if you are unfamiliar with this concept. Also, it is recommended that you
create a copy of the file prior to editing it, particularly if you are new to
Linux text editors, in case you accidentally corrupt the file:
# cp /etc/inittab /etc/inittab.original
The line should be edited such that an appropriate runlevel is the default (1,
2, or 3 on most systems):
id:3:initdefault:
After saving the changes, exit X. After the Driver installation is complete,
you may revert the default runlevel to its original state, either by editing
the '/etc/inittab' again or by moving your backup copy back to its original
name.
Different distributions provide different ways to exit X Windows. On many
systems, the 'init' utility will change the current runlevel. This can be used
to change to a runlevel in which X is not running.
# init 3
There are other methods by which to exit X. Please consult your distribution.
LINUX MANUAL AND INFO PAGES
Most distributions install the system manual or info pages by default. These
pages are typically up-to-date and generally contain a comprehensive listing
of the use of programs and utilities on the system. Also, many implementations
of programs traditionally include the --help option, which usually prints out
a list of common options to that program. To view the manual page for a
command, enter
% man commandname
at the command prompt, where commandname refers to the command in which you
are interested. Similarly, entering
% info commandname
will bring up the info page for the command. Some distributions may claim that
one or the other is more up-to-date. The interface for the info system is
interactive and navigable. If you are unable to locate the man page for the
command in which you are interested, you may need to add additional elements
to your 'MANPATH' environment variable. Please see the section on environment
variables.
__________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 9. Acknowledgements
__________________________________________________________________________
'nvidia-installer' was inspired by the 'loki_update' tool:
http://www.lokigames.com/development/loki_update.php3/
The ftp and http support in 'nvidia-installer' is based upon 'snarf 7.0' :
http://www.xach.com/snarf/
The self-extracting archive (aka '.run' file) is generated using 'makeself.sh'
: http://www.megastep.org/makeself/
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix A. Supported NVIDIA Graphics Chips
__________________________________________________________________________
NVIDIA chip name Device PCI ID
------------------------------- -------------------------------
GeForce 6800 Ultra 0x0040
GeForce 6800 0x0041
GeForce 6800 GT 0x0045
GeForce 6800 GT 0x0046
Quadro FX 4000 0x004E
GeForce 7800 GTX 0x0091
GeForce 6800 0x00C1
GeForce 6800 LE 0x00C2
GeForce Go 6800 0x00C8
GeForce Go 6800 Ultra 0x00C9
Quadro FX Go1400 0x00CC
Quadro FX 3450/4000 SDI 0x00CD
Quadro FX 1400 0x00CE
GeForce 6800/GeForce 6800 Ultra 0x00F0
GeForce 6600/GeForce 6600 GT 0x00F1
GeForce 6600 0x00F2
GeForce 6200 0x00F3
Quadro FX 3400 0x00F8
GeForce 6800 Ultra 0x00F9
GeForce PCX 5750 0x00FA
GeForce PCX 5900 0x00FB
Quadro FX 330/GeForce PCX 5300 0x00FC
Quadro NVS 280 PCI-E 0x00FD
Quadro FX 330 0x00FD
Quadro FX 1300 0x00FE
GeForce PCX 4300 0x00FF
GeForce2 MX/MX 400 0x0110
GeForce2 MX 100/200 0x0111
GeForce2 Go 0x0112
Quadro2 MXR/EX/Go 0x0113
GeForce 6600 GT 0x0140
GeForce 6600 0x0141
GeForce 6600 LE 0x0142
GeForce Go 6600 0x0144
GeForce 6610 XL 0x0145
GeForce Go 6600 TE/6200 TE 0x0146
GeForce Go 6600 0x0148
GeForce Go 6600 GT 0x0149
Quadro FX 540 0x014E
GeForce 6200 0x014F
GeForce 6200 TurboCache(TM) 0x0161
GeForce Go 6200 0x0164
GeForce Go 6400 0x0166
GeForce Go 6200 0x0167
GeForce Go 6400 0x0168
GeForce4 MX 460 0x0170
GeForce4 MX 440 0x0171
GeForce4 MX 420 0x0172
GeForce4 MX 440-SE 0x0173
GeForce4 440 Go 0x0174
GeForce4 420 Go 0x0175
GeForce4 420 Go 32M 0x0176
GeForce4 460 Go 0x0177
Quadro4 550 XGL 0x0178
GeForce4 440 Go 64M 0x0179
Quadro NVS 0x017A
Quadro4 500 GoGL 0x017C
GeForce4 410 Go 16M 0x017D
GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X 0x0181
GeForce4 MX 440SE with AGP8X 0x0182
GeForce4 MX 420 with AGP8X 0x0183
GeForce4 MX 4000 0x0185
Quadro4 580 XGL 0x0188
Quadro NVS with AGP8X 0x018A
Quadro4 380 XGL 0x018B
Quadro NVS 50 PCI 0x018C
GeForce2 Integrated GPU 0x01A0
GeForce4 MX Integrated GPU 0x01F0
GeForce3 0x0200
GeForce3 Ti 200 0x0201
GeForce3 Ti 500 0x0202
Quadro DCC 0x0203
GeForce 6800 0x0211
GeForce 6800 LE 0x0212
GeForce 6800 GT 0x0215
GeForce4 Ti 4600 0x0250
GeForce4 Ti 4400 0x0251
GeForce4 Ti 4200 0x0253
Quadro4 900 XGL 0x0258
Quadro4 750 XGL 0x0259
Quadro4 700 XGL 0x025B
GeForce4 Ti 4800 0x0280
GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X 0x0281
GeForce4 Ti 4800 SE 0x0282
GeForce4 4200 Go 0x0286
Quadro4 980 XGL 0x0288
Quadro4 780 XGL 0x0289
Quadro4 700 GoGL 0x028C
GeForce FX 5800 Ultra 0x0301
GeForce FX 5800 0x0302
Quadro FX 2000 0x0308
Quadro FX 1000 0x0309
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra 0x0311
GeForce FX 5600 0x0312
GeForce FX 5600XT 0x0314
GeForce FX Go5600 0x031A
GeForce FX Go5650 0x031B
Quadro FX Go700 0x031C
GeForce FX 5200 0x0320
GeForce FX 5200 Ultra 0x0321
GeForce FX 5200 0x0322
GeForce FX 5200LE 0x0323
GeForce FX Go5200 0x0324
GeForce FX Go5250 0x0325
GeForce FX 5500 0x0326
GeForce FX 5100 0x0327
GeForce FX Go5200 32M/64M 0x0328
Quadro NVS 280 PCI 0x032A
Quadro FX 500/600 PCI 0x032B
GeForce FX Go53xx 0x032C
GeForce FX Go5100 0x032D
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 0x0330
GeForce FX 5900 0x0331
GeForce FX 5900XT 0x0332
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 0x0333
GeForce FX 5900ZT 0x0334
Quadro FX 3000 0x0338
Quadro FX 700 0x033F
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 0x0341
GeForce FX 5700 0x0342
GeForce FX 5700LE 0x0343
GeForce FX 5700VE 0x0344
GeForce FX Go5700 0x0347
GeForce FX Go5700 0x0348
Quadro FX Go1000 0x034C
Quadro FX 1100 0x034E
Below are the legacy GPUs that are no longer supported in the unified driver.
These GPUs will continue to be maintained through the special legacy NVIDIA
GPU driver releases.
NVIDIA chip name Device PCI ID
------------------------------- -------------------------------
RIVA TNT 0x0020
RIVA TNT2/TNT2 Pro 0x0028
RIVA TNT2 Ultra 0x0029
Vanta/Vanta LT 0x002C
RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro 0x002D
Aladdin TNT2 0x00A0
GeForce 256 0x0100
GeForce DDR 0x0101
Quadro 0x0103
GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro 0x0150
GeForce2 Ti 0x0151
GeForce2 Ultra 0x0152
Quadro2 Pro 0x0153
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix B. Minimum Software Requirements
__________________________________________________________________________
Software Element Min Requirement Check With...
------------------ ------------------ ------------------
Linux kernel 2.4.0 `cat
/proc/version`
XFree86/Xorg 4.0.1/6.7 `XFree86
-version/Xorg
-version`
Kernel modutils 2.1.121 `insmod -v`
If you need to build the NVIDIA kernel module:
Software Element Min Requirement Check With...
------------------ ------------------ ------------------
binutils 2.9.5 `size --version`
GNU make 3.77 `make --version`
gcc 2.91.66 `gcc --version`
glibc 2.0 `ls /lib/libc.so.*
> 6`
If you build from source rpms:
Required Software Element Check With...
------------------------------- -------------------------------
spec-helper rpm `rpm -qi spec-helper`
All official stable kernel releases from 2.4.0 and up are supported;
"prerelease" versions such as "2.4.3-pre2" are not supported, nor are
development series kernels such as 2.3.x or 2.5.x. The linux kernel can be
downloaded from http://www.kernel.org or one of its mirrors.
binutils and gcc can be retrieved from http://www.gnu.org or one of its
mirrors.
If you are using XFree86, but do not have a file '/var/log/XFree86.0.log',
then you probably have a 3.x version of XFree86 and must upgrade.
If you are setting up XFree86 4.x for the first time, it is often easier to
begin with one of the open source drivers that ships with XFree86 (either
"nv", "vga" or "vesa"). Once XFree86 is operating properly with the open
source driver, you may then switch to the NVIDIA driver.
Note that newer NVIDIA GPUs may not work with older versions of the "nv"
driver shipped with XFree86. For example, the "nv" driver that shipped with
XFree86 version 4.0.1 did not recognize the GeForce2 family and the Quadro2
MXR GPUs. This was fixed in XFree86 version 4.0.2. XFree86 can be retrieved
from http://www.xfree86.org.
These software packages may also be available through your Linux distributor.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix C. Installed Components
__________________________________________________________________________
The NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set consists of the following components
(filenames in parenthesis are the full names of the components after
installation; "x.y.z" denotes the current version. In these cases appropriate
symlinks are created during installation):
An X driver (/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.o); this driver
is needed by the X server to use your NVIDIA hardware. The
nvidia_drv.o driver is binary compatible with XFree86 4.0.1 and
greater, as well as the Xorg X server.
A GLX extension module for X
(/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.so.x.y.z); this module is
used by the X server to provide server-side glx support.
An OpenGL library (/usr/lib/libGL.so.x.y.z); this library provides the
API entry points for all OpenGL and GLX function calls. It is linked
to at run-time by OpenGL applications.
An OpenGL core library (/usr/lib/libGLcore.so.x.y.z); this library is
implicitly used by libGL and by libglx. It contains the core
accelerated 3D functionality. You should not explicitly load it in
your X config file -- that is taken care of by libglx.
Two XvMC (X-Video Motion Compensation) libraries: a static library and
a shared library (/usr/X11R6/lib/libXvMCNVIDIA.a,
/usr/X11R6/lib/libXvMCNVIDIA.so.x.y.z); please see Appendix N for
details.
A kernel module (/lib/modules/`uname -r`/video/nvidia.o or
/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.o); this kernel
module provides low-level access to your NVIDIA hardware for all of
the above components. It is generally loaded into the kernel when the
X server is started, and is used by the X driver and OpenGL. nvidia.o
consists of two pieces: the binary-only core, and a kernel interface
that must be compiled specifically for your kernel version. Note that
the linux kernel does not have a consistent binary interface like the
X server, so it is important that this kernel interface be matched
with the version of the kernel that you are using. This can either be
accomplished by compiling yourself, or using precompiled binaries
provided for the kernels shipped with some of the more common linux
distributions.
OpenGL and GLX header files (/usr/include/GL/gl.h,
/usr/include/GL/glext.h, /usr/include/GL/glx.h, and
/usr/include/GL/glext.h); these are also installed in
/usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/include/GL/. You can request that these
files not be included in /usr/include/GL/ by passing the
"--no-opengl-headers" option to the .run file during installation.
The nvidia-tls libraries (/usr/lib/libnvidia-tls.so.x.y.z and
/usr/lib/tls/libnvidia-tls.so.x.y.z); these files provide thread local
storage support for the NVIDIA OpenGL libraries (libGL, libGLcore, and
libglx). Each nvidia-tls library provides support for a particular
thread local storage model (such as ELF TLS), and the one appropriate
for your system will be loaded at run time.
The application nvidia-installer (/usr/bin/nvidia-installer) is
NVIDIA's tool for installing and updating NVIDIA drivers. Please see
Chapter 2 for a more thorough description.
Problems will arise if applications use the wrong version of a library. This
can be the case if there are either old libGL libraries or stale symlinks left
lying around. If you think there may be something awry in your installation,
check that the following files are in place (these are all the files of the
NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set, as well as their symlinks):
/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.o
/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.so.x.y.z
/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.so -> libglx.so.x.y.z
/usr/lib/libGL.so.x.y.z
/usr/lib/libGL.so.x -> libGL.so.x.y.z
/usr/lib/libGL.so -> libGL.so.x
/usr/lib/libGLcore.so.x.y.z
/usr/lib/libGLcore.so.x -> libGLcore.so.x.y.z
/lib/modules/`uname -r`/video/nvidia.o, or
/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.o
If there are other libraries whose "soname" conflicts with that of the NVIDIA
libraries, ldconfig may create the wrong symlinks. It is recommended that you
manually remove or rename conflicting libraries (be sure to rename clashing
libraries to something that ldconfig will not look at -- we have found that
prepending "XXX" to a library name generally does the trick), rerun
'ldconfig', and check that the correct symlinks were made. Some libraries that
often create conflicts are "/usr/X11R6/lib/libGL.so*" and
"/usr/X11R6/lib/libGLcore.so*".
If the libraries appear to be correct, then verify that the application is
using the correct libraries. For example, to check that the application
/usr/X11R6/bin/gears is using the NVIDIA libraries, run:
% ldd /usr/X11R6/bin/gears
libglut.so.3 => /usr/lib/libglut.so.3 (0x40014000)
libGLU.so.1 => /usr/lib/libGLU.so.1 (0x40046000)
libGL.so.1 => /usr/lib/libGL.so.1 (0x40062000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x4009f000)
libSM.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libSM.so.6 (0x4018d000)
libICE.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libICE.so.6 (0x40196000)
libXmu.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libXmu.so.6 (0x401ac000)
libXext.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libXext.so.6 (0x401c0000)
libXi.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libXi.so.6 (0x401cd000)
libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x401d6000)
libGLcore.so.1 => /usr/lib/libGLcore.so.1 (0x402ab000)
libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0x4048d000)
libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x404a9000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x40000000)
libXt.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libXt.so.6 (0x404ac000)
Check the files being used for libGL and libGLcore -- if they are something
other than the NVIDIA libraries, then you will need to either remove the
libraries that are getting in the way, or adjust your ld search path using the
'LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment variable. You may wish to consult the man pages
for 'ldconfig' and 'ldd'.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix D. X Config Options
__________________________________________________________________________
The following driver options are supported by the NVIDIA X driver. They may be
specified either in the Screen or Device sections of the X config file.
X Config Options
Option "NvAGP" "integer"
Configure AGP support. Integer argument can be one of:
Value Behavior
----------------------------- -----------------------------
0 disable agp
1 use NVIDIA's internal AGP
support, if possible
2 use AGPGART, if possible
3 use any agp support (try
AGPGART, then NVIDIA's AGP)
Please note that NVIDIA's internal AGP support cannot work if AGPGART
is either statically compiled into your kernel or is built as a
module, but loaded into your kernel (some distributions load AGPGART
into the kernel at boot up). Default: 3 (the default was 1 until after
1.0-1251).
Option "NoLogo" "boolean"
Disable drawing of the NVIDIA logo splash screen at X startup.
Default: the logo is drawn.
Option "RenderAccel" "boolean"
Enable or disable hardware acceleration of the RENDER extension. THIS
OPTION IS EXPERIMENTAL. ENABLE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. There is no
correctness test suite for the RENDER extension so NVIDIA can not
verify that RENDER acceleration works correctly. Default: hardware
acceleration of the RENDER extension is disabled.
Option "NoRenderExtension" "boolean"
Disable the RENDER extension. Other than recompiling it, the X server
does not seem to have another way of disabling this. Fortunately, we
can control this from the driver so we export this option. This is
useful in depth 8 where RENDER would normally steal most of the
default colormap. Default: RENDER is offered when possible.
Option "UBB" "boolean"
Enable or disable Unified Back Buffer on any Quadro based GPUs
(Quadro4 NVS excluded); please see Appendix M for a description of
UBB. This option has no affect on non-Quadro chipsets. Default: UBB is
on for Quadro chipsets.
Option "NoFlip" "boolean"
Disable OpenGL flipping; please see Appendix K for a description.
Default: OpenGL will swap by flipping when possible.
Option "DigitalVibrance" "integer"
Enables Digital Vibrance Control. The range of valid values are 0
through 255. This feature is not available on products older than
GeForce2. Default: 0.
Option "Dac8Bit" "boolean"
Most Quadro parts by default use a 10 bit color look up table (LUT) by
default; setting this option to TRUE forces these graphics chips to
use an 8 bit (LUT). Default: a 10 bit LUT is used, when available.
Option "Overlay" "boolean"
Enables RGB workstation overlay visuals. This is only supported on
Quadro4 and Quadro FX chips (Quadro4 NVS excluded) in depth 24. This
option causes the server to advertise the SERVER_OVERLAY_VISUALS root
window property and GLX will report single and double buffered,
Z-buffered 16 bit overlay visuals. The transparency key is pixel
0x0000 (hex). There is no gamma correction support in the overlay
plane. This feature requires XFree86 version 4.1.0 or newer, or the
Xorg X server. NV17/18 based Quadros (i.e. 500/550 XGL) have
additional restrictions, namely, overlays are not supported in
TwinView mode or with virtual desktops larger than 2046x2047 in any
dimension (eg. it will not work in 2048x1536 modes). Quadro 7xx/9xx
and Quadro FX will offer overlay visuals in these modes (TwinView, or
virtual desktops larger than 2046x2047), but the overlay will be
emulated with a substantial performance penalty. RGB workstation
overlays are not supported when the Composite extension is enabled.
Default: off.
Option "CIOverlay" "boolean"
Enables Color Index workstation overlay visuals with identical
restrictions to Option "Overlay" above. The server will offer visuals
both with and without a transparency key. These are depth 8
PseudoColor visuals. Enabling Color Index overlays on X servers older
than XFree86 4.3 will force the RENDER extension to be disabled due to
bugs in the RENDER extension in older X servers. Color Index
workstation overlays are not supported when the Composite extension is
enabled. Default: off.
Option "TransparentIndex" "integer"
When color index overlays are enabled, use this option to choose which
pixel is used for the transparent pixel in visuals featuring
transparent pixels. This value is clamped between 0 and 255 (Note:
some applications such as Alias's Maya require this to be zero in
order to work correctly). Default: 0.
Option "OverlayDefaultVisual" "boolean"
When overlays are used, this option sets the default visual to an
overlay visual thereby putting the root window in the overlay. This
option is not recommended for RGB overlays. Default: off.
Option "RandRRotation" "boolean"
Enable rotation support for the XRandR extension. This allows use of
the XRandR X server extension for configuring the screen orientation
through rotation. This feature is supported on GeForce2 or better
hardware using depth 24. This requires an Xorg X 6.8.1 or newer X
server. This feature does not work with hardware overlays, emulated
overlays will be used instead at a substantial performance penalty.
See Appendix U for details. Default: off.
Option "AllowDDCCI" "boolean"
Enables DDC/CI support in the NV-CONTROL X extension. DDC/CI is a
mechanism for communication between your computer and your display
device. This can be used to set the values normally controlled through
your display device's On Screen Display. Please see the DDC/CI
NV-CONTROL attributes in 'NVCtrl.h' and functions in 'NVCtrlLib.h' in
the 'nvidia-settings' source code. Default: DDC/CI is disabled.
Option "SWCursor" "boolean"
Enable or disable software rendering of the X cursor. Default: off.
Option "HWCursor" "boolean"
Enable or disable hardware rendering of the X cursor. Default: on.
Option "CursorShadow" "boolean"
Enable or disable use of a shadow with the hardware accelerated
cursor; this is a black translucent replica of your cursor shape at a
given offset from the real cursor. This option is only available on
GeForce2 or better hardware (ie everything but TNT/TNT2, GeForce 256,
GeForce DDR and Quadro). Default: no cursor shadow.
Option "CursorShadowAlpha" "integer"
The alpha value to use for the cursor shadow; only applicable if
CursorShadow is enabled. This value must be in the range [0, 255] -- 0
is completely transparent; 255 is completely opaque. Default: 64.
Option "CursorShadowXOffset" "integer"
The offset, in pixels, that the shadow image will be shifted to the
right from the real cursor image; only applicable if CursorShadow is
enabled. This value must be in the range [0, 32]. Default: 4.
Option "CursorShadowYOffset" "integer"
The offset, in pixels, that the shadow image will be shifted down from
the real cursor image; only applicable if CursorShadow is enabled.
This value must be in the range [0, 32]. Default: 2.
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "string"
Allows you to override what the NVIDIA kernel module detects is
connected to your video card. This may be useful, for example, if you
use a KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switch and you are switched away
when X is started. In such a situation, the NVIDIA kernel module
cannot detect what display devices are connected, and the NVIDIA X
driver assumes you have a single CRT.
Valid values for this option are "CRT" (cathode ray tube), "DFP"
(digital flat panel), or "TV" (television); if using TwinView, this
option may be a comma-separated list of display devices; e.g.: "CRT,
CRT" or "CRT, DFP".
NOTE: anything attached to a 15 pin VGA connector is regarded by the
driver as a CRT. "DFP" should only be used to refer to flatpanels
connected via a DVI port.
Default: string is NULL.
Option "UseEdidFreqs" "boolean"
This option causes the X server to use the HorizSync and VertRefresh
ranges given in a display device's EDID, if any. EDID provided range
information will override the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges
specified in the Monitor section. If a display device does not provide
an EDID, or the EDID does not specify an hsync or vrefresh range, then
the X server will default to the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges
specified in the Monitor section.
Option "IgnoreEDID" "boolean"
Disable probing of EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) from
your monitor. Requested modes are compared against values gotten from
your monitor EDIDs (if any) during mode validation. Some monitors are
known to lie about their own capabilities. Ignoring the values that
the monitor gives may help get a certain mode validated. On the other
hand, this may be dangerous if you do not know what you are doing.
Default: Use EDIDs.
Option "NoDDC" "boolean"
Synonym for "IgnoreEDID"
Option "FlatPanelProperties" "string"
Requests particular properties of any connected flat panels as a
comma-separated list of property=value pairs. Currently, the only two
available properties are 'Scaling' and 'Dithering'. The possible
values for 'Scaling' are: 'default' (the driver will use whatever
scaling state is current), 'native' (the driver will use the flat
panel's scaler, if it has one), 'scaled' (the driver will use the
NVIDIA scaler, if possible), 'centered' (the driver will center the
image, if possible), and 'aspect-scaled' (the driver will scale with
the NVIDIA scaler, but keep the aspect ratio correct). The possible
values for 'Dithering' are: 'default' (the driver will decide when to
dither), 'enabled' (the driver will always dither when possible), and
'disabled' (the driver will never dither). If any property is not
specified, it's value shall be 'default'. An example properties string
might look like:
"Scaling = centered, Dithering = enabled"
Option "UseInt10Module" "boolean"
Enable use of the X Int10 module to soft-boot all secondary cards,
rather than POSTing the cards through the NVIDIA kernel module.
Default: off (POSTing is done through the NVIDIA kernel module).
Option "TwinView" "boolean"
Enable or disable TwinView. Please see Appendix G for details.
Default: TwinView is disabled.
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "string"
Controls the relationship between the two display devices when using
TwinView. Takes one of the following values: "RightOf" "LeftOf"
"Above" "Below" "Clone". Please see Appendix G for details. Default:
string is NULL.
Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "range(s)"
This option is like the HorizSync entry in the Monitor section, but is
for the second monitor when using TwinView. Please see Appendix G for
details. Default: none.
Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "range(s)"
This option is like the VertRefresh entry in the Monitor section, but
is for the second monitor when using TwinView. Please see Appendix G
for details. Default: none.
Option "MetaModes" "string"
This option describes the combination of modes to use on each monitor
when using TwinView. Please see Appendix G for details. Default:
string is NULL.
Option "NoTwinViewXineramaInfo" "boolean"
When in TwinView, the NVIDIA X driver normally provides a Xinerama
extension that X clients (such as window managers) can use to discover
the current TwinView configuration. Some window mangers get confused
by this information, so this option is provided to disable this
behavior. Default: TwinView Xinerama information is provided.
Option "TVStandard" "string"
Please see Appendix H for details on configuring TV-out.
Option "TVOutFormat" "string"
Please see Appendix H for details on configuring TV-out.
Option "TVOverScan" "Decimal value in the range 0.0 to 1.0"
Valid values are in the range 0.0 through 1.0; Please see Appendix H
for details on configuring TV-out.
Option "Stereo" "integer"
Enable offering of quad-buffered stereo visuals on Quadro. Integer
indicates the type of stereo glasses being used:
Value Equipment
----------------------------- -----------------------------
1 DDC glasses. The sync signal
is sent to the glasses via
the DDC signal to the
monitor. These usually
involve a passthrough cable
between the monitor and video
card.
2 "Blueline" glasses. These
usually involve a passthrough
cable between the monitor and
video card. The glasses know
which eye to display based on
the length of a blue line
visible at the bottom of the
screen. When in this mode,
the root window dimensions
are one pixel shorter in the
Y dimension than requested.
This mode does not work with
virtual root window sizes
larger than the visible root
window size (desktop
panning).
3 Onboard stereo support. This
is usually only found on
professional cards. The
glasses connect via a DIN
connector on the back of the
video card.
4 TwinView clone mode stereo
(aka "passive" stereo). On
video cards that support
TwinView, the left eye is
displayed on the first
display, and the right eye is
displayed on the second
display. This is normally
used in conjuction with
special projectors to produce
2 polarized images which are
then viewed with polarized
glasses. To use this stereo
mode, you must also configure
TwinView in clone mode with
the same resolution, panning
offset, and panning domains
on each display.
Stereo is only available on Quadro cards. Stereo options 1, 2, and 3
(aka "active" stereo) may be used with TwinView if all modes within
each metamode have identical timing values. Please see Appendix J for
suggestions on making sure the modes within your metamodes are
identical. The identical modeline requirement is not necessary for
Stereo option 4 ("passive" stereo). Currently, stereo operation may be
"quirky" on the original Quadro (NV10) chip and left-right flipping
may be erratic. We are trying to resolve this issue for a future
release. Default: Stereo is not enabled.
UBB must be enabled when stereo is enabled (this is the default
behavior).
Stereo options 1, 2, and 3 (aka "active" stereo) are not supported on
digital flat panels.
Option "AllowDFPStereo" "boolean"
By default, the NVIDIA X driver performs a check which disables active
stereo (stereo options 1, 2, and 3) if the X screen is driving a DFP.
The "AllowDFPStereo" option bypasses this check.
Option "NoBandWidthTest" "boolean"
As part of mode validation, the X driver tests if a given mode fits
within the hardware's memory bandwidth constraints. This option
disables this test. Default: the memory bandwidth test is performed.
Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "string"
This option tells the NVIDIA kernel module to completely ignore the
indicated classes of display devices when checking what display
devices are connected. You may specify a comma-separated list
containing any of "CRT", "DFP", and "TV". For example:
Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "DFP, TV"
will cause the NVIDIA driver to not attempt to detect if any
flatpanels or TVs are connected. This option is not normally
necessary; however, some video BIOSes contain incorrect information
about what display devices may be connected, or what i2c port should
be used for detection. These errors can cause long delays in starting
X. If you are experiencing such delays, you may be able to avoid this
by telling the NVIDIA driver to ignore display devices which you know
are not connected. NOTE: anything attached to a 15 pin VGA connector
is regarded by the driver as a CRT. "DFP" should only be used to refer
to flatpanels connected via a DVI port.
Option "MultisampleCompatibility" "boolean"
Enable or disable the use of separate front and back multisample
buffers. This will consume more memory but is necessary for correct
output when rendering to both the front and back buffers of a
multisample or FSAA drawable. This option is necessary for correct
operation of SoftImage XSI. Default: a singlemultisample buffer is
shared between the front and back buffers.
Option "NoPowerConnectorCheck" "boolean"
The NVIDIA X driver will abort X server initialization if it detects
that a GPU that requires an external power connector does not have an
external power connector plugged in. This option can be used to bypass
this test. Default: the power connector test is performed.
Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "boolean"
Forces XvMC to use the 3D engine for XvMCPutSurface requests rather
than the video overlay. Default: video overlay is used when available.
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "boolean"
Enables GLX even when the Composite X extension is loaded. ENABLE AT
YOUR OWN RISK. OpenGL applications will not display correctly in many
circumstances with this setting enabled. Default: GLX is disabled when
Composite is loaded.
Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "boolean"
Forces the initialization of the X server with the exact timings
specified in the ModeLine. Default: For DVI devices, the X server
inilializes with the closest mode in the EDID list.
Option "Coolbits" "integer"
Enables support in the NV-CONTROL X extension for manipulating GPU
clock settings. When this option is set to "1" the nvidia-settings
utility will contain a page labeled "Clock Frequencies" through which
clock settings can be manipulated. Coolbits is only available on
GeForce FX, Quadro FX, and newer GPUs.
WARNING: this may cause system damage and void warranties. This
utility can run your computer system out of the manufacturer's design
specifications, including, but not limited to: higher system voltages,
above normal temperatures, excessive frequencies, and changes to BIOS
that may corrupt the BIOS. Your computer's operating system may hang
and result in data loss or corrupted images. Depending on the
manufacturer of your computer system, the computer system, hardware
and software warranties may be voided, and you may not receive any
further manufacturer support. NVIDIA does not provide customer service
support for the Coolbits option. It is for these reasons that
absolutely no warranty or guarantee is either express or implied.
Before enabling and using, you should determine the suitability of the
utility for your intended use, and you shall assume all responsibility
in connection therewith.
Option "LoadKernelModule" "boolean"
By default, the NVIDIA Linux X driver module will attempt to load the
NVIDIA Linux kernel module. Set this option to "off" to disable
automatic loading of the NVIDIA kernel module by the NVIDIA X driver.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix E. OpenGL Environment Variable Settings
__________________________________________________________________________
FULL SCENE ANTIALIASING
Antialiasing is a technique used to smooth the edges of objects in a scene to
reduce the jagged "stairstep" effect that sometimes appears. Full-scene
antialiasing is supported on GeForce or newer hardware. By setting the
appropriate environment variable, you can enable full-scene antialiasing in
any OpenGL application on these GPUs.
Several anti-aliasing methods are available and you can select between them by
setting the __GL_FSAA_MODE environment variable appropriately. Note that
increasing the number of samples taken during FSAA rendering may decrease
performance.
The following tables describe the possible values for __GL_FSAA_MODE and their
effect on various NVIDIA GPUs.
__GL_FSAA_MODE GeForce, GeForce2, Quadro, and
Quadro2 Pro
------------------------------- -------------------------------
0 FSAA disabled
1 FSAA disabled
2 FSAA disabled
3 1.5 x 1.5 Supersampling
4 2 x 2 Supersampling
5 FSAA disabled
6 FSAA disabled
7 FSAA disabled
__GL_FSAA_MODE GeForce4 MX, GeForce4 4xx Go,
Quadro4 380,550,580 XGL, and
Quadro4 NVS
------------------------------- -------------------------------
0 FSAA disabled
1 2x Bilinear Multisampling
2 2x Quincunx Multisampling
3 FSAA disabled
4 2 x 2 Supersampling
5 FSAA disabled
6 FSAA disabled
7 FSAA disabled
__GL_FSAA_MODE GeForce3, Quadro DCC, GeForce4
Ti, GeForce4 4200 Go, and
Quadro4 700,750,780,900,980 XGL
------------------------------- -------------------------------
0 FSAA disabled
1 2x Bilinear Multisampling
2 2x Quincunx Multisampling
3 FSAA disabled
4 4x Bilinear Multisampling
5 4x Gaussian Multisampling
6 2x Bilinear Multisampling by 4x
Supersampling
7 FSAA disabled
__GL_FSAA_MODE GeForce FX, GeForce 6xxx,
GeForce 7xxx, Quadro FX
------------------------------- -------------------------------
0 FSAA disabled
1 2x Bilinear Multisampling
2 2x Quincunx Multisampling
3 FSAA disabled
4 4x Bilinear Multisampling
5 4x Gaussian Multisampling
6 2x Bilinear Multisampling by 4x
Supersampling
7 4x Bilinear Multisampling by 4x
Supersampling
8 4x Bilinear Multisampling by 2x
Supersampling (available on
GeForce FX and later GPUS; not
available on Quadro GPUs)
ANTISTROPIC TEXTURE FILTERING
Automatic anisotropic texture filtering can be enabled by setting the
environment variable __GL_LOG_MAX_ANISO. The possible values are:
__GL_LOG_MAX_ANISO Filtering Type
------------------------------- -------------------------------
0 No anisotropic filtering
1 2x anisotropic filtering
2 4x anisotropic filtering
3 8x anisotropic filtering
4 16x anisotropic filtering
4x and greater are only available on GeForce3 or newer GPUS; 16x is only
available on GeForce 6800 or newer GPUs.
VBLANK SYNCHING
Setting the environment variable __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK to a non-zero value will
force glXSwapBuffers to sync to your monitor's vertical refresh rate (perform
a swap only during the vertical blanking period).
When using __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK with TwinView, OpenGL can only sync to one of
the display devices; this may cause tearing corruption on the display device
to which OpenGL is not syncing. You can use the environment variable
__GL_SYNC_DISPLAY_DEVICE to specify to which display device OpenGL should
sync. You should set this environment variable to the name of a display
device; for example "CRT-1". Please look for the line "Connected display
device(s):" in your X log file for a list of the display devices present and
their names.
DISABLING CPU SPECIFIC FEATURES
Setting the environment variable __GL_FORCE_GENERIC_CPU to a non-zero value
will inhibit the use of CPU specific features such as MMX, SSE, or 3DNOW!. Use
of this option may result in performance loss. This option may be useful in
conjunction with software such as the Valgrind memory debugger.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix F. Configuring AGP
__________________________________________________________________________
There are several choices for configuring the NVIDIA kernel module's use of
AGP: you can choose to either use NVIDIA's AGP module (NVAGP), or the AGP
module that comes with the linux kernel (AGPGART). This is controlled through
the "NvAGP" option in your X config file:
Option "NvAgp" "0" ... disables AGP support
Option "NvAgp" "1" ... use NVAGP, if possible
Option "NvAgp" "2" ... use AGPGART, if possible
Option "NvAGP" "3" ... try AGPGART; if that fails, try NVAGP
The default is 3 (the default was 1 until after 1.0-1251).
You should use the AGP module that works best with your AGP chip set. If you
are experiencing problems with stability, you may want to start by disabling
AGP and observing if that solves the problems. Then you can experiment with
either of the other AGP modules.
You can query the current AGP status at any time via the /proc filesystem
interface (see Appendix M).
To use the Linux AGPGART module, it will need to be compiled with your kernel,
either statically linked in, or built as a module. NVIDIA AGP support cannot
be used if AGPGART is loaded in the kernel. It is recommended that you compile
AGPGART as a module and make sure that it is not loaded when trying to use
NVIDIA AGP. Please also note that changing AGP drivers generally requires a
reboot before the changes actually take effect.
The following AGP chipsets are supported by NVIDIA's AGP; for all other
chipsets it is recommended that you use the AGPGART module.
Supported AGP Chipsets
-------------------------------------------------
Intel 440LX
Intel 440BX
Intel 440GX
Intel 815 ("Solano")
Intel 820 ("Camino")
Intel 830
Intel 840 ("Carmel")
Intel 845 ("Brookdale")
Intel 845G
Intel 850 ("Tehama")
Intel 855 ("Odem")
Intel 860 ("Colusa")
Intel 865G ("Springdale")
Intel 875P ("Canterwood")
Intel E7205 ("Granite Bay")
Intel E7505 ("Placer")
AMD 751 ("Irongate")
AMD 761 ("IGD4")
AMD 762 ("IGD4 MP")
AMD 8151 ("Lokar")
VIA 8371
VIA 82C694X
VIA KT133
VIA KT266
VIA KT400
VIA P4M266
VIA P4M266A
VIA P4X400
VIA K8T800
RCC CNB20LE
RCC 6585HE
Micron SAMDDR ("Samurai")
Micron SCIDDR ("Scimitar")
NVIDIA nForce
NVIDIA nForce2
NVIDIA nForce3
ALi 1621
ALi 1631
ALi 1647
ALi 1651
ALi 1671
SiS 630
SiS 633
SiS 635
SiS 645
SiS 646
SiS 648
SiS 648FX
SiS 650
SiS 655FX
SiS 730
SiS 733
SiS 735
SiS 745
SiS 755
ATI RS200M
If you are experiencing AGP stability problems, you should be aware of the
following
Additional AGP Information
Support for the processor's Page Size Extension on Athlon Processors
Some linux kernels have a conflicting cache attribute bug that is
exposed by advanced speculative caching in newer AMD Athlon family
processors (AMD Athlon XP, AMD Athlong 4, AMD Athlon MP, and Models 6
and above AMD Duron). This kernel bug usually shows up under heavy use
of accelerated 3D graphics with an AGP graphics card.
Linux distributions based on kernel 2.4.19 and later *should*
incorporate the bug fix. But, older kernels require help from the user
in ensuring that a small portion of advanced speculative caching is
disabled (normally done through a kernel patch) and a boot option is
specified in order to apply the whole fix.
NVIDIA's driver automatically disables the small portion of advanced
speculative caching for the affected AMD processors without the need
to patch the kernel; it can be used even on kernels which do already
incorporate the kernel bug fix. Additionally, for older kernels the
user performs the boot option portion of the fix by explicitly
disabling 4MB pages. This can be done from the boot command line by
specifying:
mem=nopentium
Or by adding the following line to etc/lilo.conf:
append = "mem=nopentium"
AGP Rate
You may want to decrease the AGP rate setting if you are seeing
lockups with the value you are currently using. You can do so by
extracting the .run file:
# sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg1.run --extract-only
# cd NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg1/usr/src/nv/
Then edit os-registry.c, and make the following changes:
- static int NVreg_ReqAGPRate = 7;
+ static int NVreg_ReqAGPRate = 4; /* force AGP Rate to 4x */
or
+ static int NVreg_ReqAGPRate = 2; /* force AGP Rate to 2x */
or
+ static int NVreg_ReqAGPRate = 1; /* force AGP Rate to 1x */
and enable the "ReqAGPRate" parameter:
- { NULL, "ReqAGPRate", &NVreg_ReqAGPRate, 0 },
+ { NULL, "ReqAGPRate", &NVreg_ReqAGPRate, 1 },
Then recompile and load the new kernel module.
AGP drive strength BIOS setting (Via based mainboards)
Many Via based mainboards allow adjusting the AGP drive strength in
the system BIOS. The setting of this option largely affects system
stability, the range between 0xEA and 0xEE seems to work best for
NVIDIA hardware. Setting either nibble to 0xF generally restults in
severe stability problems.
If you decide to experiment with this, you need to be aware of the
fact that you are doing so at your own risk and that you may render
your system unbootable with improper settings until you reset the
setting to a working value (w/ a PCI graphics card or by resetting the
BIOS to its default values).
System BIOS version
Make sure to have the latest system BIOS provided by the board
manufacturer.
On ALi1541 and ALi1647 chipsets, NVIDIA drivers disable AGP to work
around timing issues and signal integrity issues. You can force AGP to
be enabled on these chipsets by setting NVreg_EnableALiAGP to 1. Note
that this may cause the system to become unstable.
Early SBIOS revisions for the ASUS A7V8X-X KT400 motherboard
misconfigure the chipset when an AGP 2.x graphics card is installed;
if X hangs on your ASUS KT400 system with either Linux AGPGART or
NvAGP enabled and the installed graphics card is not an AGP 8x device,
make sure that you have the lastest SBIOS installed.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix G. Configuring Twinview
__________________________________________________________________________
The TwinView feature is only supported on NVIDIA GPUs that support
dual-display functionality, such as the GeForce2 MX, GeForce2 Go, Quadro2 MXR,
Quadro2 Go, and any of the GeForce4, Quadro4, GeForce FX, or Quadro FX GPUs.
Please consult with your video card vendor to confirm that TwinView is
supported on your card. TwinView is a mode of operation where two display
devices (digital flat panels, CRTs, and TVs) can display the contents of a
single X screen in any arbitrary configuration. This method of multiple
monitor use has several distinct advantages over other techniques (such as
Xinerama):
A single X screen is used. The NVIDIA driver conceals all information
about multiple display devices from the X server; as far as X is
concerned, there is only one screen.
Both display devices share one frame buffer. Thus, all the the
functionality present on a single display (e.g. accelerated OpenGL) is
available on TwinView.
No additional overhead is needed to emulate having a single desktop.
If you are interested in using each display device as a separate X screen,
please see Appendix P.
X CONFIG TWINVIEW OPTIONS
To enable TwinView, you must specify the following options in the Device
section of your X Config file:
Option "TwinView"
Option "MetaModes" "<list of metamodes>"
You must also specify either:
Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "<hsync range(s)>"
Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "<vrefresh range(s)>"
or:
Option "HorizSync" "<hsync range(s)>"
Option "VertRefresh" "<vrefresh range(s)>"
You may also use any of the following options, though they are not required:
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "<relationship of head 1 to head 0>"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "<list of connected display devices>"
Please see detailed descriptions of each option below.
Detailed Description of Options
TwinView
This option is required to enable TwinView; without it, all other
TwinView related options are ignored.
SecondMonitorHorizSync
SecondMonitorVertRefresh
You specify the constraints of the second monitor through these
options. The values given should follow the same convention as the
"HorizSync" and "VertRefresh" entries in the Monitor section. As the
XF86Config man page explains it: the ranges may be a comma separated
list of distinct values and/or ranges of values, where a range is
given by two distinct values separated by a dash. The HorizSync is
given in kHz, and the VertRefresh is given in Hz. You may, if you
trust your display devices' EDIDs, use the "UseEdidFreqs" option
instead of these options (see Appendix D for a description of the
"UseEdidFreqs" option).
HorizSync
VertRefresh
Which display device is "first" and which is "second" is often
unclear. For this reason, you may use these options instead of the
SecondMonitor versions. With these options, you can specify a
semicolon-separated list of frequency ranges, each optionally
prepended with a display device name. For example:
Option "HorizSync" "CRT-0: 50-110; DFP-0: 40-70"
Option "VertRefresh" "CRT-0: 60-120; DFP-0: 60"
Please see Appendix R on Display Device Names for more information.
MetaModes
A single MetaMode describes what mode should be used on each display
device at a given time. Multiple MetaModes list the combinations of
modes and the sequence in which they should be used. When the NVIDIA
driver tells X what modes are available, it is really the minimal
bounding box of the MetaMode that is communicated to X, while the "per
display device" mode is kept internal to the NVIDIA driver. In
MetaMode syntax, modes within a MetaMode are comma separated, and
multiple MetaModes are separated by semicolons. For example:
"<mode name 0>, <mode name 1>; <mode name 2>, <mode name 3>"
Where <mode name 0> is the name of the mode to be used on display
device 0 concurrently with <mode name 1> used on display device 1. A
mode switch will then cause <mode name 2> to be used on display device
0 and <mode name 3> to be used on display device 1. Here is a real
MetaMode entry from the X config sample config file:
Option "MetaModes" "1280x1024,1280x1024; 1024x768,1024x768"
If you want a display device to not be active for a certain MetaMode,
you can use the mode name "NULL", or simply omit the mode name
entirely:
"1600x1200, NULL; NULL, 1024x768"
or
"1600x1200; , 1024x768"
Optionally, mode names can be followed by offset information to
control the positioning of the display devices within the virtual
screen space; e.g.:
"1600x1200 +0+0, 1024x768 +1600+0; ..."
Offset descriptions follow the conventions used in the X "-geometry"
command line option; i.e. both positive and negative offsets are
valid, though negative offsets are only allowed when a virtual screen
size is explicitly given in the X config file.
When no offsets are given for a MetaMode, the offsets will be computed
following the value of the TwinViewOrientation option (see below).
Note that if offsets are given for any one of the modes in a single
MetaMode, then offsets will be expected for all modes within that
single MetaMode; in such a case offsets will be assumed to be +0+0
when not given.
When not explicitly given, the virtual screen size will be computed as
the the bounding box of all MetaMode bounding boxes. MetaModes with a
bounding box larger than an explicitly given virtual screen size will
be discarded.
A MetaMode string can be further modified with a "Panning Domain"
specification; eg:
"1024x768 @1600x1200, 800x600 @1600x1200"
A panning domain is the area in which a display device's viewport will
be panned to follow the mouse. Panning actually happens on two levels
with TwinView: first, an individual display device's viewport will be
panned within its panning domain, as long as the viewport is contained
by the bounding box of the MetaMode. Once the mouse leaves the
bounding box of the MetaMode, the entire MetaMode (i.e. all display
devices) will be panned to follow the mouse within the virtual screen.
Note that individual display devices' panning domains default to being
clamped to the position of the display devices' viewports, thus the
default behavior is just that viewports remain "locked" together and
only perform the second type of panning.
The most beneficial use of panning domains is probably to eliminate
dead areas -- regions of the virtual screen that are inaccessible due
to display devices with different resolutions. For example:
"1600x1200, 1024x768"
produces an inaccessible region below the 1024x768 display. Specifying
a panning domain for the second display device:
"1600x1200, 1024x768 @1024x1200"
provides access to that dead area by allowing you to pan the 1024x768
viewport up and down in the 1024x1200 panning domain.
Offsets can be used in conjunction with panning domains to position
the panning domains in the virtual screen space (note that the offset
describes the panning domain, and only affects the viewport in that
the viewport must be contained within the panning domain). For
example, the following describes two modes, each with a panning domain
width of 1900 pixels, and the second display is positioned below the
first:
"1600x1200 @1900x1200 +0+0, 1024x768 @1900x768 +0+1200"
Because it is often unclear which mode within a MetaMode will be used
on each display device, mode descriptions within a MetaMode can be
prepended with a display device name. For example:
"CRT-0: 1600x1200, DFP-0: 1024x768"
If no MetaMode string is specified, then the X driver uses the modes
listed in the relevant "Display" subsection, attempting to place
matching modes on each display device.
TwinViewOrientation
This option controls the positioning of the second display device
relative to the first within the virtual X screen, when offsets are
not explicitly given in the MetaModes. The possible values are:
"RightOf" (the default)
"LeftOf"
"Above"
"Below"
"Clone"
When "Clone" is specified, both display devices will be assigned an
offset of 0,0.
Because it is often unclear which display device is "first" and which
is "second", TwinViewOrientation can be confusing. You can further
clarify the TwinViewOrientation with display device names to indicate
which display device is positioned relative to which display device.
For example:
"CRT-0 LeftOf DFP-0"
ConnectedMonitor
With this option you can override what the NVIDIA kernel module
detects is connected to your video card. This may be useful, for
example, if any of your display devices do not support detection using
Display Data Channel (DDC) protocols. Valid values are a
comma-separated list of display device names; for example:
"CRT-0, CRT-1"
"CRT"
"CRT-1, DFP-0"
WARNING: this option overrides what display devices are detected by
the NVIDIA kernel module, and is very seldom needed. You really only
need this if a display device is not detected, either because it does
not provide DDC information, or because it is on the other side of a
KVM (Keyboard-Video-Mouse) switch. In most other cases, it is best not
to specify this option.
Just as in all X config entries, spaces are ignored and all entries are case
insensitive.
FREQUENTLY ASKED TWINVIEW QUESTIONS
Q. Nothing gets displayed on my second monitor; what is wrong?
A. Monitors that do not support monitor detection using Display Data Channel
(DDC) protocols (this includes most older monitors) are not detectable by
your NVIDIA card. You need to explicitly tell the NVIDIA X driver what you
have connected using the "ConnectedMonitor" option; e.g.:
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT, CRT"
Q. Will window managers be able to appropriately place windows (e.g. avoiding
placing windows across both display devices, or in inaccessible regions of
the virtual desktop)?
A. Yes. The NVIDIA X driver provides a Xinerama extension that X clients (such
as window managers) can use to discover the current TwinView configuration.
Note that the Xinerama protocol provides no way to inform clients of when a
configuration change occurs. So, if you modeswitch to a different MetaMode,
your window manager will still think you have the previous configuration.
Using the Xinerama extension, in conjunction with the XF86VidMode extension
to get modeswitch events, window managers should be able to determine the
TwinView configuration at any given time.
Unfortunately, the data provided by XineramaQueryScreens() appears to
confuse some window managers; to workaround such broken window mangers, you
can disable communication of the TwinView screen layout with the
"NoTwinViewXineramaInfo" X config Option (please see Appendix D for
details).
Be aware that the NVIDIA driver cannot provide the Xinerama extension if
the X server's own Xinerama extension is being used. Explicitly specifying
Xinerama in the X config file or on the X server commandline will prohibit
NVIDIA's Xinerama extension from installing, so make sure that the X
server's log file does not contain:
(++) Xinerama: enabled
if you wish the NVIDIA driver to be able to provide the Xinerama extension
while in TwinView.
Another solution is to use panning domains to eliminate inaccessible
regions of the virtual screen (see the MetaMode description above).
A third solution is to use two separate X screens, rather than use
TwinView. Please see Appendix P.
Q. Why can I not get a resolution of 1600x1200 on the second display device
when using a GeForce2 MX?
A. Because the second display device on the GeForce2 MX was designed to be a
digital flat panel, the Pixel Clock for the second display device is only
150 MHz. This effectively limits the resolution on the second display
device to somewhere around 1280x1024 (for a description of how Pixel Clock
frequencies limit the programmable modes, see the XFree86 Video Timings
HOWTO). This constraint is not present on GeForce4 or GeForce FX chips --
the maximum pixel clock is the same i on both heads.
Q. Do video overlays work across both display devices?
A. Hardware video overlays only work on the first display device. The current
solution is that blitted video is used instead on TwinView.
Q. How are virtual screen dimensions determined in TwinView?
A. After all requested modes have been validated, and the offsets for each
MetaMode's viewports have been computed, the NVIDIA driver computes the
bounding box of the panning domains for each MetaMode. The maximum bounding
box width and height is then found.
Note that one side effect of this is that the virtual width and virtual
height may come from different MetaModes. Given the following MetaMode
string:
"1600x1200,NULL; 1024x768+0+0, 1024x768+0+768"
the resulting virtual screen size will be 1600 x 1536.
Q. Can I play full screen games across both display devices?
A. Yes. While the details of configuration will vary from game to game, the
basic idea is that a MetaMode presents X with a mode whose resolution is
the bounding box of the viewports for that MetaMode. For example, the
following:
Option "MetaModes" "1024x768,1024x768; 800x600,800x600"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf"
produce two modes: one whose resolution is 2048x768, and another whose
resolution is 1600x600. Games such as Quake 3 Arena use the VidMode
extension to discover the resolutions of the modes currently available. To
configure Quake 3 Arena to use the above MetaMode string, add the following
to your q3config.cfg file:
seta r_customaspect "1"
seta r_customheight "600"
seta r_customwidth "1600"
seta r_fullscreen "1"
seta r_mode "-1"
Note that, given the above configuration, there is no mode with a
resolution of 800x600 (remember that the MetaMode "800x600, 800x600" has a
resolution of 1600x600"), so if you change Quake 3 Arena to use a
resolution of 800x600, it will display in the lower left corner of your
screen, with the rest of the screen grayed out. To have single head modes
available as well, an appropriate MetaMode string might be something like:
"800x600,800x600; 1024x768,NULL; 800x600,NULL; 640x480,NULL"
More precise configuration information for specific games is beyond the
scope of this document, but the above examples coupled with numerous online
sources should be enough to point you in the right direction.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix H. Configuring TV-Out
__________________________________________________________________________
NVIDIA GPU-based video cards with a TV-Out (S-Video) connector can be employed
to use a television as another display device, just like a CRT or digital flat
panel. The TV can be used by itself, or (on appropriate video cards) in
conjunction with another display device in a TwinView configuration. If a TV
is the only display device connected to your video card, it will be used as
the primary display when you boot your system (i.e. the console will come up
on the TV just as if it were a CRT). To use your TV with X, there are a few
parameters that you should pay special attention to in your X config file:
The VertRefresh and HorizSync values in your monitor section; please
make sure these are appropriate for your television. Values are
generally:
HorizSync 30-50
VertRefresh 60
The Modes in your screen section; the valid modes for your TV encoder
will be reported in a verbose X log file (generated with `startx --
-logverbose 5`) when X is run on a TV. Some modes may be limited to
certain TV Standards; if that is the case, it will be noted in the X
log file. Generally, at least 800x600 and 640x480 are supported.
The "TVStandard" option should be added to your screen section; valid
values are:
TVStandard Description
----------------------------- -----------------------------
"PAL-B" used in Belgium, Denmark,
Finland, Germany, Guinea,
Hong Kong, India, Indonesia,
Italy, Malaysia, The
Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal, Singapore, Spain,
Sweden, and Switzerland
"PAL-D" used in China and North Korea
"PAL-G" used in Denmark, Finland,
Germany, Italy, Malaysia, The
Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and
Switzerland
"PAL-H" used in Belgium
"PAL-I" used in Hong Kong and The
United Kingdom
"PAL-K1" used in Guinea
"PAL-M" used in Brazil
"PAL-N" used in France, Paraguay, and
Uruguay
"PAL-NC" used in Argentina
"NTSC-J" used in Japan
"NTSC-M" used in Canada, Chile,
Colombia, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras,
Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico,
South Korea, Taiwan, United
States of America, and
Venezuela
"HD480i" 480 line interlaced
"HD480p" 480 line progressive
"HD720p" 720 line progressive
"HD1080i" 1080 line interlaced
"HD1080p" 1080 line progressive
"HD576i" 576 line interlace
"HD576p" 576 line progressive
The line in your X config file should be something like:
Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
If you do not specify a TVStandard, or you specify an invalid value,
the default "NTSC-M" will be used. Note: if your country is not in the
above list, select the country closest to your location.
The "ConnectedMonitor" option can be used to tell X to use the TV for
display. This should only be needed if your TV is not detected by the
video card, or you use a CRT (or digital flat panel) as your boot
display, but want to redirect X to use the TV. The line in your config
file should be:
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "TV"
The "TVOutFormat" option can be used to force SVIDEO or COMPOSITE
output. Without this option the driver autodetects the output format.
Unfortunately, it does not always do this correctly. The output format
can be forced with the options:
Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
or
Option "TVOutFormat" "COMPOSITE"
The "TVOverScan" option can be used to enable Overscan where
supported. Valid values are decimal values in the range 1.0 (which
means overscan as much as possible: make the image as large as
possible) and 0.0 (which means disable overscanning: make the image as
small as possible). Overscanning is disabled (0.0) by default.
Overscan is currently only available on GeForce4 or newer GPUs with
either NVIDIA or Conexant TV encoders.
The NVIDIA X driver may not restore the console correctly with XFree86
versions older than 4.3 when the console is a TV. This is due to binary
incompatibilities between XFree86 int10 modules. If you use a TV as your
console it is recommended that you upgrade to XFree86 4.3 or later.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix I. Configuring a Laptop
__________________________________________________________________________
INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION
Installation and configuration of the NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set on a
laptop is the same as for any desktop environment, with a few minor
exceptions, listed below.
Starting in the 1.0-2802 release, information about the internal flatpanel for
use in initializing the display is by default generated on the fly from data
stored in the video BIOS. This can be disabled by setting the "SoftEDIDs"
kernel option to 0. If "SoftEDIDs" is turned off, then hardcoded data will be
chosen from a table, based on the value of the "Mobile" kernel option.
The "Mobile" kernel option can be set to any of the following values:
Value Meaning
------------------------------- -------------------------------
0xFFFFFFFF let the kernel module auto
detect the correct value
1 Dell laptops
2 non-Compal Toshiba laptops
3 all other laptops
4 Compal Toshiba laptops
5 Gateway laptops
Again, the "Mobile" kernel option is only needed if SoftEDIDs is disabled;
when it is used, it is usually safest to let the kernel module auto detect the
correct value (this is the default behavior).
Should you need to alter either of these options, you may do so in any of the
following ways:
editing os-registry.c in the usr/src/nv/ directory of the .run file.
setting the value on the modprobe command line (e.g.: `modprobe nvidia
NVreg_SoftEDIDs=0 NVreg_Mobile=3`)
adding an "options" line to your module configuration file, usually
/etc/modules.conf (e.g.: "options nvidia NVreg_Mobile=5")
ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY
In this section we discuss additional functionality associated with laptop
configuration.
TWIN VIEW
All mobile NVIDIA chips support TwinView. TwinView on a laptop can be
configured in the same way as on a desktop machine (please refer to Appendix G
); note that in a TwinView configuration using the laptop's internal flat
panel and an external CRT, the CRT is the primary display device (specify it's
HorizSync and VertRefresh in the Monitor section of your X config file) and
the flat panel is the secondary display device (specify it's HorizSync and
VertRefresh through the SecondMonitorHorizSync and SecondMonitorVertRefresh
options). You can also employ the UseEdidFreqs option to acquire the HorizSync
and VertRefresh from the EDID of each display devices, and not worry about
setting them in your X config file (this should only be done if you trust your
display device's reported EDIDs -- please see the description of the
UseEdidFreqs option in Appendix D for details).
HOTKEY SWITCHING OF DISPLAY DEVICES
Besides TwinView, mobile NVIDIA chips also have the capacity to react to an
LCD/CRT hotkey event, toggling between each of the connected display devices
and each possible combination of the connected display devices (note that only
2 display devices may be active at a time). TwinView as configured in your X
config file and hotkey functionality are mutually exclusive -- if you enable
TwinView in your X config file, then the NVIDIA X driver will ignore LCD/CRT
hotkey events.
Another important aspect of hotkey functionality is that you can dynamically
connect and remove display devices to/from your laptop and hotkey to them
without restarting X.
A concern with all of this is how to validate and determine what modes should
be programmed on each display device. First, it is immensely helpful to use
the UseEdidFreqs so that the hsync and vrefresh for each display device can be
retrieved from the display devices' EDID -- otherwise, the semantics of what
the contents of the monitor section mean constantly changes with each hotkey
event.
When X is started, or when a change is detected in the list of connected
display devices, a new hotkey sequence list is constructed -- this lists what
display devices will be used with each hotkey event. When a hotkey event
occurs, then the next hotkey state in the sequence is chosen. Each mode
requested in the X config file is validated against each display device's
constraints, and the resulting modes are made available for that display
device. If multiple display devices are to be active at once, then the modes
from each display device are paired together; if an exact match (same
resolution) cannot be found, then the closest fit is found, and the display
device with the smaller resolution is panned within the resolution of the
other display device.
When vt-switching away from X, the vga console will always be restored on the
display device on which it was present when X was started. Similarly, when
vt-switching back into X, the same display device configuration will be used
as when you vt-switched away from X, regardless of what LCD/CRT hotkey
activity occurred while vt-switched away.
NON-STANDARDS MODES ON LCD DISPLAYS
Some users have had difficulty programming a 1400x1050 mode (the native
resolution of some laptop LCDs). In version 4.0.3, XFree86 added several
1400x1050 modes to its database of default modes, but if you are using an
older version of XFree86, the following modeline may be useful:
# -- 1400x1050 --
# 1400x1050 @ 60Hz, 65.8 kHz hsync
Modeline "1400x1050" 129 1400 1464 1656 1960
1050 1051 1054 1100 +HSync +VSync
KNOWN LAPTOP ISSUES
There are a few known issues associated with laptops.
LCD/CRT hotkey switching is not currently functioning on any Toshiba
laptop, with the exception of the Toshiba Satellite 3000 series.
TwinView on Satellite 2800 series Toshbia laptops is not currently
functioning.
The video overlay only works on the first display device on which you
started X. For example, if you start X on the internal LCD, run a
video application that uses the video overlay (uses the "Video
Overlay" adaptor advertised through the XV extension), and then hotkey
switch to add a second display device, the video will not appear on
the second display device. To work around this, you can either
configure the video application to use the "Video Blitter" adaptor
advertised through the XV extension (this is always available), or
hotkey switch to the display device on which you want to use the video
overlay *before* starting X.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix J. Programming Modes
__________________________________________________________________________
The NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set supports all standard VGA and VESA
modes, as well as most user-written custom mode lines; double-scan modes are
supported on all hardware. Interlaced modes are supported on all GeForce
FX/Quadro FX and newer GPUs, and certain older GPUs; the X log file will
contain a message "Interlaced video modes are supported on this GPU" if
interlaced modes are supported.
In general, your display device (monitor/flat panel/television) will be a
greater constraint on what modes you can use than either your NVIDIA GPU-based
video board or the NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set.
To request one or more standard modes for use in X, you can simply add a
"Modes" line such as:
Modes "1600x1200" "1024x768" "640x480"
in the appropriate Display subsection of your X config file (please see the
XF86Config(5x) or xorg.conf(5x) man pages for details). The following
documentation is primarily of interest if you compose your own custom mode
lines, experiment with xvidtune(1), or are just interested in learning more.
Please note that this is neither an explanation nor a guide to the fine art of
crafting custom mode lines for X. We leave that, rather, to documents such as
the XFree86 Video Timings HOWTO (which can be found at http://www.tldp.org).
DEPTH, BITS PER PIXEL, AND PITCH
While not directly a concern when programming modes, the bits used per pixel
is an issue when considering the maximum programmable resolution; for this
reason, it is worthwhile to address the confusion surrounding the terms
"depth" and "bits per pixel". Depth is how many bits of data are stored per
pixel. Supported depths are 8, 15, 16, and 24. Most video hardware, however,
stores pixel data in sizes of 8, 16, or 32 bits; this is the amount of memory
allocated per pixel. When you specify your depth, X selects the bits per pixel
(bpp) size in which to store the data. Below is a table of what bpp is used
for each possible depth:
Depth BPP
------------------------------- -------------------------------
8 8
15 16
16 16
24 32
Lastly, the "pitch" is how many bytes in the linear frame buffer there are
between one pixel's data, and the data of the pixel immediately below. You can
think of this as the horizontal resolution multiplied by the bytes per pixel
(bits per pixel divided by 8). In practice, the pitch may be more than this
product due to alignment constraints.
MAXIMUM RESOLUTIONS
The NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set and NVIDIA GPU-based video boards
support resolutions up to 2048x1536, though the maximum resolution your system
can support is also limited by the amount of video memory (see USEFUL FORMULAS
for details) and the maximum supported resolution of your display device
(monitor/flat panel/television). Also note that while use of a video overlay
does not limit the maximum resolution or refresh rate, video memory bandwidth
used by a programmed mode does effect the overlay quality.
USEFUL FORMULAS
The maximum resolution is a function both of the amount of video memory and
the bits per pixel you elect to use:
HR * VR * (bpp/8) = Video Memory Used
In other words, the amount of video memory used is equal to the horizontal
resolution (HR) multiplied by the vertical resolution (VR) multiplied by the
bytes per pixel (bits per pixel divided by eight). Technically, the video
memory used is actually the pitch times the vertical resolution, and the pitch
may be slightly greater than(HR * (bpp/8))to accommodate hardware requirements
that the pitch be a multiple of some value.
Please note that this is just memory usage for the frame buffer; video memory
is also used by other things such as OpenGL or pixmap caching.
Another important relationship is that between the resolution, the pixel clock
(aka dot clock) and the vertical refresh rate:
RR = PCLK / (HFL * VFL)
In other words, the refresh rate (RR) is equal to the pixel clock (PCLK)
divided by the total number of pixels: the horizontal frame length (HFL)
multiplied by the vertical frame length (VFL) (note that these are the frame
lengths, and not just the visible resolutions). As described in the XFree86
Video Timings HOWTO, the above formula can be rewritten as:
PCLK = RR * HFL * VFL
Given a maximum pixel clock, you can adjust the RR, HFL and VFL as desired, as
long as the product of the three is consistent. The pixel clock is reported in
the log file when you run X with verbose logging: `startx -- -logverbose 5`.
Your X log should contain several lines like:
(--) NVIDIA(0): Display Device 0: maximum pixel clock at 8 bpp: 350 MHz
(--) NVIDIA(0): Display Device 0: maximum pixel clock at 16 bpp: 350 MHz
(--) NVIDIA(0): Display Device 0: maximum pixel clock at 32 bpp: 300 MHz
which indicate the maximum pixel clock at each bit per pixel size.
HOW MODES ARE VALIDATED
During the PreInit phase of the X server, the NVIDIA X driver validates all
requested modes by doing the following:
Take the intersection of the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges given by
the user in the X config file with the ranges reported by the monitor
in the EDID (Extended Display Identification Data); this behavior can
be disabled by using the "IgnoreEDID" option in which case the X
driver will blindly accept the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges given
by the user.
Call the xf86ValidateModes() helper function, which finds modes with
the names the user specified in the X config file, pruning out modes
with invalid horizontal sync frequencies or vertical refresh rates,
pixel clocks larger than the maximum pixel clock for the video card,
or resolutions larger than the virtual screen size (if a virtual
screen size was specified in the X config file). Several other
constraints are applied; see
'xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/common/xf86Mode.c' :
xf86ValidateModes().
All modes returned from xf86ValidateModes() are then examined to make
sure their resolutions are not larger than the largest mode reported
by the monitor's EDID (this can be disabled with the "IgnoreEDID"
option. If the display is a TV, each mode is checked to make sure it
has a resolution that is supported by the TV encoder (usually only
800x600 and 640x480 are supported by the encoder).
All modes are also tested to confirm that they fit within the
hardware's memory bandwidth constraints. This test can be disabled
with the NoBandWidthTest X config file option.
All remaining modes are then checked to make sure they pass the
constraints described below in ADDITIONAL MODE CONSTRAINTS.
The last three steps are also done when each mode is programmed, to catch
potentially invalid modes submitted by the XF86VidModeExtension (eg
xvidtune(1)). For TwinView, the above validation is done for the modes
requested for each display device.
ADDITIONAL MODE CONSTRAINTS
Below is a list of additional constraints on a mode's parameters that must be
met. In some cases these are chip-specific.
The horizontal resolution (HR) must be a multiple of 8 and be less
than or equal to the value in the table below.
The horizontal blanking width (the maximum of the horizontal frame
length and the horizontal sync end minus the minimum of the horizontal
resolution and the horizontal sync start (max(HFL,HSE) - min(HR,HSS))
must be a multiple of 8 and be less than or equal to the value in the
table below.
The horizontal sync start (HSS) must be a multiple of 8 and be less
than or equal to the value in the table below.
The horizontal sync width (the horizontal sync end minus the
horizontal sync start (HSE - HSS)) must be a multiple of 8 and be less
than or equal to the value in the table below.
The horizontal frame length (HFL) must be a multiple of 8, must be
greater than or equal to 40, and must be less than or equal to the
value in the table below.
The horizontal frame length (HFL) must be a multiple of 8, must be
greater than or equal to 40, and must be less than or equal to the
value in the table below.
The vertical resolution (VR) must be less than or equal to the value
in the table below.
The vertical blanking width (the maximum of the vertical frame length
and the vertical sync end minus the minimum of the vertical resolution
and the vertical sync start (max(VFL,VSE) - min(VR,VSS)) must be less
than or equal to the value in the table below.
The vertical sync start (VSS) must be less than or equal to the value
in the table below.
The vertical sync width (the vertical sync end minus the vertical sync
start (VSE - VSS)) must be less than or equal to the value in the
table below.
The vertical frame length (VFL) must be greater than or equal to 2 and
less than or equal to the value in the table below.
Here is an example mode line demonstrating the use of each abbreviation used
above:
# Custom Mode line for the SGI 1600SW Flatpanel
# name PCLK HR HSS HSE HFL VR VSS VSE VFL
ENSURING IDENTICAL MODE TIMINGS
Some functionality, such as Active Stereo with TwinView, requires control over
exactly what mode timings are used. There are several ways to accomplish
that:
If you only want to make sure that both display devices use the same
modes, you only need to make sure that both display devices use the
same HorizSync and VertRefresh values when performing mode validation;
this would be done by making sure the HorizSync and
SecondMonitorHorizSync match, and that the VertRefresh and the
SecondMonitorVertRefresh match.
A more explicit approach is to specify the modeline you wish to use
(using one of the modeline generators available), and using a unique
name. For example, if you wanted to use 1024x768 at 120 Hz on each
monitor in TwinView with active stereo, you might add something like:
# 1024x768 @ 120.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 98.76 kHz; pclk: 139.05 MHz
Modeline "1024x768_120" 139.05 1024 1104 1216 1408 768 769 772
823 -HSync +Vsync
In the monitor section of your X config file, and then in the Screen
section of your X config file, specify a MetaMode like this:
Option "MetaModes" "1024x768_120, 1024x768_120"
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
An XFree86 modeline generator, conforming to the GTF Standard is available at
http://gtf.sourceforge.net/. Additional generators can be found by searching
for "modeline" on freshmeat.net.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix K. Flipping and UBB
__________________________________________________________________________
The NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set supports Unified Back Buffer (UBB) and
OpenGL Flipping. These features can provide performance gains in certain
situtations.
Unified Back Buffer (UBB): UBB is available only on the Quadro family
of GPUs (Quadro4 NVS excluded) and is enabled by default when there is
sufficient video memory available. This can be disabled with the UBB X
config option described in Appendix D. When UBB is enabled, all
windows share the same back, stencil and depth buffer. When there are
many windows, the back, stencil and depth usage will never exceed the
size of that used by a full screen window. However, even for a single
small window the back, stencil and depth the video memory usage is
that of a full screen window. In that case video memory may be used
less efficiently than in the non-UBB case.
Flipping: when OpenGL flipping is enabled, OpenGL can perform buffer
swaps by changing which buffer the DAC scans out rather than copying
the back buffer contents to the front buffer; this is generally a much
higher performance mechanism and allows tearless swapping during the
vertical retrace (when __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK is set). The conditions
under which OpenGL can flip are slightly complicated, but in general:
on Geforce or newer hardware, OpenGL can flip when a single full
screen unobscured OpenGL application is running, and
__GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK is enabled. Additionally, OpenGL can flip on
Quadro hardware even when an OpenGL window is partially obscured or
not full screen or __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK is not enabled.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix L. Known Issues
__________________________________________________________________________
The following problems still exist in this release and are in the process of
being resolved.
Known Issues
OpenGL and dlopen()
There are some issues with older versions of the glibc dynamic loader
(e.g., the version that shipped with Red Hat Linux 7.2) and
applications such as Quake3 and Radiant, that use dlopen(). Please see
Chapter 4 for more details.
Multicard, Multimonitor
In some cases, the secondary card is not initialized correctly by the
NVIDIA kernel module. You can work around this by enabling the XFree86
Int10 module to soft-boot all secondary cards. See Appendix D for
details.
Interaction with pthreads
Single threaded applications that dlopen() NVIDIA's libGL library, and
then dlopen() any other library that is linked against pthreads will
crash in NVIDIA's libGL library. This does not happen in NVIDIA's new
ELF TLS OpenGL libraries (please see Appendix C for a description of
the ELF TLS OpenGL libraries). Possible work arounds for this problem
are:
1. Load the library that is linked with pthreads before loading
libGL.so.
2. Link the application with pthreads.
Intel's EM64T platform and SWIOTLB
Linux does not currently provide a mechanism for allocating memory
with addresses that fall within the first 4 Gigs of memory on Intel's
EM64T platform. Addresses within this range are necessary for 32-bit
pci hardware to provide dma capabilities. Instead, the linux kernel
provides a software i/o tlb to work around this. Unfortunately, some
problems exist with this approach.
Early implementations of the swiotlb set aside a very small amount of
memory for it's memory pool (4 Megabytes). Also, when this pool is
exhausted, the kernel is forcibly paniced. Kernel panics and related
stability problems can be avoided by increasing the size of this pool.
This can be done via the kernel command line, with the "swiotlb="
option. NVIDIA suggests raising the size of this pool to 32 Megabytes
when using our driver. This is accomplished by passing the value
"swiotlb=16384" to the kernel.
Starting with kernel 2.6.9 from kernel.org, the default size of the
swiotlb was raised to 64 Megabytes and overflow handling was improved.
Both of these greatly improve stability and are greatly recommended.
Please also read the next known issue for stability issues on this
platform.
The X86-64 platform (AMD64/EM64T) and 2.6 kernels
Many 2.4 and 2.6 x86_64 kernels have an accounting issue in their
implementation of the change_page_attr kernel interface. Early 2.6
kernels include a check that triggers a BUG() when this situation is
encountered (triggering a BUG() results in the current application
being killed by the kernel; this application would be your opengl
application or potentially the X Server). The accounting issue has
been resolved in the 2.6.11 kernel.
We have added checks to recognize that the NVIDIA kernel module is
being compiled for the x86-64 platform on a kernel between 2.6.0 and
2.6.11. In this case, we will disable usage of the change_page_attr
kernel interface. This will avoid the accounting issue but leaves the
system in danger of cache aliasing (see entry on Cache Aliasing for
more information about cache aliasing). Note that this
change_page_attr accounting issue and BUG() can be triggered by other
kernel subsystems that rely on this interface.
If you are using a 2.6 x86_64 kernel, it is recommended that you
upgrade to a 2.6.11 or later kernel.
Cache Aliasing
Cache aliasing occurs when multiple mappings to a physical page of
memory have conflicting caching states, such as cached and uncached.
Due to these conflicting states, data in that physical page may become
corrupted when the processor's cache is flushed. If that page is being
used for dma by a driver such as NVIDIA's graphics driver, this can
lead to hardware stability problems and system lockups.
NVIDIA has encountered bugs with some Linux kernel versions that lead
to cache aliasing. Although some systems will run perfectly fine when
cache aliasing occurs, other systems will experience severe stability
problems, including random lockups. Users experiencing stability
problems due to cache aliasing will benefit from updating to a kernel
that does not cause cache aliasing to occur.
NVIDIA has added driver logic to detect cache aliasing and to print a
warning with a message similar to the following: NVRM: bad caching on
address 0x1cdf000: actual 0x46 != expected 0x73 If you see this
message in your log files and are experiencing stability problems, you
should update your kernel to the latest version.
If the message persists after updating your kernel, please send a bug
report to NVIDIA.
64-Bit BARs (Base Address Registers)
Starting with native PCI Express GPUs, NVIDIA's GPUs will advertise a
64-bit BAR capability (a Base Address Register stores the location of
a PCI I/O region, such as registers or a framebuffer). This means that
the GPU's PCI I/O regions (registers and framebuffer) can be placed
above the 32-bit address space (the first 4 Gigabytes of memory).
The decision of where the BAR is placed is made by the system BIOS at
boot time. If the BIOS supports 64-bit BARs, then the NVIDIA PCI I/O
regions may be placed above the 32-bit address space. If the BIOS does
not support this feature, then our PCI I/O regions will be placed
within the 32-bit address space as they have always been.
Unfortunately, current Linux kernels (as of 2.6.11.x) do not
understand or support 64-bit BARs. If the BIOS does place any NVIDIA
PCI I/O regions above the 32-bit address space, the kernel will reject
the BAR and the NVIDIA driver will not work.
There is no known workaround at this point.
Laptops
If you are using a laptop please see the "Known Laptop Issues" in
Appendix I.
FSAA
When FSAA is enabled (the __GL_FSAA_MODE environment variable is set
to a value that enables FSAA and a multisample visual is chosen), the
rendering may be corrupted when resizing the window.
libGL DSO finalizer and pthreads
When a multithreaded OpenGL application exits, it is possible for
libGL's DSO finalizer (also known as the destructor, or "_fini") to be
called while other threads are executing OpenGL code. The finalizer
needs to free resources allocated by libGL. This can cause problems
for threads that are still using these resources. Setting the
environment variable "__GL_NO_DSO_FINALIZER" to "1" will work around
this problem by forcing libGL's finalizer to leave its resources in
place. These resources will still be reclaimed by the operating system
when the process exits. Note that the finalizer is also executed as
part of dlclose(3), so if you have an application that dlopens(3) and
dlcloses(3) libGL repeatedly, "__GL_NO_DSO_FINALIZER" will cause libGL
to leak resources until the process exits. Using this option can
improve stability in some multithreaded applications, including Java3D
applications.
XVideo and the Composite X extension
XVideo will not work correctly when Composite is enabled. See Appendix
S.
This section describes problems that will not be fixed. Usually, the source of
the problem is beyond the control of NVIDIA. Following is the list of
problems:
Problems that Will Not Be Fixed
Gigabyte GA-6BX Motherboard
This motherboard uses a LinFinity regulator on the 3.3-V rail that is
rated to only 5 A -- less than the AGP specification, which requires 6
A. When diagnostics or applications are running, the temperature of
the regulator rises, causing the voltage to the NVIDIA chip to drop as
low as 2.2 V. Under these circumstances, the regulator cannot supply
the current on the 3.3-V rail that the NVIDIA chip requires.
This problem does not occur when the graphics board has a switching
regulator or when an external power supply is connected to the 3.3-V
rail.
VIA KX133 and 694X Chip sets with AGP 2x
On Athlon motherboards with the VIA KX133 or 694X chip set, such as
the ASUS K7V motherboard, NVIDIA drivers default to AGP 2x mode to
work around insufficient drive strength on one of the signals.
Irongate Chip sets with AGP 1x
AGP 1x transfers are used on Athlon motherboards with the Irongate
chip set to work around a problem with the signal integrity of the
chip set.
ALi chipsets, ALi1541 and ALi1647
On ALi1541 and ALi1647 chipsets, NVIDIA drivers disable AGP to work
around timing issues and signal integrity issues. See for more
information on ALi chipsets.
I/O APIC (SMP)
If you are experiencing stability problems with a Linux SMP machine
and seeing I/O APIC warning messages from the Linux kernel, system
reliability may be greatly improved by setting the "noapic" kernel
parameter.
Local APIC (UP)
On some systems, setting the "Local APIC Support on Uniprocessors"
kernel configuration option can have adverse effects on system
stability and performance. If you are experiencing lockups with a
Linux UP machine and have this option set, try disabling local APIC
support.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix M. Proc Interface
__________________________________________________________________________
You can use the /proc filesystem interface to obtain run-time information
about the driver, any installed NVIDIA graphics cards, and the AGP status.
This information is contained by several files in /proc/driver/nvidia
/proc/driver/nvidia/version
Lists the installed driver revision and the version of the GNU C
compiler used to build the Linux kernel module.
/proc/driver/nvidia/cards/0...3
Provides information about each of the installed NVIDIA graphics
adapters (model name, IRQ, BIOS version, Bus Type). Please note that
the BIOS version is only available while X is running.
/proc/driver/nvidia/agp/card
Information about the installed AGP card's AGP capabilities.
/proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge
Information about the host bridge (model and AGP capabilities).
/proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status
The current AGP status. If AGP support has been enabled on your
system, the AGP driver being used, the AGP rate and information about
the status of AGP Fast Writes and Side Band Addressing is shown.
The AGP driver is either one of NVIDIA (NVIDIA's built-in AGP driver)
or AGPGART (the Linux kernel's agpgart.o driver). If you see
"inactive" next to AGPGART, then this means that the AGP chipset was
programmed by AGPGART, but is not currently in use.
SBA and Fast Writes indicate whether either one of the features is
currently in use. Please note that several factors decide if support
for either will be enabled. First of all, both the AGP card and the
host bridge must support the feature. Even if both do support it, the
driver may decide not to use it in favor of system stability. This is
particularly true of AGP Fast Writes.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix N. XVMC Support
__________________________________________________________________________
This release includes support for the X-Video Motion Compensation (XvMC)
version 1.0 API on GeForce4, GeForce FX and newer products. There is a static
library "libXvMCNVIDIA.a" and a dynamic one "libXvMCNVIDIA_dynamic.so" which
is suitable for dlopening. GeForce4 MX, GeForce FX and newer products support
both XvMC's "IDCT" and "motion-compensation" levels of acceleration. GeForce4
Ti products only support the motion-compensation level. AI44 and IA44
subpictures are supported. 4:2:0 Surfaces up to 2032x2032 are supported.
libXvMCNVIDIA observes the XVMC_DEBUG environment variable and will provide
some debug output to stderr when set to an appropriate integer value. '0'
disables debug output. '1' enables debug output for failure conditions. '2' or
higher enables output of warning messages.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix O. GLX Support
__________________________________________________________________________
This release supports GLX 1.3 with the following extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info
GLX_EXT_visual_rating
GLX_SGIX_fbconfig
GLX_SGIX_pbuffer
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address
For a description of these extensions, please see the OpenGL extension
registry at http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/registry/index.html
Some of the above extensions exist as part of core GLX 1.3 functionality,
however, they are also exported as extensions for backwards compatibility.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix P. Configuring Multiple X Screens on One Card
__________________________________________________________________________
Graphics chips that support TwinView (Appendix G) can also be configured to
treat each connected display device as a separate X screen.
While there are several disadvantages to this approach as compared to TwinView
(eg: windows cannot be dragged between X screens, hardware accelerated OpenGL
cannot span the two X screens), it does offer several advantages over
TwinView:
If each display device is a separate X screen, then properties that
may vary between X screens may vary between displays (eg: depth, root
window size, etc).
Hardware that can only be used on one display at a time (eg: video
overlays, hardware accelerated RGB overlays), and which consequently
cannot be used at all when in TwinView, can be exposed on the first X
screen when each display is a separate X screen.
The 1-to-1 association of display devices to X screens is more
historically in line with X.
To configure two separate X screens to share one graphics chip, here is what
you will need to do:
First, create two separate Device sections, each listing the BusID of the
graphics card to be shared, each listing the driver as "nvidia", and assign
each a separate screen:
Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidia0"
Driver "nvidia"
# Edit the BusID with the location of your graphics card
BusID "PCI:2:0:0"
Screen 0
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidia1"
Driver "nvidia"
# Edit the BusID with the location of your graphics card
BusId "PCI:2:0:0"
Screen 1
EndSection
Then, create two Screen sections, each using one of the Device sections:
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "nvidia0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1600x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "nvidia1"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1600x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
EndSection
(note: you'll also need to create a second Monitor section) Finally, update
the ServerLayout section to use and position both Screen sections:
Section "ServerLayout"
...
Screen 0 "Screen0"
Screen 1 "Screen1" leftOf "Screen0"
...
EndSection
For further details, please refer to the XF86Config(5x) or xorg.conf(5x)
manpages.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix Q. Power Management Support
__________________________________________________________________________
This release includes support for APM based power management. This means that
our driver will support suspend and resume, but will not support standby.
Your laptop's system BIOS will need to support APM, rather than ACPI. Many,
but not all, of the GeForce2 and GeForce4 based laptops include APM support.
You can check for APM support via the procfs interface (check for the
existance of /proc/apm) or via the kernel's boot output:
% dmesg | grep -i apm
a message similar to this indicates apm support:
apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x03 (Driver version 1.16)
or a message like this indicates no apm support:
No APM support in Kernel
Although ACPI support is advancing in development kernels and some backported
patches for 2.4 kernels exist, the NVIDIA graphics driver does not yet provide
support for ACPI. We hope to finish this support in the near future.
Note that standby is not supported, but that the kernel will attempt to enter
standby if told to do so. When changing power levels, many system services are
alerted of the change so that they can handle the change appropriately. For
example, networking will be disabled before suspending, then reenabled when
resuming. When the kernel attempts to enter standby, the BIOS will fail the
attempt. The kernel will print out the error message "standby: Parameter out
of range", but will fail to notify the system services of the failure. As a
result, the system will not go into suspension, but all system services will
be disabled and the system will appear hung. The best way to recover from this
situation is to enter suspend, then resume.
Power management support is still under development and a beta feature. As a
result, some functionality is still missing or unreliable. Known problems
include:
Sometimes chipsets lose their AGP configuration during suspend, and may cause
corruption on the bus upon resume. The AGP driver is required to save and
restore relevant register state on such systems; NVIDIA's NvAGP is notified of
power management events and ensures its configuration is kept intact across
suspend/resume cycles.
Linux 2.4 AGPGART does not support power management, Linux 2.6 AGPGART does,
but only for a few select chipsets. If you use either of these two AGP drivers
and find your system fails to resume reliably, you may have more success with
NVIDIA's NvAGP driver.
Disabling AGP support (please see Appendix F for more details on disabling
AGP) will also work around this problem.
For ACPI, only S3 "Suspend to Ram" is currently supported. This means that S4
"Suspend to Disk", otherwise known as "Software Suspend" or "swsusp" does not
currently work reliably.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix R. Display Device Names
__________________________________________________________________________
A "Display Device" refers to some piece of hardware capable of displaying an
image. Display devices are separated into the three general categories: analog
CRTs, digital flatpanels (DFPs), and TeleVisions. Note that analog flatpanels
are considered the same as analog CRTs by the driver.
A "Display Device Name" is a string description that uniquely identifies a
display device; it follows the format "<type>-<number>", for example: "CRT-0",
"CRT-1", "DFP-0", or "TV-0". Note that the number indicates how the display
device connector is wired on the graphics board, and has nothing to do with
how many of that display device type is present. This means, for example, that
you may have a "CRT-1", even if you do not have a "CRT-0". To determine which
display devices are currently connected, you may check your X log file for a
line similar to the following:
(II) NVIDIA(0): Connected display device(s): CRT-0, DFP-0
Display device names can be used in the MetaMode, HorizSync, and VertRefresh X
config options to indicate what display device a setting should be applied to.
For example:
Option "MetaModes" "CRT-0: 1600x1200, DFP-0: 1024x768"
Option "HorizSync" "CRT-0: 50-110; DFP-0: 40-70"
Option "VertRefresh" "CRT-0: 60-120; DFP-0: 60"
Specifying the display device name in these options is not required; if
display device names are specified, then the driver attempts to infer which
display device a setting applies to. In the case of MetaModes, for example,
the first mode listed is applied to the "first" display device, and the second
mode listed is applied to the "second" display device. Unfortunately, it is
often unclear which display device is the "first" or "second". That is why
specifying the display device name is preferable.
When specifying display device names, you may also omit the number part of the
name, though this is only useful if you only have one of that type of display
device. For example, if you have one CRT and DFP connected, you may reference
in the MetaMode string as follows:
Option "MetaModes" "CRT: 1600x1200, DFP: 1024x768"
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix S. The X Composite Extension
__________________________________________________________________________
X.org version X11R6.8.0 contains experimental support for a new X protocol
extension called Composite. This extension allows windows to be drawn into
pixmaps instead of directly onto the screen. In conjuction with the DAMAGE and
RENDER extensions, this allows a program called a composite manager to blend
windows together to draw the screen.
Performance can be improved by enabling "Option "RenderAccel"" in xorg.conf.
See Appendix D for more details.
Full Composite support will require additional driver support. Currently,
direct rendering clients such as GLX have no way of knowing that they are
supposed to render into a pixmap, and will draw directly to the screen
instead. We are currently investigating what is necessary for such clients to
interoperate seamlessly with Composite. In the meantime, GLX will be disabled
by default when the Composite extension is detected. An option has been
provided to re-enable it. See "Option "AllowGLXWithComposite"" in Appendix D.
This issue was discussed on the xorg mailing list:
http://freedesktop.org/pipermail/xorg/2004-May/000607.html
Composite also causes problems with other driver components:
Xv cannot draw into pixmaps that have been redirected offscreen and
will draw directly onto the screen instead. For some programs you can
work around this issue by using an alternative video driver. For
example, "mplayer -vo x11" will work correctly, as will "xine -V
xshm". If you wish to use Xv, you can simply disable the compositing
manager and re-enable it when you are finished.
Workstation overlays are incompatible with Composite.
More information about Composite can be found at
http://freedesktop.org/Software/CompositeExt
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix T. The nvidia-settings Utility
__________________________________________________________________________
A graphical configuration utility, 'nvidia-settings', is included with the
NVIDIA Linux graphics driver. After installing the driver and starting X, you
can run this configuration utility by running:
% nvidia-settings
in a terminal window.
Detailed information about the configuration options available are documented
in the help window in the utility.
For more information, please see the user guide available here:
ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/nvidia-settings-user-guide.txt
The source code to nvidia-settings is released as GPL and is available here:
ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nvidia-settings/
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix U. The XRandR Extension
__________________________________________________________________________
X.org version X11R6.8.1 contains support for the rotation component of the
XRandR extension. This allows screens to be rotated at 90 degree increments.
The driver supports rotation with the extension when 'Option "RandRRotation"'
is enabled in the X config file.
Workstation RGB or CI overlay visuals will function at lower performance when
RandRRotation is enabled. The video overlay is not available when
RandRRotation is enabled.
You can query the available rotations using the 'xrandr' command line
interface to the RandR extension by running:
xrandr -q
You can set the rotation orientation of the screen by running any of:
xrandr -o left
xrandr -o right
xrandr -o inverted
xrandr -o normal
Rotation may also be set through the nvidia-settings configuration utility in
the "Rotation Settings" panel.
Note that rotation is not currently supported when TwinView is enabled.
__________________________________________________________________________
Appendix V. Support for GLX in Xinerama
__________________________________________________________________________
This driver supports GLX when Xinerama is enabled on similar GPUs. The
Xinerama extension takes multiple physical X screens (possibly spanning
multiple GPUs), and binds them into one logical X screen. This allows windows
to be dragged between GPUs and to span across multiple GPUs. The NVIDIA driver
supports hardware accelerated OpenGL rendering across all NVIDIA GPUs when
Xinerama is enabled.
To configure Xinerama: configure multiple X screens (please refer to the
XF86Config(5x) or xorg.conf(5x) manpages for details). The Xinerama extension
can be enabled by adding the line
Option "Xinerama" "True"
to the "ServerFlags" section of your X config file.
Requirements:
It is recommended to use identical GPUs. Some combinations of
non-identical, but similar, GPUs are supported. If a GPU is
incompatible with the rest of a Xinerama desktop then no OpenGL
rendering will appear on the screens driven by that GPU. Rendering
will still appear normally on screens connected to other supported
GPUs. In this situation the X log file will include a message of the
form:
(WW) NVIDIA(2): The GPU driving screen 2 is incompatabile with the rest of
(WW) NVIDIA(2): the GPUs composing the desktop. OpenGL rendering will
(WW) NVIDIA(2): be disabled on screen 2.
The NVIDIA X driver must be used for all X screens in the server.
Only the intersection of capabilities across all GPUs will be
advertised.
X configuration options that affect GLX operation (eg: stereo,
overlays) should be set consistently across all X screens in the X
server.
Known Issues:
The maximum renderable window dimension is 4096 pixels.
Versions of XFree86 prior to 4.5 and versions of X.org prior to 6.8.0
lack the required interfaces to properly implement overlays with the
Xinerama extension. On earlier server versions mixing overlays and
Xinerama will result in rendering corruption. If you are using the
Xinerama extension with overlays, it is recommended that you upgrade
to XFree86 4.5, X.org 6.8.0, or newer