Linux Distro With GeForce 4 support?

[IcePhoenix]

Anyone know where I can get a Linux Distro with GF4 TI support right off the CDs? Installing the drivers never worked for me (Why? Because I suck at Linux for now ) I just like it enough to want to fool around with it on my main system. I'll need KDE3 for now, until I can learn to command prompt everything. System in sig. Thanks in advance

 

[Dan]

I'm also in need of the same info. I was doing okay with Mandrake 8.2 until I upgraded from a GeForce3 ti550 to a GeForce4 ti4200. From everything I've read, Mandrake 9 in final form doesn't address this issue.

Like IcePhoenix, I'm also relatively new to Linux. I'm having a devil of a time installing the kernel and glx driver files I downloaded from Nvidia.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Neither RedHat nor Mandrake say they support it, but you have several options:
1. wait a month or two for the new versions of RedHat and Mandrake to hit the store shelves and check then.
2. Read the instructions for installing the drivers (I wrote a FAQ here for that) and follow them.
3. Purchase a more linux friendly video card.

 

[MGMorden]

I don't think Xfree86 supports the cards natively yet, so pretty much no Linux distro will work "out the box" with it. My best advice is to install the Nvidia provided drivers (I guess you could go with noc's #3 and get a new card, but if I had a GF4 I sure would put in the extra work to get it working before I bought something different ).

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: MGMorden
I don't think Xfree86 supports the cards natively yet, so pretty much no Linux distro will work "out the box" with it. My best advice is to install the Nvidia provided drivers (I guess you could go with noc's #3 and get a new card, but if I had a GF4 I sure would put in the extra work to get it working before I bought something different ).

The commercial distributions of Mandrake and RedHat (last time I checked, which was a atleast one release ago) contained these drivers "out of the box." The downloaded versions did not because of obvious licensing conditions. And I would sel the GF4, eat for a week, buy a better card, and still have money to buy a beer

 

[IcePhoenix]

Thanks for the responses

I like my Ti4400. OCs to 4600 speeds with no work. Is it true that the newest RC of Mandrake (The only distro which I have experience) has support right out of the box (or ISO, as the case may be) I remember having a devil of a time getting the drivers to work. Everytime I would edit the right file, I would have to reinstall. But if you can confirm this "off the CD", looks like I can play with it again

 

[cleverhandle]

The commercial distributions of Mandrake and RedHat (last time I checked, which was a atleast one release ago) contained these drivers "out of the box." The downloaded versions did not because of obvious licensing conditions.

Um... I don't think so, for RH at least. I just installed a retail copy of RedHat 7.3 on a GF4 box a couple days ago. It identified the card correctly, but still tried (unsuccessfully) to use the framebuffer driver for it. The release notes and readme only said that the GF4 was "not yet officially supported" by XF86, and that the framebuffer might work instead.


edit: but, geez, guys - n0c wrote a beautiful FAQ for this. Print it out, read it twice, read it again, and use it as a learning opportunity.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: cleverhandle

The commercial distributions of Mandrake and RedHat (last time I checked, which was a atleast one release ago) contained these drivers "out of the box." The downloaded versions did not because of obvious licensing conditions.

Um... I don't think so, for RH at least. I just installed a retail copy of RedHat 7.3 on a GF4 box a couple days ago. It identified the card correctly, but still tried (unsuccessfully) to use the framebuffer driver for it. The release notes and readme only said that the GF4 was "not yet officially supported" by XF86, and that the framebuffer might work instead.

I just meant nVidia cards in general, not necessarily GeForce 4s.

edit: but, geez, guys - n0c wrote a beautiful FAQ for this. Print it out, read it twice, read it again, and use it as a learning opportunity.

Thank you

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: IcePhoenix
Thanks for the responses

I like my Ti4400. OCs to 4600 speeds with no work. Is it true that the newest RC of Mandrake (The only distro which I have experience) has support right out of the box

Download it and find out, and let us know.

(or ISO, as the case may be)

Chances are the downloaded versions wont contain the nVidia drivers because of licensing issues. Remember, the nVidia drivers are neither Open Source nor Free (speech).

I remember having a devil of a time getting the drivers to work. Everytime I would edit the right file, I would have to reinstall.

Bull.

But if you can confirm this "off the CD", looks like I can play with it again

Wait for it to come out in stores and check the box.

My advice would be to load Linux, forget X for a couple of weeks, and learn how to use it. Then worry about silly things like X Windows.

 

[IcePhoenix]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: IcePhoenix
Thanks for the responses

I like my Ti4400. OCs to 4600 speeds with no work. Is it true that the newest RC of Mandrake (The only distro which I have experience) has support right out of the box

Download it and find out, and let us know.

(or ISO, as the case may be)

Chances are the downloaded versions wont contain the nVidia drivers because of licensing issues. Remember, the nVidia drivers are neither Open Source nor Free (speech).

Now that is what I am looking for. I will check, thank you

I remember having a devil of a time getting the drivers to work. Everytime I would edit the right file, I would have to reinstall.
Bull.

Bull? I asked in this very forum for help over the course of a week. No one could help me. I did exactly what I was told, and no dice. I admit, I really don't know much of what I am doing, but I am learning as I go. I assure you, I was unable to boot into XFree after changing the code. I am sure I could have rectified this without installing, like changing the code back, but it is easier for me at this stage to just reinstall.

But if you can confirm this "off the CD", looks like I can play with it again

Wait for it to come out in stores and check the box.

My advice would be to load Linux, forget X for a couple of weeks, and learn how to use it. Then worry about silly things like X Windows.

Thanks, perhaps I will try that. I like Linux enough to fool around with it. Thanks again.

Edit: I'll take a look at the FAQs you wrote. That I have not done

 

[Nighthawk69]

n0c is correct, you will NOT have full 3d support for any NVidia card in Linux without installing their drivers. Their drivers are not open source and therefore are not included in distro's like RH. Use his How-To, that's what I did and now I can compile the kernel modules from NVidia in about 2 mins.

Good luck.

 

[Dan]

I'm tempted to rant but I'll forgo the polemics.

Would someone please point me in the direction of n0cmonkey's FAQ? A search of the FAQ's using the terms linux and geforce4 yields zero results. A search using the terms linux and nvidia turns up two FAQ's. Unfortunately, neither are by n0cmonkey.

 

[cleverhandle]

The FAQ is in the sticky post at the top of the forum - pg. 3 of the thread.

 

[Dan]

cleverhandle: Thanks!

I found n0cmonkey's thread within the FAQ and printed it. I've got to get to bed now but I'll be all over it tomorrow. (And believe me, if anyone is capable of "idiot-testing it," as n0cmonkey requested, I'm the guy!

 

[Davejj]

Suse v8, after the online update, Nvidia cards work great,


Well worth the money

 

[Dan]

n0cmonkey: I've been playing around with your FAQ for a while this afternoon and you have my compliments. It's straight-forward and the easiest to follow among several that I've found online over the past few days.

However, I did encounter a problem. I'm working with NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-3123.tar.gz and NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-3123.tar.gz. Both untarred and decompressed without any problems. However, when I install the kernel I get a lot of error messages. Most have to do with a "missing binary operator before "<".

I believe the most pertinent one is the error message that says, "This driver does not support 2.6.x or newer kernels."

Any suggestions on what I should do next?


Davejj: When you say

...Nvidida cards work great...

are you including Geforce4 cards in that assessment?

I ask because my Geforce3 worked "great" with Mandrake 8.2. It's only when I upgraded to a Geforce4 that I encountered problems.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Dan
n0cmonkey: I've been playing around with your FAQ for a while this afternoon and you have my compliments. It's straight-forward and the easiest to follow among several that I've found online over the past few days.

However, I did encounter a problem. I'm working with NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-3123.tar.gz and NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-3123.tar.gz. Both untarred and decompressed without any problems. However, when I install the kernel I get a lot of error messages. Most have to do with a "missing binary operator before "<".

I believe the most pertinent one is the error message that says, "This driver does not support 2.6.x or newer kernels."

Any suggestions on what I should do next?


Davejj: When you say

...Nvidida cards work great...

are you including Geforce4 cards in that assessment?

I ask because my Geforce3 worked "great" with Mandrake 8.2. It's only when I upgraded to a Geforce4 that I encountered problems.

What kernel version do you have the source for? (Its tough for me to diagnose these problems without error messages and due to the fact I have never owned or used an nVidia based video card).

 

[Dan]

System: Mandrake Linux 8.2 (Bluebird)
Kernel Version: 2.4.18-6 mdkenterprise
Machine: i686

 

[DaHitman]

For Mandrake:

1) Download these files...

http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86_40/1.0-3123/NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-3123.mdk82up.i586.rpm
http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86_40/1.0-3123/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-3123.i386.rpm


2) cd to the directory where you downloaded them into, and then do a rpm -ivh on each of them to install...

rpm -ivh ./NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-3123.i386.rpm
rpm -ivh ./NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-3123.mdk82up.i586.rpm



3) Edit your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file and

a) replace the line in the Device section that says:

Driver "nv" or Driver "vesa"
with
Driver "nvida"


b) In the Module section verify you have:
Load "glx"


c) Remove the following lines if they exsists:
Load "dri"
Load "GLcore"




Voila your done..restart and you will now have nvidia's drivers with full 3d. You will get a nvidia banner on startup if it worked..

 

[Dan]

Thanks for all the help guys. I'm getting close but no cigar yet.

I installed the rpm's and everything went smoothly. The only difference I see is that I don't have this line in the modules.conf file:

alias char-major-195 NVdriver

Instead, I have:

alias /dev/nvidia* NVdriver

I'm not getting a nvidia banner on startup, so I guess I'm still missing something.

 

[DaHitman]

Did you make those changes to your /etc/X11/XF86config and /etc/X11/XF86config-4 files??


You proably have to reboot to use the new kernel too...


You might want to read NVIDIA's install docs for Linux too:
http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86_40/1.0-3123/NVLinuxR25Notes_3123.pdf

 

[Dan]

I've made -- and double-checked -- all the changes in the /etc/X11/XF86config-4 file. I also downloaded and printed out the pdf file from nvidia.

Nonetheless, I don't see a nvidia splash screen during the boot and I can only get linux to run with settings for an "unlisted" video card and vga16 for the chipset. (If I select "nv" from the list I get an error message: EE: no device detected.

So, I'm still running at 800x600 with an 8-bit color display. :disgust:

 

[IcePhoenix]

Originally posted by: Dan
I've made -- and double-checked -- all the changes in the /etc/X11/XF86config-4 file. I also downloaded and printed out the pdf file from nvidia.

Nonetheless, I don't see a nvidia splash screen during the boot and I can only get linux to run with settings for an "unlisted" video card and vga16 for the chipset. (If I select "nv" from the list I get an error message: EE: no device detected.

So, I'm still running at 800x600 with an 8-bit color display. :disgust:

This was my problem. Never could get used to so many colors