I didn't understand 95% of what was on David Dawes page, but you (& others) have helped me a lot in that respect.
> >Where did you get it? Compile from source or a binary package from > >somewhere? Did you get the DRI module, too? > > The 2.4.20 kernel I got from Linux.org - compiled from source with gcc 3.2kernel.org?
Yep, I got the kernel at kernel.org (my bad).
This is what caused me to go after the 2.4.20 kernel. Just got it in earlier this week. Now it seems simple.> Did I get the DRI module? How would I know? What should it have been > in. I didn't download anything specific. From http://www.xfree86.org/~dawes/845driver.html : In addition to building/installing XFree86 CVS code, a recent 2.4.x kernel is needed. 2.4.19 or later is recommended.
I first tried to install the XFree86 via the cvs. Got things all tied in a knot and re-installed. Later found binaries. I am worried about them because they are for gcc 2.something and I've got gcc 3.2 and figure they may be a portion of my problem. Mebe not, but with the way things have been going, I'm gunshy. Anyway I tried to compile it and got an error on missing png.h. I am working through that now.
If you want to use the DRINow I know what you meant. Yep I had tried it, but didn't have the right kernel. Then I lost the cvs tree when I had to re-install (I now have a otherwise unused vfat partition that linux install won't mess with that I store stuff on with samba). So, no I haven't gotten there yet. But close. I will be trying that once I have XFree86 recompiled (in progress). Possibly after a kernel rebuild to change some options.
support, an updated i830 DRM module is also required, and it is best to
build one from either the XFree86 or DRI source tree. To do this you will
also need your kernel source installed. Here is an example of how to
build and load the new i830 DRM module:
# cd xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/os-support/linux/drm/kernel
# make -f Makefile.linux i830.o
# modprobe agpgart
# rmmod i830
# insmod i830.o Here is an example of how to install the new i830 DRM module so that
it will be loaded automatically when needed:
# mv /lib/module/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/char/drm/i830.o \
/lib/module/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/char/drm/i830.o.save
# cp i830.o /lib/module/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/char/drm
[end]
I look into my .config file and I find CONFIG_FB_VESA=y so I guess that means I already have it.> >About the weird blanking when switching between virtual consoles > >(Ctrl-Alt-Fn), have you tried the vesafb ? (easier to do if you compile > >the kernel from source, I think) > > what is vesafb? Is this a driver? What would I do to try it out? in the kernel source tree: make menuconfig and find the right option. Then make dep bzImage modules followed by make install modules_install as root -- just your standard kernel compile. The vesafb is another way of handling the "text-mode" console. It actually doesn't have to run in text mode, even for text output. vesafb keeps the video card in graphics mode all the time. It was suggested in Dawes' document:
I've had a report that (on Linux) if you use the vesafb console instead of the default text-mode console, the VT switching problem can be avoided. As Calum Mackay suggested, this is a good workaround if you're being bitten by this problem (and if the "9 December" update doesn't fix it)."
Is there something to turn on/off?
Will change to y. Can I change any of the below to n? Clearly I can't make the 830=y because I have to replace it with the XFree86 version. I think I need the 810 stuff, but what about the other stuff?> I have the following AGP/DRM > CONFIG_AGP=m Load the module before you start X or change to y and recompile. It might work.
Is this stuff likely to make it into a kernel.org kernel sometime in the not to distant future? (Not that I'm going to wait).> CONFIG_AGP_INTEL=y > CONFIG_AGP_I810=y > CONFIG_AGP_VIA=y > CONFIG_AGP_AMD=y > # CONFIG_AGP_AMD_8151 is not set > CONFIG_AGP_SIS=y > CONFIG_AGP_ALI=y > CONFIG_AGPSWORKS=y > CONFIG_DRM=y > # CONFIG_DRM_OLD is not set > > # > # DRM 4.1 drivers > # > CONFIG_DRM_NEW=y > CONFIG_DRM_TDFX=m > CONFIG_DRM_R128=m > CONFIG_DRM_RADEON=m > CONFIG_DRM_I810=m > # CONFIG_DRM_I810_XFREE_41 is not set > CONFIG_DRM_I830=m Looks as if you build the right type of module with the kernel, but Dawes writes that you need the module from the DRI or XFree86 source instead of from the kernel source.
From another note:
>or rather: doesn't /quite/ answer it. The support.html has a link to
>Dawes' page that explains how to make the 4.2.99 snapshot work but it's
>not easy to do (witness the problems Greg Julius are having).
The the first of the big problems was that RH 8 comes with gcc 3.2 and the kernel doesn't reliably compile under that version (yet). I was bombing on CONFIG_SCSI_SIM710=m . I removed that (I don't need it) and then the kernel builds started working. It's been stable. Rawhide has a source rpm, but you kinda have to know what your are doing, and even that one has problems with the CONFIG_SCSI_SIM710 code. No binary rpm for it yet. Because they had the same issues, I elected the kernel.org source.
To find David's page I googled around, came through the intel site and found it. There are a lot of us newbies out there with newish sort of hardware and the XFree86 site is hard to use. The search feature needs to be more visible. It took me a long time to find it under the support link. The documentation I have found is really old feeling - I wasn't sure I was dealing with the right stuff and it referred me to a bunch of other things, none of which gave me a warm fuzzy.
It might help if they made the i830.o DRM module in a few flavors that people could download. This may not be possible as a .o, but surely there is something less formidable than extracting the whole cvs branch (took all day on my DSL link) just to get a useable i830.o module.
Thanks for the help so far.
-g
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