Everyone Knows Linux Sucks... It's Quite Obvious... Linux===the Elvis of operating systems

Linux is FREE...Market Share, less that 1.0 percent as a desktop system.

Vendors that could make extra profit by not having to install, and pay for Microsoft Products....... Yet they still install those Microsoft Products..... Why? Demand that is why................

Linux has ZERO market demand........

As a desktop system, Linux is deader than Elvis.

We all know the above is true, so now we have to focus on WHY it is true.

1. Linux offers nothing over Windows other than cost and if a person has already in effect paid for all the great software that came on their pre-loaded Windows system, there is no need to move to buggy Linux software.

2. Linux sucks....Video? Better have a supported Nvidia card and even then you won't get full use out of it like shading which is a moot point with Windows. That is buttuming you can figure out how to even install the Nvidia drivers.

Here is what you have to do to install Nvidia drivers under Linux::

NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set README and Installation Guide

NVIDIA Corporation Last Updated: 2005-06-17 Most Recent Driver Version: 1.0-7667

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

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 buttumed 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 buttociated 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

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

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 change to the directory containing the downloaded file, and as 'root' user run the executable:

# cd yourdirectory

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

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 (buttuming 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 (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"

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 buttociated 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:

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:

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 "NVregDeviceFileUID" (user), "NVregDeviceFileGID" (group) and "NVregDeviceFileMode" 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 pbutting the following module parameters to the NVIDIA Linux kernel module:

NVregDeviceFileUID=0 NVregDeviceFileGID=44 NVregDeviceFileMode=0660

The "NVregModifyDeviceFiles" 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:

--kernel-name='KERNELNAME'

Where 'KERNELNAME' 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:

# 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 'FTPPROXY', 'SNARFPROXY', 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.

see that Linux driver download page. Should I download and install

A. This is not necessary. The driver contained within all 1.0-7667 '.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 pbutt the --no-opengl-headers installation.

Q. Can I receive email notification of new NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set releases?

A. Yes. Fill out the form at:

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:

The 'pmap' utility described in the above thread is available here: 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-XFree8640

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 'LDbuttUMEKERNEL' 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 'LDbuttUMEKERNEL' environment variable can be used to override the kernel version that the run-time loader uses in this test.

By setting 'LDbuttUMEKERNEL' 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 pbutting 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:

which will update the X configuration file, and

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 EXTframebufferobject OpenGL extension supported?

A. EXTframebufferobject is supported on GeForce FX, Quadro FX, and newer GPUs.

Chapter 5. Common Problems

This section provides solutions to common problems buttociated 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 --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 GLSINGLETHREADED to 1. For more information please consult the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS section in

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 'GLSINGLETHREADED' to "1" will prevent the crash. In the bash shell you would enter:

% export GLSINGLETHREADED=1

and in csh and derivatives use:

% setenv GLSINGLETHREADED 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 'GLSINGLETHREADED' 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:

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 IGNORECCMISMATCH.

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. * typedef struct { } rwlockt; #define RWLOCKUNLOCKED (rwlockt) { } #else typedef struct { int gccisbuggy; } rwlockt; #define RWLOCKUNLOCKED (rwlockt) { 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 rwlockt 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:

% catproc-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:

# cdlib-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 buttistance.

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: QGLInit: 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 #8968 plus 12: https:--bugzilla.redhat.com-bugzilla-showbug.cgi?id=8968 plus 12

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 'CONFIGSYSVIPC' 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 vidref glx +set gldriver 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 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: 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 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

The XFree86 Project

XFree86 Video Timings HOWTO

The X.org Foundation

OpenGL

Chapter 8. Tips for New Linux Users

This installation guide buttumes 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 buttist 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:

% cdusr-local

or

% cd ..-..-usr-local

FILE PERMISSIONS AND OWNERSHIP

All files and directories have permissions and ownership buttociated 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 pbutting 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 -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 buttociated with the element, the third field indicates the owner, the fourth field indicates the group that the file is buttociated 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 buttociated with the element, and the third grouping indicating the permissions buttociated with the rest of the world. The 'r', 'w', and 'x' indicate read, write and execute permissions, respectively, for each of these buttociations. 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 buttociated 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 buttociated 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

in the Borne shell, and

% setenv PATHusr-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 subsbreastute 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:

# cpetc-inittabetc-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 'lokiupdate' tool:

The ftp and http support in 'nvidia-installer' is based upon 'snarf 7.0' :

The self-extracting archive (aka '.run' file) is generated using 'makeself.sh'

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 `lslib-libc.so.*

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

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

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-nvidiadrv.o); this driver is needed by the X server to use your NVIDIA hardware. The nvidiadrv.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.

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 these files not be included inusr-include-GLby pbutting 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-nvidiadrv.o

usr-X11R6-lib-modules-extensions-libglx.so.x.y.z

usr-lib-libGL.so.x.y.z

usr-lib-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 "love" 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 applicationusr-X11R6-bin-gears is using the NVIDIA libraries, run:

% lddusr-X11R6-bin-gears

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 'LDLIBRARYPATH' 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 SERVEROVERLAYVISUALS 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 buttumes 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 glbuttes being used:

Value Equipment ----------------------------- ----------------------------- 1 DDC glbuttes. The sync signal is sent to the glbuttes via the DDC signal to the monitor. These usually involve a pbuttthrough cable between the monitor and video card. 2 "Blueline" glbuttes. These usually involve a pbuttthrough cable between the monitor and video card. The glbuttes 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 glbuttes connect via a DIN connector on the back of the video card. 4 TwinView clone mode stereo (aka "pbuttive" 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 glbuttes. 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 ("pbuttive" 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 bypbuttes 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 clbuttes 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 bypbutt 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 buttume 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 GLFSAAMODE 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 GLFSAAMODE and their effect on various NVIDIA GPUs.

GLFSAAMODE 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

GLFSAAMODE 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

GLFSAAMODE 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

GLFSAAMODE GeForce FX, GeForce 6love, GeForce 7love, 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 GLLOGMAXANISO. The possible values are:

GLLOGMAXANISO 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 GLSYNCTOVBLANK 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 GLSYNCTOVBLANK 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 GLSYNCDISPLAYDEVICE 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 GLFORCEGENERICCPU 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 theproc 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 82C68 plus 14X 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:

Then edit os-registry.c, and make the following changes:

- static int NVregReqAGPRate = 7; + static int NVregReqAGPRate = 4; * force AGP Rate to 4x *

or

+ static int NVregReqAGPRate = 2; * force AGP Rate to 2x *

or

+ static int NVregReqAGPRate = 1; * force AGP Rate to 1x *

and enable the "ReqAGPRate" parameter:

- { NULL, "ReqAGPRate", &NVregReqAGPRate, 0 }, + { NULL, "ReqAGPRate", &NVregReqAGPRate, 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 (wa 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 NVregEnableALiAGP to 1. Note that this may cause the system to become unstable.

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"

You must also specify either:

or:

You may also use any of the following options, though they are not required:

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:

A device 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 buttumed 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:

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 t