PPC: 7.1: Upgrade to XFree86 4.1.0

Support knowledgebase (olh_ppc_71_xf410)
Applies to

Kernel: Versions since 2.4.7
SuSE Linux PowerPC: Version 7.1

Topics:

The new XFree86 4.1.0 provides a new driver for the ATI Rage128 chipsets. It contains also an updated driver for the Matrox cards.
Furthermore, it provides support for the euro sign.

To install the upgrade follow these steps:

Using DRI with kernel 2.4 and XFree86 4.1.0

The following ATI Rage 128 chips are known as supported with DRI:

The following ATI Rage 128 chips are known as UNsupported with DRI: The DRI app will corrupt the X server and you have to reboot, unless you are able to remote login and kill the application!

To use the direct rendering interface on your PowerMac with Rage128 chip, follow these steps:

Login as a user and not as root. Run the command "id", it gives you a list of group access rights, you should be at least in the group "video".
Use yast to add the user to the group "video" and login again to activate the changes.

run startx

and open a console and run "gears".

Notes about DRI:
The DRI homepage is http://dri.sourceforge.net/

We have seen some hangs and crashes, so be careful.
A B&W G3 crashes with XFree86 4.1.0 when KDE2 is active, it seems to be stable with WindowMaker or twm.
The atlantis demo from the glutdemo.rpm hangs the X server on an iMac, you can kill atlantis via remote login.

Using an ATI Radeon card with Kernel 2.4.7 and XFree86 4.1.0

There is experimental support for the ATI Radeon cards. You need at least kernel 2.4.7 and XFree86 4.1.0.
Download the new kernel:

/mirror/SuSE/ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/kernel/BETA/sleep/
There is a kernel packagekernel-benh-2.4.6-1.ppc.rpm, it contains the kernel /boot/vmlinux-benh. Setup your bootloader to boot that kernel.

Download the new XFree86 4.1.0 and install it, see above.

sax2 can not configure it automatically. run sax2 -a, this will generate a config file /etc/X11/XF86Config. You have to change a few things:

Known Bugs:

There are problems when you switch to a console after the X server has started up (this includes exiting X to a console).
Solution: You may boot into an X login screen if you edit the /etc/inittab file and if you change the default runlevel to 5.

Known problems with XFree86 4.x.x:

Known problems with more than one video card

It is not possible to use more than one card at the same time, Xinerama is not supported on ppc (the framebuffer isn´t able to handle it).

To select one specific card on bootup, specify a kernel argument to turn off a second video card.
Example:
Most Macs have an onboard ATI Mach 64 card or an ATI Rage 128 card. To turn this card off, use video=atyfb:off to turn off a mach64 based graphics card or video=aty128fb:off to turn off a rage 128 based card. This will activate a second graphics card, if the kernel does support this feature.
Look at /proc/fb for active video cards, if it contains a line including "OFfb" something is set incorrect


See also:
o PPC: 7.1: Upgrade to XFree86 4.2.0

Keywords: PPC, POWERPC, IBM, JAPANESE, JAPAN, DRI, XFREE86

Categories: Power PC

SDB-olh_ppc_71_xf410, Copyright SuSE Linux AG, Nürnberg, Germany - Version: 18. Jun 2001
SuSE Linux AG - Last generated: 28. Jan 2002 by olh (sdb_gen 1.40.0)