PPC: 7.1: Upgrade to XFree86 4.2.0

Support knowledgebase (olh_ppc_71_xf420)
Applies to

Kernel: Versions since 2.4.16
SuSE Linux PowerPC: Version 7.1

Topics:

The new XFree86 4.2.0 has support for ATI Rage 128, ATI Radeon and nVidia cards.
Radeon and nVidia is untested and may not work for you.
Matrox cards will not work right now, please stick with XFree86 4.1.0.

To install the new rpm packages follow these steps:

Using DRI with kernel 2.4 and XFree86 4.2.0

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/

Using an ATI Radeon card with Kernel 2.4.16 and XFree86 4.2.0

There is experimental support for the ATI Radeon cards. You need at least kernel 2.4.16 and XFree86 4.2.0.
Download the new kernel:

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ppc/kernel/2.4.16/
There is a kernel packagek_deflt.rpm, it contains the kernel /boot/vmlinux. Setup your bootloader to boot that kernel.

Download the new XFree86 4.2.0 and install it, see above.

sax2 can configure it automatically. run sax2 -m 0=ati, this will generate a config file /etc/X11/XF86Config.

Known problems with XFree86 4.x.x:


See also:
o PPC: 7.1: Upgrade to XFree86 4.1.0

Keywords: PPC, POWERPC, DRI, XFREE86, RADEON, NVIDIA

SDB-olh_ppc_71_xf420, Copyright SuSE Linux AG, Nürnberg, Germany - Version: 28. Jan 2002
SuSE Linux AG - Last generated: 28. Jan 2002 by olh (sdb_gen 1.40.0)