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NVIDIA Accelerated SunOS Driver Set README and Installation Guide
NVIDIA Corporation
Last Updated: 2005/11/10
Most Recent Driver Version: 1.0-8178
______________________________________________________________________________
Preface
______________________________________________________________________________
The NVIDIA Accelerated SunOS Driver Set brings accelerated 2D functionality
and high-performance OpenGL support to SunOS 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 SunOS Driver Set. Answers to frequently asked questions and
problem diagnoses for common issues are also provided.
______________________________________________________________________________
Introduction
______________________________________________________________________________
This document provides instructions for the installation and use of the NVIDIA
Accelerated SunOS Driver Set. Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 walk the user through
the process of installing and configuring the driver. Chapter 3 addresses
frequently asked questions about the installation process, and Chapter 4
provides solutions to common problems.
In case additional information is required, Chapter 5 provides contact
information for NVIDIA SunOS driver resources, and Chapter 6 provides a brief
listing of external resources.
It is assumed that the user has at least a basic understanding of SunOS
techniques and terminology. However, Chapter 7 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 associated with the driver, setup details for specific
configurations, and advanced topics and features.
CONTENTS:
Preface
Introduction
I. Installation Instructions
1. Installing the NVIDIA Driver
2. Configuring X for the NVIDIA Driver
II. Additional Information
3. Frequently Asked Questions
4. Common Problems
5. Contact Info
6. Additional Resources
7. Tips for New SunOS Users
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. Swapping boards
M. Known Issues
N. GLX Support
O. Configuring Multiple X Screens on One Card
P. Display Device Names
Q. The X Composite Extension
R. The nvidia-settings Utility
S. Support for GLX in Xinerama
T. The XRandR Extension
U. SLI FrameRendering
V. Framelock and Genlock
W. Dots Per Inch
______________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 1. 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 2.
1. The file 'NVIDIA-Solaris-x86-1.0-8178.run' is a self extractable package
that needs to be installed by the super-user. Become root by running the
'su' command and entering the super-user password.
2. Execute the package file to install the packages that comprise the NVIDIA
Solaris Driver Set:
# sh NVIDIA-Solaris-x86-1.0-8178.run
3. Reboot:
# reboot -- -r
The -r option causes a reconfiguration boot.
______________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 2. 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.
The NVIDIA Driver includes a utility called nvidia-xconfig, which is designed
to make editing the X configuration file easy. You can also edit it by hand.
The Solaris distribution for x86 comes with two X servers: Xsun and X.org.
Xsun is the proprietary X server developed by Sun Microsystems. The X.org X
server is released by the X.org Foundation. The NVIDIA Accelerated SunOS
Driver is enabled with the X.org X server.
o The installation process puts a sample X.org configuration file in
'/etc/X11/xorg.conf.nvidia'.
o An X.org getconfig rules file, '/usr/X11/lib/X11/getconfig/nvda.cfg', is
also installed. This configuration file will automatically choose the
NVIDIA X driver if the console device has the NVIDIA kernel driver bound
to it and no Xorg configuration file is found.
o The X.org configuration file is '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'. This document
refers to this file as "the X config file".
o The X.org log file is '/var/log/Xorg.#.log' (where '#' is the server
number -- usually 0) This document refers to this file as "the X log
file".
In order for any changes to be read into the X server, you must edit the
configuration file used by the server. 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:
o Using nvidia-xconfig to configure the X server: nvidia-xconfig will find
the X configuration file and modify it to use the NVIDIA X driver.
nvidia-xconfig will make a backup copy of your configuration file before
modifying it.
o A sample config file is included with the NVIDIA driver package (at
'/usr/share/doc/NVIDIA/xorg.conf.nvidia').
o Tools for generating a config file (such as 'xorgconfig') are included in
the Solaris distributions.
o Additional information on the X config syntax can be found in the
xorgconfig manual page (`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"
Remove the following lines:
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 4 for common problem diagnoses.
______________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 3. Frequently Asked Questions
______________________________________________________________________________
This section provides answers to frequently asked questions associated with
the NVIDIA SunOS x86 Driver and its installation. Common problem diagnoses can
be found in Chapter 4 and tips for new users can be found in Chapter 7. Also,
detailed information for specific setups is provided in the Appendices.
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. 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.
The 'pmap' utility is available in the directory /usr/proc/bin, and is a
useful tool in distinguishing between types of memory mappings. For
example, while 'prstat' may indicate that X is using several hundred MB of
memory, the last line of output from pmap -x:
total Kb 337904 335884 53320 -
reveals that X is really only using roughly 53MB of system RAM (the "anon"
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. How do I uninstall the NVIDIA Solaris Graphics driver ?
A. Two Solaris packages comprise the NVIDIA Solaris Graphics driver files.
Both Solaris packages NVDAgraphicsr and NVDAgraphics need to be
uninstalled. Remove the package NVDAgraphicsr first, then the package
NVDAgraphics:
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 SunOS 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 EXT_framebuffer_object OpenGL extension
supported?
A. EXT_framebuffer_object is supported on GeForce FX, Quadro FX, and newer
GPUs.
______________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 4. Common Problems
______________________________________________________________________________
This section provides solutions to common problems associated with the NVIDIA
SunOS x86 Driver.
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)).
Q. X starts for me, but OpenGL applications terminate immediately.
A. If X starts but you have trouble with OpenGL, you most likely have a
problem with other libraries in the way, or there are stale symlinks. See
Appendix C for details.
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 2). 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. When Xinerama is enabled, my stereo glasses are shuttering only when the
stereo application is displayed on one specific X screen. When the
application is displayed on the other X screens, the stereo glasses stop
shuttering.
A. This problem occurs with DDC and "blue line" stereo glasses, that get the
stereo signal from one video port of the graphics card. When a X screen
does not display any stereo drawable the stereo signal is disabled on the
associated video port.
Forcing stereo flipping allows the stereo glasses to shutter continuously.
This can be done by enabling the OpenGL control "Force Stereo Flipping" in
nvidia-settings, or by setting the X configuration option
"ForceStereoFlipping" to "1".
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 or the device files aren't present. If you receive this
error, you should check the output of `dmesg` for kernel error messages.
If `modinfo` reports that the "nvidia" kernel module is loaded, the device
files ('/dev/nvidiactl', '/dev/nvidia0..7', '/dev/fbs/nvidia0..7') may be
missing.
Q. CDE and JDS do not start when TwinView is enabled.
A. When in TwinView, the NVIDIA X driver normally provides a Xinerama
extension that X clients (such as window managers) can use to to discover
the current TwinView configuration. Some window mangers can get confused by
this information. Use the following option in the "device" section of the
Xorg configuration file to disable this behavior:
Option "NoTwinViewXineramaInfo" "1"
Q. When running multiple OpenGL applications concurrently, some appear to
stall.
A. Changing the default process scheduling class to the real-time class may
help concurrent OpenGL applications render smoothly.
To select real-time as the default scheduling class, run 'dispadmin -d RT'
as 'root' and reboot. To restore the scheduling class to the system
defaults just remove the file '/etc/dispadmin.conf'.
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 vid_ref glx +set gl_driver 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 incorrect DPI (Dots Per
Inch) information. 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 these numbers are wrong, you can correct them by modifying the X
server's DPI setting. See Appendix W for details.
Q. General problems with ALi chipsets
A. There are some known timing and signal integrity issues on ALi chipsets.
The following tips may help stabilize problematic ALI systems:
o Disable TURBO AGP MODE in the BIOS.
o When using a P5A upgrade to BIOS Revision 1002 BETA 2.
o When using 1007, 1007A or 1009 adjust the IO Recovery Time to 4
cycles.
o AGP is disabled by default on some ALi chipsets (ALi1541, ALi1647) to
work around severe system stability problems with these chipsets. See
the comments for NVreg_EnableALiAGP in 'os-registry.c' to force AGP
on anyway.
______________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 5. Contact Info
______________________________________________________________________________
There is an NVIDIA Solaris Driver web forum. You can access it by going to
http://www.nvnews.net
and following the "Forum" and "Solaris Discussion 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 Sun Microsystems for support at
http://sunsolve.sun.com
, or your local service provider.
______________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 6. Additional Resources
______________________________________________________________________________
Resources
SunSolve
http://sunsolve.sun.com/
XFree86 Video Timings HOWTO
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO/index.html
The X.org Foundation
http://www.x.org/
OpenGL
http://www.opengl.org/
______________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 7. Tips for New SunOS Users
______________________________________________________________________________
This installation guide assumes that the user has at least a basic
understanding of SunOS 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 assist users in installing and configuring the NVIDIA SunOS
Driver, it is by no means a tutorial on the use or administration of the SunOS
operating system. Unlike many desktop operating systems, it is relatively easy
to cause irreparable damage to your SunOS system. If you are unfamiliar with
the use of SunOS, we strongly recommend that you seek a tutorial through your
distributor before proceeding.
THE COMMAND PROMPT
While newer releases of SunOS bring new desktop interfaces to the user, much
of the work in SunOS takes place at the command prompt. If you are familiar
with the Windows operating system, the SunOS command prompt is analogous to
the Windows[1] 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 the X
window system, 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
SunOS 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 separated with the "/" character. As an example, if the current directory
is '/home/jesse' and the user wants to change to the '/usr/local' directory,
he can use either of the following commands to do so:
% cd /usr/local
or
% cd ../../usr/local
FILE PERMISSIONS AND OWNERSHIP
All files and directories have permissions and ownership associated 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 passing 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
-rwx------ 1 jesse users 93 Feb 5 06:20 myprogram
-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 columns
specify the permissions (see below) of the element. The second field indicates
the number of files associated with the element, the third field indicates the
owner, the fourth field indicates the group that the file is associated 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 columns 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 associated
with the element, and the third grouping indicating the permissions associated
with the rest of the world. The 'r', 'w', and 'x' indicate read, write and
execute permissions, respectively, for each of these associations. 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 associated 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 used on SunOS stem from
the Bourne 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' environment
variable 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 preceding 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 whoever 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 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
Every session has associated 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 an 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 set differently depending on the shell
being used. For the Bourne 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
% export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH:.
in the Bourne shell, and
% setenv PATH /usr/local/bin:${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 SunOS operating system. Some
of these editors require the X window 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 text 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. If you don't have 'pico', you may have a similar editor called
'nano'. '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 SunOS 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 privileged user) can do, one of which is installing the
NVIDIA SunOS Driver. WE MUST EMPHASIZE THAT ASSUMING THE IDENTITY OF 'root' IS
INHERENTLY RISKY AND AS 'root' IT IS RELATIVELY EASY TO CORRUPT YOUR SYSTEM OR
OTHERWISE RENDER IT UNUSABLE. There are three ways to become 'root'. You may
log in as 'root' as you would any other user, you may use the switch user
command ('su') at the command prompt, or, on some systems, use 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' privileges
(another useful feature of the 'sudo' utility).
STOPPING THE X SERVER
It is good practice to install the NVIDIA SunOS Driver while X is not running.
To exit X Windows, logout and select the option "Command Line Login" at the
login screen. This will stop the X server and start a text session. After this
text session exits, the X server and the the graphical login screen are
automatically restarted.
SUNOS MANUAL AND INFO PAGES
System manual or info pages are usually installed during installation. 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 programs
include the --help option, which usually prints a list of common options for
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. Depending on the application, one
or the other may be 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 you are interested in, you may need to add additional elements to your
'MANPATH' environment variable. Please see the section on environment
variables.
- FOOTNOTES -
[1] Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United
States and other countries.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix A. Supported NVIDIA Graphics Chips
______________________________________________________________________________
NVIDIA chip name Device PCI ID
---------------------------------- ----------------------------------
Quadro FX 4000 0x004E
Quadro FX 3450 0x00CD
Quadro FX 1400 0x00CE
Quadro FX 4500 0x009D
Quadro FX 3400/4400 0x00F8
Quadro FX 330 0x00FC
Quadro NVS 280 PCI-E/Quadro FX 330 0x00FD
Quadro FX 1300 0x00FE
Quadro FX 540 0x014E
Quadro NVS 285 0x0165
Quadro NVS 0x017A
Quadro NVS with AGP8X 0x018A
Quadro FX 2000 0x0308
Quadro FX 1000 0x0309
Quadro NVS 280 PCI 0x032A
Quadro FX 500/600 PCI 0x032B
Quadro FX 3000 0x0338
Quadro FX 700 0x033F
Quadro FX Go1000 0x034C
Quadro FX 1100 0x034E
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix B. Minimum Software Requirements
______________________________________________________________________________
The offical minimum software requirement for the NVIDIA Solaris Driver Set is:
- Solaris 10 on x64/x86
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix C. Installed Components
______________________________________________________________________________
The NVIDIA Accelerated SunOS Driver Set consists of the following components:
o 64-bit libraries:
- /usr/X11/lib/NVIDIA/amd64/libGL.so.1
- /usr/X11/lib/NVIDIA/amd64/libGL.so -> libGL.so.1
- /usr/X11/lib/NVIDIA/amd64/libnvidia-tls.so.1
- /usr/X11/lib/NVIDIA/amd64/libnvidia-tls.so -> libnvidia-tls.so.1
- /usr/X11/lib/NVIDIA/amd64/libGLcore.so.1
Symbolic links installed under /usr/lib/amd64 point to the above files
o 32-bit libraries:
- /usr/X11/lib/NVIDIA/libGL.so.1
- /usr/X11/lib/NVIDIA/libGL.so -> libGL.so.
- /usr/X11/lib/NVIDIA/libnvidia-tls.so.1
- /usr/X11/lib/NVIDIA/libnvidia-tls.so -> libnvidia-tls.so
- /usr/X11/lib/NVIDIA/libGLcore.so.1
Symbolic links installed under /usr/lib point to the above files
o X module and extension:
- /usr/X11/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.so
- /usr/X11/lib/modules/drivers/libglx.so
- /usr/X11/lib/modules/drivers/libglx.so.1
o Device files:
- /dev/nvidia0 -> /dev/fbs/nvidia0
- /dev/fbs/nvidia0
- /dev/nvidiactl ->
[email=../devices/pseudo/nvidia@255:nvidiactl]../devices/pseudo/nvidia@255:nvidiactl[/email]
o Kernel driver:
- nvidia /kernel/drv/amd64
- nvidia /kernel/drv/nvidia
- nvidia.conf /kernel/drv/nvidia
o Header files:
- gl.h /usr/include/NVIDIA
- glext.h /usr/include/NVIDIA
- glx.h /usr/include/NVIDIA
- glxext.h /usr/include/NVIDIA
Symbolic links installed under /usr/include point to the above files
o Documentations:
- README.txt /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA
______________________________________________________________________________
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 and
loaded into your kernel. Please see Appendix F for details. Default: 3.
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. 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 the Unified Back Buffer on Quadro-based GPUs (Quadro4
NVS excluded); please see Appendix K for a description of UBB. This option
has no effect 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 products by default use a 10-bit color look-up table (LUT);
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 SERVER_OVERLAY_VISUALS 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. Quadros 500 and 550 XGL have
additional restrictions, namely, overlays are not supported in TwinView
mode or with virtual desktops wider than 2046 pixels or taller than 2047.
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.
UBB must be enabled when overlays are enabled (this is the default
behavior).
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.
UBB must be enabled when overlays are enabled (this is the default
behavior).
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, and emulated overlays will be used
instead at a substantial performance penalty. See Appendix T for details.
Default: off.
Option "Rotate" "string"
Enable static rotation support. Unlike the RandRRotation option above,
this option takes effect as soon as the X server is started and will work
with older versions of X. This feature is supported on GeForce2 or better
hardware using depth 24. This feature does not work with hardware
overlays, and emulated overlays will be used instead at a substantial
performance penalty. This option is not compatible with the RandR
extension. Valid rotations are "normal", "left", "inverted", and "right".
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: off (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. Default: off (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 assumes 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 digital flat panels
connected via a DVI port.
Default: string is NULL (the NVIDIA driver will detect the connected
display devices).
Option "UseEdidFreqs" "boolean"
This option controls whether the NVIDIA X driver will use the HorizSync
and VertRefresh ranges given in a display device's EDID, if any. When
UseEdidFreqs is set to True, 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 of your X config
file. These frequency ranges are used when validating modes for your
display device.
Default: True (EDID frequencies will be used)
Option "IgnoreEDID" "boolean"
Disable probing of EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) from your
monitor. Requested modes are compared against values gotten from your
monitor EDID (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: false (use
EDID).
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, its value is '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:
off (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:
false (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 equipment being used:
Value Equipment
-------------- ---------------------------------------------------
1 DDC glasses. The sync signal is sent to the
glasses via the DDC signal to the monitor. These
usually involve a passthrough cable between the
monitor and video card.
2 "Blueline" glasses. These usually involve a
passthrough cable between the monitor and video
card. The glasses 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 glasses connect via a
DIN connector on the back of the video card.
4 TwinView clone mode stereo (aka "passive" 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 conjunction with special
projectors to produce 2 polarized images which are
then viewed with polarized glasses. 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.
5 Vertical interlaced stereo mode, for use with
SeeReal Stereo Digital Flat Panels.
6 Color interleaved stereo mode, for use with
Sharp3D Stereo Digital Flat Panels.
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
("passive" 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: 0 (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 bypasses this check.
Option "ForceStereoFlipping" "boolean"
Stereo flipping is the process by which left and right eyes are displayed
on alternating vertical refreshes. Normally, stereo flipping is only
performed when a stereo drawable is visible. This option forces stereo
flipping even when no stereo drawables are visible.
This is to be used in conjunction with the "Stereo" option. If "Stereo" is
0, the "ForceStereoFlipping" option has no effect. If otherwise, the
"ForceStereoFlipping" option will force the behavior indicated by the
"Stereo" option, even if no stereo drawables are visible. This option is
useful in a multiple-screen environment in which a stereo application is
run on a different screen than the stereo master.
Possible values:
Value Behavior
-------------- ---------------------------------------------------
0 Stereo flipping is not forced. The default
behavior as indicated by the "Stereo" option is
used.
1 Stereo flipping is forced. Stereo is running even
if no stereo drawables are visible. The stereo
mode depends on the value of the "Stereo" option.
Default: 0 (Stereo flipping is not forced). Note that active stereo is not
supported on digital flat panels.
Option "XineramaStereoFlipping" "boolean"
By default, when using Stereo with Xinerama, all physical X screens having
a visible stereo drawable will stereo flip. Use this option to allow only
one physical X screen to stereo flip at a time.
This is to be used in conjunction with the "Stereo" and "Xinerama"
options. If "Stereo" is 0 or "Xinerama" is 0, the "XineramaStereoFlipping"
option has no effect.
If you wish to have all X screens stereo flip all the time, please see the
"ForceStereoFlipping" option.
Possible values:
Value Behavior
-------------- ---------------------------------------------------
0 Stereo flipping is enabled on one X screen at a
time. Stereo is enabled on the first X screen
having the stereo drawable.
1 Stereo flipping in enabled on all X screens.
Default: 1 (Stereo flipping is enabled on all X screens).
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: false (the memory bandwidth test is performed).
Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "string"
This option tells the NVIDIA kernel module to completely ignore the
indicated classes 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 digital flat
panels 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 digital flat panels
connected via a DVI port.
Option "MultisampleCompatibility" "boolean"
Enable or disable the use of separate front and back multisample buffers.
Enabling 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: false (a single multisample 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 bypass this test.
Default: false (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: false (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: false (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: false (for DVI devices, the X server initializes
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. Default 0 (support is disabled).
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 assume all
responsibility in connection therewith.
Option "SLI" "string"
This option controls the configuration of SLI rendering in supported
configurations.
Value Behavior
-------------------------------- --------------------------------
0, no, off, false, Single Use only a single GPU when
rendering
1, yes, on, true, Auto Enable SLI and allow the driver
to automatically select the
appropriate rendering mode.
AFR Enable SLI and use the alternate
frame rendering mode.
SFR Enable SLI and use the split
frame rendering mode.
SLIAA Enable SLI and use SLI
antialiasing. Use this in
conjunction with full scene
antialiasing to improve visual
quality.
Option "DPI" "string"
This option specifies the Dots Per Inch for the X screen; for example:
Option "DPI" "75 x 85"
will set the horizontal DPI to 75 and the vertical DPI to 85. By default,
the X driver will compute the DPI of the X screen from the EDID of any
connected display devices. See Appendix W for details. Default: string is
NULL (disabled).
Option "UseEdidDpi" "string"
By default, the NVIDIA X driver computes the DPI of an X screen based on
the physical size of the display device, as reported in the EDID. If
multiple display devices are used by the X screen, then the NVIDIA X
screen will choose which display device to use. This option can be used to
specify which display device to use. The string argument can be a display
device name, such as:
Option "UseEdidDpi" "DFP-0"
or the argument can be "FALSE" to disable use of EDID-based DPI
calculations:
Option "UseEdidDpi" "FALSE"
See Appendix W for details. Default: string is NULL (the driver computes
the DPI from the EDID of a display device and selects the display device).
Option "LoadKernelModule" "boolean"
Normally, the NVIDIA SunOS X driver module will attempt to load the NVIDIA
SunOS kernel module. Set this option to "off" to disable automatic loading
of the NVIDIA kernel module by the NVIDIA X driver. Default: on (the
driver loads the kernel module).
______________________________________________________________________________
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 antialiasing methods are available and you can select between them by
setting the __GL_FSAA_MODE 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 __GL_FSAA_MODE and the
effects that they have on various NVIDIA GPUs.
__GL_FSAA_MODE 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
__GL_FSAA_MODE 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
__GL_FSAA_MODE 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
__GL_FSAA_MODE GeForce FX, GeForce 6xxx, GeForce 7xxx, 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)
ANISOTROPIC TEXTURE FILTERING
Automatic anisotropic texture filtering can be enabled by setting the
environment variable __GL_LOG_MAX_ANISO. The possible values are:
__GL_LOG_MAX_ANISO 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 SYNCING
Setting the environment variable __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK to a non-zero value will
force glXSwapBuffers to sync to your monitor's vertical refresh (perform a
swap only during the vertical blanking period).
When using __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK 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
__GL_SYNC_DISPLAY_DEVICE 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. You may also find it useful to review Appendix G (Configuring
Twinview) and the section on Ensuring Identical Mode Timings in Appendix J.
DISABLING CPU-SPECIFIC FEATURES
Setting the environment variable __GL_FORCE_GENERIC_CPU 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
______________________________________________________________________________
You can disable NVIDIA's AGP module (NVAGP) through the "NvAGP" option in your
X config file. This same option is used with Linux and Solaris. Its effect for
Solaris is as follows:
Option "NvAgp" "0" ... disables AGP support
Option "NvAgp" "1" ... use NVAGP, if possible
Option "NvAgp" "2" ... disables AGP support
Option "NvAGP" "3" ... use NVAGP, if possible
The default is 3.
If you are experiencing problems with stability, you may want to start by
disabling AGP and observing if that solves the problems.
The following AGP chipsets are supported by NVIDIA's AGP driver; 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 830M
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 82C694X
VIA KT133
VIA KT266
VIA KT400
VIA P4M266
VIA P4M266A
VIA P4X400
VIA K8T800
VIA K8N800
VIA PT880
VIA KT880
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 651
SiS 655
SiS 655FX
SiS 661
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
AGP drive strength BIOS setting (Via-based motherboards)
Many Via-based motherboards 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 results 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 (w/ a PCI graphics card or by resetting the BIOS to its default
values).
System BIOS version
Make sure you have the latest system BIOS provided by the motherboard
manufacturer.
On ALi1541 and ALi1647 chipsets, NVIDIA drivers disable AGP to work around
timing and signal integrity problems. You can force AGP to be enabled on
these chipsets by setting NVreg_EnableALiAGP to 1. Note that this may
cause the system to become unstable.
Early system BIOS revisions for the ASUS A7V8X-X KT400 motherboard
misconfigure the chipset when an AGP 2.x graphics card is installed; if X
hangs on your ASUS KT400 system with NvAGP enabled and the installed
graphics card is not an AGP 8x device, make sure that you have the latest
system BIOS 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):
o 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.
o Both display devices share one frame buffer. Thus, all the the
functionality present on a single display (e.g. accelerated OpenGL) is
available with TwinView.
o 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 O.
X CONFIG TWINVIEW OPTIONS
To enable TwinView, you must specify the following options in the Device
section of your X Config file:
Option "TwinView"
Option "MetaModes" ""
You must also specify either:
Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" ""
Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" ""
or:
Option "HorizSync" ""
Option "VertRefresh" ""
You may also use any of the following options, though they are not required:
Option "TwinViewOrientation" ""
Option "ConnectedMonitor" ""
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.
These options are normally not needed: by default, the NVIDIA X driver
retrieves the valid frequency ranges from the display device's EDID (see
Appendix D for a description of the "UseEdidFreqs" option). The
SecondMonitor options will override any frequency ranges retrieved from
the EDID.
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 P on Display Device Names for more information.
These options are normally not needed: by default, the NVIDIA X driver
retrieves the valid frequency ranges from the display device's EDID (see
Appendix D for a description of the "UseEdidFreqs" option). The
"HorizSync" and "VertRefresh" options override any frequency ranges
retrieved from the EDID or any frequency ranges specified with the
"SecondMonitorHorizSync" and "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" options.
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:
", ; , "
Where is the name of the mode to be used on display device 0
concurrently with used on display device 1. A mode switch
will then cause to be used on display device 0 and to be used on display device 1. Here is a real 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 assumed 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; e.g.:
"1024x768 @1600x1200, 800x600 @1600x1200"
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 to
display devices with different resolutions. For example:
"1600x1200, 1024x768"
produces an inaccessible region below the 1024x768 display. Specifying a
panning domain for the second display device:
"1600x1200, 1024x768 @1024x1200"
provides access to that dead area by allowing you to pan the 1024x768
viewport up and down in the 1024x1200 panning domain.
Offsets can be used in conjunction with panning domains to position the
panning domains in the virtual screen space (note that the offset
describes the panning domain, and only affects the viewport in that the
viewport must be contained within the panning domain). For example, the
following describes two modes, each with a panning domain width of 1900
pixels, and the second display is positioned below the first:
"1600x1200 @1900x1200 +0+0, 1024x768 @1900x768 +0+1200"
Because it is often unclear which mode within a MetaMode will be used on
each display device, mode descriptions within a MetaMode can be prepended
with a display device name. For example:
"CRT-0: 1600x1200, DFP-0: 1024x768"
If no MetaMode string is specified, then the X driver uses the modes
listed in the relevant "Display" subsection, attempting to place matching
modes on each display device.
TwinViewOrientation
This option controls the positioning of the second display device relative
to the first within the virtual X screen, when offsets are not explicitly
given in the MetaModes. The possible values are:
"RightOf" (the default)
"LeftOf"
"Above"
"Below"
"Clone"
When "Clone" is specified, both display devices will be assigned an offset
of 0,0.
Because it is often unclear which display device is "first" and which is
"second", TwinViewOrientation can be confusing. You can further clarify
the TwinViewOrientation with display device names to indicate which
display device is positioned relative to which display device. For
example:
"CRT-0 LeftOf DFP-0"
ConnectedMonitor
With this option you can override what the NVIDIA kernel module detects is
connected to your video card. This may be useful, for example, if any of
your display devices do not support detection using Display Data Channel
(DDC) protocols. Valid values are a comma-separated list of display device
names; for example:
"CRT-0, CRT-1"
"CRT"
"CRT-1, DFP-0"
WARNING: this option overrides what display devices are detected by the
NVIDIA kernel module, and is very seldom needed. You really only need this
if a display device is not detected, either because it does not provide
DDC information, or because it is on the other side of a KVM
(Keyboard-Video-Mouse) switch. In most other cases, it is best not to
specify this option.
Just as in all X config entries, spaces are ignored and all entries are case
insensitive.
FREQUENTLY ASKED TWINVIEW QUESTIONS
Q. Nothing gets displayed on my second monitor; what is wrong?
A. Monitors that do not support monitor detection using Display Data Channel
(DDC) protocols (this includes most older monitors) are not detectable by
your NVIDIA card. You need to explicitly tell the NVIDIA X driver what you
have connected using the "ConnectedMonitor" option; e.g.:
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT, CRT"
Q. Will window managers be able to appropriately place windows (e.g. avoiding
placing windows across both display devices, or in inaccessible regions of
the virtual desktop)?
A. Yes. The NVIDIA X driver provides a Xinerama extension that X clients (such
as window managers) can use to discover the current TwinView configuration.
Note that the Xinerama protocol provides no way to notify clients when a
configuration change occurs, so if you modeswitch to a different MetaMode,
your window manager will still think you have the previous configuration.
Using the Xinerama extension, in conjunction with the XF86VidMode extension
to get modeswitch events, window managers should be able to determine the
TwinView configuration at any given time.
Unfortunately, the data provided by XineramaQueryScreens() appears to
confuse some window managers; to work around such broken window mangers,
you can disable communication of the TwinView screen layout with the
"NoTwinViewXineramaInfo" X config Option (please see Appendix D for
details).
Be aware that the NVIDIA driver cannot provide the Xinerama extension if
the X server's own Xinerama extension is being used. Explicitly specifying
Xinerama in the X config file or on the X server commandline will prohibit
NVIDIA's Xinerama extension from installing, so make sure that the X
server's log file does not contain:
(++) Xinerama: enabled
if you want the NVIDIA driver to be able to provide the Xinerama extension
while in TwinView.
Another solution is to use panning domains to eliminate inaccessible
regions of the virtual screen (see the MetaMode description above).
A third solution is to use two separate X screens, rather than use
TwinView. Please see Appendix O.
Q. Why can I not get a resolution of 1600x1200 on the second display device
when using a GeForce2 MX?
A. Because the second display device on the GeForce2 MX was designed to be a
digital flat panel, the Pixel Clock for the second display device is only
150 MHz. This effectively limits the resolution on the second display
device to somewhere around 1280x1024 (for a description of how Pixel Clock
frequencies limit the programmable modes, see the XFree86 Video Timings
HOWTO). This constraint is not present on GeForce4 or GeForce FX chips --
the maximum pixel clock is the same on both heads.
Q. Do video overlays work across both display devices?
A. Hardware video overlays only work on the first display device. The current
solution is that blitted video is used instead on TwinView.
Q. How are virtual screen dimensions determined in TwinView?
A. After all requested modes have been validated, and the offsets for each
MetaMode's viewports have been computed, the NVIDIA driver computes the
bounding box of the panning domains for each MetaMode. The maximum bounding
box width and height is then found.
Note that one side effect of this is that the virtual width and virtual
height may come from different MetaModes. Given the following MetaMode
string:
"1600x1200,NULL; 1024x768+0+0, 1024x768+0+768"
the resulting virtual screen size will be 1600 x 1536.
Q. Can I play full screen games across both display devices?
A. Yes. While the details of configuration will vary from game to game, the
basic idea is that a MetaMode presents X with a mode whose resolution is
the bounding box of the viewports for that MetaMode. For example, the
following:
Option "MetaModes" "1024x768,1024x768; 800x600,800x600"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf"
produce two modes: one whose resolution is 2048x768, and another whose
resolution is 1600x600. Games such as Quake 3 Arena use the VidMode
extension to discover the resolutions of the modes currently available. To
configure Quake 3 Arena to use the above MetaMode string, add the following
to your q3config.cfg file:
seta r_customaspect "1"
seta r_customheight "600"
seta r_customwidth "1600"
seta r_fullscreen "1"
seta r_mode "-1"
Note that, given the above configuration, there is no mode with a
resolution of 800x600 (remember that the MetaMode "800x600, 800x600" has a
resolution of 1600x600"), so if you change Quake 3 Arena to use a
resolution of 800x600, it will display in the lower left corner of your
screen, with the rest of the screen grayed out. To have single head modes
available as well, an appropriate MetaMode string might be something like:
"800x600,800x600; 1024x768,NULL; 800x600,NULL; 640x480,NULL"
More precise configuration information for specific games is beyond the
scope of this document, but the above examples coupled with numerous online
sources should be enough to point you in the right direction.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix H. Configuring TV-Out
______________________________________________________________________________
NVIDIA GPU-based video cards with a TV-Out (S-video) connector can use a
television as another display device, just like a CRT or digital flat panel.
The TV can be used by itself, or (on appropriate video cards) in conjunction
with another display device in a TwinView configuration. If a TV is the only
display device connected to your video card, it will be used as the primary
display when you boot your system (i.e. the console will come up on the TV
just as if it were a CRT). To use your TV with X, there are a few parameters
that you should pay special attention to in your X config file:
o The VertRefresh and HorizSync values in your monitor section; please make
sure these are appropriate for your television. Values are generally:
HorizSync 30-50
VertRefresh 60
o The Modes in your screen section; the valid modes for your TV encoder
will be reported in a verbose X log file (generated with `startx --
-logverbose 5`) when X is run on a TV. Some modes may be limited to
certain TV Standards; if that is the case, it will be noted in the X log
file. Generally, at least 800x600 and 640x480 are supported.
o The "TVStandard" option should be added to your screen section; valid
values are:
TVStandard Description
------------- --------------------------------------------------
"PAL-B" used in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany,
Guinea, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy,
Malaysia, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland
"PAL-D" used in China and North Korea
"PAL-G" used in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy,
Malaysia, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland
"PAL-H" used in Belgium
"PAL-I" used in Hong Kong and The United Kingdom
"PAL-K1" used in Guinea
"PAL-M" used in Brazil
"PAL-N" used in France, Paraguay, and Uruguay
"PAL-NC" used in Argentina
"NTSC-J" used in Japan
"NTSC-M" used in Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Puerto
Rico, South Korea, Taiwan, United States of
America, and Venezuela
"HD480i" 480 line interlaced
"HD480p" 480 line progressive
"HD720p" 720 line progressive
"HD1080i" 1080 line interlaced
"HD1080p" 1080 line progressive
"HD576i" 576 line interlace
"HD576p" 576 line progressive
The line in your X config file should be something like:
Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
If you do not specify a TVStandard, or you specify an invalid value, the
default "NTSC-M" will be used. Note: if your country is not in the above
list, select the country closest to your location.
o The "ConnectedMonitor" option can be used to tell X to use the TV for
display. This should only be needed if your TV is not detected by the
video card, or you use a CRT (or digital flat panel) as your boot
display, but want to redirect X to use the TV. The line in your config
file should be:
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "TV"
o The "TVOutFormat" option can be used to force S-video or composite
output. Without this option the driver autodetects the output format.
Unfortunately, it does not always do this correctly. The output format
can be forced with the options:
Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
or
Option "TVOutFormat" "COMPOSITE"
The "TVOverScan" option can be used to enable Overscan where supported.
Valid values are decimal values in the range 1.0 (which means overscan as
much as possible: make the image as large as possible) and 0.0 (which
means disable overscanning: make the image as small as possible).
Overscanning is disabled (0.0) by default.
Overscan is currently only available on GeForce4 or newer GPUs with
either NVIDIA or Conexant TV encoders.
The NVIDIA X driver may not restore the console correctly with XFree86
versions older than 4.3 when the console is a TV. This is due to binary
incompatibilities between XFree86 int10 modules. If you use a TV as your
console it is recommended that you upgrade to XFree86 4.3 or later.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix I. Configuring a Laptop
______________________________________________________________________________
INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION
Installation and configuration of the NVIDIA Accelerated SunOS Driver Set on a
laptop is the same as for any desktop environment, with a few minor
exceptions, listed below.
Starting with the 1.0-2802 release, information about the internal flat panel
for use in initializing the display is by default generated on the fly from
data stored in the video BIOS. This can be disabled by setting the "SoftEDIDs"
kernel option to 0. If "SoftEDIDs" is turned off, then hardcoded data will be
chosen from a table, based on the value of the "Mobile" kernel option.
The "Mobile" kernel option can be set to any of the following values:
Value Meaning
--------------- ------------------------------------------------------
0xFFFFFFFF let the kernel module autodetect the correct value
1 Dell laptops
2 non-Compal Toshiba laptops
3 all other laptops
4 Compal Toshiba laptops
5 Gateway laptops
Again, the "Mobile" kernel option is only needed if SoftEDIDs is disabled;
when it is used, it is usually safest to let the kernel module autodetect the
correct value (this is the default behavior).
Should you need to alter either of these options, you may do so in any of the
following ways:
o editing os-registry.c in the usr/src/nv/ directory of the '.run' file.
o setting the value on the modprobe command line (e.g.: `modprobe nvidia
NVreg_SoftEDIDs=0 NVreg_Mobile=3`)
o adding an "options" line to your module configuration file, usually
'/etc/modules.conf' (e.g.: "options nvidia NVreg_Mobile=5")
ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY
In this section we discuss additional functionality associated with laptop
configuration.
TWINVIEW
All mobile NVIDIA chips support TwinView. TwinView on a laptop can be
configured in the same way as on a desktop machine (please refer to Appendix G
); note that in a TwinView configuration using the laptop's internal flat
panel and an external CRT, the CRT is the primary display device (specify its
HorizSync and VertRefresh in the Monitor section of your X config file) and
the flat panel is the secondary display device (specify its HorizSync and
VertRefresh through the SecondMonitorHorizSync and SecondMonitorVertRefresh
options).
The "UseEdidFreqs" X config option is enabled by default, so normally you
should not need to specify the "SecondMonitorHorizSync" and
"SecondMonitorVertRefresh" options. Please see the description of the
UseEdidFreqs option in Appendix D for details).
HOTKEY SWITCHING OF DISPLAY DEVICES
Besides TwinView, mobile NVIDIA chips also have the capacity to react to an
LCD/CRT hotkey event, toggling between each of the connected display devices
and each possible combination of the connected display devices (note that only
2 display devices may be active at a time). TwinView as configured in your X
config file and hotkey functionality are mutually exclusive -- if you enable
TwinView in your X config file, then the NVIDIA X driver will ignore LCD/CRT
hotkey events.
Another important aspect of hotkey functionality is that you can dynamically
connect and remove display devices to/from your laptop and use the hotkey to
activate and deactivate them without restarting X.
When X is started, or when a change is detected in the list of connected
display devices, a new hotkey sequence list is constructed -- this lists which
display devices will be used with each hotkey event. When a hotkey event
occurs, the next hotkey state in the sequence is chosen. Each mode requested
in the X config file is validated against each display device's constraints,
and the resulting modes are made available for that display device. If
multiple display devices are to be active at once, then the modes from each
display device are paired together; if an exact match (same resolution) cannot
be found, then the closest fit is found, and the display device with the
smaller resolution is panned within the resolution of the other display
device.
When switching away from X to a virtual terminal, the VGA console will always
be restored to the display device on which it was present when X was started.
Similarly, when switching back into X, the same display device configuration
will be used as when you switched away, regardless of what LCD/CRT hotkey
activity occurred while the virtual terminal was active.
KNOWN LAPTOP ISSUES
There are a few known issues associated with laptops:
o LCD/CRT hotkey switching is not currently functioning on any Toshiba
laptop, with the exception of the Toshiba Satellite 3000 series.
o TwinView on Satellite 2800 series Toshiba laptops is not currently
functioning.
o The video overlay only works on the first display device on which you
started X. For example, if you start X on the internal LCD, run a video
application that uses the video overlay (uses the "Video Overlay" adapter
advertised through the XV extension), and then hotkey switch to add a
second display device, the video will not appear on the second display
device. To work around this, you can either configure the video
application to use the "Video Blitter" adapter advertised through the XV
extension (this is always available), or hotkey switch to the display
device on which you want to use the video overlay *before* starting X.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix J. Programming Modes
______________________________________________________________________________
The NVIDIA Accelerated SunOS Driver Set supports all standard VGA and VESA
modes, as well as most user-written custom mode lines; double-scan modes are
supported on all hardware. Interlaced modes are supported on all GeForce
FX/Quadro FX and newer GPUs, and certain older GPUs; the X log file will
contain a message "Interlaced video modes are supported on this GPU" if
interlaced modes are supported.
In general, your display device (monitor/flat panel/television) will be a
greater constraint on what modes you can use than either your NVIDIA GPU-based
video board or the NVIDIA Accelerated SunOS Driver Set.
To request one or more standard modes for use in X, you can simply add a
"Modes" line such as:
Modes "1600x1200" "1024x768" "640x480"
in the appropriate Display subsection of your X config file (please see the
XF86Config(5x) or xorg.conf(5x) man pages for details). The following
documentation is primarily of interest if you compose your own custom mode
lines, or are just interested in learning more. Please note that this is
neither an explanation nor a guide to the fine art of crafting custom mode
lines for X. We leave that, rather, to documents such as the XFree86 Video
Timings HOWTO (which can be found at
http://www.tldp.org
).
DEPTH, BITS PER PIXEL, AND PITCH
While not directly a concern when programming modes, the bits used per pixel
is an issue when considering the maximum programmable resolution; for this
reason, it is worthwhile to address the confusion surrounding the terms
"depth" and "bits per pixel". Depth is how many bits of data are stored per
pixel. Supported depths are 8, 15, 16, and 24. Most video hardware, however,
stores pixel data in sizes of 8, 16, or 32 bits; this is the amount of memory
allocated per pixel. When you specify your depth, X selects the bits per pixel
(bpp) size in which to store the data. Below is a table of what bpp is used
for each possible depth:
Depth BPP
---------------------------------- ----------------------------------
8 8
15 16
16 16
24 32
Lastly, the "pitch" is how many bytes in the linear frame buffer there are
between one pixel's data, and the data of the pixel immediately below. You can
think of this as the horizontal resolution multiplied by the bytes per pixel
(bits per pixel divided by 8). In practice, the pitch may be more than this
product due to alignment constraints.
MAXIMUM RESOLUTIONS
The NVIDIA Accelerated SunOS Driver Set and NVIDIA GPU-based video boards
support resolutions up to 2048x1536, though the maximum resolution your system
can support is also limited by the amount of video memory (see USEFUL FORMULAS
for details) and the maximum supported resolution of your display device
(monitor/flat panel/television). Also note that while use of a video overlay
does not limit the maximum resolution or refresh rate, video memory bandwidth
used by a programmed mode does effect the overlay quality.
USEFUL FORMULAS
The maximum resolution is a function both of the amount of video memory and
the bits per pixel you elect to use:
HR * VR * (bpp/8) = Video Memory Used
In other words, the amount of video memory used is equal to the horizontal
resolution (HR) multiplied by the vertical resolution (VR) multiplied by the
bytes per pixel (bits per pixel divided by eight). Technically, the video
memory used is actually the pitch times the vertical resolution, and the pitch
may be slightly greater than (HR * (bpp/8)) to accommodate the hardware
requirement that the pitch be a multiple of some value.
Please note that this is just memory usage for the frame buffer; video memory
is also used by other things, such as OpenGL and pixmap caching.
Another important relationship is that between the resolution, the pixel clock
(aka dot clock) and the vertical refresh rate:
RR = PCLK / (HFL * VFL)
In other words, the refresh rate (RR) is equal to the pixel clock (PCLK)
divided by the total number of pixels: the horizontal frame length (HFL)
multiplied by the vertical frame length (VFL) (note that these are the frame
lengths, and not just the visible resolutions). As described in the XFree86
Video Timings HOWTO, the above formula can be rewritten as:
PCLK = RR * HFL * VFL
Given a maximum pixel clock, you can adjust the RR, HFL and VFL as desired, as
long as the product of the three is consistent. The pixel clock is reported in
the log file when you run X with verbose logging: `startx -- -logverbose 5`.
Your X log should contain several lines like:
(--) NVIDIA(0): Display Device 0: maximum pixel clock at 8 bpp: 350 MHz
(--) NVIDIA(0): Display Device 0: maximum pixel clock at 16 bpp: 350 MHz
(--) NVIDIA(0): Display Device 0: maximum pixel clock at 32 bpp: 300 MHz
which indicate the maximum pixel clock at each bit per pixel size.
HOW MODES ARE VALIDATED
During the PreInit phase of the X server, the NVIDIA X driver validates all
requested modes by doing the following:
o Take the intersection of the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges given by
the user in the X config file with the ranges reported by the monitor in
the EDID (Extended Display Identification Data); this behavior can be
disabled by using the "IgnoreEDID" option in which case the X driver will
blindly accept the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges given by the user
(see Appendix D).
o Call the xf86ValidateModes() helper function, which finds modes with the
names the user specified in the X config file, pruning out modes with
invalid horizontal sync frequencies or vertical refresh rates, pixel
clocks larger than the maximum pixel clock for the video card, or
resolutions larger than the virtual screen size (if a virtual screen size
was specified in the X config file). Several other constraints are
applied; see "xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/common/xf86Mode.c:
xf86ValidateModes()".
o All modes returned from xf86ValidateModes() are then examined to make
sure their resolutions are not larger than the largest mode reported by
the monitor's EDID (this can be disabled with the "IgnoreEDID" option. If
the display is a TV, each mode is checked to make sure it has a
resolution that is supported by the TV encoder (usually only 800x600 and
640x480 are supported by the encoder).
o All modes are also tested to confirm that they fit within the hardware's
memory bandwidth constraints. This test can be disabled with the
NoBandWidthTest X config file option.
o All remaining modes are then checked to make sure they pass the
constraints described below in ADDITIONAL MODE CONSTRAINTS.
The last three steps are also done when each mode is programmed, to catch
potentially invalid modes submitted by the XF86VidModeExtension (eg
xvidtune(1)). For TwinView, the above validation is done for the modes
requested for each display device.
ADDITIONAL MODE CONSTRAINTS
Below is a list of additional constraints on a mode's parameters that must be
met. In some cases these are chip-specific.
o The horizontal resolution (HR) must be a multiple of 8 and be less than
or equal to the value in the table below.
o The horizontal blanking width (the maximum of the horizontal frame length
and the horizontal sync end minus the minimum of the horizontal
resolution and the horizontal sync start (max(HFL,HSE) - min(HR,HSS)))
must be a multiple of 8 and be less than or equal to the value in the
table below.
o The horizontal sync start (HSS) must be a multiple of 8 and be less than
or equal to the value in the table below.
o The horizontal sync width (the horizontal sync end minus the horizontal
sync start (HSE - HSS)) must be a multiple of 8 and be less than or equal
to the value in the table below.
o The horizontal frame length (HFL) must be a multiple of 8, must be
greater than or equal to 40, and must be less than or equal to the value
in the table below.
o The horizontal frame length (HFL) must be a multiple of 8, must be
greater than or equal to 40, and must be less than or equal to the value
in the table below.
o The vertical resolution (VR) must be less than or equal to the value in
the table below.
o The vertical blanking width (the maximum of the vertical frame length and
the vertical sync end minus the minimum of the vertical resolution and
the vertical sync start (max(VFL,VSE) - min(VR,VSS))) must be less than
or equal to the value in the table below.
o The vertical sync start (VSS) must be less than or equal to the value in
the table below.
o The vertical sync width (the vertical sync end minus the vertical sync
start (VSE - VSS)) must be less than or equal to the value in the table
below.
o The vertical frame length (VFL) must be greater than or equal to 2 and
less than or equal to the value in the table below.
The following table provides the maximum DAC values for various hardware
generations:
GeForce2 and 3 GeForce4 and newer
--------------------- --------------------- ---------------------
HR 4092 8192
HBW 1016 2040
HSS 4088 8224
HSW 256 512
HFL 4128 8224
VR 4096 8192
VBW 128 256
VSS 4095 8192
VSW 16 16
VFL 4097 8192
Here is an example mode line demonstrating the use of each abbreviation used
above:
# Custom Mode line for the SGI 1600SW Flat Panel
# name PCLK HR HSS HSE HFL VR VSS VSE VFL
Modeline "sgi1600x1024" 106.9 1600 1632 1656 1672 1024 1027 1030 1067
ENSURING IDENTICAL MODE TIMINGS
Some functionality, such as Active Stereo with TwinView, requires control over
exactly which mode timings are used. There are several ways to accomplish
that:
o If you only want to make sure that both display devices use the same
modes, you only need to make sure that both display devices use the same
HorizSync and VertRefresh values when performing mode validation; this
would be done by making sure the HorizSync and SecondMonitorHorizSync
match, and that the VertRefresh and the SecondMonitorVertRefresh match.
o A more explicit approach is to specify the modeline you want to use
(using one of the modeline generators available), and using a unique
name. For example, if you wanted to use 1024x768 at 120 Hz on each
monitor in TwinView with active stereo, you might add something like:
# 1024x768 @ 120.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 98.76 kHz; pclk: 139.05 MHz
Modeline "1024x768_120" 139.05 1024 1104 1216 1408 768 769 772 823
-HSync +Vsync
In the monitor section of your X config file, and then in the Screen
section of your X config file, specify a MetaMode like this:
Option "MetaModes" "1024x768_120, 1024x768_120"
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
An XFree86 modeline generator, conforming to the GTF Standard is available at
http://gtf.sourceforge.net/
. Additional generators can be found by searching
for "modeline" on freshmeat.net.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix K. Flipping and UBB
______________________________________________________________________________
The NVIDIA Accelerated SunOS Driver Set supports Unified Back Buffer (UBB) and
OpenGL Flipping. These features can provide performance gains in certain
situations.
o Unified Back Buffer (UBB): UBB is available only on the Quadro family of
GPUs (Quadro4 NVS excluded) and is enabled by default when there is
sufficient video memory available. This can be disabled with the UBB X
config option described in Appendix D. When UBB is enabled, all windows
share the same back, stencil and depth buffers. When there are many
windows, the back, stencil and depth usage will never exceed the size of
that used by a full screen window. However, even for a single small
window, the back, stencil, and depth video memory usage is that of a full
screen window. In that case video memory may be used less efficiently
than in the non-UBB case.
o Flipping: When OpenGL flipping is enabled, OpenGL can perform buffer
swaps by changing which buffer the DAC scans out rather than copying the
back buffer contents to the front buffer; this is generally a much higher
performance mechanism and allows tearless swapping during the vertical
retrace (when __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK is set). The conditions under which
OpenGL can flip are slightly complicated, but in general: on GeForce or
newer hardware, OpenGL can flip when a single full screen unobscured
OpenGL application is running, and __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK is enabled.
Additionally, OpenGL can flip on Quadro hardware even when an OpenGL
window is partially obscured or not full screen or __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK is
not enabled.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix L. Swapping boards
______________________________________________________________________________
Here is a common problem seen after swapping a board for a different model.
Xorg fails to start with the message:
(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA graphics device!
(EE) NVIDIA(0): *** Aborting ***
(II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.
This is because Solaris "remembers" the previous model that was installed and
increments the instance numbering. For example, if an NVS 280 was the original
card and then it is replaced with an FX 1100, the configuration reboot will
create the following device links:
/dev/fbs/nvidia0 ----> NVS 280 instance
/dev/fbs/nvidia1 ----> FX 1100 instance
The easiest way to solve this is remove the "nvidia" line(s) from the file
/etc/path_to_inst before doing the configuration reboot:
# reboot -- -r
or type
b -r
at the boot prompt. If you have already done the configuration reboot, just
modify the file and do the configuration reboot again.
Please note that corrupting this file can stop your machine from booting
properly, in which case a boot -a must be performed, causing the file to be
recreated from scratch.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix M. Known Issues
______________________________________________________________________________
The following problems still exist in this release and are in the process of
being resolved.
Known Issues
Laptops
If you are using a laptop please see the "Known Laptop Issues" in Appendix
I.
FSAA
When FSAA is enabled (the __GL_FSAA_MODE environment variable is set to a
value that enables FSAA and a multisample visual is chosen), the rendering
may be corrupted when resizing the window.
libGL DSO finalizer and pthreads
When a multithreaded OpenGL application exits, it is possible for libGL's
DSO finalizer (also known as the destructor, or "_fini") to be called
while other threads are executing OpenGL code. The finalizer needs to free
resources allocated by libGL. This can cause problems for threads that are
still using these resources. Setting the environment variable
"__GL_NO_DSO_FINALIZER" to "1" will work around this problem by forcing
libGL's finalizer to leave its resources in place. These resources will
still be reclaimed by the operating system when the process exits. Note
that the finalizer is also executed as part of dlclose(3), so if you have
an application that dlopens(3) and dlcloses(3) libGL repeatedly,
"__GL_NO_DSO_FINALIZER" will cause libGL to leak resources until the
process exits. Using this option can improve stability in some
multithreaded applications, including Java3D applications.
XVideo and the Composite X extension
XVideo will not work correctly when Composite is enabled. See Appendix Q.
This section describes problems that will not be fixed. Usually, the source of
the problem is beyond the control of NVIDIA. Following is the list of
problems:
Problems that Will Not Be Fixed
Gigabyte GA-6BX Motherboard
This motherboard uses a LinFinity regulator on the 3.3 V rail that is only
rated to 5 A -- less than the AGP specification, which requires 6 A. When
diagnostics or applications are running, the temperature of the regulator
rises, causing the voltage to the NVIDIA chip to drop as low as 2.2 V.
Under these circumstances, the regulator cannot supply the current on the
3.3 V rail that the NVIDIA chip requires.
This problem does not occur when the graphics board has a switching
regulator or when an external power supply is connected to the 3.3 V rail.
VIA KX133 and 694X Chip sets with AGP 2x
On Athlon motherboards with the VIA KX133 or 694X chip set, such as the
ASUS K7V motherboard, NVIDIA drivers default to AGP 2x mode to work around
insufficient drive strength on one of the signals.
Irongate Chip sets with AGP 1x
AGP 1x transfers are used on Athlon motherboards with the Irongate chipset
to work around a problem with signal integrity.
ALi chipsets, ALi1541 and ALi1647
On ALi1541 and ALi1647 chipsets, NVIDIA drivers disable AGP to work around
timing issues and signal integrity issues. See Chapter 4 for more
information on ALi chipsets.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix N. GLX Support
______________________________________________________________________________
This release supports GLX 1.3 with the following extensions:
o GLX_EXT_visual_info
o GLX_EXT_visual_rating
o GLX_SGIX_fbconfig
o GLX_SGIX_pbuffer
o GLX_ARB_get_proc_address
For a description of these extensions, please see the OpenGL extension
registry at
http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/registry/index.html
Some of the above extensions exist as part of core GLX 1.3 functionality,
however, they are also exported as extensions for backwards compatibility.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix O. Configuring Multiple X Screens on One Card
______________________________________________________________________________
Graphics chips that support TwinView (Appendix G) can also be configured to
treat each connected display device as a separate X screen.
While there are several disadvantages to this approach as compared to TwinView
(e.g.: windows cannot be dragged between X screens, hardware accelerated
OpenGL cannot span the two X screens), it does offer several advantages over
TwinView:
o If each display device is a separate X screen, then properties that may
vary between X screens may vary between displays (e.g.: depth, root
window size, etc).
o Hardware that can only be used on one display at a time (e.g.: video
overlays, hardware accelerated RGB overlays), and which consequently
cannot be used at all when in TwinView, can be exposed on the first X
screen when each display is a separate X screen.
o TwinView is a fairly new feature. X has historically used one screen per
display device.
To configure two separate X screens to share one graphics chip, here is what
you will need to do:
First, create two separate Device sections, each listing the BusID of the
graphics card to be shared and listing the driver as "nvidia", and assign each
a separate screen:
Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidia0"
Driver "nvidia"
# Edit the BusID with the location of your graphics card
BusID "PCI:2:0:0"
Screen 0
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidia1"
Driver "nvidia"
# Edit the BusID with the location of your graphics card
BusId "PCI:2:0:0"
Screen 1
EndSection
Then, create two Screen sections, each using one of the Device sections:
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "nvidia0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1600x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "nvidia1"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1600x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
EndSection
(Note: You'll also need to create a second Monitor section) Finally, update
the ServerLayout section to use and position both Screen sections:
Section "ServerLayout"
...
Screen 0 "Screen0"
Screen 1 "Screen1" leftOf "Screen0"
...
EndSection
For further details, please refer to the XF86Config(5x) or xorg.conf(5x)
manpages.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix P. Display Device Names
______________________________________________________________________________
A "Display Device" refers to some piece of hardware capable of displaying an
image. Display devices are separated into three categories: analog CRTs,
digital flat panels (DFPs), and televisions. Note that analog flat panels are
considered the same as analog CRTs by the driver.
A "Display Device Name" is a string description that uniquely identifies a
display device; it follows the format "-", for example: "CRT-0",
"CRT-1", "DFP-0", or "TV-0". Note that the number indicates how the display
device connector is wired on the graphics board, and has nothing to do with
how many of that kind of display device are present. This means, for example,
that you may have a "CRT-1", even if you do not have a "CRT-0". To determine
which display devices are currently connected, you may check your X log file
for a line similar to the following:
(II) NVIDIA(0): Connected display device(s): CRT-0, DFP-0
Display device names can be used in the MetaMode, HorizSync, and VertRefresh X
config options to indicate which display device a setting should be applied
to. For example:
Option "MetaModes" "CRT-0: 1600x1200, DFP-0: 1024x768"
Option "HorizSync" "CRT-0: 50-110; DFP-0: 40-70"
Option "VertRefresh" "CRT-0: 60-120; DFP-0: 60"
Specifying the display device name in these options is not required; if
display device names are not specified, then the driver attempts to infer
which display device a setting applies to. In the case of MetaModes, for
example, the first mode listed is applied to the "first" display device, and
the second mode listed is applied to the "second" display device.
Unfortunately, it is often unclear which display device is the "first" or
"second". That is why specifying the display device name is preferable.
When specifying display device names, you may also omit the number part of the
name, though this is only useful if you only have one of that type of display
device. For example, if you have one CRT and one DFP connected, you may
reference them in the MetaMode string as follows:
Option "MetaModes" "CRT: 1600x1200, DFP: 1024x768"
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix Q. The X Composite Extension
______________________________________________________________________________
X.org version X11R6.8.0 contains experimental support for a new X protocol
extension called Composite. This extension allows windows to be drawn into
pixmaps instead of directly onto the screen. In conjunction with the DAMAGE
and RENDER extensions, this allows a program called a composite manager to
blend windows together to draw the screen.
Performance can be improved by enabling the "RenderAccel" option in xorg.conf.
See Appendix D for more details.
Full Composite support will require additional driver support. Currently,
direct rendering clients such as GLX have no way of knowing that they are
supposed to render into a pixmap, and will draw directly to the screen
instead. We are currently investigating what is necessary for such clients to
interoperate seamlessly with Composite. In the meantime, GLX will be disabled
by default when the Composite extension is detected. An option has been
provided to re-enable it. See "AllowGLXWithComposite" in Appendix D.
This issue was discussed on the xorg mailing list:
http://freedesktop.org/pipermail/xorg/2004-May/000607.html
Composite also causes problems with other driver components:
o Xv cannot draw into pixmaps that have been redirected offscreen and will
draw directly onto the screen instead. For some programs you can work
around this issue by using an alternative video driver. For example,
"mplayer -vo x11" will work correctly, as will "xine -V xshm". If you
want to use Xv, you can simply disable the compositing manager and
re-enable it when you are finished.
o Workstation overlays are incompatible with Composite.
More information about Composite can be found at
http://freedesktop.org/Software/CompositeExt
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix R. The nvidia-settings Utility
______________________________________________________________________________
A graphical configuration utility, 'nvidia-settings', is included with the
NVIDIA SunOS graphics driver. After installing the driver and starting X, you
can run this configuration utility by running:
% nvidia-settings
in a terminal window.
Detailed information about the configuration options available are documented
in the help window in the utility.
For more information, please see the nvidia-settings man page or the user
guide available here:
ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/nvidia-settings-user-guide.txt
The source code to nvidia-settings is released as GPL and is available here:
ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nvidia-settings/
If you have trouble running the nvidia-settings binary shipped with the NVIDIA
SunOS Graphics Driver, please refer to the nvidia-settings entry in Chapter 4.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix S. Support for GLX in Xinerama
______________________________________________________________________________
This driver supports GLX when Xinerama is enabled on similar GPUs. The
Xinerama extension takes multiple physical X screens (possibly spanning
multiple GPUs), and binds them into one logical X screen. This allows windows
to be dragged between GPUs and to span across multiple GPUs. The NVIDIA driver
supports hardware accelerated OpenGL rendering across all NVIDIA GPUs when
Xinerama is enabled.
To configure Xinerama: configure multiple X screens (please refer to the
XF86Config(5x) or xorg.conf(5x) manpages for details). The Xinerama extension
can be enabled by adding the line
Option "Xinerama" "True"
to the "ServerFlags" section of your X config file.
Requirements:
o It is recommended to use identical GPUs. Some combinations of
non-identical, but similar, GPUs are supported. If a GPU is incompatible
with the rest of a Xinerama desktop then no OpenGL rendering will appear
on the screens driven by that GPU. Rendering will still appear normally
on screens connected to other supported GPUs. In this situation the X log
file will include a message of the form:
(WW) NVIDIA(2): The GPU driving screen 2 is incompatible with the rest of
(WW) NVIDIA(2): the GPUs composing the desktop. OpenGL rendering will
(WW) NVIDIA(2): be disabled on screen 2.
o The NVIDIA X driver must be used for all X screens in the server.
o Only the intersection of capabilities across all GPUs will be advertised.
o X configuration options that affect GLX operation (e.g.: stereo,
overlays) should be set consistently across all X screens in the X
server.
Known Issues:
o The maximum renderable window dimension is 4096 pixels.
o Versions of XFree86 prior to 4.5 and versions of X.org prior to 6.8.0
lack the required interfaces to properly implement overlays with the
Xinerama extension. On earlier server versions mixing overlays and
Xinerama will result in rendering corruption. If you are using the
Xinerama extension with overlays, it is recommended that you upgrade to
XFree86 4.5, X.org 6.8.0, or newer.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix T. The XRandR Extension
______________________________________________________________________________
X.org version X11R6.8.1 contains support for the rotation component of the
XRandR extension. This allows screens to be rotated at 90 degree increments.
The driver supports rotation with the extension when 'Option "RandRRotation"'
is enabled in the X config file.
Workstation RGB or CI overlay visuals will function at lower performance and
the video overlay will not be available when RandRRotation is enabled.
You can query the available rotations using the 'xrandr' command line
interface to the RandR extension by running:
xrandr -q
You can set the rotation orientation of the screen by running any of:
xrandr -o left
xrandr -o right
xrandr -o inverted
xrandr -o normal
Rotation may also be set through the nvidia-settings configuration utility in
the "Rotation Settings" panel.
Note that rotation is currently not supported when TwinView is enabled.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix U. SLI FrameRendering
______________________________________________________________________________
This driver contains support for the NVIDIA SLI FrameRendering. SLI
FrameRendering allows an OpenGL application to take advantage of two graphics
cards at the same time to improve performance.
In Linux, SLI can operate in one of three modes: Alternate Frame Rendering
(AFR), Split Frame Rendering (SFR), and SLI Antialiasing (SLIAA). When AFR
mode is active, one GPU draws the next frame while the other one works on the
frame after that. In SFR mode, each frame is split horizontally into two
pieces, with one GPU rendering each piece. The split line is adjusted to
balance the load between the two GPUs. SLIAA mode splits antialiasing work
between the two GPUs. Both GPUs work on the same scene and the result is
blended together to produce the final frame. This mode is useful for
applications that spend most of their time processing with the CPU and cannot
benefit from AFR.
SLI is enabled by setting the "SLI" option in the X configuration file; see
Appendix D for more details about the SLI option.
The nvidia-xconfig utility can be used to set the SLI option, rather than
modifying the X configuration file by hand. For example:
% nvidia-xconfig --sli=on
See Appendix D for more details about the SLI option.
SLI requires two identical PCI-Express graphics cards, a supported motherboard
chipset, and in most cases a "video bridge" connecting the two graphics cards.
Please note that no mobile GPUs are supported, and SLI on Quadro always
requires a video bridge.
For the latest in supported SLI configurations, including SLI-capable GPUs and
SLI-capable motherboards, please see
http://www.slizone.com
.
Only one display can be used when SLI is enabled. If X is configured to use
multiple screens and screen 0 has SLI enabled, the other screens will be
disabled. TwinView is also not supported with SLI.
FREQUENTLY ASKED SLI QUESTIONS
Q. Why is glxgears slower when SLI is enabled?
A. When SLI is enabled, the NVIDIA driver must coordinate the operations of
both GPUs when each new frame is swapped (made visible). For most
applications, this GPU synchronization overhead is negligible. However,
because glxgears renders so many frames per second, the GPU synchronization
overhead consumes a significant portion of the total time, and the
framerate is reduced.
Q. Why is Doom 3 slower when SLI is enabled?
A. The NVIDIA Accelerated SunOS Driver Set does not automatically detect the
optimal SLI settings for games such as Doom 3 and Quake 4. To work around
this issue, the environment variable __GL_DOOM3 can be set to tell OpenGL
that Doom 3's optimal settings should be used. In Bash, this can be done in
the same command that launches Doom 3 so the environment variable does not
remain set for other OpenGL applications started in the same session:
% __GL_DOOM3=1 doom3
Doom 3's startup script can also be modified to set this environment
variable:
#!/bin/sh
# Needed to make symlinks/shortcuts work.
# the binaries must run with correct working directory
cd "/usr/local/games/doom3/"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:.
export __GL_DOOM3=1
exec ./doom.x86 "$@"
This environment variable is temporary and will be removed in the future.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix V. Framelock and Genlock
______________________________________________________________________________
Visual computing applications that involve multiple displays, or even multiple
windows within a display, can require special signal processing and
application controls in order to function properly. For example, in order to
produce quality video recording of animated graphics, the graphics display
must be synchronized with the video camera. As another example, applications
presented on multiple displays must be synchronized in order to complete the
illusion of a larger, virtual canvas.
This synchronization is enabled through the framelock and genlock capabilities
of the NVIDIA driver. This section describes the setup and use of framelock
and genlock.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
GENLOCK: Genlock refers to the process of synchronizing the pixel scanning of
one or more displays to an external synchronization source. NVIDIA genlock
requires the external signal to be either TTL or composite, such as used for
NTSC, PAL, or HDTV. It should be noted that the NVIDIA genlock implementation
is guaranteed only to be frame-synchronized, and not necessarily
pixel-synchronized.
FRAMELOCK: Frame lock involves the use of hardware to synchronize the frames
on each display in a connected system. When graphics and video are displayed
across multiple monitors, framelocked systems help maintain image continuity
to create a virtual canvas. Frame lock is especially critical for stereo
viewing, where the left and right fields must be in sync across all displays.
Swap sync refers to the synchronization of buffer swaps of multiple
application windows. By means of swap sync, applications running on multiple
systems can synchronize the application buffer swaps between all the systems.
In order to work across multiple systems, swap sync requires that the systems
are framelocked.
In short, to enable genlock means to sync to an external signal. To enable
framelock means to sync 2 or more X Screens to a signal generated internally
by the hardware, and to use both means to sync 2 or more X Screens to an
external signal.
SUPPORTED HARDWARE
Framelock and genlock are supported for the following hardware:
Board
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Quadro FX 3000G
Quadro FX G-Sync, used in conjunction with a Quadro FX 4400 or Quadro FX
4500
HARDWARE SETUP
Before you begin, you should check that your hardware has been properly
installed. If you are using the Quadro FX 3000G, the genlock/framelock signal
processing hardware is located on the dual-slot card itself, and after
installing the card, no additional setup is necessary.
If you are using the Quadro FX G-Sync board in conjunction with a graphics
card, the following additional setup steps are required. These steps must be
performed when the system is off.
1. On the Quadro FX G-Sync board, locate the fourteen-pin connector labeled
"primary". If the associated ribbon cable is not already joined to this
connector, do so now.
2. Install the Quadro FX G-Sync board in any available slot. Note that the
slot itself is only used for support, so even a known "bad" slot is
acceptable. The slot must be close enough to the graphics card that the
ribbon cable can reach.
3. Connect the other end of the ribbon cable to the fourteen-pin connector
on the graphics card.
You may now boot the system and begin to setup genlock and/or framelock. These
instructions assume that you have already successfully installed the NVIDIA
Accelerated SunOS Driver Set. If you have not done so, please see Chapter 1.
CONFIGURATION WITH NVIDIA-SETTINGS
Framelock and genlock are configured through the nvidia-settings utility.
Please see the 'nvidia-settings(1)' man page, and the nvidia-settings online
help (click the "Help" button in the lower right corner of the interface for
per-page help information).
From the nvidia-settings framelock panel, you may control the addition of X
screens to the framelock/genlock network, monitor the status of that network,
and enable/disable framelock and genlock.
After the system has booted and X Windows has been started, run
nvidia-settings as
% nvidia-settings
You may wish to start this utility before continuing, as we refer to it
frequently in the subsequent discussion.
The setup of genlock and framelock are described separately. We then describe
the use of genlock and framelock together.
GENLOCK SETUP
After the system has been booted, connect the external signal to the house
sync connector (the BNC connector) on either the graphics card or the G-Sync
card. There is a status LED next to the connector. A solid red LED indicates
that the hardware cannot detect the timing signal, and you should check the
signal source before proceeding. A green LED indicates that the hardware is
detecting a timing signal. An occasional red flash is okay.
In the framelock panel of the nvidia-settings interface, add the X screen that
you would like to sync to this external source by clicking the "Add X Screen"
button. An X Screen is typically specified in the format "system:m.n", e.g.:
mycomputer.domain.com:0.0
or
localhost:0.0
Note that in genlock-only mode, the X screen to synchronize must be backed by
the system attached to the external sync source. After adding an X screen, a
row will appear in the table on the framelock panel that displays relevant
status information about the X screen. In particular, the "House" column of
this table contains an LED image whose state mirrors the state of the physical
LED next to the house sync connector. Thus, you may monitor the status of this
signal from the software interface.
If you are using a G-Sync card, you must also click the "Use House Sync"
checkbox. To enable synchronization of this X screen to the external source,
click the "Enable Framelock" button. The screen may take a moment to
stabilize. If it does not stabilize, you may have selected a synchronization
signal that the system cannot support. You should disable synchronization by
clicking the "Disable Framelock" button and check the external sync signal.
Modifications to genlock settings (e.g., "Use House Sync", "Add X Screen")
must be done while synchronization is disabled.
FRAMELOCK SETUP
Framelock is supported across an arbitrary number of Quadro FX 3000 or Quadro
FX G-Sync systems, although mixing the two in the same framelock network is
not supported. Additionally, each system to be included in the framelock
network must be configured with identical mode timings. Please see Appendix J
for information on mode timings.
Connect the systems through their RJ45 ports using standard CAT5 patch cables.
These ports are located on the framelock board itself (either the Quadro FX
3000 or the Quadro FX G-Sync board). DO NOT CONNECT A FRAMELOCK PORT TO AN
ETHERNET CARD OR HUB. DOING SO MAY PERMANENTLY DAMAGE THE HARDWARE The
connections should be made in a daisy-chain fashion: each card has two RJ45
ports, call them 1 and 2. Connect port 1 of system A to port 2 of system B,
connect port 1 of system B to port 2 of system C, etc. Note that you will
always have two empty ports in your framelock network.
The ports self-configure as inputs or outputs once framelock is enabled. Each
port has a yellow and a green LED that reflect this state. A flashing yellow
LED indicates an output and a flashing green LED indicates an input. A solid
green LED indicates that the port has not yet configured.
In the framelock panel of the nvidia-settings interface, add the X screens
that you would like to include in the framelock network by clicking the "Add X
Screen" button (see the description for adding X screens in the previous
section on GENLOCK SETUP. Like he genlock status indicators, the "Port0" and
"Port1" columns in the table on the framelock panel contain indicators whose
states mirror the states of the physical LEDs on the RJ45 ports. Thus, you may
monitor the status of these ports from the software interface.
Any X screen can be added to the framelock network, provided that
1. The system supporting the X Screen is configured to support framelock and
is connected via RJ45 cable to the other systems in the framelock
network.
2. The system driving nvidia-settings can locate and has display privileges
on the X screen that is to be included for framelock.
A system can gain display privileges on a remote system by executing
% xhost +
on the remote system. Please see the xhost(1) man page for details. Typically,
framelock is controlled through one of the systems that will be included in
the framelock network. While this is not a requirement, note that
nvidia-settings will only display the framelock panel when running on an X
screen that supports framelock.
To enable synchronization on these X screens, click the "Enable Framelock"
button. The screens may take a moment to stabilize. If they do not stabilize,
you may have selected a mode timing that one or more of the systems cannot
support. In this case you should disable synchronization by clicking the
"Disable Framelock" button and refer to Appendix J for information on mode
timings.
Modifications to framelock settings (e.g. "Add/Remove X Screen") must be done
while synchronization is disabled.
FRAMELOCK + GENLOCK
The use of framelock and genlock together is a simple extension of the above
instructions for using them separately. You should first follow the
instructions for Framelock Setup, and then to one of the systems that will be
included in the framelock network, attach an external sync source. In order to
sync the framelock network to this single external source, you must select the
X Screen connected to the external source to be the signal master for the
network. This is done by selecting the radio button in the "Master" column of
the table on the framelock panel in nvidia-settings. If you are using a G-Sync
based framelock network, you must also select the "Use House Sync" checkbox.
Enable synchronization by clicking the "Enable Framelock" button. As with
other framelock/genlock controls, you must select the signal master while
synchronization is disabled.
LEVERAGING FRAMELOCK/GENLOCK IN OPENGL
With the GLX_NV_swap_group extension, OpenGL applications can be implemented
to join a group of applications within a system for local swap sync, and bind
the group to a barrier for swap sync across a framelock network. A universal
framecounter is also provided to promote synchronization across applications.
______________________________________________________________________________
Appendix W. Dots Per Inch
______________________________________________________________________________
DPI (Dots Per Inch), also known as PPI (Pixels Per Inch), is a property of an
X screen that describes the physical size of pixels. Some X applications, such
as xterm, can use the DPI of an X screen to determine how large (in pixels) to
draw an object in order for that object to be displayed at the desired
physical size on the display device.
You can query the DPI of your X screen by running:
% xdpyinfo | grep -B1 dot
which should generate output like this:
dimensions: 1280x1024 pixels (382x302 millimeters)
resolution: 85x86 dots per inch
The NVIDIA X driver performs several steps to determine the DPI of each X
screen:
o If the display device provides an EDID, and the EDID contains information
about the physical size of the display device, that is used to compute
the DPI. If multiple display devices are used by this X screen, then the
NVIDIA X screen will choose which display device to use. This can be
overriden this with the "UseEdidDpi" X configuration option: you can
specify a particular display device to use; e.g.:
Option "UseEdidDpi" "DFP-1"
or disable EDID-computed DPI by setting this option to false:
Option "UseEdidDpi" "FALSE"
EDID-based DPI computation is enabled by default when an EDID is
available.
o If the "-dpi" commandline option to the X server is specified, that is
used to set the DPI (see `X -h` for details). This will override the
"UseEdidDpi" option.
o If the "DPI" X configuration option is specified (see Appendix D for
details), that will be used to set the DPI. This will override the
"UseEdidDpi" option.
o If none of the above are available, then the "DisplaySize" X config file
Monitor section information will be used to determine the DPI, if
provided; see the xorg.conf or XF86Config man pages for details.
o If none of the above is available, the DPI defaults to 75x75.
You can find how the NVIDIA X driver determined the DPI by looking in your X
log file. There will be a line that looks something like the following:
(--) NVIDIA(0): DPI set to (101, 101); computed from "UseEdidDpi" X config
option
Note that the physical size of the X screen, as reported through `xdpyinfo` is
computed based on the DPI and the size of the X screen in pixels.
The DPI of an X screen can be confusing when TwinView is enabled: with
TwinView, multiple display devices (possibly with different DPIs) display
portions of the same X screen, yet DPI can only be advertised from the X
server to the X application with X screen granularity. Solutions for this
include:
o Use separate X screens, rather than TwinView; see Appendix O for details.
o Experiment with different DPI settings to find a DPI that is suitable for
both display devices.
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发表于 2006-04-09 14:58