See you there!

Developers Coding Styles
-Developers coding in the newest, latest, greatest and most up to date compilers etc. That aren’t backwards compatible with what general users have on their systems. And to top it off they put checks in their programming that check if you have things enabled if not it won’t work for you. Yet they do not tell you that this is a requirement before you decide to install or use their program. After 100 reruns of installing required components then trying to install their software you’ll finally have it working.

to be continued……

Note: As of the date of this article: June 25, 2009 the git repository version of DRM will cause your system to hang (at least that’s what happened for me) so I had to use version 2.4.1

apt-get build-dep libdrm mesa
apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`
apt-get install libxi-dev libxmu-dev x11proto-xf86vidmode-dev
apt-get install git-core autoconf automake libtool
apt-get install xorg-dev libgl1-mesa-dev
apt-get install mesa-utils

installed the latest dri2proto

Download drm revision 2.4.1 and extract it then

$ cd drm/linux-core

$ make mach64.o

$ sudo cp *.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/char/drm/

$ sudo depmod -a

$ sudo modprobe mach64

edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to have

Section "Module"
Load "dri"
Load "glx"
EndSection
...
Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "mach64"
Option "ForcePCIMode" "True"
Option "TVOut"
EndSection
...
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection
...
Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection
...

When you startx and test with glxinfo you should see that direct rendering is enabled now.

BELOW ARE ALL THE VARIOUS TESTING METHODS I HAD TO GO THROUGH TO GET THIS WORKING

=============

If you are trying to get 3D graphics using the mach64 drivers and it isn’t working here are a few references. I was trying to get this working with Debian Lenny 5.01 and it was not happening. Tried a bunch of different steps, but ran into various compiling errors etc. Then I decided to run a live CD of Ubuntu Jaunty to see if it would work, not only was sound immediately working but after checking glxinfo I seen that Direct Rendering was also enabled. To make things short, I scrapped the Debian install and put Ubuntu on.

Reference this bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy/+source/linux-source-2.6.15/+bug/34590

Reference: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mach64

Reference: http://cassianoleal.wordpress.com/2008/03/08/one-more-try-on-the-mach64/

Reference: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=7200&highlight=mach64

Reference: http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Debian_Installation_Guide

Reference: http://wiki.debian.org/AtiHowTo

Reference (kernel drm no longer compatible with mesa drm): http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2008/12/21/from-ati-to-mach64/

Reference (TVOut): http://osdir.com/ml/linux.redhat.fedora.general/2003-11/msg01902.html

Reference (atitvout): http://0pointer.de/lennart/projects/atitvout/

Get this file: http://xorg.freedesktop.org/archive/individual/driver/xf86-video-mach64-6.8.1.tar.gz
Note: check the directory for the latest version of the driver
———————————————————–
I tried a few different things and crashed my system
After a fresh install here is what I did:
Using this guide here:

http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/Building

apt-get build-dep libdrm mesa
apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`
apt-get install libxi-dev libxmu-dev x11proto-xf86vidmode-dev
apt-get install git-core autoconf automake libtool
apt-get install xorg-dev libgl1-mesa-dev
apt-get install mesa-utils

installed the latest dri2proto

Create a ~/src/drm-git directory and run git clone
git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/mesa/drm

inside the drm-git directory
This will get the latest drm drivers from upstream.

$ cd drm/linux-core

$ make mach64.o

$ sudo cp *.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/char/drm/

$ sudo depmod -a

$ sudo modprobe mach64

edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to have

Section "Module"
Load "dri"
Load "glx"
EndSection
...
Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "mach64"
Option "ForcePCIMode" "True"
Option "TVOut"
EndSection
...
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection
...
Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection
...

After starting x and then typing glxinfo it was showing direct rendering yes, but then the system would crash with the caps lock and scroll lock lights flashing

At this Point I decided to give up. It was costing me too much time for what it was worth.
————————————-
After fully reading the bug report that I link to at the top. I decided to compile an updated kernel for Debian Lenny 5.01. The current kernel that comes with it is 2.6.26-2-686. The one I was recompiling was a generic 2.6.30.

Compile the new kernel with a disabled DRM module (in menuconfig):
Device Drivers --->
Graphics support --->
Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 4.1.0 and higher DRI support)


Downloaded the package atitvout to see if I could also get tv out working with the card.

———-
side note:
For some reason after installing the new kernel, my /dev/hda1 changed to /dev/sda1

And after installing the headers, there wasn’t a link to the build directories so I had to make the symbolic link myself:
Reference this post: http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=65997

ln -s /usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r)/ /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build

————————–
Another shot at it

Check this bug: drm.ko and mach64.ko cause kernel panic after drm release 2.4.1

Trying to compile drm release 2.4.1 with kernel 2.6.30:

had to make changes to sources here are the references (too many changes to mention all):

first error
-conflicting types for ‘irqreturn_t’
-fix:http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=574620

second error
-Note in kernels greater than 2.6.27 You will get an error: drm_fops.c:253: error: ‘struct task_struct’ has no member named ‘euid

See: http://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/drm/commit/?id=26ca0bca9bd5e23b1d31bc6dfb6d58b62143447b

Third Error
-drm_sysfs.c:172: error” ‘struct device’
-See:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1143819

Note: After making these changes it was able to finish compiling, however I was unable to install the drm.ko or mach64.ko modules

Reference this post here: http://www.chineselinuxuniversity.net/articles/11519.shtml

Basically, after installing ALSA you have to install the alsa-firmware-1.0.16 package, then run these commands:

rmmod snd_maestro3
modprobe snd_maestro3

I have this working on Lenny with alsa-driver-1.0.20

This fixed sound on a Dell CPx Laptop running Debian Lenny 5.01

If you get errors trying to compile and install snd_maestro3, go back to installing the alsa-driver and follow through with the command
./snddevices

To change the hostname of a Debian system and make it permanent, you will have to edit this file

/etc/hostname

Enter the new hostname that you wish to change to then run this command:

/etc/init.d/hostname.sh start
Logout and log back in to see if the changes are active

Approx is like the equivalent of Microsoft’s WSUS or SUS on a Debian system. It’s a proxy service that runs on a server to save on bandwidth and time for installing programs and updates by utilizing a cache. Instead of continuously downloading, the updates are stored locally on the Approx server. This helps if you have multiple Debian systems that will need updating. An added bonus is that it works on Ubuntu also (seeing as Ubuntu is a Debian derivative).

To install:
apt-get install approx

Here are the lines that I have added to the file /etc/apt/sources.list on the client computer:

deb http://server:9999/debian/ stable main non-free contrib
deb-src http://server:9999/debian/ lenny main non-free contrib

deb http://server:9999/security stable/updates main non-free contrib
deb-src http://server:9999/security lenny/updates main non-free contrib

deb http://server:9999/volatile lenny/volatile main non-free contrib
deb-src http://server:9999/volatile lenny/volatile main non-free contrib

Also see this guide for extra info: http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/system/kernel-pkg.html

See this page here for tips on how to remove the old kernel: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/proper-way-to-remove-old-linux-kernels/

Please note the completed install the size of a minimal Ubuntu JeOS 9.04 system is around 486MB (info provided by using df within the VM)

Seeing as JeOS does not work on VMware Player (see this bug here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-jeos/+bug/185205)

I decided to configure a Debian Kernel using the JeOS Kernel config as a template, but without the PAE support.

Here are the changes I made to the kernel config that is installed in the Debian base system:

• I loaded the JeOS Kernel config into menuconfig
• Select Processor type and features
• Scroll down to High Memory Support (64GB)
• Change it to 4GB

Note: When I went through with the make command to compile the Kernel,  there was a period where I had to click through a lot of options.  I left them as default by just holding down the enter key until they all went through.

When I went through with the make I received this error: missing zlib.h, so I had to run this command:

sudo apt-get install zlib1g-dev libssl-dev

Starting up ...
This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU:
pae
Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU.

The workaround for this can be found here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-jeos/+bug/185205

Basically you need to boot from the CD on startup and install the linux-generic kernel

If you plan on installing FXRuby on Ubuntu you will have to make sure a few packages are installed, or else the install will error out.

Here is one error that I ran into while trying to install:

extconf.rb:4:in 'require':no such file to load -- mkmf (LoadError)

What fixed this error was an install of ruby1.8-dev

Here is another error that I got:

/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lXrandr

The fix for this is to install libxrandr-dev

So here are the packages that are required to get FXRuby (the version I installed was FXRuby-1.6.19 on Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty)

ruby
libfox-1.6-dev
ruby1.8-dev
libxrandr-dev

See this site for further configuration explanations: http://sanbarrow.com/vmx/vmx-config-ini.html

sched.mem.pshare.enable = "FALSE"
mainMem.useNamedFile = "FALSE"
MemTrimRate = "0"
MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"

Finding what settings in the .vmx file actually do is pretty vague but from my searches here is what I found.

sched.mem.pshare.enable = "FALSE"
This disables page sharing. Disable this if the Host has enough memory. This should improve disk I/O on slow disks.

mainMem.useNamedFile = "FALSE"
This one stops the VM from using the memory file for swapping

MemTrimRate = "0"
This stops the Host from taking back memory space that the VM is not using

———————
The ones that I put into use are:
sched.mem.pshare.enable = "FALSE"
mainMem.useNamedFile = "FALSE"