G84M grapics card driver kernel/Xorg

[TinyFun]

Hi,

Being used to Mint and Knoppix, TC is proving a steep learning curve. Sometimes frustrating, still fun.

Started with Coreplus on lenovo thinkpad R61
installed
graphics-3.8.13-tinycore
xf86-video-nouveau
Xorg-7.7
Xorg-7.7-3d

Xorg seems to work, (with some help, got evince working) but only very basic. For instance xrandr only provided a few resolutions, much less than other distros.

Xorg.0.log shows nouveau drivers are loaded:

[    38.860] (II) NOUVEAU driver for NVIDIA chipset families :
[    38.860]    RIVA TNT        (NV04)
[    38.860]    RIVA TNT2       (NV05)
[    38.860]    GeForce 256     (NV10)
[    38.860]    GeForce 2       (NV11, NV15)
[    38.860]    GeForce 4MX     (NV17, NV18)
[    38.860]    GeForce 3       (NV20)
[    38.860]    GeForce 4Ti     (NV25, NV28)
[    38.860]    GeForce FX      (NV3x)
[    38.860]    GeForce 6       (NV4x)
[    38.860]    GeForce 7       (G7x)
[    38.860]    GeForce 8       (G8x)          <-------------------- G84M on my machine
[    38.860]    GeForce GTX 200 (NVA0)
[    38.860]    GeForce GTX 400 (NVC0)

Btw: Xorg also loads xvesa, modesetting and fbdev, but warns that it could not find module "nv".
Should xvesa be removed ?
is missing "nv" causing the problem ?

Searching, found out that linux actually needs two drivers: for kernel and Xorg. Illuminating pic at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Linux_Graphics_Stack_2013.svg

Lspci -k -mvv gave this result for my grahics card:

Slot:   01:00.0
Class:   VGA compatible controller
Vendor:   nVidia Corporation
Device:   G84M [Quadro NVS 140M]
SVendor:   Lenovo
SDevice:   ThinkPad T61
Rev:   a1

Other distros (working well) show a line saying driver: nouveau, and a line starting with module

Questions:
- am I correct in thinking that somehow the kernel module (libDRM) driver for nouveau is not loaded?
- if so, how to rectify ?
- am I looking at (shaking with fear)  having to recompile the kernel ?
- if so, where to start finding info about how to do that?

Any help would be welcome. Want to learn, want to try, but at the moment I'm looking at a brick wall.
Feel like a junior league player suddenly thrown into a major league game.

[Juanito]

Is xf86-video-nv what you're looking for?

[TinyFun]

Hi Juanito,

Thank you for fast answer. After installing xf86-video-nv, Xorg now loads the module. One step closer.

But still only have 3 options for resolution. Failed to mention in prev post that module "modesetting" is also not found by Xorg.

And also: still no DRM driver visible in output lspci -k -mvv

[Juanito]

You could try xf86-video-modesetting, but I'm not sure this is going to bring anything.

[TinyFun]

@Juanito

already did and no, it didn't

So still wondering what is wrong

[Juanito]

is the nvidia-agp module loaded?

[TinyFun]

Checked the last xorg.0.log, does not show agp. But, forgive me, what is agp module? It is not in tcz repository. 

[Juanito]

nvidia-agp is a kernel module in the graphics-KERNEL extension (you can see what is where using the "provides" function of the apps gui).

[TinyFun]

OK, checking with provides gave me tcz : "graphics-3.8.13-tinycore". But this is already loaded onboot.

lsmod gives this result: intel-agp (bold).

Module                  Size  Used by    Tainted: P 
xt_owner               12288  4
ipt_REJECT             12288  1
xt_conntrack           12288  1
xt_LOG                 16384  0
nf_conntrack_ftp       12288  0
iptable_nat            12288  0
nf_conntrack_ipv4      16384  2
nf_defrag_ipv4         12288  1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
nf_nat_ipv4            12288  1 iptable_nat
nf_nat                 16384  2 iptable_nat,nf_nat_ipv4
nf_conntrack           40960  6 xt_conntrack,nf_conntrack_ftp,iptable_nat,nf_conntrack_ipv4,nf_nat_ipv4,nf_nat
cpufreq_stats          12288  0
cpufreq_powersave      12288  0
cpufreq_userspace      12288  0
cpufreq_conservative    12288  0
snd_hda_codec_analog    61440  1
iwl4965                65536  0
iwlegacy               32768  1 iwl4965
mac80211              155648  2 iwl4965,iwlegacy
wl                   3833856  0
joydev                 16384  0
snd_hda_intel          28672  0
snd_hda_codec          57344  2 snd_hda_codec_analog,snd_hda_intel
cfg80211              110592  4 iwl4965,iwlegacy,mac80211,wl
snd_hwdep              12288  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                49152  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
i2c_i801               16384  0
lib80211               12288  1 wl
snd_timer              20480  1 snd_pcm
snd                    36864  6 snd_hda_codec_analog,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
intel_agp              12288  0
soundcore              12288  1 snd
intel_gtt              16384  1 intel_agp
snd_page_alloc         12288  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
agpgart                24576  2 intel_agp,intel_gtt
squashfs               24576 218
loop                   20480 436
acpi_cpufreq           12288  1
microcode              12288  0
pcspkr                 12288  0
sdhci_pci              12288  0
battery                16384  0
ac                     12288  0
sdhci                  24576  1 sdhci_pci
mmc_core               53248  1 sdhci
video                  16384  0
backlight              12288  1 video
r592                   16384  0
wmi                    12288  0
memstick               12288  1 r592
lpc_ich                16384  0
e1000e                106496  0
mfd_core               12288  1 lpc_ich
mperf                  12288  1 acpi_cpufreq

[Juanito]

does your machine have a dual graphics system - intel + nvidia - by any chance?

What happens with "sudo modprobe nvidia-agp"?

[TinyFun]

Dual graphics: No. Only Nvidia. Strangely, knoppix reports: nvidia G86 quadro nvs 14M, not G84 like TC.

after reboot to text mode, ran "sudo modprobe nvidia-agp" and "startx" result:

lsmod shows nvidia_agp loaded. Also agpgart loaded and used by nvidia_agp, intel_agp, intel_gtt

no change in output lspci -k (so still no kernel driver ?), no change in output xrandr

Knoppix shows kernel module nouveau loaded from /lib/modules/3.9.6/kernel/drivers/GPU/drm/nouveau/nouveau.ko

starting to run before learning to walk ? A well, swimming is best learned in the water.

EDIT: Also tried loading extensions libdrm.tcz and linux-3.8.3-api-headers. Still no luck

[tinypoodle]

# CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU is not set

http://tinycorelinux.net/5.x/x86/release/src/kernel/config-3.8.13-tinycore

[TinyFun]

OK, that seems to make sense. The file you pointed me to shows configuration of TC kernel.

Suppose that means that I have to compile the kernel with # CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU uncommented.
So I have a new project.

Any tips on where to start ? Have never compiled a kernel myself before, always thought that was something for real linux guru's.

[curaga]

See previous topics: http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,14983.msg86917.html#msg86917

I recommend you use the Nvidia binary driver if nv, vesa, fbdev don't support your resolution. Nouveau is very unstable, it might be fine in one version and then in another you have a black screen.

[TinyFun]

Thanks for the tip. And for the time you put into this question before. The active and helpful cooperation of TC-community really makes a difference. Without guys like you and Tinypoodle, I would probably have given up in desperation.

Before following up on it however, have started to read this: http://www.linux.org/threads/%EF%BB%BFthe-linux-kernel-introduction.4203/  to understand the basics.
When basics mastered, I believe there are some extra TC-specific things to think about (saw something about package tc-compile).

At present it is outside the scope of my limited abilities, so this process is probably going to take a while.

Compiling my own kernel. Wow ! would that really be possible ?