Hello Rich:
Found here:
https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/DRM_NOUVEAU.html
Some more info in this thread:
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=21484.0
Thanks for the information but I must say that I don't really know exactly what to make of all this.
I could not make much out of of the info in the cateee.net link until I read the other forum link.
At first sight and even after reading it over, it all seems rather contradictory and must confess that I'm rather puzzled.
So, here's what I understand:
(please allow for my lack of programming/compiling know-how and correct me if I am wrong somewhere)
1.
According to
https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/InstallNouveau/ the kernel modules required by the Nouveau driver are:
1. drm.ko
2. drm_kms_helper.ko
3. ttm.ko
4. nouveau.ko.
See:
https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/InstallNouveau/2.
According to
https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/TroubleShooting the nv driver should
not be used in X, the nouveau driver being the right one to use.
3.
The nouveau driver is available for downloading/installation from the Tinycore repositories (at least as far back as 7.1) but it does not work properly due to nouveau.ko not being loaded. The error messages in Xorg.0.log plus the information in the above troubleshooting page would indicate that is exactly the issue at hand.
4.
If I understood correctly, the nouveau.ko module not loading and the consequent malfunctioning of the nouveau driver are linked and the direct result of the kernel not being configured to load it.
ie:
# CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU is not set
5.
Reading the post from exactly two years ago that you've linked to, it would seem that this was done purposedly owing to the nouveau driver being considered at that time "
still far too unstable" without any further explanation and recommending the use of the nv driver (which does not work properly with my card as I have found out) or the NVidia propietary driver, which is unavailable in 10.1 and has been unavailable at least from 7.2.
I don't know if the criteria used two years ago to deem the nouveau driver "
still far too unstable" are still valid today, but said criteria was certainly not shared by Ubuntu and Ubuntu based distributions such as Mint where it works perfectly well on the same hardware.
Wouldn't it be
much easier to enable CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU and post a big fat warning in the info section saying that it was "
still far too unstable"?
It would certainly be much more time effective. = ^/
You have generously been answering all my questions and helping me out in my attempts to get my NVidia card to work properly for a good while, only to arrive many posts later to the fact that the nouveau driver is available for download but crippled at kernel configuration level.
I propose to those responsible for compiling the kernel that CONFIG_DRM_NOUVEAU be set.
I volunteer to test the nouveau driver and see if it still shows any stability problems.
Thank you Rich for all your help.
Best,
MM