docs/fbdev-dri.html

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   3 <TITLE>Mesa fbdev/DRI Environment</TITLE>
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   7 <center><H1>Mesa fbdev/DRI Drivers</H1></center>
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   9
  10 <H1>1. Introduction</H1>
  11
  12 <p>
  13 The fbdev/DRI sub-project within Mesa brings hardware accelerated OpenGL
  14 rendering to the Linux fbdev environment.
  15 The X Window System / XFree86 is not needed.
  16 </p>
  17
  18 <p>
  19 Basically, the <a href="http://dri.sf.net/">DRI</a> drivers for hardware
  20 accelerated OpenGL for XFree86 have been ported to fbdev so that X is
  21 not needed.
  22 This means fbdev/DRI works in full-screen mode only.
  23 </p>
  24
  25 <p>
  26 DRI driver writers may find this simplified environment easier to work in,
  27 compared to the full XFree86/DRI environment.
  28 </p>
  29
  30 <p>
  31 Much of the work for this project has been done by Jon Smirl and
  32 Keith Whitwell.
  33 </p>
  34
  35 <p>
  36 To use fbdev/DRI, you'll need a Linux 2.4 or 2.6 kernel.
  37 </p>
  38
  39 <p>
  40 The fbdev/DRI Mesa code is in the Mesa CVS trunk (to be released as Mesa
  41 5.1 in the future).
  42 </p>
  43
  44
  45 <h1>2. Compilation</h1>
  46
  47 <p>
  48 Assuming you're starting with a fresh Mesa CVS checkout, do the following:
  49 </p>
  50 <pre>
  51    cd Mesa-newtree
  52    cp Makefile.X11 Makefile     # or use a symlink
  53    make linux-solo
  54 </pre>
  55
  56 <p>
  57 When this is finished, check the <code>Mesa-newtree/lib</code> directory
  58 to verify that the following files were made:
  59 </p>
  60
  61 <ul>
  62 <li><code>libGL.so.1.2</code> - the client-side OpenGL library
  63     (and a few symlinks to it).
  64 <li><code>libGLU.so.1.1</code> - the GLU library (and a few symlinks to it).
  65 <li><code>libglut.so.3.7</code> - the GLUT library (and a few symlinks to it).
  66 <li><code>mga_dri.so</code> - DRI driver for Matrox G200/G400 cards.
  67 <li><code>r128_dri.so</code> - DRI driver for ATI Rage 128 cards.
  68 <li><code>r200_dri.so</code> - DRI driver for ATI R200 Radeon cards.
  69 <li><code>radeon_dri.so</code> - DRI driver for original ATI Radeon cards.
  70 <li><code>i810_dri.so</code> - DRI driver for Intel i810/i815 chips.
  71 <li><code>i830_dri.so</code> - DRI driver for Intel i830/i845 chips.
  72 <li><code>mga_dri.so</code> - DRI driver for Matrox G200/G400 cards.
  73 <li><code>sis_dri.so</code> - DRI driver for SIS cards.
  74 <li><code>tdfx_dri.so</code> - DRI driver for 3dfx Voodoo 3/4/5 cards.
  75 <li><code>gamma_dri.so</code> - DRI driver for 3Dlabs gamma cards.
  76 <li><code>fb_dri.so</code> - software-only fbdev driver.
  77 <li><code>miniglx.conf</code> - configuration file for the MiniGLX interface
  78 </ul>
  79
  80
  81 <h1>3. Using fbdev/DRI</h1>
  82
  83 <p>
  84 If XFree86 is currently running, exit/stop the X server so you're
  85 working from the console.
  86 </p>
  87
  88
  89 <h2>3.1 Kernel Modules</h2>
  90
  91 <p>
  92 You'll need to load kernel modules specific to your graphics hardware.
  93 The following kernel modules should be included with your kernel.
  94 </p>
  95
  96
  97 <p>
  98 If you have ATI Radeon/R200 hardware, run as root:
  99 </p>
 100 <pre>
 101    modprobe agpgart            # the AGP GART module
 102    modprobe radeonfb           # the Radeon fbdev driver
 103    modprobe radeon             # the Radeon DRI kernel module
 104 </pre>
 105
 106 <p>
 107 If you have ATI Rage 128 hardware, run as root:
 108 </p>
 109 <pre>
 110    modprobe agpgart            # the AGP GART module
 111    modprobe aty128fb           # the Rage 128 fbdev driver
 112    modprobe r128               # the Rage 128 DRI kernel module
 113 </pre>
 114
 115 <p>
 116 If you have Matrox G200/G400 hardware, run as root:
 117 </p>
 118 <pre>
 119    modprobe agpgart            # the AGP GART module
 120    modprobe mgafb              # the Matrox fbdev driver
 121    modprobe mga                # the Matrox DRI kernel module
 122 </pre>
 123
 124 <p>
 125 Then run <code>lsmod</code> to be sure the modules are loaded.
 126 For a Radeon card, you should see something like this:
 127 </p>
 128 <pre>
 129 Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted
 130 radeon                110308   0  (unused)
 131 radeonfb               21900   0  (unused)
 132 agpgart                43072   1
 133 </pre>
 134
 135 <p>
 136 If the driver complains that the radeon/mga/etc/ kernel module is too
 137 old, you'll have to compile/install a newer one from the DRI project.
 138 </p>
 139
 140
 141 <h2>3.2 Configuration File</h2>
 142
 143 <p>
 144 The <code>Mesa-newtree/lib/miniglx.conf</code> file should be installed
 145 in <code>/etc/</code>.
 146 </p>
 147
 148 <p>
 149 Edit <code>/etc/miniglx.conf</code> to be sure it's set up correctly
 150 for your hardware.
 151 Comments in the file explain the options.
 152 </p>
 153
 154
 155 <h2>3.3 Running fbdev/DRI Programs</h2>
 156
 157 <p>
 158 Make sure your LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable is set to the
 159 <code>Mesa-newtree/lib/</code> directory.
 160 </p>
 161
 162 <p>
 163 Change to the <code>Mesa-newtree/progs/miniglx/</code> directory and
 164 start the sample_server program in the background:
 165 </p>
 166 <pre>
 167    ./sample_server &
 168 </pre>
 169
 170 <p>
 171 Then try running the <code>miniglxtest</code> program:
 172 </p>
 173 <pre>
 174    ./miniglxtest
 175 </pre>
 176 <p>
 177 You should see a rotating quadrilateral which changes color as it rotates.
 178 It will exit automatically after a bit.
 179 </p>
 180
 181 <p>
 182 If you run other tests in the miniglx/ directory, you may want to run
 183 them from a remote shell so that you can stop them with ctrl-C.
 184 </p>
 185
 186
 187
 188 <h1>4.0 Troubleshooting</h1>
 189
 190 <p>
 191 If you try to run miniglxtest and get the following:
 192 </p>
 193 <pre>
 194    [miniglx] failed to probe chipset
 195    connect: Connection refused
 196    server connection lost
 197 </pre>
 198 <p>
 199 It means that the sample_server process is not running.
 200 </p>
 201
 202
 203
 204
 205 <h1>5.0 Programming Information</h1>
 206
 207 <p>
 208 The full OpenGL API is available with fbdev/DRI.
 209 </p>
 210
 211 <p>
 212 OpenGL/Mesa is interfaced to fbdev via the <a href="MiniGLX.html">MiniGLX</a>
 213 interface.
 214 MiniGLX is a subset of Xlib and GLX API functions which provides just
 215 enough functionality to setup OpenGL rendering and respond to simple
 216 input events.
 217 </p>
 218
 219 <p>
 220 Since MiniGLX is a subset of the usual Xlib and GLX APIs, programs written
 221 to the MiniGLX API can also be run on full Xlib/GLX implementations.
 222 This allows some degree of flexibility for software development and testing.
 223 </p>
 224
 225 <p>
 226 However, the MiniGLX API is not binary-compatible with full Xlib/GLX.
 227 Some of the structures are different and some macros/functions work
 228 differently.
 229 See the <code>GL/miniglx.h</code> header file for details.
 230 </p>
 231
 232
 233 </body>
 234 </html>