GFX Card Support

Nuts... After spending all day getting Ubuntu linux networked so that I could install BMAX I finally find out that the Matrox g400 won't work in 3dmode! It says it's supported in 16bit mode but it don't work..

Anyone got it to work?

I'd suggest you ask this on a more linux oriented forum, unless flameduck has the answer, you're unlikely to find someone with that distro and that gfx card here.

Yeah, sux... I cant get fedora core working with my radeon x700. I think the last time I tried the kernel didnt support PCI-E or something. <edit>actually, thinking on that, text based stuff was ok, so it was probably driver problems.

I got it working - no idea how. But it runs like a dog (with one leg).

you might want to check if 16 bit modes are listed in xorg.conf.. if not, you'll want to set it manually..

yeah it's 16 bit, apparently I need a Binary driver if I need any performance, that means NVidia or ATI.

Bot Builder, if you're using Fedora Core 4, you'll have some troubles getting the ATI driver to compile under GCC 4.0 from the install script.

You can go to livna.org for RPMs which worked for me, or wait for ATI to get their stuff together. For x86 and for x86-64. You'll need the ati-fglrx and kernel-module-fglrx packages to suit your kernel version.

If you need more help let me know or take a look here.

Matrox do provide Linux Drivers on their website. It appears they have been updated to support XOrg 6.8.2. Since I don't run Ubuntu or have a Matrox card, I doubt I can be much help.

Matrox only support upto 6.8.1 on this card :(

64 bit. I asked the freeenode fedora core people and they directed me to do all the fglrx stuff, it installed and everything but still didnt work. I'm afraid to take it off though, as I think grub runs off it.

Thanks for the link - maybe I'll fix it some time.

Do you think that all linux users have issues run games that need 3D Acceleration? If this is the case then there is not point me even bothering to port to Linux.

Probably another question for a Linux forum, but I know that I am having one hell of a time trying to get any version of Linux recognise my Radeon 9800 Pro. From what I have read owners of Nvidia cards fair much better and have theirs working in next to no time at all.

Although it's being a pain in the butt for me, I am still determined to get a working version of Linux up and running because it is still an as yet untapped market for all my future projects. Plus, it's actually free to set up - i.e. you don't have to buy another machine (Mac?).

Also, given that there are some AAA titles out there for Linux there must be a market for them or they wouldn't bother. Basically, given that it is a free market to get into, you have nothing to lose apart from the days/weeks that it took you to get a working Linux system going.

I believe that GarageGames said something to the effect that a Mac port of a shareware game is worthwhile, but a Linux port is something you do as a labour of love rather than something for profit.

I think some distributions make installing proprietry drivers unnecessarily hard. Some distros have philosophical issues with including closed-source binaries. To me, they should ship them or make them available and let the user decide.

The ATI installer worked perfectly for me on Suse 9.3 (unlike the RPMS included) and the Nvidia stuff worked fine under Fedora Core 4. The ATI stuff was a bit more of a pain on Fedora Core 4, but there's bound to be some teething problems with a new GCC release.

I did ditch Fedora Core 4 for Suse because it was becoming too much of a hassle having to muck with everything that had changed, plus the KDE stuff kept crashing. I'd recommend Suse or Ubuntu personally.

Things 3D wise are improving on Linux, but bear in mind your market isn't quite your usual Windows loving computer illiterate just yet, so a bit of hassle for 3D isn't going to scare most Linux die hards off.