FreeBSD 5.1 & Ati. Gentoo maybe?

[[H]exx]

Sloppy title...whatever. Hey all, finally glad the [H] is back.

Last night I decided I would install FreeBSD 5.1 (Release) on my main machine. I know Ati doesn't have any drivers for my card released (only for linux). I have an Ati 9600 XT 128mb card.

So the OS got installed fine (except the bootloader messed up the mbr so I have an issue getting into Windows XP). I installed the KDE 3.1 port along with X11 and that is all that's on the machine right now (for BSD stuff).

So...to get to my point, how can I get X configured for my card so that I can start KDE happily? I get an error when starting X (which says it can't open the display) which is related to the wrong driver. I have it set to Ati (generic).

I have heard that the drivers work fine with Gentoo, but I have not used that OS at all. I will take a look at it in a bit (I'm at work right now) but I love FreeBSD (have it running on my server too). I don't plan to do any 3D stuff....that's what XP is for.

Are there any "production" drivers out there? Opensource like drivers for the 9600?

TIA

[ameoba]

IIRC, the architecture of the 9500 and beyond have greatly departed from that of the previous chips, so the Open Radeon driver doesn't (yet, if ever) know how to deal with them (and ATI's not helping any with specs on the chips).

You might have some luck with the vesa (very generic video card interface) but it won't have much in the way of performance.

[[H]exx]

I think I tried vesa..I don't remember though. I'll try it again tonight though. I really don't want to switch to Gentoo just yet (yet another learning curve...bah).

[[H]EMI_426]

I think I had my 9600 working just fine with the radeon driver built in with X, however there won't be any hardware acceleration. I had KDE working once, but I went back to WindowMaker.

I blew away that install of FreeBSD a while back, returning that machine to Windows-only use, so I can't be much more help than that.

[auswipe]

exx']So...to get to my point, how can I get X configured for my card so that I can start KDE happily? I get an error when starting X (which says it can't open the display) which is related to the wrong driver. I have it set to Ati (generic).


Have you gone through the X configuration recommeneded by the FreeBSD Handbook?

I have used my ATI 9700 Pro with multi-monitors without too much trouble. If you like, I can post my X configuration file that I use with my ATI 9700 Pro.

[BillLeeLee]

You don't need to install drivers to get ATi cards working in FreeBSD, I recommend you try doing the X configuration again and make sure all the values are right.

[[H]exx]

Well I started installing Gentoo last night when I got home. I'm not done the install yet, but I am learning a LOT about how linux works and stuff.

As for the FreeBSD stuff....I will try it if I can't get Gentoo to work....I keep bouncing back and forth here. Baaah!


2D is fine in KDE for me. As long as I have my colors and it doesn't look like crap. 3D will be done in Windows....which I have to fix the bootloader.

Anyways...

Thanx for the info guys...if I get totally stuck again I'll post up again.

[[H]exx]

OK OK OK OK....!!!

I got FreeBSD back on...I'm happy....sorta. I am using the versa driver right now and configured my monitor so I actually got into KDE but there is a problem I would like to solve.

After I login to the machine as root I can not just type startkde. I get errors. It goes something like this:

xsetroot: unable to open display ''
xset: unable to open display ""
xset: unable to open display ""
xset: unable to open display ""

And then there is some more stuff and it says it is force exiting kwin (i believe that is what it said).

How I got into kde: I typed startx. I can run kde from here but it is in stupid xterm windows. So I exited out. I typed in kwin....w00t it starts looking better. So I typed in startkde. It started!

I am also having some drive problems I think. There are times when the machine kinda freezes. I can move the mouse still and the drive is reading/writing and stuff. I think that is because I shut it down (force shutdown that is)....when it locked up before in xf86cfg (I put in the wrong res size and my monitor spazed).

Anyways....any help would be great. Where does the XFree86.0.log sit? I can't do locate or and I have never used the find command. Locate says my database is too small. Remember, I am still learning here.

TIA

[[H]EMI_426]

Log files should be in /var/log, like God intended. :)

find / -type f -name "XFree86.0.log"

Learn find(1) well. It is your friend. It is one of the most overlooked and neglected unix tools out there, but it's very useful.

As far as starting KDE, how about editing your ~/.xinitrc and adding a line for startkde at the top?

Why are you starting X as root? Don't do that. :) Don't do anything you can do as a regular user as root, and even when you do need to do things as root use su or sudo. I don't think I've ever actually logged in to a FreeBSD box as root except maybe when I have to do things in single-user mode...

[[H]exx]

Ok....

I'm probably just dumb but where is the .xinitrc file? I tried doing a search but only came up with Permission Denied on folders. I am no longer in as root. The only reason why I was in as root is because I JUST finished setting up the machine.

So....I am in KDE but with terminal I can not "su" it says Sorry. Do I need to add my extra user account (the one I am using now) to the wheel group?

[[H]EMI_426]

If you want to be able to use su under FreeBSD, your user will need to be in the wheel group.

The .xinitrc should be in your home directory (that's what the ~ represented). If it's not, create one. Try "man X" if you want to learn more about how X starts and what files it reads when it starts.

[auswipe]

[H]exx, here is my XF86Config file. I tried to PM you back but the forum said that I was only allowed to post one message per 45 second time period even though I hadn't posted a message originally. :confused: :rolleyes:

Here is my config file that I used to use with my ATI 9700 Pro.


Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "XFree86 Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen1" 0 0
Screen 1 "Screen0" RightOf "Screen1"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType/"
FontPath "unix/:7101"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "extmod"
Load "glx"
Load "dri"
Load "dbe"
Load "record"
Load "xtrap"
Load "speedo"
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"

#Option "AllowDeactivateGrabs" "true"
#Option "AllowClosedownGrabs" "true"
Option "Xinerama" "false"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "Auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psm0"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Buttons" "6"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "NEC"
ModelName "MultiSync 70"
HorizSync 31.5 - 82.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 100.0
ModeLine "1280x1024@85Hz(VESA)" 157.5 1280 1344 1504 1728 1024 1025 1028 1072 +hsync +vsync
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor1"
VendorName "ViewSonic"
ModelName "PS790"
HorizSync 31.5 - 82.0
VertRefresh 40.0 - 150.0
ModeLine "1280x1024@85Hz(VESA)" 157.5 1280 1344 1504 1728 1024 1025 1028 1072 +hsync +vsync
EndSection

Section "Device"

#ChipId 0x4e441002
#ChipRev 0x0
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "ati"
VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc"
BoardName "Radeon R300 ND [Radeon 9700]"
BusID "PCI:3:0:0"
Screen 1
EndSection

Section "Device"

#ChipId 0x4e641002
#ChipRev 0x0
Identifier "Card1"
Driver "ati"
VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc"
BoardName "Radeon R300 ND [Radeon 9700]"
BusID "PCI:3:0:0"
Screen 0
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "Card1"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection


I am currently in the process of compiling KDE on my newly installed FreeBSD 5.2.1-RELEASE-p8 machine. I got a cheap Gigabyte FX5200 card for putzing around. I've had decent experience in the past with my GEForce3 Ti 200 and Unreal Tournament 2003.

Wish ATI had drivers for FreeBSD, though. I really like my ATI 9700 Pro.

[[H]exx]

Sweet deal.

Thx.