Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 53698
GeForce 2 Go incorrectly configured on Dell Inspiron 8000
Last modified: 2007-04-18 12:37:09 EDT
Using the Rosswell beta2 installed the GeForce2 Go Card was detected (properly, mad props for this). However the mode lines generated for this card are disfunctional. Also the horiz-syn and vert-sync are not detected and default to a range that invalidates the generated mode lines. I got the thing to work by replaceing the mode lines (got them from the dell site, hsync 31.5-90, vsync 60), and commenting out the generated mode lines. Then i added Option "IgnoreEDID" "1" to the config file, and all worked fine. My laptop is a : Dell Inspiron 8000, P3 900Mhz, 512Mb ram, 20Gb disk, 15" 1450x1050 screen, with a GeForce2 Go, 32 Mb card (memory properly detected, also 1400x1050 is properly shown as resolution option!) I tested this with the provided XFree driver, and NVIDIA's drivers, the results are the same on both.
Created attachment 31817 [details] Rosswell generated config file (non working)
Created attachment 31818 [details] Modified config file (working)
GeForce 2 Go is not supported by this release of XFree86. http://www.xfree86.org/4.1.0/Status22.html#22
Damn you guys can be so 'high and mighty'. If you actualy read the link you gave it reads (at the bottom) "Support for the newer chips (GeForce2 and later) is only available in 4.1.0" And roswell happens to run 4.1.0 (rpm -qa and x output tells me that without a doubt). Further, you show the GeForce2 Go in the installer !! You even correctly handle memory detection and mode line generation (or attempt to). Sorry but i put a bit of effort into this stuff as well trying to help you guys out in a opensource spirit kind of way.. and this kinda stuff is NOT motivating @ all to keep helping out Now you tell your clients it supports a geforce2 go during install, then it doesnt work, and they come here to find its 'not supported'. ?? Thats confusing, and a bad way to deal with people using your product. Either choose not to support it (though it does/can work and 4.1.0 supports it). Or fix the bugs so people can install redhat 7.2 on there laptops without any problems...
There is absolutely *NOTHING* "high and mighty" about it. The Geforce 2 Go card is not supported out of the box by the XFree86 4.1.0 nv driver. Wherever possible, I try to obtain stable patches that add support to our releases for hardware not immediately supported by the stock XFree86 code. It is *NOT* possible to add support to the driver to support new nvidia hardware without working for Nvidia, since Nvidia does not release the technical specifications to its hardware. Now *think* about this -> "Geforce 2 and later". Do you really think that that is possible? It is saying "Geforce 2 and all cards that have come out since then" if you reword it. One would imply from that that it supports the "Geforce 7 UltraMega Go Deluxe Turbo Edition", since that is "later" than Geforce 2. However, 4.1.0 does *NOT* support the "Geforce 7 UltraMega Go Deluxe Turbo Edition", and it does *NOT* support the Geforce 2 Go either. I thought I made that clear and concise, and was not in any way rude or high and mighty. Looking in the xf86PciInfo.h file we find the define for the geforce 2 go as: #define PCI_CHIP_GEFORCE2GO 0x0112 That indicates that someone has added the PCI ID to the known PCI ID's in XFree86, and does not in any way shape or form imply that the driver has been updated or enhanced to support the hardware at all. Now we move into the actual driver source code: A grep of the entire source results in a single line being found for this PCI ID: nv_type.h:#define NV_CHIP_GEFORCE2GO ((PCI_VENDOR_NVIDIA << 16) | PCI_CHIP_GEFORCE2GO) What does this mean? It means that the driver aparently has had work started on it to support the card. A card is considered "supported" *BY RED HAT* when a driver is complete enough to be considered fairly useable and stable, and has been tested to some degree with actual hardware, and ONLY for cards explicitly listed in the status document. This card is NOT listed in that document, and is thus UNSUPPORTED. We have added the PCI ID's to our pci table so that the card *can* be detected and is known instead of showing up as "unknown". In the case that the card *does* get supported in a future X patch or release and is released as an erratum, it is nice to have our tools be aware of the card in advance, so that users like you don't have to upgrade 900 other tools also when upgrading X to get support for a previously unsupported card. Sorry, but your rude and obnoxious remarks which are IMHO totally unwarranted do NOT make me motivated to prioritize adding support for this to the top of my list. As an open source developer I choose to collaborate with the community via the XFree86 mailing lists, IRC, Red Hat mailing lists, and direct contact with developers to ensure our releases of XFree86 are as stable as possible, and give our users the best release possible. I focus my efforts and energy where it gives the most benefit, and the most pleasureable experience. This is not one of those pleasureable experiences. The XFree86 mailing list archives *clearly* show that this card is not supported also. You can look for David Woodhouse's thread on the Geforce 2 Go. The solution to the problem for him, was to have it replaced with ATI hardware supported fully by open source drivers. You too might want to consider that solution. Summary: GeForce 2 Go is not supported by this release of XFree86.
The config file above seems to be using the 'nvidia' binary-only driver, and as such is unfortunately not appropriate for shipping with Red Hat Linux. Users installing this driver are no longer eligible for any support from Red Hat, and indeed unlikely to receive any assistance from anyone but nVidia themselves. It would be unwise for Red Hat to make it easy for users to enter that unfortunate situation. It is my experience that the XFree86 'nv' driver which is in 4.1.0 and shipped with the Roswell beta release cannot display to the LCD on the I8000, only to the external display. The Dell part number for a suitable replacement is apparently: 5E444 - ASSY,PWA,GRPH,8M,ATI,PONG,INSP ATI Video Card, 8MB I found a 16MiB version, which cost me only 40 GBP. The replacement procedure is fairly simple and well-documented at http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/systems/plav/remove.htm#1051438
Just to clarify this issue even more, right from the horses mouth: Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 14:39:19 -0700 (PDT) From: Mark Vojkovich <mvojkovich@nvidia.com> To: XFree86 devel list <devel@xfree86.org> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Subject: Re: Nvidia status document: On Sat, 20 Oct 2001, Thomas Witzel wrote: > What means GeForce2 Go is not supported ? XFree runs on mine... > Some people have said the Toshiba laptops work with the "nv" driver. I've never seen it work, and frankly, I don't see how it can. It certainly doesn't work on the one we have here. Must be some sort of bios miracle you are seeing. The "nv" driver definitely does not support the GeForce2 Go in terms of having code required to make it work for the general case. Mark.