That didn't help either. You can set the group in the XF86Config, this is not really a requirement. You can also set it taht only specific users, members of a specific group or all users can use 3D.

To reply to lightweave:

As stated in my original post, I am using the k_athlon-2.4.21-144 kernel from SuSE.

Ignore the comment about a member having to be part of group video to use 3d acceleration. 3D acceleration not being selectable with these drivers is a known issue to SuSE, they state it in their installation instructions. Good point though Madrigar.

I think that you are having so much difficulty due to the fact that you have the Radeon 9800 XT, which may need a new driver release to work. I totally agree with you that it sucks to have spent the money on it and not be able to use it. This is one of the problems being on the frontlines of hardware.
I think that the XT should be okay running in 9800Pro "mode" as it is the same chip with higher clock speed getting it to do this, may be tricky and beyond my knowledge at the moment.

edit: I just re-read the SuSE README and I don't think that I mentioned that it states only 24-bit color depth is supported. Just for troubleshooting purposes. I will add this to my how-to.

Sorry to not ask about this before, but what error do you get? I will try to help as much as I can. Give me some information about your setup:

motherboard
pci devices
hard drives (doubtfully problematic, but for completeness)
etc.
kernel


To Wolfgang67:
I read a nice howto on these forums regarding the KT 400A a long while back. It involved recompiling the kernel and editing a few values if I remember correctly. Do a search on it and look near the last few pages.

edit: I just found it see this thread

I hope not. Technically the two (Pro and XT) are pretty much the same. Of course on driver level a higher frequency could make the different.

But then again Linux is not just a small hackers OS anymore. And I guess there are many people like me who have a dual boot installation with Linux as the workhorse and Windows for gaming.

The probem is that ATI refuses to provide some help. They simply say that Linux is not supported and thats it for them.

The error I get is this:


(==) Log file: "/var/log/XFree86.0.log", Time: Tue Dec 2 20:42:08 2003
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/XF86Config-4"
(WW) fglrx: No matching Device section for instance (BusID PCI:1:0:1) found
Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/, removing from list!
DCOP aborting call from 'anonymous-3627' to 'kded'
ERROR: KUniqueApplication: DCOP communication error!
DCOP aborting call from 'anonymous-3630' to 'knotify'
ERROR: KUniqueApplication: DCOP communication error!
startkde: Shutting down...
KLauncher: Exiting on signal 1
startkde: Running shutdown scripts...
startkde: Done.


My modules seem to work fine, because when I switch to Mesa then I can run X and I can see that fglrx and agpgart are used by the X server (usage count goes up).

motherboard: Asus P4S333 (it has a Sis chipset which is detected by agpgart).
pci devices: Networkcard Realtek (forgot the number but I don't think it matters)
hard drives (doubtfully problematic, but for completeness) 2x80GB Maxtor
I also have a Miro DC30+ video editing card. I already thought about removing it since it also doesn't really work. That's one reason why I bought the Asus 9800XT, because it has Video In/Out and I hope that there will be support for Linux in there.
kernel: 2.4.22 unpatched (kernel.org).

OK... edited to delete my last error messages and all.

Did procedure exactly as typed, and now have an avg 4400fps in glxgears!!! Also tried the GL screensavers that never worked before, and they are GREAT (except for the whales one - it still sux). I imagine I will have to do this each time there is a kernel update from SuSE (like when I uodated to the Athlon kernel and lost my nforce ethernet again and had to build from tar.gz src).

Good job on the procedure

I followed the instructions in this thread and still wasn't quite there. I went back to the info posted at the SuSE website below:

http://www.suse.de/en/private/downlo...e86/index.html

...there I found in their instructions the following command:

switch2xf86_glx

Voila! Gears now running at nearly 7000 on my ATI Radeon 9500 Pro.

Now, if only I can get Chromium to run (all other 3D apps/games I have tried work great)!

John

"Never let the computer win!"

SuSE Linux 8.2 Pro
Duron 1300
ECS K75SA
1GB DDR RAM
Using embedded SiS sound and network
Floppy
Samsung DVD-ROM
Aopen CD-RW

Didn't see that command anywhere before... Hmm... Wonder if it has a different end result from what was posted here? I was running KDE with the gears getting around 4500fps in 1280x1024, 24bit color. Did not try in Gnome...

Which brings me to this question... The Atlantis(GL) screen saver with the whales and sharks still runs like CRAP in KDE. However, smooth as can be in Gnome. Any clue? Is it just overhead in KDE? Love the look/feel of KDE, but guess could use Gnome for gamin if it was faster

First do

lspci

to list all pci devices. You should see something pertaining to the Radeon XT in BusID PCI:1:0:0 and PCI:1:0:1
if you see something else, then that is your problem and needs to be fixed.

I was checking through my XFree86.0.log file and I get this about halfway through:

(II) Primary Device is: PCI 02:00:0
(WW) fglrx: No matching Device section for instance (BusID PCI:2:0:1) found
(--) Chipset ATI R350 NH (R9800) found

There are two outputs on the Radeon 9800 XT and it looks like yours is set up for the second output, and you probably want the first, unless you are using the DVI connection. I suggest running the ATI control panel and making sure that the primary display is set to 1 if that is what you are using.

The following is the beginning of my log file, if this helps you:

(==) Log file: "/var/log/XFree86.0.log", Time: Mon Dec 8 20:38:09 2003
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/XF86Config-4"
(==) ServerLayout "Server Layout"
(**) |-->Screen "Screen0" (0)
(**) | |-->Monitor "Monitor0"
(**) | |-->Device "ATI Graphics Adapter"

I still don't quite understand why your vesa driver allows you access to KDE and the fglrx one will not. Very strange. One would think it would still render 2D just fine. I hope that you can simply adjust the primary monitor and get it to work. Post back with any good news/questions.

Just gotta say Sirra....

THANK YOU!!!!

Obviously, it worked for me! I followed the Sirra method to the letter.
FWIW here are my complete specs:
AMD 1800XP
512 DDR 333 KingMax
MSI KT3 Ultra-2 VIA-KT333
Sapphire Readon 9500 NP
SB Live Value PCIslot-4
Dlink DFE 530-TX PCIslot-3
WD 80gb
AOpen 12xDVD
Optorite 40x12x40x CDR

I feel the need to mention, I have PNP OS turned on in my BIOS, but I've set the PCI slot IRQs. I feel alot of users need to do this if the bios allows. It solved my NIC and SBlive issue right away. BTW, I had to also go into the soundcard setup and put a default "0" on the settings for Input and Output lines before it would work!??

Thanx again to all......

I'm following this thread closely.

I have a 9800XT as well, and I get errors identical to lightweave. When I do a fresh install and follow sirra462's instructions, I can't load X. Same errors as lightweave posted. When I change my XF86Config to load Vesa drivers X loads without issue.

Does anyone know of any distro (I'm not married to SuSE) that allows the 9800XT to work in X AND with OpenGL?

I'm on an intel chipset motherboard with a P4 3.06/533 CPU, BTW.

Which Suse do you have? Which kernel?

I suspect that this will work only with Suse 9.0 using KDE 3.1.4 probably. I'm currently installing a gentoo installation, but since this is my first time it will take some time until I can tell anything.

On the other hand I might be wrong about KDE. When I run fvwm2 then OpenGL should work if my assumption is correct, but it doesn't either, so it could be a generl problem with that card.
I hope that I'm wrong.

SuSE 9. Tried it with default kernel and then later ran YOU to update the kernel with patches. Before and after I got the same errors.

Fedora didn't seem happy either, but I tried it and on a lark and didn't spend a lot of time with it. Slackware 9.1 is next on my list

EDIT: And I don't care if I use KDE or Gnome, as the gnome www.usr-local-bin.org binaries for SuSE 9 are great.

This sounds like a specific problem with the XT. Check out the rage3d.com linux forum. I would post the link, but I can't get the site to load at the moment. You will probably find a lot of other people with XT problems as well.

ok nice tutorial.
i have done all but still just mesa and 375 FPS
even with fresh install.
allready by step 4 with lsmod i had no frglx in there and agpgart was 0 unused.
after all was ready i did lsmod and no frglx mod either
still mesa and low FPS
do i have to do some other online updates then just Kernel-144-athlon ?
Did u update any nforce drivers ?
Thx in advace.
Venca

I'm running nvidia now. If anyone wants a discount on a new barely used 9800XT send an email to me via my forum profile.

Cheers.

I followd SuSE's README, and it works fine! It's just something strange... Why do I have to login in, out, and then in again when i start my machine ti activate the drivers? They doesn't work if I dont'...