16626d6e0Sshatty<html> 26626d6e0Sshatty<head> 36626d6e0Sshatty <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> 46626d6e0Sshatty <meta name="GENERATOR" content="The DarkSite"> 590879508SRudolf Cornelissen <title>Readme for (open)BeOS Unified Nvidia graphics driver</title> 66626d6e0Sshatty</head> 76626d6e0Sshatty<body> 890879508SRudolf Cornelissen<h2 align="center">Unified Nvidia graphics driver for (open)BeOS</h2></align><br><br> 96626d6e0Sshatty<hr> 106626d6e0Sshatty<h3><strong>NOTE PLEASE:</strong><br> 111208ac27SRudolf CornelissenYou use this software at your own risk! Although I don't expect it to damage your PC, videocard or Monitor, I cannot guarantee this!</h3> 126626d6e0Sshatty<hr> 1390879508SRudolf Cornelissen<h2>Supported cards (as far as is known):</h2> 1490879508SRudolf Cornelissen<ul> 1590879508SRudolf Cornelissen <li>TNT 1/2; 1690879508SRudolf Cornelissen <li>TNT 2-M64; 1790879508SRudolf Cornelissen <li>Vanta/Aladdin TNT2; 1890879508SRudolf Cornelissen <li>GeForce 256; 191208ac27SRudolf Cornelissen <li>GeForce 2 MX/Ti/GTS/Go; 2090879508SRudolf Cornelissen <li>GeForce 2 Integrated GPU (Nforce) (setup RAM amount manually for now); 2190879508SRudolf Cornelissen <li>GeForce 3 (Ti); 221208ac27SRudolf Cornelissen <li>GeForce 4 MX/Ti/Go; 2390879508SRudolf Cornelissen <li>GeForce 4 Integrated GPU (Nforce 2) (setup RAM amount manually for now); 241208ac27SRudolf Cornelissen <li>GeForce FX 5200/5600/5700/5800/5900/5950/Go; 251208ac27SRudolf Cornelissen <li>Quadro (2/4/FX/Go). 2690879508SRudolf Cornelissen</ul> 276626d6e0Sshatty<br> 2890879508SRudolf Cornelissen<hr> 2990879508SRudolf Cornelissen<h2>Features:</h2> 3090879508SRudolf Cornelissen<ul> 31b406af49SRudolf Cornelissen <li>Hardware cursor support (on both heads on dualhead cards); 3290879508SRudolf Cornelissen <li>Full 2D acceleration; 3390879508SRudolf Cornelissen <li>Full BWindowScreen support (used for hardware pageflipping, scrolling/panning and acceleration in applications/games); 341208ac27SRudolf Cornelissen <li>DPMS support for analog connected screens (on both heads on dualhead cards); 35cc6f5542SRudolf Cornelissen <li>B_YCbCr422 hardware overlay support on both TNT and GeForce series cards (overlay follows head in dualhead stretch/switch modes); 361208ac27SRudolf Cornelissen <li>Dualhead support on GeForce dualhead cards (use Mark Watson's 'Dualhead Setup' from BeBits for now); 37*ee6141d2SRudolf Cornelissen <li>DVI and laptop panel (widescreen) support; 38*ee6141d2SRudolf Cornelissen <li>Basic AGP mode support on AGP cards, using the (seperate) BeOS AGP driver. 3990879508SRudolf Cornelissen</ul> 4090879508SRudolf Cornelissen<strong>Known limitations:</strong> 4190879508SRudolf Cornelissen<ul> 4290879508SRudolf Cornelissen <li>If the driver does not load make sure you enabled 'assign IRQ to VGA card' in your system BIOS; 4390879508SRudolf Cornelissen <li>Embedded GeForce RAM detection is non-functional: please set amount manually for now via the nv.settings file (driver probably defaults to 1Mb if you don't). If you have overlay trouble, set a slightly smaller amount of RAM than you actually specified in the system BIOS (1Mb less or so); 44b406af49SRudolf Cornelissen <li>If the driver still seems to create 'random' trouble make sure you have a fully functional VGA BIOS, or system BIOS for embedded cards (check for updates on the manufacturor's site). Make sure you mail me if you still have trouble but also if this version fixed that! 45fcbddbedSRudolf Cornelissen <li>If on a laptop the internal panel doesn't work when you connect an external monitor, make sure you set 'output device selection' to 'internal' (instead of 'auto') in the system BIOS if it has such an option. If you have this symptom on a normal card, or on a laptop without that BIOS option then you are probably out of luck for dualhead support. 4690879508SRudolf Cornelissen</ul> 4790879508SRudolf Cornelissen<br> 4890879508SRudolf Cornelissen<hr> 4990879508SRudolf Cornelissen<h2>Installation:</h2> 50331cdb72SRudolf CornelissenIf you encounter bugs, please checkout the driver's <a href="http://web.inter.nl.net/users/be-hold/BeOS/NVdriver/index.html">website</a> to see if it's already on the todo list. You can also checkout the <a href="UPDATE.html">UPDATE</a> file included with this driver to see if it should have been fixed. If you think it's prudent, or if you are unsure, then please fill out the <a href="http://web.inter.nl.net/users/be-hold/BeOS/NVdriver/bugreport.html">bugreport form</a> on the site or send me an <a href="mailto:info.be-hold@inter.nl.net">Email</a>. Make sure you are as precise as possible because that will make things easier to trackdown and fix...<br> 516626d6e0Sshatty<br> 526626d6e0Sshatty<br> 536626d6e0SshattyOK, now that's all said let's get to it ;-)<br> 546626d6e0Sshatty<br> 556626d6e0SshattyIn contrary to what I have said before you don't need to de-install official Be drivers for this driver to work correctly. This driver will install in the user part of the BeOS, so not in the system part where the official drivers are.<br> 566626d6e0SshattyBeOS first checks (during boot) if there are 'user-addons' that should be loaded for a device. If not, it loads it's own drivers (if any). You can select which driver should be loaded by hitting the spacebar as soon as the BeOS 'icons' screen appears. If you select <strong>disable user addons</strong> the system will load it's own drivers. If you don't do anything, the system will load the (open)BeOS Nvidia TNT/GeForce graphics driver.<br> 576626d6e0Sshatty<br> 586626d6e0Sshatty<strong>Note:</strong> This might turn out to be handy if you run into trouble upon testing the driver, or if you are 'tweaking' the nv.settings file...<br> 596626d6e0Sshatty<br><br> 606626d6e0Sshatty<strong>actual INSTALLATION:</strong><br> 616626d6e0Sshatty<br> 6290879508SRudolf CornelissenDoubleclick on the install.sh file and follow the instructions. You have to reboot in order to load the driver. Make sure you read the <strong>Settings</strong> information below before you do that...<br> 636626d6e0Sshatty<br> 646626d6e0Sshatty<br> 656626d6e0Sshatty<strong>alternate INSTALLATION method:</strong><br> 666626d6e0Sshatty<br> 6790879508SRudolf CornelissenUnzip the zip file that contains the driver to the root folder. Now reboot and you should be using the new driver.<br> 686626d6e0Sshatty<br> 696626d6e0Sshatty<br> 7090879508SRudolf Cornelissen<strong>DE-INSTALLATION:</strong><br> 716626d6e0Sshatty<br> 7290879508SRudolf CornelissenCurrently there's no uninstall script included. Just do it manually:<br> 7390879508SRudolf Cornelissen<br> 7490879508SRudolf CornelissenDelete the <strong>nv.accelerant</strong> file in <strong>home/config/add-ons/accelerants/</strong><br> 7590879508SRudolf CornelissenDelete the <strong>nv.driver</strong> file in <strong>home/config/add-ons/kernel/drivers/bin/</strong><br> 7690879508SRudolf CornelissenDelete the <strong>nv.settings</strong> file in <strong>home/config/settings/kernel/drivers/</strong><br> 7790879508SRudolf CornelissenDelete the <strong>nv.driver shortcut</strong> in <strong>home/config/add-ons/kernel/drivers/dev/graphics/</strong> which pointed to the file <strong>nv.driver</strong>.<br> 7890879508SRudolf Cornelissen<br> 7990879508SRudolf CornelissenYou have to reboot in order to apply the original configuration.<br> 8090879508SRudolf Cornelissen<br> 816626d6e0Sshatty<br> 826626d6e0Sshatty<hr> 836626d6e0Sshatty<a name="settings"></a><h2>Settings:</h2><br> 846626d6e0SshattyPlease read this information carefully *before* installing and using the (open)BeOS Nvidia TNT/GeForce graphics driver. It might spare you some trouble afterwards..<br> 856626d6e0Sshatty<p>The driver uses a file named <strong>nv.settings</strong> to determine how to use your card. After installation this file will be located at <strong>home/config/settings/kernel/drivers/</strong>. How you should setup this file depends on what you want to do with the driver. While it has a 'failsave' default configuration, you might be able to do better than that... Anyway, read the nifty details below.<br> 866626d6e0Sshatty<br> 876626d6e0Sshatty<strong>Note:</strong> The driver only reads this file during it's initialisation. This means that you have to reboot in order to let changes take effect.<br> 886626d6e0Sshatty<br> 896626d6e0Sshatty<br> 906626d6e0Sshatty<br> 916626d6e0Sshatty<strong>nv.settings driver configuration:</strong><br> 926626d6e0Sshatty<ul> 936626d6e0Sshatty <li><strong>memory:</strong> (disabled by default)<br> 946626d6e0Sshatty This option enables you to override the 'memory amount autodetection' of the driver. If autodetection is working incorrect, you can manually set the amount this way. You could also lower the amount of RAM to a lower value than actually there to test with for instance overlay use in applications. So this option is probably mostly of interest to developers. Specify the RAM amount in Mb (use only 'whole' numbers!).<br> 956626d6e0SshattyThis option is disabled by default (preceded by a '#').<br> 966626d6e0Sshatty<li><strong>hardcursor:</strong><br> 9790879508SRudolf Cornelissen A hardcursor is nessesary for DirectWindow windowed mode support. 986626d6e0Sshatty <ul> 996626d6e0Sshatty <li><strong>false:</strong><br> 100881996e8SRudolf Cornelissen If you have trouble with the hardcursor (on one or both of the heads), select <strong>hardcursor false</strong>. Make sure you let me know about the hardcursor trouble also: this should not happen! 1016626d6e0Sshatty <li><strong>true:</strong> (default setting)<br> 10290879508SRudolf Cornelissen A software cursor 'flickers' a bit sometimes because it has to be redrawn constantly. So <strong>hardcursor true</strong> is the preferred setting. For DirectWindow windowed mode functionality you need to use this setting also (Chart demo app for instance). 1036626d6e0Sshatty </ul> 1046626d6e0Sshatty<li><strong>logmask:</strong> (set to minimal by default)<br> 10590879508SRudolf CornelissenThe logmask option is very handy to track down trouble in the driver. You should only enable this if you are doing so, otherwise keep it turned off because it slows down your system. (All lines have a '#' preceding 'logmask' by default.) Logging creates a logfile called <strong>nv.accelerant.0.log</strong> in your <strong>~ (home)</strong> folder. A second logfile may get created depending on how the driver is used (on cloning; for BWindowScreen for example). The second file is called <strong>nv.accelerant.1.log</strong>, and it will also be in your home folder.<br> 1066626d6e0Sshatty<strong>Note:</strong> 1076626d6e0Sshatty<ul> 1086626d6e0Sshatty<li>You may only enable *one* logmask-line. The value you place after it (hexadecimal 32bit) determines what will be logged. The first 7 digits determine the part of the driver that will be logging, the last single digit determines the level of logging (like 'all messages', or only 'error messages'). 1096626d6e0Sshatty</ul> 1106626d6e0Sshatty<li><strong>dumprom:</strong><br> 1116626d6e0SshattyDumprom is another 'tool' for bug-tracking purposes. 1126626d6e0Sshatty <ul> 1136626d6e0Sshatty <li><strong>false:</strong> (default setting)<br> 1146626d6e0Sshatty Keep it set to <strong>dumprom false</strong>, unless you want the driver to dump the contents of your VGA BIOS ROM in a file. 1156626d6e0Sshatty <li><strong>true:</strong><br> 1166626d6e0Sshatty <strong>dumprom true</strong> lets the driver dump a copy of your VGA BIOS in a file called <strong>nv.rom</strong> in your <strong>~ (home)</strong> folder. 1176626d6e0Sshatty </ul> 1180669fe20SRudolf Cornelissen<li><strong>switchhead:</strong><br> 119fcbddbedSRudolf CornelissenThe driver always autodetects which output should be used as primary one, but you can let the driver 'invert' the outcome of that detection with this option (only for dualhead cards). 1200669fe20SRudolf Cornelissen <ul> 1210669fe20SRudolf Cornelissen <li><strong>false:</strong> (default setting)<br> 122fcbddbedSRudolf Cornelissen Keep it set to <strong>switchhead false</strong>, unless you feel you want the card's other output to be used as primary one. Note that if a single connected screen is found, that screen will be the driver's primary output with this setting. 1230669fe20SRudolf Cornelissen <li><strong>true:</strong><br> 124fcbddbedSRudolf Cornelissen <strong>switchhead true</strong> lets the driver 'invert' the output assignments for all modes. Use only when you have two screens connected, otherwise the one connected screen will remain black as the other (not connected) output is being used.<br> 125fcbddbedSRudolf Cornelissen </ul> 126fcbddbedSRudolf Cornelissen<strong>Note:</strong> 127fcbddbedSRudolf Cornelissen<ul> 128fcbddbedSRudolf Cornelissen <li>If the driver determines it cannot use a digital panel <strong>despite</strong> it being physically connected and powered on, using the switchhead option will not fix this. This is no fault in your card or the panel, but happens only because the driver relies on certain functions inside your cards BIOS to behave in a certain way. 1290669fe20SRudolf Cornelissen</ul> 130*ee6141d2SRudolf Cornelissen <li><strong>force_pci:</strong><br> 131*ee6141d2SRudolf CornelissenOn AGP cards you can block the use of AGP mode transfers. 132*ee6141d2SRudolf Cornelissen <ul> 133*ee6141d2SRudolf Cornelissen <li><strong>false:</strong> (default setting)<br> 134*ee6141d2SRudolf CornelissenKeep this option set to <strong>force_pci false</strong>, unless the graphics card or motherboard has trouble using AGP. 135*ee6141d2SRudolf Cornelissen <li><strong>true:</strong><br> 136*ee6141d2SRudolf Cornelissen<strong>force_pci true</strong> prevents the graphicsdriver from activating AGP mode, so it will be using PCI mode like it has always been in the past. The downside of this is that this comes at a performance penalty if your motherboard supports the AGP 'fastwrite' (FW) option, which won't be utilized with this setting. 137*ee6141d2SRudolf Cornelissen 138*ee6141d2SRudolf Cornelissen </ul> 1396626d6e0Sshatty</ul> 1406626d6e0Sshatty 1416626d6e0Sshatty<hr> 1426626d6e0Sshatty<br> 143331cdb72SRudolf Cornelissen<a href="mailto:info.be-hold@inter.nl.net">Rudolf Cornelissen.</a> 144*ee6141d2SRudolf Cornelissen<p>(Page last updated on June 21, 2004)</p> 1456626d6e0Sshatty</body> 1466626d6e0Sshatty</html> 147