---------------- VMD/nVidia/SuSe9.0 - Howto V1.0 (03/05/2004) ---------------- by Maik Goette, University of Kassel, Germany (maik.goette@uni-kassel.de) This HOWTO assembles different informations gained from nVidia, Suse and John Stone, University of Illinois (VMD). This howto maybe obsolete, when SuSe distributes a fixed 9.0 version, but at the moment it can be useful for anyone experiencing problems while installing VMD on SuSe Linux 9.0 with an nVidia Quadro FX 1100 and Stereographics Crystal Glasses. nVidia driver location: http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-5336/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run (use latest file available) You can get the original installation guides for details from: [1] nVidia: ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-5336/README [2] SuSe: ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/supplementary/X/XFree86/nvidia-installer-HOWTO [3] VMD: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/current/ig.pdf This guide quotes above originals. Quotations are made this way: [X], where X stands for the mentioned number above (e.g. [3]). Before you start, I recommend updating your system, e.g. by Yast Online Update. 1. STEP [2] SuSE Linux 9.0 ----------------- NOTE: The nvidia installer does not work as long as a Xserver is still running and the nvidia kernel module is still loaded. Therefore please boot into runlevel 3 by specifying "3" as kernel boot option or switch to runlevel 3 ("init 3") and unload the kernel module ("rmmod nvidia") before running the nvidia installer. It is recommended to use YOU (YaST Online Update) for (re)installation of the nvidia driver. There are several reasons for this. First, it's simple. Second, and this is the most important one, you won't need to recompile the nvidia kernel module after a kernel update. Inside YOU enable "Installable and Installed Patches" for "Show Patch Category" and select "Download NVIDIA(c) Graphics Driver" from the patches list (usually at the bottom of the list). Note, that you need to mark it as "Update" (right mouse click) if you already installed it before and the driver was uninstalled - for any reason. Proceed as usual now. After YOU has finished restart your Xserver (i.e. logout from your Xsession) and you're fine. People who aren't afraid of recompiling the nvidia kernel module or even reinstalling the nvidia driver each time the kernel has been updated and want or need to use the latest and greatest nvidia driver can use the following steps 1-3. The others should use the instructions above using YOU and skip the steps below. 1) Kernel sources must be installed and configured. Usually this means installing the 'kernel-source' package with YaST2. Update it - if not already done - via YaST2 Online Update (YOU). 2) Use the nvidia installer for 1.0-5336. sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run 3) Configure XFree86 with sax2 -m 0=nvidia (0 is a digit, not a letter!) NOTE: There is no need to try to enable 3D support. It's already enabled, when the nvidia driver is running. Ignore the misleading error message, that 3D support can't be enabled. This problem will be fixed with SuSE > 9.0 and is related to the latest nvidia driver release. 2.Step DON'T USE SAX2 FOR ANYTHING, BECAUSE IT WILL DESTROY THE GRAPHICSCARD CONFIGURATION ! (hopefully this will be fixed in later versions) Locate your XF86Config (mostly /etc/X11/) and open it with an editor (e.g. vi). Locate "Devices" section and edit it to the following (terms in [] are just for explanation; they must not appear in the config-file !): Section "Device" BoardName "Quadro 1100" [The displayed name; unimportant] BusID "2:0:0" [Set automatically;mostly correct] Driver "nvidia" [Must be this setting !] Identifier "Device[0]" [Set automatically] VendorName "NVidia" [Vendors name; unimportant] # Option "Overlay" "on" [Optional] Option "UseEdidFreqs" "on" [Optional] # Option "IgnoreEDID" "on" [Optional] Option "Stereo" "3" [Important.For Crystal Glasses Integer = 3 !] Option "NvAGP" "3" [Maybe also 1, but 3 should always work] Option "NoFlip" "off" [Optional] Option "UBB" "on" [Optional] Option "RenderAccel" "on" [Optional] EndSection For documentation of the single settings in Device section, refer to [1]. Be also sure, that the monitors settings are correct, and the refresh rate is near or above 100 Hz, so flickering is minimized (the shutter googles display each eye with half of this setting). If you have to use Sax2 for monitor settings, use it BEFORE you make the settings above! Otherwise they will be lost(so always save your XF86Config file !). In this section, its most important for stereoview with Crystal Glasses and VMD, that Option "Stereo" is "3" and Driver is "nvidia". Next got to "Module" section (looks like below): Section "Module" Load "dbe" Load "type1" Load "speedo" Load "freetype" Load "extmod" Load "glx" Load "v4l" EndSection Make sure, "glx" is loaded (Load "glx"); "dri" and "GLcore" must not appear. If, delete them. 3.Step After installation of VMD (refer to [3]), you have to start the following options BEFORE you start VMD: VMDPREFERSTEREO=1 export VMDPREFERSTEREO An easy way to use is making a small file with an editor, placed in the VMD directory (by default /usr/local/bin/), and the following lines: VMDPREFERSTEREO=1 export VMDPREFERSTEREO vmd Use chmod to make it executable and use it to start VMD. Another way is to enclude it in your .cshrc file, though you have to edit it for every user. Add the following line setenv VMDPREFERSTEREO 1 Now this parameter starts with every login of the user in his environment. These advises may vary in the future, because hopefully, there will be a better implementation of the nVidia Quadro FX 1100. This guide is written for the combination of SuSe 9.0 Linux, nVidia Quadro FX 1100, VMD and Stereographics Crystal Glasses at last. Please feel free to contact me for errors you found in this Howto.