NVIDIA Accelerated FreeBSD Driver Set README and Installation Guide NVIDIA Corporation Last Updated: $Date$ Most Recent Driver Version: 96.43.05 ______________________________________________________________________________ Preface ______________________________________________________________________________ The NVIDIA Accelerated FreeBSD Driver Set brings accelerated 2D functionality and high-performance OpenGL support to FreeBSD x86 with the use of NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs). These drivers provide optimized hardware acceleration for OpenGL and X applications and support nearly all recent NVIDIA graphics chips (please see Appendix A for a complete list of supported chips). TwinView, TV-Out and flat panel displays are also supported. This README describes how to install, configure, and use the NVIDIA Accelerated FreeBSD Driver Set. Answers to frequently asked questions and problem diagnoses for common issues are also provided. ______________________________________________________________________________ Introduction ______________________________________________________________________________ This document provides instructions for the installation and use of the NVIDIA Accelerated FreeBSD Driver Set. Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 walk the user through the process of downloading, installing and configuring the driver. Chapter 4 addresses frequently asked questions about the installation process, and Chapter 5 provides solutions to common problems. In case additional information is required, Chapter 6 provides contact information for NVIDIA FreeBSD driver resources, and Chapter 7 provides a brief listing of external resources. It is assumed that the user has at least a basic understanding of FreeBSD techniques and terminology. However, Chapter 8 provides details on parts of the installation process that new users may find helpful. Additional information is presented in several Appendices. These include supported hardware and system requirements, comprehensive lists of options for various utilities associated with the driver, setup details for specific configurations, and advanced topics and features. CONTENTS: Preface Introduction I. Installation Instructions 1. Installing the NVIDIA Driver 2. Linux Compatibility Support 3. Configuring X for the NVIDIA Driver II. Additional Information 4. Frequently Asked Questions 5. Common Problems 6. NVIDIA Contact Info 7. Additional Resources 8. Tips for New FreeBSD Users 9. Credits III. Appendices A. Supported NVIDIA Graphics Chips B. Minimum Software Requirements C. Installed Components D. X Config Options E. The Sysctl Interface F. Configuring Low-level Parameters G. OpenGL Environment Variable Settings H. Configuring AGP I. Configuring TwinView J. Configuring TV-Out K. Configuring a Laptop L. Programming Modes M. Flipping and UBB N. Known Issues O. GLX Support P. Configuring Multiple X Screens on One Card Q. Display Device Names R. The X Composite Extension S. The nvidia-settings Utility T. Support for GLX in Xinerama U. The XRandR Extension V. SLI and MultiGPU FrameRendering W. Frame Lock and Genlock X. Dots Per Inch ______________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 1. Installing the NVIDIA Driver ______________________________________________________________________________ This installation procedure will likely be simplified further in the future, but for the moment you will need to download the NVIDIA FreeBSD Driver Set archives from the NVIDIA website, extract them to a temporary location of your choice, and run the following from the root of the extracted directory hierarchy: % make install This will compile the NVIDIA FreeBSD kernel module, install it, and kldload it. It will also remove any conflicting OpenGL libraries, and install the NVIDIA OpenGL libraries. The '/dev/nvidia' device files will be created (unless the system is using devfs), and your '/boot/loader.conf' file will be updated to automatically load the NVIDIA kernel module on boot, as well as the Linux ABI compatiability module should you not have it compiled into your kernel. ______________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 2. Linux Compatibility Support ______________________________________________________________________________ If you wish to run Linux OpenGL applications on your FreeBSD machine, you will need to make sure that several prerequisites are met. First, you should follow the basic Linux compatibility installation guide in the FreeBSD Handbook (install the linux_base package, etc). Once the basic components are in place, you will need to install the NVIDIA Linux OpenGL libraries in '/compat/linux/usr/lib' (do not brandelf them!); if the '/compat/linux/usr/lib/' directory exists when you install the FreeBSD driver, the Linux compatibility OpenGL libraries will automatically be installed. Additionally, the 'nvidia.ko' kernel module needs to be built with support for the Linux ABI compatibility layer. This is the case by default; as a consequence, the 'nvidia.ko' kernel module requires the 'linux.ko' module to be loaded. Note: If you have no need for Linux ABI compatibility and do not wish to load 'linux.ko', you can build the 'nvidia.ko' kernel module without support for the Linux ABI compatibility layer (see 'nv-freebsd.h' for details). ______________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3. Configuring X for the NVIDIA Driver ______________________________________________________________________________ The X configuration file provides a means to configure the X server. This section describes the settings necessary to enable the NVIDIA driver. A comprehensive list of parameters is provided in Appendix D. The NVIDIA Driver includes a utility called nvidia-xconfig, which is designed to make editing the X configuration file easy. You can also edit it by hand. USING NVIDIA-XCONFIG TO CONFIGURE THE X SERVER nvidia-xconfig will find the X configuration file and modify it to use the NVIDIA X driver. In most cases, you can simply answer "Yes" when the installer asks if it should run it. If you need to reconfigure your X server later, you can run nvidia-xconfig again from a terminal. nvidia-xconfig will make a backup copy of your configuration file before modifying it. Note that the X server must be restarted for any changes to its configuration file to take effect. More information about nvidia-xconfig can be found in the nvidia-xconfig manual page by running. % man nvidia-xconfig EDITING THE CONFIGURATION FILE BY HAND In April 2004 the X.Org Foundation released an X server based on the XFree86 server. While your release may use the X.Org X server, rather than XFree86, the differences between the two should have no impact on NVIDIA FreeBSD users with two exceptions: o The X.Org configuration file is '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' while the XFree86 configuration file is '/etc/X11/XF86Config'. The files use the same syntax. This document refers to both files as "the X config file". o The X.Org log file is '/var/log/Xorg.#.log' while the XFree86 log file is '/var/log/XFree86.#.log' (where '#' is the server number -- usually 0). The format of the log files is nearly identical. This document refers to both files as "the X log file". In order for any changes to be read into the X server, you must edit the file used by the server. While it is not unreasonable to simply edit both files, it is easy to determine the correct file by searching for the line (==) Using config file: in the X log file. This line indicates the name of the X config file in use. If you do not have a working X config file, there are a few different ways to obtain one. A sample config file is included both with the XFree86 distribution and with the NVIDIA driver package (at '/usr/X11R6/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/'). Tools for generating a config file (such as 'xf86config') are generally included with FreeBSD. Additional information on the X config syntax can be found in the XF86Config manual page (`man XF86Config` or `man xorg.conf`). If you have a working X config file for a different driver (such as the "nv" or "vesa" driver), then simply edit the file as follows. Remove the line: Driver "nv" (or Driver "vesa") (or Driver "fbdev") and replace it with the line: Driver "nvidia" Remove the following lines: Load "dri" Load "GLCore" In the "Module" section of the file, add the line (if it does not already exist): Load "glx" There are numerous options that may be added to the X config file to tune the NVIDIA X driver. Please see Appendix D for a complete list of these options. Once you have completed these edits to the X config file, you may restart X and begin using the accelerated OpenGL libraries. After restarting X, any OpenGL application should automatically use the new NVIDIA libraries. If you encounter any problems, please see Chapter 5 for common problem diagnoses. ______________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 4. Frequently Asked Questions ______________________________________________________________________________ This section provides answers to frequently asked questions associated with the NVIDIA FreeBSD x86 Driver and its installation. Common problem diagnoses can be found in Chapter 5 and tips for new users can be found in Chapter 8. Also, detailed information for specific setups is provided in the Appendices. NVIDIA DRIVER Q. Where should I start when diagnosing display problems? A. One of the most useful tools for diagnosing problems is the X log file in '/var/log'. Lines that begin with "(II)" are information, "(WW)" are warnings, and "(EE)" are errors. You should make sure that the correct config file (i.e. the config file you are editing) is being used; look for the line that begins with: (==) Using config file: Also make sure that the NVIDIA driver is being used, rather than the "nv" or "vesa" driver. Search for (II) LoadModule: "nvidia" Lines from the driver should begin with: (II) NVIDIA(0) Q. How can I increase the amount of data printed in the X log file? A. By default, the NVIDIA X driver prints relatively few messages to stderr and the X log file. If you need to troubleshoot, then it may be helpful to enable more verbose output by using the X command line options -verbose and -logverbose, which can be used to set the verbosity level for the 'stderr' and log file messages, respectively. The NVIDIA X driver will output more messages when the verbosity level is at or above 5 (X defaults to verbosity level 1 for 'stderr' and level 3 for the log file). So, to enable verbose messaging from the NVIDIA X driver to both the log file and 'stderr', you could start X with the verbosity level set to 5, by doing the following % startx -- -verbose 5 -logverbose 5 Q. I have read that the NVIDIA FreeBSD Driver is not a native driver, but sits on top of the Linux ABI compatibility layer. Is this true? A. No, the NVIDIA FreeBSD Driver Set is a native driver. It does provide Linux OpenGL libraries in addition to the native, FreeBSD libraries to enable users to run Linux OpenGL applications. Q. Is the NVIDIA FreeBSD Accelerated Driver Set thread-safe? A. This release is thread-safe on FreeBSD 5.3 or later systems making use of the libpthread or libthr KSE threading libraries. On these systems, the NVIDIA Linux ABI compatibility libraries are fully thread-safe as well. Q. Why can't the Linux compatibility libraries correctly determine if they are used in a multithreaded application? A. The Linux compatibility libraries are not able to correctly determine if they are used in a multithreaded application because the %gs segment register is not initialized correctly for Linux compatibility. The '__GL_SINGLE_THREADED' environment variable (set to "1") can be used to work around this issue, but at the cost of thread-safeness. Q. Why do applications that use DGA graphics fail? A. The NVIDIA driver does not support the graphics component of the XFree86-DGA (Direct Graphics Access) extension. Applications can use the XDGASelectInput() function to acquire relative pointer motion, but graphics-related functions such as XDGASetMode() and XDGAOpenFramebuffer() will fail. The graphics component of XFree86-DGA is not supported because it requires a CPU mapping of framebuffer memory. As graphics boards ship with increasing quantities of video memory, the NVIDIA X driver has had to switch to a more dynamic memory mapping scheme that is incompatible with DGA. Furthermore, DGA does not cooperate with other graphics rendering libraries such as Xlib and OpenGL because it accesses GPU resources directly. It is recommended that applications use OpenGL or Xlib, rather than DGA, for graphics rendering. Using rendering libraries other than DGA will yield better performance and improve interoperability with other X applications. Q. My kernel log contains messages that are prefixed with "Xid"; what do these messages mean? A. "Xid" messages indicate that a general GPU error occurred, most often due to the driver misprogramming the GPU or to corruption of the commands sent to the GPU. These messages provide diagnostic information that can be used by NVIDIA to aid in debugging reported problems. Q. On what NVIDIA hardware is the EXT_framebuffer_object OpenGL extension supported? A. EXT_framebuffer_object is supported on GeForce FX, Quadro FX, and newer GPUs. Q. I use the Coolbits overclocking interface to adjust my graphics card's clock frequencies, but the defaults are reset whenever X is restarted. How do I make my changes persistent? A. Clock frequency settings are not saved/restored automatically by default to avoid potential stability and other problems that may be encountered if the chosen frequency settings differ from the defaults qualified by the manufacturer. You can use the command line below in '~/.xinitrc' to automatically apply custom clock frequency settings when the X server is started: # nvidia-settings -a GPUOverclockingState=1 -a GPU2DClockFreqs=, -a GPU3DClockFreqs=, Here '' and '' are the desired GPU and video memory frequencies (in MHz), respectively. Q. Why is the refresh rate not reported correctly by utilities that use the XRandR X extension (e.g., the GNOME "Screen Resolution Preferences" panel, `xrandr -q`, etc)? A. The XRandR X extension is not presently aware of multiple display devices on a single X screen; it only sees the MetaMode bounding box, which may contain one or more actual modes. This means that if multiple MetaModes have the same bounding box, XRandR will not be able to distinguish between them. In order to support DynamicTwinView, the NVIDIA X driver must make each MetaMode appear to be unique to XRandR. Presently, the NVIDIA X driver accomplishes this by using the refresh rate as a unique identifier. You can use `nvidia-settings -q RefreshRate` to query the actual refresh rate on each display device. This behavior can be disabled by setting the X configuration option "DynamicTwinView" to FALSE. For details, see Appendix I. ______________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 5. Common Problems ______________________________________________________________________________ This section provides solutions to common problems associated with the NVIDIA FreeBSD x86 Driver. Q. My X server fails to start, and my X log file contains the error: (EE) NVIDIA(0): The NVIDIA kernel module does not appear to (EE) NVIDIA(0): be receiving interrupts generated by the NVIDIA graphics (EE) NVIDIA(0): device PCI:x:x:x. Please see the COMMON PROBLEMS (EE) NVIDIA(0): section in the README for additional information. A. This can be caused by a variety of problems, such as PCI IRQ routing errors, I/O APIC problems or conflicts with other devices sharing the IRQ (or their drivers). If possible, configure your system such that your graphics card does not share its IRQ with other devices (try moving the graphics card to another slot if applicable, unload/disable the driver(s) for the device(s) sharing the card's IRQ, or remove/disable the device(s)). Q. My X server fails to start, and my X log file contains the error: (EE) NVIDIA(0): The interrupt for NVIDIA graphics device PCI:x:x:x (EE) NVIDIA(0): appears to be edge-triggered. Please see the COMMON (EE) NVIDIA(0): PROBLEMS section in the README for additional information. A. An edge-triggered interrupt means that the kernel has programmed the interrupt as edge-triggered rather than level-triggered in the Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC). Edge-triggered interrupts are not intended to be used for sharing an interrupt line between multiple devices; level-triggered interrupts are the intended trigger for such usage. When using edge-triggered interrupts, it is common for device drivers using that interrupt line to stop receiving interrupts. This would appear to the end user as those devices no longer working, and potentially as a full system hang. These problems tend to be more common when multiple devices are sharing that interrupt line. Q. X starts for me, but OpenGL applications terminate immediately. A. If X starts but you have trouble with OpenGL, you most likely have a problem with other libraries in the way, or there are stale symlinks. See Appendix C for details. You should also check that the correct extensions are present; % xdpyinfo should show the "GLX" and "NV-GLX" extensions present. If these two extensions are not present, then there is most likely a problem loading the glx module, or it is unable to implicitly load GLcore. Check your X config file and make sure that you are loading glx (see Chapter 3). If your X config file is correct, then check the X log file for warnings/errors pertaining to GLX. Also check that all of the necessary symlinks are in place (refer to Appendix C). Q. When Xinerama is enabled, my stereo glasses are shuttering only when the stereo application is displayed on one specific X screen. When the application is displayed on the other X screens, the stereo glasses stop shuttering. A. This problem occurs with DDC and "blue line" stereo glasses, that get the stereo signal from one video port of the graphics card. When a X screen does not display any stereo drawable the stereo signal is disabled on the associated video port. Forcing stereo flipping allows the stereo glasses to shutter continuously. This can be done by enabling the OpenGL control "Force Stereo Flipping" in nvidia-settings, or by setting the X configuration option "ForceStereoFlipping" to "1". Q. Stereo is not in sync across multiple displays. A. There are two cases where this may occur. If the displays are attached to the same GPU, and one of them is out of sync with the stereo glasses, you will need to reconfigure your monitors to drive identical mode timings; please see Appendix L for details. If the displays are attached to different GPUs, the only way to synchronize stereo across the displays is with a G-Sync device, which is only supported by certain Quadro cards. Please see Appendix W for details. This applies to seperate GPUs on seperate cards as well as seperate GPUs on the same card, such as Quadro FX 4500 X2. Note that the Quadro FX 4500 X2 only provides a single DIN connector for stereo, tied to the bottommost GPU. In order to synchronize onboard stereo on the other GPU you must use a G-Sync device. Q. X fails to start, and during bootup time I get error messages nvidia0: NVRM: NVIDIA REG resource alloc failed. or nvidia0: NVRM: NVIDIA IRQ resource alloc failed. A. The system bios has not properly setup your graphics card; FreeBSD can't currently setup PCI devices that the BIOS leaves unconfigured. Please uncheck "PNP-OS" in your system bios. Q. X fails to start, and during bootup time I get the following error message: nvidia0: NVRM: NVIDIA MEM resource alloc failed. A. On certain FreeBSD kernels, it may be necessary to add the following line to '/boot/loader.conf': hw.pci.allow_unsupported_io_range="1" This should allow the NVIDIA kernel module to attach. Q. My X server fails to start, and my X log file contains the error: (EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA kernel module! A. Nothing will work if the NVIDIA kernel module does not function properly. If you see anything in the X log file like (EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA kernel module! then there is most likely a problem with the NVIDIA kernel module. The NVIDIA kernel module may print error messages indicating a problem -- to view these messages please check the output of `dmesg`, '/var/log/messages', or wherever syslog is directed to place kernel messages. These messages are prepended with "NVRM". Q. When I attempt to start `nvidia-settings`, I get an error message of the form: Shared object "libgtk-x11-2.0.so.400" not found, required by nvidia-settings A. Due to differences between the gtk+-2.x ports packages included with different FreeBSD 5.x releases, the prebuilt nvidia-settings binary shipped with the NVIDIA driver may not work with FreeBSD releases more recent than FreeBSD 5.3. If you have a recent ports package of gtk+-2.x and gmake installed on your system, you can build the nvidia-installer utility from source to solve this problem. Download nvidia-settings-1.0.tar.gz (or the latest version) from ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nvidia-settings You can then extract, build and install it (to '/usr/local/bin') with: % gmake install Q. When I attempt to run `nvidia-xconfig` after the NVIDIA FreeBSD graphics driver installation, I get an error message of the form: nvidia-xconfig: Command not found. A. Depending on the shell you are using, you may need to force it to recompute its internal table of executable files present in the directories listed in the '$PATH' variable. Assuming you are using the FreeBSD default shell you can do so by issuing the command: % rehash Q. When I attempt to start a Linux application as 'root', I get the error message: NVIDIA: failed to execute '/sbin/modprobe': No such file or directory. A. When initialized by an application executed with 'root' privileges, the NVIDIA Linux OpenGL library, shipped with the NVIDIA FreeBSD graphics driver for Linux ABI compatibility, will attempt to load the NVIDIA Linux kernel module and fail because /sbin/modprobe is absent. You can work around this problem by creating a symbolic link from '/usr/bin/true' to '/compat/linux/sbin/modprobe': % ln -s /usr/bin/true /compat/linux/sbin/modprobe Q. My system runs, but seems unstable. What is wrong? A. Your stability problems may be AGP-related. See Appendix H for details. Q. OpenGL applications are running slowly A. The application is probably using a different library still on your system, rather than the NVIDIA supplied OpenGL library. Please see Appendix C for details. Q. There are problems running Quake2. A. Quake2 requires some minor setup to get it going. First, in the Quake2 directory, the install creates a symlink called 'libGL.so' that points at 'libMesaGL.so'. This symlink should be removed or renamed. Second, in order to run Quake2 in OpenGL mode, you must type % quake2 +set vid_ref glx +set gl_driver libGL.so Quake2 does not seem to support any kind of full-screen mode, but you can run your X server at the same resolution as Quake2 to emulate full-screen mode. Q. I am using either nForce of nForce2 internal graphics, and I see warnings like this in my X log file: Not using mode "1600x1200" (exceeds valid memory bandwidth usage) A. Integrated graphics have more strict memory bandwidth limitations that limit the resolution and refresh rate of the modes you request. To work around this, you can reduce the maximum refresh rate by lowering the upper value of the VertRefresh range in the 'Monitor' section of your X config file. Though not recommended, you can disable the memory bandwidth test with the NoBandWidthTest X config file option. Q. X takes a long time to start (possibly several minutes). A. Most of the X startup delay problems we have found are caused by incorrect data in video BIOSes about what display devices are possibly connected or what i2c port should be used for detection. You can work around these problems with the X config option IgnoreDisplayDevices (please see the description in Appendix D). Q. Fonts are incorrectly sized after installing the NVIDIA driver. A. Incorrectly sized fonts are generally caused by incorrect DPI (Dots Per Inch) information. You can check what X thinks the physical size of your monitor is, by running: % xdpyinfo | grep dimensions This will report the size in pixels, and in millimeters. If these numbers are wrong, you can correct them by modifying the X server's DPI setting. See Appendix X for details. Q. General problems with ALi chipsets A. There are some known timing and signal integrity issues on ALi chipsets. The following tips may help stabilize problematic ALI systems: o Disable TURBO AGP MODE in the BIOS. o When using a P5A upgrade to BIOS Revision 1002 BETA 2. o When using 1007, 1007A or 1009 adjust the IO Recovery Time to 4 cycles. o AGP is disabled by default on some ALi chipsets (ALi1541, ALi1647) to work around severe system stability problems with these chipsets. See the comments for NVreg_EnableALiAGP in 'os-registry.c' to force AGP on anyway. ______________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 6. NVIDIA Contact Info ______________________________________________________________________________ If you believe that you have found a bug or have a problem that you need assitance with and cannot find the solution elsewhere, or if you have found innaccuracies in this document, please send email to freebsd-gfx-bugs@nvidia.com ______________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 7. Additional Resources ______________________________________________________________________________ Resources XFree86 Video Timings HOWTO http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO/index.html The X.Org Foundation http://www.x.org/ OpenGL http://www.opengl.org/ ______________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 8. Tips for New FreeBSD Users ______________________________________________________________________________ This installation guide assumes that the user has at least a basic understanding of FreeBSD techniques and terminology. In this section we provide tips that the new user may find helpful. While the these tips are meant to clarify and assist users in installing and configuring the NVIDIA FreeBSD Driver, it is by no means a tutorial on the use or administration of the FreeBSD operating system. Unlike many desktop operating systems, it is relatively easy to cause irreparable damage to your FreeBSD system. If you are unfamiliar with the use of FreeBSD, we strongly recommend that you seek a tutorial through your distributor before proceeding. THE COMMAND PROMPT While newer releases of FreeBSD bring new desktop interfaces to the user, much of the work in FreeBSD takes place at the command prompt. If you are familiar with the Windows operating system, the FreeBSD command prompt is analogous to the Windows[1] command prompt, although the syntax and use varies somewhat. All of the commands in this section are performed at the command prompt. Some systems are configured to boot into console mode, in which case the user is presented with a prompt at login. Other systems are configured to start the X window system, in which case the user must open a terminal or console window in order to get a command prompt. This can usually be done by searching the desktop menus for a terminal or console program. While it is customizable, the basic prompt usually consists of a short string of information, one of the characters '#', '$', or '%', and a cursor (possibly flashing) that indicates where the user's input will be displayed. NAVIGATING THE DIRECTORY STRUCTURE FreeBSD has a hierarchical directory structure. From anywhere in the directory structure, the 'ls' command will list the contents of that directory. The 'file' command will print the type of files in a directory. For example, % file filename will print the type of the file 'filename'. Changing directories is done with the 'cd' command. % cd dirname will change the current directory to 'dirname'. From anywhere in the directory structure, the command 'pwd' will print the name of the current directory. There are two special directories, '.' and '..', which refer to the current directory and the next directory up the hierarchy, respectively. For any commands that require a file name or directory name as an argument, you may specify the absolute or the relative paths to those elements. An absolute path begins with the "/" character, referring to the top or root of the directory structure. A relative path begins with a directory in the current working directory. The relative path may begin with '.' or '..'. Elements of a path are separated with the "/" character. As an example, if the current directory is '/home/jesse' and the user wants to change to the '/usr/local' directory, he can use either of the following commands to do so: % cd /usr/local or % cd ../../usr/local FILE PERMISSIONS AND OWNERSHIP All files and directories have permissions and ownership associated with them. This is useful for preventing non-administrative users from accidentally (or maliciously) corrupting the system. The permissions and ownership for a file or directory can be determined by passing the -l option to the 'ls' command. For example: % ls -l drwxr-xr-x 2 jesse users 4096 Feb 8 09:32 bin drwxrwxrwx 10 jesse users 4096 Feb 10 12:04 pub -rw-r--r-- 1 jesse users 45 Feb 4 03:55 testfile -rwx------ 1 jesse users 93 Feb 5 06:20 myprogram -rw-rw-rw- 1 jesse users 112 Feb 5 06:20 README % The first character column in the first output field states the file type, where 'd' is a directory and '-' is a regular file. The next nine columns specify the permissions (see paragraph below) of the element. The second field indicates the number of files associated with the element, the third field indicates the owner, the fourth field indicates the group that the file is associated with, the fifth field indicates the size of the element in bytes, the sixth, seventh and eighth fields indicate the time at which the file was last modified and the ninth field is the name of the element. As stated, the last nine columns in the first field indicate the permissions of the element. These columns are grouped into threes, the first grouping indicating the permissions for the owner of the element ('jesse' in this case), the second grouping indicating the permissions for the group associated with the element, and the third grouping indicating the permissions associated with the rest of the world. The 'r', 'w', and 'x' indicate read, write and execute permissions, respectively, for each of these associations. For example, user 'jesse' has read and write permissions for 'testfile', users in the group 'users' have read permission only, and the rest of the world also has read permissions only. However, for the file 'myprogram', user 'jesse' has read, write and execute permissions (suggesting that 'myprogram' is a program that can be executed), while the group 'users' and the rest of the world have no permissions (suggesting that the owner doesn't want anyone else to run his program). The permissions, ownership and group associated with an element can be changed with the commands 'chmod', 'chown' and 'chgrp', respectively. If a user with the appropriate permissions wanted to change the user/group ownership of 'README' from jesse/users to joe/admin, he would do the following: # chown joe README # chgrp admin README The syntax for chmod is slightly more complicated and has several variations. The most concise way of setting the permissions for a single element uses a triplet of numbers, one for each of user, group and world. The value for each number in the triplet corresponds to a combination of read, write and execute permissions. Execute only is represented as 1, write only is represented as 2, and read only is represented as 4. Combinations of these permissions are represented as sums of the individual permissions. Read and execute is represented as 5, where as read, write and execute is represented as 7. No permissions is represented as 0. Thus, to give the owner read, write and execute permissions, the group read and execute permissions and the world no permissions, a user would do as follows: % chmod 750 myprogram THE SHELL The shell provides an interface between the user and the operating system. It is the job of the shell to interpret the input that the user gives at the command prompt and call upon the system to do something in response. There are several different shells available, each with somewhat different syntax and capabilities. The two most common flavors of shells used on FreeBSD stem from the Bourne shell ('sh') and the C-shell ('csh') Different users have preferences and biases towards one shell or the other, and some certainly make it easier (or at least more intuitive) to do some things than others. You can determine your current shell by printing the value of the 'SHELL' environment variable from the command prompt with % echo $SHELL You can start a new shell simply by entering the name of the shell from the command prompt: % csh or % sh and you can run a program from within a specific shell by preceding the name of the executable with the name of the shell in which it will be run: % sh myprogram The user's default shell at login is determined by whoever set up his account. While there are many syntactic differences between shells, perhaps the one that is encountered most frequently is the way in which environment variables are set. SETTING ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES Every session has associated with it environment variables, which consist of name/value pairs and control the way in which the shell and programs run from the shell behave. An example of an environment variable is the 'PATH' variable, which tells the shell which directories to search when trying to locate an executable file that the user has entered at the command line. If you are certain that a command exists, but the shell complains that it cannot be found when you try to execute it, there is likely a problem with the 'PATH' variable. Environment variables are set differently depending on the shell being used. For the Bourne shell ('sh'), it is done as: % export MYVARIABLE="avalue" for the C-shell, it is done as: % setenv MYVARIABLE "avalue" In both cases the quotation marks are only necessary if the value contains spaces. The 'echo' command can be used to examine the value of an environment variable: % echo $MYVARIABLE Commands to set environment variables can also include references to other environment variables (prepended with the "$" character), including themselves. In order to add the path '/usr/local/bin' to the beginning of the search path, and the current directory '.' to the end of the search path, a user would enter % export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH:. in the Bourne shell, and % setenv PATH /usr/local/bin:${PATH}:. in C-shell. Note the curly braces are required to protect the variable name in C-shell. EDITING TEXT FILES There are several text editors available for the FreeBSD operating system. Some of these editors require the X window system, while others are designed to operate in a console or terminal. It is generally a good thing to be competent with a terminal-based text editor, as there are times when the files necessary for X to run are the ones that must be edited. Three popular editors are 'vi', 'pico' and 'emacs', each of which can be started from the command line, optionally supplying the name of a file to be edited. 'vi' is arguably the most ubiquitous as well as the least intuitive of the three. 'pico' is relatively straightforward for a new user, though not as often installed on systems. If you don't have 'pico', you may have a similar editor called 'nano'. 'emacs' is highly extensible and fairly widely available, but can be somewhat unwieldy in a non-X environment. The newer versions each come with online help, and offline help can be found in the manual and info pages for each (please see the section on FreeBSD Manual and Info pages). Many programs use the 'EDITOR' environment variable to determine which text editor to start when editing is required. ROOT USER Upon installation, almost all distributions set up the default administrative user with the username 'root'. There are many things on the system that only 'root' (or a similarly privileged user) can do, one of which is installing the NVIDIA FreeBSD Driver. WE MUST EMPHASIZE THAT ASSUMING THE IDENTITY OF 'root' IS INHERENTLY RISKY AND AS 'root' IT IS RELATIVELY EASY TO CORRUPT YOUR SYSTEM OR OTHERWISE RENDER IT UNUSABLE. There are three ways to become 'root'. You may log in as 'root' as you would any other user, you may use the switch user command ('su') at the command prompt, or, on some systems, use the 'sudo' utility, which allows users to run programs as 'root' while keeping a log of their actions. This last method is useful in case a user inadvertently causes damage to the system and cannot remember what he has done (or prefers not to admit what he has done). It is generally a good practice to remain 'root' only as long as is necessary to accomplish the task requiring 'root' privileges (another useful feature of the 'sudo' utility). FREEBSD MANUAL AND INFO PAGES System manual or info pages are usually installed during installation. These pages are typically up-to-date and generally contain a comprehensive listing of the use of programs and utilities on the system. Also, many programs include the --help option, which usually prints a list of common options for that program. To view the manual page for a command, enter % man commandname at the command prompt, where commandname refers to the command in which you are interested. Similarly, entering % info commandname will bring up the info page for the command. Depending on the application, one or the other may be more up-to-date. The interface for the info system is interactive and navigable. If you are unable to locate the man page for the command you are interested in, you may need to add additional elements to your 'MANPATH' environment variable. Please see the section on environment variables. - FOOTNOTES - [1] Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. ______________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 9. Credits ______________________________________________________________________________ The port of the NVIDIA driver to FreeBSD is due in no small part to the many contributions of Christian Zander and Matthew N. Dodd . ______________________________________________________________________________ Appendix A. Supported NVIDIA Graphics Chips ______________________________________________________________________________ For the most complete and accurate listing of supported GPUs, please see the Supported Products List, available from the NVIDIA FreeBSD x86 Graphics Driver download page. Please go to http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html, follow the Archive link under the FreeBSD x86 heading, follow the link for the 96.43.05 driver, and then go to the Supported Products List. NVIDIA chip name Device PCI ID ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- GeForce 6800 Ultra 0x0040 GeForce 6800 0x0041 GeForce 6800 XE 0x0043 GeForce 6800 XT 0x0044 GeForce 6800 GT 0x0045 GeForce 6800 GT 0x0046 GeForce 6800 GS 0x0047 GeForce 6800 XT 0x0048 Quadro FX 4000 0x004E GeForce 7800 GTX 0x0090 GeForce 7800 GTX 0x0091 GeForce 7800 GT 0x0092 GeForce 7800 GS 0x0093 GeForce Go 7800 0x0098 GeForce Go 7800 GTX 0x0099 Quadro FX 4500 0x009D GeForce 6800 GS 0x00C0 GeForce 6800 0x00C1 GeForce 6800 LE 0x00C2 GeForce 6800 XT 0x00C3 GeForce Go 6800 0x00C8 GeForce Go 6800 Ultra 0x00C9 Quadro FX Go1400 0x00CC Quadro FX 3450/4000 SDI 0x00CD Quadro FX 1400 0x00CE GeForce 6800/GeForce 6800 Ultra 0x00F0 GeForce 6600/GeForce 6600 GT 0x00F1 GeForce 6600 0x00F2 GeForce 6200 0x00F3 GeForce 6600 LE 0x00F4 GeForce 7800 GS 0x00F5 GeForce 6800 GS 0x00F6 Quadro FX 3400/4400 0x00F8 GeForce 6800 Ultra 0x00F9 GeForce PCX 5750 0x00FA GeForce PCX 5900 0x00FB Quadro FX 330/GeForce PCX 5300 0x00FC Quadro NVS 280 PCI-E/Quadro FX 330 0x00FD Quadro FX 1300 0x00FE GeForce PCX 4300 0x00FF GeForce2 MX/MX 400 0x0110 GeForce2 MX 100/200 0x0111 GeForce2 Go 0x0112 Quadro2 MXR/EX/Go 0x0113 GeForce 6600 GT 0x0140 GeForce 6600 0x0141 GeForce 6600 LE 0x0142 GeForce 6600 VE 0x0143 GeForce Go 6600 0x0144 GeForce 6610 XL 0x0145 GeForce Go 6600 TE/6200 TE 0x0146 GeForce Go 6600 0x0148 GeForce Go 6600 GT 0x0149 Quadro NVS 440 0x014A Quadro FX 550 0x014C Quadro FX 540 0x014E GeForce 6200 0x014F GeForce 6500 0x0160 GeForce 6200 TurboCache(TM) 0x0161 GeForce Go 6200 0x0164 Quadro NVS 285 0x0165 GeForce Go 6400 0x0166 GeForce Go 6200 0x0167 GeForce Go 6400 0x0168 GeForce4 MX 460 0x0170 GeForce4 MX 440 0x0171 GeForce4 MX 420 0x0172 GeForce4 MX 440-SE 0x0173 GeForce4 440 Go 0x0174 GeForce4 420 Go 0x0175 GeForce4 420 Go 32M 0x0176 GeForce4 460 Go 0x0177 Quadro4 550 XGL 0x0178 GeForce4 440 Go 64M 0x0179 Quadro NVS 0x017A Quadro4 500 GoGL 0x017C GeForce4 410 Go 16M 0x017D GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X 0x0181 GeForce4 MX 440SE with AGP8X 0x0182 GeForce4 MX 420 with AGP8X 0x0183 GeForce4 MX 4000 0x0185 Quadro4 580 XGL 0x0188 Quadro NVS with AGP8X 0x018A Quadro4 380 XGL 0x018B Quadro NVS 50 PCI 0x018C GeForce2 Integrated GPU 0x01A0 GeForce 7300 LE 0x01D1 Quadro NVS 110M 0x01D7 GeForce Go 7300 0x01D7 GeForce Go 7400 0x01D8 Quadro NVS 110M 0x01DA Quadro NVS 120M 0x01DB Quadro FX 350M 0x01DC Quadro FX 350 0x01DE GeForce 7300 GS 0x01DF GeForce4 MX Integrated GPU 0x01F0 GeForce3 0x0200 GeForce3 Ti 200 0x0201 GeForce3 Ti 500 0x0202 Quadro DCC 0x0203 GeForce 6800 0x0211 GeForce 6800 LE 0x0212 GeForce 6800 GT 0x0215 GeForce 6800 XT 0x0218 GeForce 6150 0x0240 GeForce 6150 LE 0x0241 GeForce 6100 0x0242 GeForce4 Ti 4600 0x0250 GeForce4 Ti 4400 0x0251 GeForce4 Ti 4200 0x0253 Quadro4 900 XGL 0x0258 Quadro4 750 XGL 0x0259 Quadro4 700 XGL 0x025B GeForce4 Ti 4800 0x0280 GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X 0x0281 GeForce4 Ti 4800 SE 0x0282 GeForce4 4200 Go 0x0286 Quadro4 980 XGL 0x0288 Quadro4 780 XGL 0x0289 Quadro4 700 GoGL 0x028C GeForce 7900 GTX 0x0290 GeForce 7900 GT 0x0291 GeForce Go 7900 GS 0x0298 GeForce Go 7900 GTX 0x0299 Quadro FX 2500M 0x029A Quadro FX 1500M 0x029B Quadro FX 5500 0x029C Quadro FX 3500 0x029D Quadro FX 1500 0x029E Quadro FX 4500 X2 0x029F GeForce 7600 GS 0x02E1 GeForce FX 5800 Ultra 0x0301 GeForce FX 5800 0x0302 Quadro FX 2000 0x0308 Quadro FX 1000 0x0309 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra 0x0311 GeForce FX 5600 0x0312 GeForce FX 5600XT 0x0314 GeForce FX Go5600 0x031A GeForce FX Go5650 0x031B Quadro FX Go700 0x031C GeForce FX 5200 0x0320 GeForce FX 5200 Ultra 0x0321 GeForce FX 5200 0x0322 GeForce FX 5200LE 0x0323 GeForce FX Go5200 0x0324 GeForce FX Go5250 0x0325 GeForce FX 5500 0x0326 GeForce FX 5100 0x0327 GeForce FX Go5200 32M/64M 0x0328 Quadro NVS 280 PCI 0x032A Quadro FX 500/600 PCI 0x032B GeForce FX Go53xx 0x032C GeForce FX Go5100 0x032D GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 0x0330 GeForce FX 5900 0x0331 GeForce FX 5900XT 0x0332 GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 0x0333 GeForce FX 5900ZT 0x0334 Quadro FX 3000 0x0338 Quadro FX 700 0x033F GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 0x0341 GeForce FX 5700 0x0342 GeForce FX 5700LE 0x0343 GeForce FX 5700VE 0x0344 GeForce FX Go5700 0x0347 GeForce FX Go5700 0x0348 Quadro FX Go1000 0x034C Quadro FX 1100 0x034E GeForce 7600 GT 0x0391 GeForce 7600 GS 0x0392 GeForce Go 7600 0x0398 Quadro FX 560 0x039E Below are the legacy GPUs that are no longer supported in the unified driver. These GPUs will continue to be maintained through the special legacy NVIDIA GPU driver releases. NVIDIA chip name Device PCI ID ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- RIVA TNT 0x0020 RIVA TNT2/TNT2 Pro 0x0028 RIVA TNT2 Ultra 0x0029 Vanta/Vanta LT 0x002C RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro 0x002D Aladdin TNT2 0x00A0 GeForce 256 0x0100 GeForce DDR 0x0101 Quadro 0x0103 GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro 0x0150 GeForce2 Ti 0x0151 GeForce2 Ultra 0x0152 Quadro2 Pro 0x0153 ______________________________________________________________________________ Appendix B. Minimum Software Requirements ______________________________________________________________________________ The official minimum software requirements for the NVIDIA FreeBSD Driver Set are as follows: Software Element Min Requirement ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- Kernel FreeBSD 5-STABLE (5.3 or later) XFree86/X.Org 4.2/6.7.0 Additionally, the kernel source tree must be installed in /usr/src/sys (package 'ssys' installed) Note that FreeBSD -STABLE versions older than FreeBSD 5.3 and FreeBSD 6.x/7.x -CURRENT development snapshots are not supported. ______________________________________________________________________________ Appendix C. Installed Components ______________________________________________________________________________ The NVIDIA Accelerated FreeBSD Driver Set consists of the following components. Installed File Location ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- nvidia.ko /boot/modules libGL.so /usr/X11R6/lib libGL.so.1 /usr/X11R6/lib libnvidia-tls.so /usr/X11R6/lib libnvidia-tls.so.1 /usr/X11R6/lib libnvidia-cfg.so /usr/X11R6/lib libnvidia-cfg.so.1 /usr/X11R6/lib libGLcore.so /usr/X11R6/lib libGLcore.so.1 /usr/X11R6/lib nvidia_drv.so /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers libglx.so /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions libglx.so.1 /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions nvidia-xconfig /usr/X11R6/bin nvidia-xconfig.1 /usr/X11R6/man/man1 nvidia-settings /usr/X11R6/bin nvidia-settings.1 /usr/X11R6/man/man1 nvidia0 /dev nvidia1 /dev nvidia2 /dev nvidia3 /dev nvidiactl /dev libGL.so.96.43.05 /compat/linux/usr/lib libnvidia-tls.so.96.43.05 /compat/linux/usr/lib libGLcore.so.96.43.05 /compat/linux/usr/lib ______________________________________________________________________________ Appendix D. X Config Options ______________________________________________________________________________ The following driver options are supported by the NVIDIA X driver. They may be specified either in the Screen or Device sections of the X config file. X Config Options Option "NvAGP" "integer" Configure AGP support. Integer argument can be one of: Value Behavior -------------- --------------------------------------------------- 0 disable AGP 1 use NVIDIA's internal AGP support, if possible 2 use AGPGART, if possible 3 use any AGP support (try AGPGART, then NVIDIA's AGP) Please note that NVIDIA's internal AGP support cannot work if AGPGART is either statically compiled into your kernel or is built as a module and loaded into your kernel. Please see Appendix H for details. Default: 3. Option "NoLogo" "boolean" Disable drawing of the NVIDIA logo splash screen at X startup. Default: the logo is drawn. Option "LogoPath" "string" Sets the path to the PNG file to be used as the logo splash screen at X startup. If the PNG file specified has a bKGD (background color) chunk, then the screen is cleared to the color it specifies. Otherwise, the screen is cleared to black. The logo file must be owned by root and must not be writable by a non-root group. Default: The built-in NVIDIA logo is used. Option "RenderAccel" "boolean" Enable or disable hardware acceleration of the RENDER extension. Default: hardware acceleration of the RENDER extension is enabled. Option "NoRenderExtension" "boolean" Disable the RENDER extension. Other than recompiling it, the X server does not seem to have another way of disabling this. Fortunately, we can control this from the driver so we export this option. This is useful in depth 8 where RENDER would normally steal most of the default colormap. Default: RENDER is offered when possible. Option "UBB" "boolean" Enable or disable the Unified Back Buffer on Quadro-based GPUs (Quadro4 NVS excluded); please see Appendix M for a description of UBB. This option has no effect on non-Quadro chipsets. Default: UBB is on for Quadro chipsets. Option "NoFlip" "boolean" Disable OpenGL flipping; please see Appendix M for a description. Default: OpenGL will swap by flipping when possible. Option "Dac8Bit" "boolean" Most Quadro products by default use a 10-bit color look-up table (LUT); setting this option to TRUE forces these graphics chips to use an 8-bit (LUT). Default: a 10-bit LUT is used, when available. Option "Overlay" "boolean" Enables RGB workstation overlay visuals. This is only supported on Quadro4 and Quadro FX chips (Quadro4 NVS excluded) in depth 24. This option causes the server to advertise the SERVER_OVERLAY_VISUALS root window property and GLX will report single- and double-buffered, Z-buffered 16-bit overlay visuals. The transparency key is pixel 0x0000 (hex). There is no gamma correction support in the overlay plane. This feature requires XFree86 version 4.1.0 or newer, or the X.Org X server. Quadros 500 and 550 XGL have additional restrictions, namely, overlays are not supported in TwinView mode or with virtual desktops wider than 2046 pixels or taller than 2047. Quadro 7xx/9xx and Quadro FX will offer overlay visuals in these modes (TwinView, or virtual desktops larger than 2046x2047), but the overlay will be emulated with a substantial performance penalty. RGB workstation overlays are not supported when the Composite extension is enabled. Dynamic TwinView is disabled when Overlays are enabled. Default: off. UBB must be enabled when overlays are enabled (this is the default behavior). Option "CIOverlay" "boolean" Enables Color Index workstation overlay visuals with identical restrictions to Option "Overlay" above. The server will offer visuals both with and without a transparency key. These are depth 8 PseudoColor visuals. Enabling Color Index overlays on X servers older than XFree86 4.3 will force the RENDER extension to be disabled due to bugs in the RENDER extension in older X servers. Color Index workstation overlays are not supported when the Composite extension is enabled. Default: off. UBB must be enabled when overlays are enabled (this is the default behavior). Option "TransparentIndex" "integer" When color index overlays are enabled, use this option to choose which pixel is used for the transparent pixel in visuals featuring transparent pixels. This value is clamped between 0 and 255 (Note: some applications such as Alias's Maya require this to be zero in order to work correctly). Default: 0. Option "OverlayDefaultVisual" "boolean" When overlays are used, this option sets the default visual to an overlay visual thereby putting the root window in the overlay. This option is not recommended for RGB overlays. Default: off. Option "RandRRotation" "boolean" Enable rotation support for the XRandR extension. This allows use of the XRandR X server extension for configuring the screen orientation through rotation. This feature is supported on GeForce2 or better hardware using depth 24. This requires an X.Org X 6.8.1 or newer X server. This feature does not work with hardware overlays, and emulated overlays will be used instead at a substantial performance penalty. See Appendix U for details. Default: off. Option "Rotate" "string" Enable static rotation support. Unlike the RandRRotation option above, this option takes effect as soon as the X server is started and will work with older versions of X. This feature is supported on GeForce2 or better hardware using depth 24. This feature does not work with hardware overlays, and emulated overlays will be used instead at a substantial performance penalty. This option is not compatible with the RandR extension. Valid rotations are "normal", "left", "inverted", and "right". Default: off. Option "AllowDDCCI" "boolean" Enables DDC/CI support in the NV-CONTROL X extension. DDC/CI is a mechanism for communication between your computer and your display device. This can be used to set the values normally controlled through your display device's On Screen Display. Please see the DDC/CI NV-CONTROL attributes in 'NVCtrl.h' and functions in 'NVCtrlLib.h' in the 'nvidia-settings' source code. Default: off (DDC/CI is disabled). Option "SWCursor" "boolean" Enable or disable software rendering of the X cursor. Default: off. Option "HWCursor" "boolean" Enable or disable hardware rendering of the X cursor. Default: on. Option "CursorShadow" "boolean" Enable or disable use of a shadow with the hardware accelerated cursor; this is a black translucent replica of your cursor shape at a given offset from the real cursor. Default: off (no cursor shadow). Option "CursorShadowAlpha" "integer" The alpha value to use for the cursor shadow; only applicable if CursorShadow is enabled. This value must be in the range [0, 255] -- 0 is completely transparent; 255 is completely opaque. Default: 64. Option "CursorShadowXOffset" "integer" The offset, in pixels, that the shadow image will be shifted to the right from the real cursor image; only applicable if CursorShadow is enabled. This value must be in the range [0, 32]. Default: 4. Option "CursorShadowYOffset" "integer" The offset, in pixels, that the shadow image will be shifted down from the real cursor image; only applicable if CursorShadow is enabled. This value must be in the range [0, 32]. Default: 2. Option "ConnectedMonitor" "string" Allows you to override what the NVIDIA kernel module detects is connected to your video card. This may be useful, for example, if you use a KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switch and you are switched away when X is started. In such a situation, the NVIDIA kernel module cannot detect what display devices are connected, and the NVIDIA X driver assumes you have a single CRT. Valid values for this option are "CRT" (cathode ray tube), "DFP" (digital flat panel), or "TV" (television); if using TwinView, this option may be a comma-separated list of display devices; e.g.: "CRT, CRT" or "CRT, DFP". It is generally recommended to not use this option, but instead use the "UseDisplayDevice" option. NOTE: anything attached to a 15 pin VGA connector is regarded by the driver as a CRT. "DFP" should only be used to refer to digital flat panels connected via a DVI port. Default: string is NULL (the NVIDIA driver will detect the connected display devices). Option "UseDisplayDevice" "string" When assigning display devices to X screens, the NVIDIA X driver by default assigns display devices in the order they are found (looking first at CRTs, then at DFPs, and finally at TVs). This option can be used to override this assignment. For example, if both a CRT and a DFP are connected, you could specify: Option "UseDisplayDevice" "DFP" to make the X screen use the DFP, even though it would have used a CRT by default. Note the subtle difference between this option and the "ConnectedMonitor" option: the "ConnectedMonitor" option overrides what display devices are actually detected, while the "UseDisplayDevice" option controls which of the detected display devices will be used on this X screen. Option "UseEdidFreqs" "boolean" This option controls whether the NVIDIA X driver will use the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges given in a display device's EDID, if any. When UseEdidFreqs is set to True, EDID-provided range information will override the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges specified in the Monitor section. If a display device does not provide an EDID, or the EDID does not specify an hsync or vrefresh range, then the X server will default to the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges specified in the Monitor section of your X config file. These frequency ranges are used when validating modes for your display device. Default: True (EDID frequencies will be used) Option "UseEDID" "boolean" By default, the NVIDIA X driver makes use of a display device's EDID, when available, during construction of its mode pool. The EDID is used as a source for possible modes, for valid frequency ranges, and for collecting data on the physical dimensions of the display device for computing the DPI (see Appendix X). However, if you wish to disable the driver's use of the EDID, you can set this option to False: Option "UseEDID" "FALSE" Note that, rather than globally disable all uses of the EDID, you can individually disable each particular use of the EDID; e.g., Option "UseEDIDFreqs" "FALSE" Option "UseEDIDDpi" "FALSE" Option "ModeValidation" "NoEdidModes" Default: True (use EDID). Option "IgnoreEDID" "boolean" This option is deprecated, and no longer affects behavior of the X driver. See the "UseEDID" option for details. Option "NoDDC" "boolean" Synonym for "IgnoreEDID". This option is deprecated, and no longer affects behavior of the X driver. See the "UseEDID" option for details. Option "UseInt10Module" "boolean" Enable use of the X Int10 module to soft-boot all secondary cards, rather than POSTing the cards through the NVIDIA kernel module. Default: off (POSTing is done through the NVIDIA kernel module). Option "TwinView" "boolean" Enable or disable TwinView. Please see Appendix I for details. Default: off (TwinView is disabled). Option "TwinViewOrientation" "string" Controls the relationship between the two display devices when using TwinView. Takes one of the following values: "RightOf" "LeftOf" "Above" "Below" "Clone". Please see Appendix I for details. Default: string is NULL. Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "range(s)" This option is like the HorizSync entry in the Monitor section, but is for the second monitor when using TwinView. Please see Appendix I for details. Default: none. Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "range(s)" This option is like the VertRefresh entry in the Monitor section, but is for the second monitor when using TwinView. Please see Appendix I for details. Default: none. Option "MetaModes" "string" This option describes the combination of modes to use on each monitor when using TwinView. Please see Appendix I for details. Default: string is NULL. Option "NoTwinViewXineramaInfo" "boolean" When in TwinView, the NVIDIA X driver normally provides a Xinerama extension that X clients (such as window managers) can use to discover the current TwinView configuration, such as where each display device is positioned within the X screen. Some window mangers get confused by this information, so this option is provided to disable this behavior. Default: false (TwinView Xinerama information is provided). Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "string" When the NVIDIA X driver provides TwinViewXineramaInfo (see the NoTwinViewXineramaInfo X config option), it by default reports the currently enabled display devices in the order "CRT, DFP, TV". The TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder X config option can be used to override this order. The option string is a comma-separated list of display device names. The display device names can either be general (e.g, "CRT", which identifies all CRTs), or specific (e.g., "CRT-1", which identifies a particular CRT). Not all display devices need to be identified in the option string; display devices that are not listed will be implicitly appended to the end of the list, in their default order. Note that TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder tracks all display devices that could possibly be connected to the GPU, not just the ones that are currently enabled. When reporting the Xinerama information, the NVIDIA X driver walks through the display devices in the order specified, only reporting enabled display devices. Examples: "DFP" "TV, DFP" "DFP-1, DFP-0, TV, CRT" In the first example, any enabled DFPs would be reported first (any enabled CRTs or TVs would be reported afterwards). In the second example, any enabled TVs would be reported first, then any enabled DFPs (any enabled CRTs would be reported last). In the last example, if DFP-1 were enabled, it would be reported first, then DFP-0, then any enabled TVs, and then any enabled CRTs; finally, any other enabled DFPs would be reported. Default: "CRT, DFP, TV" Option "TVStandard" "string" Please see Appendix J for details on configuring TV-out. Option "TVOutFormat" "string" Please see Appendix J for details on configuring TV-out. Option "TVOverScan" "Decimal value in the range 0.0 to 1.0" Valid values are in the range 0.0 through 1.0; Please see Appendix J for details on configuring TV-out. Option "Stereo" "integer" Enable offering of quad-buffered stereo visuals on Quadro. Integer indicates the type of stereo equipment being used: Value Equipment -------------- --------------------------------------------------- 1 DDC glasses. The sync signal is sent to the glasses via the DDC signal to the monitor. These usually involve a passthrough cable between the monitor and video card. 2 "Blueline" glasses. These usually involve a passthrough cable between the monitor and video card. The glasses know which eye to display based on the length of a blue line visible at the bottom of the screen. When in this mode, the root window dimensions are one pixel shorter in the Y dimension than requested. This mode does not work with virtual root window sizes larger than the visible root window size (desktop panning). 3 Onboard stereo support. This is usually only found on professional cards. The glasses connect via a DIN connector on the back of the video card. 4 TwinView clone mode stereo (aka "passive" stereo). On video cards that support TwinView, the left eye is displayed on the first display, and the right eye is displayed on the second display. This is normally used in conjunction with special projectors to produce 2 polarized images which are then viewed with polarized glasses. To use this stereo mode, you must also configure TwinView in clone mode with the same resolution, panning offset, and panning domains on each display. 5 Vertical interlaced stereo mode, for use with SeeReal Stereo Digital Flat Panels. 6 Color interleaved stereo mode, for use with Sharp3D Stereo Digital Flat Panels. Stereo is only available on Quadro cards. Stereo options 1, 2, and 3 (aka "active" stereo) may be used with TwinView if all modes within each MetaMode have identical timing values. Please see Appendix L for suggestions on making sure the modes within your MetaModes are identical. The identical ModeLine requirement is not necessary for Stereo option 4 ("passive" stereo). Currently, stereo operation may be "quirky" on the original Quadro (NV10) chip and left-right flipping may be erratic. We are trying to resolve this issue for a future release. Default: 0 (Stereo is not enabled). UBB must be enabled when stereo is enabled (this is the default behavior). Stereo options 1, 2, and 3 (aka "active" stereo) are not supported on digital flat panels. Multi-GPU cards (such as the Quadro FX 4500 X2) provide a single connector for onboard stereo support (option 3), which is tied to the bottommost GPU. In order to synchronize onboard stereo with the other GPU, you must use a G-Sync device (see Appendix W for details). Option "AllowDFPStereo" "boolean" By default, the NVIDIA X driver performs a check which disables active stereo (stereo options 1, 2, and 3) if the X screen is driving a DFP. The "AllowDFPStereo" option bypasses this check. Option "ForceStereoFlipping" "boolean" Stereo flipping is the process by which left and right eyes are displayed on alternating vertical refreshes. Normally, stereo flipping is only performed when a stereo drawable is visible. This option forces stereo flipping even when no stereo drawables are visible. This is to be used in conjunction with the "Stereo" option. If "Stereo" is 0, the "ForceStereoFlipping" option has no effect. If otherwise, the "ForceStereoFlipping" option will force the behavior indicated by the "Stereo" option, even if no stereo drawables are visible. This option is useful in a multiple-screen environment in which a stereo application is run on a different screen than the stereo master. Possible values: Value Behavior -------------- --------------------------------------------------- 0 Stereo flipping is not forced. The default behavior as indicated by the "Stereo" option is used. 1 Stereo flipping is forced. Stereo is running even if no stereo drawables are visible. The stereo mode depends on the value of the "Stereo" option. Default: 0 (Stereo flipping is not forced). Note that active stereo is not supported on digital flat panels. Option "XineramaStereoFlipping" "boolean" By default, when using Stereo with Xinerama, all physical X screens having a visible stereo drawable will stereo flip. Use this option to allow only one physical X screen to stereo flip at a time. This is to be used in conjunction with the "Stereo" and "Xinerama" options. If "Stereo" is 0 or "Xinerama" is 0, the "XineramaStereoFlipping" option has no effect. If you wish to have all X screens stereo flip all the time, please see the "ForceStereoFlipping" option. Possible values: Value Behavior -------------- --------------------------------------------------- 0 Stereo flipping is enabled on one X screen at a time. Stereo is enabled on the first X screen having the stereo drawable. 1 Stereo flipping in enabled on all X screens. Default: 1 (Stereo flipping is enabled on all X screens). Option "NoBandWidthTest" "boolean" As part of mode validation, the X driver tests if a given mode fits within the hardware's memory bandwidth constraints. This option disables this test. Default: false (the memory bandwidth test is performed). Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "string" This option tells the NVIDIA kernel module to completely ignore the indicated classes of display devices when checking what display devices are connected. You may specify a comma-separated list containing any of "CRT", "DFP", and "TV". For example: Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "DFP, TV" will cause the NVIDIA driver to not attempt to detect if any digital flat panels or TVs are connected. This option is not normally necessary; however, some video BIOSes contain incorrect information about what display devices may be connected, or what i2c port should be used for detection. These errors can cause long delays in starting X. If you are experiencing such delays, you may be able to avoid this by telling the NVIDIA driver to ignore display devices which you know are not connected. NOTE: anything attached to a 15 pin VGA connector is regarded by the driver as a CRT. "DFP" should only be used to refer to digital flat panels connected via a DVI port. Option "MultisampleCompatibility" "boolean" Enable or disable the use of separate front and back multisample buffers. Enabling this will consume more memory but is necessary for correct output when rendering to both the front and back buffers of a multisample or FSAA drawable. This option is necessary for correct operation of SoftImage XSI. Default: false (a single multisample buffer is shared between the front and back buffers). Option "NoPowerConnectorCheck" "boolean" The NVIDIA X driver will abort X server initialization if it detects that a GPU that requires an external power connector does not have an external power connector plugged in. This option can be used to bypass this test. Default: false (the power connector test is performed). Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "boolean" Forces XvMC to use the 3D engine for XvMCPutSurface requests rather than the video overlay. Default: false (video overlay is used when available). Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "boolean" Enables GLX even when the Composite X extension is loaded. ENABLE AT YOUR OWN RISK. OpenGL applications will not display correctly in many circumstances with this setting enabled. This option is intended for use on X.Org X servers older than X11R6.9.0. On X11R6.9.0 or newer X servers, NVIDIA's OpenGL implementation interacts properly by default with the Composite X extension and this option should not be needed. However, on X11R6.9.0 or newer X servers, support for GLX with Composite can be disabled by setting this option to False. Default: false (GLX is disabled when Composite is enabled on X servers older than X11R6.9.0). Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "boolean" Adds a 32-bit ARGB visual for each supported OpenGL configuration. This allows applications to use OpenGL to render with alpha transparency into 32-bit windows and pixmaps. This option requires the Composite extension. ENABLE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Some OpenGL applications may display incorrectly when this setting is enabled. Default: No visuals are added. Option "DisableGLXRootClipping" "boolean" If enabled, no clipping will be performed on rendering done by OpenGL in the root window. This is needed by some OpenGL-based composite managers to function correctly, as they draw the contents of redirected windows directly into the root window using OpenGL. Option "DamageEvents" "boolean" Use OS-level events to efficiently notify X when a client has performed direct rendering to a window that needs to be composited. This will significantly improve performance and interactivity when using GLX applications with a composite manager running. It will also affect applications using GLX when rotation is enabled. This option is currently incompatible with SLI and MultiGPU modes and will be disabled if either are used. Enabled by default. Option "ExactModeTimingsDVI" "boolean" Forces the initialization of the X server with the exact timings specified in the ModeLine. Default: false (for DVI devices, the X server initializes with the closest mode in the EDID list). Option "Coolbits" "integer" Enables support in the NV-CONTROL X extension for manipulating GPU clock settings. When this option is set to "1" the nvidia-settings utility will contain a page labeled "Clock Frequencies" through which clock settings can be manipulated. Coolbits is only available on GeForce FX, Quadro FX, and newer GPUs. Default 0 (support is disabled). WARNING: this may cause system damage and void warranties. This utility can run your computer system out of the manufacturer's design specifications, including, but not limited to: higher system voltages, above normal temperatures, excessive frequencies, and changes to BIOS that may corrupt the BIOS. Your computer's operating system may hang and result in data loss or corrupted images. Depending on the manufacturer of your computer system, the computer system, hardware and software warranties may be voided, and you may not receive any further manufacturer support. NVIDIA does not provide customer service support for the Coolbits option. It is for these reasons that absolutely no warranty or guarantee is either express or implied. Before enabling and using, you should determine the suitability of the utility for your intended use, and you shall assume all responsibility in connection therewith. Option "MultiGPU" "string" This option controls the configuration of MultiGPU rendering in supported configurations. Value Behavior -------------------------------- -------------------------------- 0, no, off, false, Single Use only a single GPU when rendering 1, yes, on, true, Auto Enable MultiGPU and allow the driver to automatically select the appropriate rendering mode. AFR Enable MultiGPU and use the Alternate Frame Rendering mode. SFR Enable MultiGPU and use the Split Frame Rendering mode. AA Enable MultiGPU and use antialiasing. Use this in conjunction with full scene antialiasing to improve visual quality. Option "SLI" "string" This option controls the configuration of SLI rendering in supported configurations. Value Behavior -------------------------------- -------------------------------- 0, no, off, false, Single Use only a single GPU when rendering 1, yes, on, true, Auto Enable SLI and allow the driver to automatically select the appropriate rendering mode. AFR Enable SLI and use the Alternate Frame Rendering mode. SFR Enable SLI and use the Split Frame Rendering mode. AA Enable SLI and use SLI Antialiasing. Use this in conjunction with full scene antialiasing to improve visual quality. AFRofAA Enable SLI and use SLI Alternate Frame Rendering of Antialiasing mode. Use this in conjunction with full scene antialiasing to improve visual quality. This option is only valid for SLI configurations with 4 GPUs. Option "TripleBuffer" "boolean" Enable or disable the use of triple buffering. If this option is enabled, OpenGL windows that sync to vblank and are double-buffered will be given a third buffer. This decreases the time an application stalls while waiting for vblank events, but increases latency slightly (delay between user input and displayed result). Option "DPI" "string" This option specifies the Dots Per Inch for the X screen; for example: Option "DPI" "75 x 85" will set the horizontal DPI to 75 and the vertical DPI to 85. By default, the X driver will compute the DPI of the X screen from the EDID of any connected display devices. See Appendix X for details. Default: string is NULL (disabled). Option "UseEdidDpi" "string" By default, the NVIDIA X driver computes the DPI of an X screen based on the physical size of the display device, as reported in the EDID, and the size in pixels of the first mode to be used on the display device. If multiple display devices are used by the X screen, then the NVIDIA X screen will choose which display device to use. This option can be used to specify which display device to use. The string argument can be a display device name, such as: Option "UseEdidDpi" "DFP-0" or the argument can be "FALSE" to disable use of EDID-based DPI calculations: Option "UseEdidDpi" "FALSE" See Appendix X for details. Default: string is NULL (the driver computes the DPI from the EDID of a display device and selects the display device). Option "ConstantDPI" "boolean" By default on X.Org 6.9 or newer X servers, the NVIDIA X driver recomputes the size in millimeters of the X screen whenever the size in pixels of the X screen is changed using XRandR, such that the DPI remains constant. This behavior can be disabled (which means that the size in millimeters will not change when the size in pixels of the X screen changes) by setting the "ConstantDPI" option to "FALSE"; e.g., Option "ConstantDPI" "FALSE" ConstantDPI defaults to True. On X servers older than X.Org 6.9, the NVIDIA X driver cannot change the size in millimeters of the X screen. Therefore the DPI of the X screen will change when XRandR changes the size in pixels of the X screen. The driver will behave as if ConstantDPI was forced to FALSE. Option "CustomEDID" "string" This option forces the X driver to use the EDID specified in a file rather than the display's EDID. You may specify a semicolon separated list of display names and filename pairs. The display name is any of "CRT-0", "CRT-1", "DFP-0", "DFP-1", "TV-0", "TV-1". The file contains a raw EDID (e.g., a file generated by nvidia-settings). For example: Option "CustomEDID" "CRT-0:/tmp/edid1.bin; DFP-0:/tmp/edid2.bin" will assign the EDID from the file /tmp/edid1.bin to the display device CRT-0, and the EDID from the file /tmp/edid2.bin to the display device DFP-0. Option "ModeValidation" "string" This option provides fine-grained control over each stage of the mode validation pipeline, disabling individual mode validation checks. This option should only very rarely be used. The option string is a semicolon-separated list of comma-separated lists of mode validation arguments. Each list of mode validation arguments can optionally be prepended with a display device name. ": , ; : , , ; ..." Possible arguments: o "AllowNon60HzDFPModes": some lower quality TMDS encoders are only rated to drive DFPs at 60Hz; the driver will determine when only 60Hz DFP modes are allowed. This argument disables this stage of the mode validation pipeline. o "NoMaxPClkCheck": each mode has a pixel clock; this pixel clock is validated against the maximum pixel clock of the hardware (for a DFP, this is the maximum pixel clock of the TMDS encoder, for a CRT, this is the maximum pixel clock of the DAC). This argument disables the maximum pixel clock checking stage of the mode validation pipeline. o "NoEdidMaxPClkCheck": a display device's EDID can specify the maximum pixel clock that the display device supports; a mode's pixel clock is validated against this pixel clock maximum. This argument disables this stage of the mode validation pipeline. o "AllowInterlacedModes": interlaced modes are not supported on all NVIDIA GPUs; the driver will discard interlaced modes on GPUs where interlaced modes are not supported; this argument disables this stage of the mode validation pipeline. o "NoMaxSizeCheck": each NVIDIA GPU has a maximum resolution that it can drive; this argument disables this stage of the mode validation pipeline. o "NoHorizSyncCheck": a mode's horizontal sync is validated against the range of valid horizontal sync values; this argument disables this stage of the mode validation pipeline. o "NoVertRefreshCheck": a mode's vertical refresh rate is validated against the range of valid vertical refresh rate values; this argument disables this stage of the mode validation pipeline. o "NoWidthAlignmentCheck": the alignment of a mode's visible width is validated against the capabilities of the GPU; normally, a mode's visible width must be a multiple of 8. This argument disables this stage of the mode validation pipeline. o "NoDFPNativeResolutionCheck": when validating for a DFP, a mode's size is validated against the native resolution of the DFP; this argument disables this stage of the mode validation pipeline. o "NoVirtualSizeCheck": if the X configuration file requests a specific virtual screen size, a mode cannot be larger than that virtual size; this argument disables this stage of the mode validation pipeline. o "NoVesaModes": when constructing the mode pool for a display device, the X driver uses a built-in list of VESA modes as one of the mode sources; this argument disables use of these built-in VESA modes. o "NoEdidModes": when constructing the mode pool for a display device, the X driver uses any modes listed in the display device's EDID as one of the mode sources; this argument disables use of EDID-specified modes. o "NoXServerModes": when constructing the mode pool for a display device, the X driver uses the built-in modes provided by the core XFree86/Xorg X server as one of the mode sources; this argument disables use of these modes. Note that this argument does not disable custom ModeLines specified in the X config file; see the "NoCustomModes" argument for that. o "NoCustomModes": when constructing the mode pool for a display device, the X driver uses custom ModeLines specified in the X config file (through the "Mode" or "ModeLine" entries in the Monitor Section) as one of the mode sources; this argument disables use of these modes. o "NoPredefinedModes": when constructing the mode pool for a display device, the X driver uses additional modes predefined by the NVIDIA X driver; this argument disables use of these modes. o "NoUserModes": additional modes can be added to the mode pool dynamically, using the NV-CONTROL X extension; this argument prohibits user-specified modes via the NV-CONTROL X extension. Examples: Option "ModeValidation" "NoMaxPClkCheck" disable the maximum pixel clock check when validating modes on all display devices. Option "ModeValidation" "CRT-0: NoEdidModes, NoMaxPClkCheck; DFP-0: NoVesaModes" do not use EDID modes and do not perform the maximum pixel clock check on CRT-0, and do not use VESA modes on DFP-0. Option "UseEvents" "boolean" Enables the use of system events in some cases when the X driver is waiting for the hardware. The X driver can briefly spin through a tight loop when waiting for the hardware. With this option the X driver instead sets an event handler and waits for the hardware through the 'poll()' system call. Default: the use of the events is disabled. Option "FlatPanelProperties" "string" This option requests particular properties for all or a subset of the connected flat panels. The option string is a semicolon-separated list of comma-separated property=value pairs. Each list of property=value pairs can optionally be prepended with a flat panel name. ": , ; : ; ..." Recognized properties: o "Scaling": controls the flat panel scaling mode; possible values are: 'Default' (the driver will use whichever scaling state is current), 'Native' (the driver will use the flat panel's scaler, if possible), 'Scaled' (the driver will use the NVIDIA GPU's scaler, if possible), 'Centered' (the driver will center the image, if possible), and 'aspect-scaled' (the X driver will scale with the NVIDIA GPU's scaler, but keep the aspect ratio correct). o "Dithering": controls the flat panel dithering mode; possible values are: 'Default' (the driver will decide when to dither), 'Enabled' (the driver will always dither, if possible), and 'Disabled' (the driver will never dither). Examples: Option "FlatPanelProperties" "Scaling = Centered" set the flat panel scaling mode to centered on all flat panels. Option "FlatPanelProperties" "DFP-0: Scaling = Centered; DFP-1: Scaling = Scaled, Dithering = Enabled" set DFP-0's scaling mode to centered, set DFP-1's scaling mode to scaled and its dithering mode to enabled. Option "ProbeAllGpus" "boolean" When the NVIDIA X driver initializes, it probes all GPUs in the system, even if no X screens are configured on them. This is done so that the X driver can report information about all the system's GPUs through the NV-CONTROL X extension. This option can be set to FALSE to disable this behavior, such that only GPUs with X screens configured on them will be probed. Default: all GPUs in the system are probed. Option "DynamicTwinView" "boolean" Enable or disable support for dynamically configuring TwinView on this X screen. When DynamicTwinView is enabled (the default), the refresh rate of a mode (reported through XF86VidMode or XRandR) does not correctly report the refresh rate, but instead is a unique number such that each MetaMode has a different value. This is to guarantee that MetaModes can be uniquely identified by XRandR. When DynamicTwinView is disabled, the refresh rate reported through XRandR will be accurate, but NV-CONTROL clients such as nvidia-settings will not be able to dynamically manipulate the X screen's MetaModes. TwinView can still be configured from the X config file when DynamicTwinView is disabled. Default: DynamicTwinView is enabled. Option "IncludeImplicitMetaModes" "boolean" When the X server starts, a mode pool is created per display device, containing all the mode timings that the NVIDIA X driver determined to be valid for the display device. However, the only MetaModes that are made available to the X server are the ones explicitly requested in the X configuration file. It is convenient for fullscreen applications to be able to change between the modes in the mode pool, even if a given target mode was not explicitly requested in the X configuration file. To facilitate this, the NVIDIA X driver will, if only one display device is in use when the X server starts, implicitly add MetaModes for all modes in the display device's mode pool. This makes all the modes in the mode pool available to full screen applications that use the XF86VidMode or XRandR X extensions. To prevent this behavior, and only add MetaModes that are explicitly requested in the X configuration file, set this option to FALSE. Default: IncludeImplicitMetaModes is enabled. ______________________________________________________________________________ Appendix E. The Sysctl Interface ______________________________________________________________________________ The sysctl interface allows you to obtain run-time information about the driver, any installed NVIDIA graphics cards and the AGP status. It also allows you to control low-level configuration options and/or overrides. The various pieces of information are held in a hierarchy under hw.nvidia and are accessible with the sysctl(8) command. NVIDIA sysctl Entries hw.nvidia.version Prints the installed driver revision hw.nvidia.cards.n.* These OIDs provide information about NVIDIA device 'n': ID Description -------------------------------- -------------------------------- model the device's product name irq the IRQ claimed by this device vbios the device's VBIOS revision type the bus type of this device hw.nvidia.agp.host-bridge.* hw.nvidia.agp.card.* These OIDs provide information about the AGP capabilities of the installed AGP graphics card and host-bridge respectively. These values are most likely to be correct after system boot and before the X server is started (and the AGP subsystem intialized). ID Description -------------- --------------------------------------------------- rates the AGP rates supported by this device fw if the device suppoprts AGP fast-writes sba if the device supports AGP side-band-addressing registers the device's AGP registers, status:command hw.nvidia.agp.status.* Prints AGP status information based on the AGP command registers of the host-bridge and of the AGP card. ID Description -------------- --------------------------------------------------- status if AGP is enabled or disabled driver which driver is being used rate the programmed AGP rate fw if fast-writes are enabled or disabled sba if side-band-addressing is enabled or disabled hw.nvidia.registry.* Low-level kernel module configuration options. Changing these is typically not necessary and potentially dangerous. If you do need to change any of these options, you will need to do so BEFORE you start the X server. ID Description -------------- --------------------------------------------------- status if AGP is enabled or disabled driver which driver is being used rate the programmed AGP rate fw if fast-writes are enabled or disabled sba if side-band-addressing is enabled or disabled ______________________________________________________________________________ Appendix F. Configuring Low-level Parameters ______________________________________________________________________________ The NVIDIA resource manager recognizes several low-level configuration parameters that can be set using the sysctl driver interface BEFORE the X server is started. Normally you should not need to modify any of these parameters, but it is sometimes necessary or desirable to do so. To view the current settings of these parameters, you need to issue this sysctl command ('nvidia.ko' needs to be loaded): % sysctl -a hw.nvidia.registry To change any of the parameters, you need to pass the complete name of the OID followed by '=' and the new value, e.g.: % sysctl hw.nvidia.registry.EnableVia4x=1 It is possible to automate setting these paramaters by adding them to the '/etc/sysctl.conf' file. See `man 5 sysctl.conf` for details. The following parameters are recognized by 'nvidia.ko': Resource Manager Parameters VideoMemoryTypeOverride We normally detect memory type on TNT cards by scanning the embedded BIOS. Unfortunately, we've seen some cases where a TNT card has been flashed with the wrong bios. For example, an SDRAM based TNT has been flashed with an SGRAM bios, and therefore claims to be an SGRAM TNT. We've therefore provided an override here. Make sure to set the value toe the type of memory used on your card. Value Meaning -------------------------------- -------------------------------- 1 SDRAM 2 SGRAM Note that we can only do so much here. There are border cases where even this fails. For example, if 2 TNT cards are in the same system, one SGRAM, one SDRAM. This option is disabled by default, see below for information on how to enable it. EnableVia4x We've had problems with some Via chipsets in 4x mode, we need force them back down to 2x mode. If you'd like to experiment with retaining 4x mode, you may try setting this value to 1 If that hangs the system, you're stuck with 2x mode; there's nothing we can do about it. Value Meaning -------------- --------------------------------------------------- 0 disable AGP 4x on Via chipsets (default) 1 enable AGP 4x on Via chipsets EnableALiAGP Some ALi chipsets (ALi1541, ALi1647) are known to cause severe system stability problems with AGP enabled. To avoid lockups, we disable AGP on systems with these chipsets by default. It appears that updating the system BIOS and using recent versions of the kernel AGP Gart driver can make such systems much more stable. If you own a system with one of the aforementioned chipsets and had it working reasonably well previously, or if you want to experiment with BIOS and AGPGART revisions, you can re-enable AGP support by setting this option to 1. Value Meaning -------------- --------------------------------------------------- 0 disable AGP on Ali1541 and ALi1647 (default) 1 enable AGP on Ali1541 and ALi1647 NvAGP This options controls which AGP GART driver is used when no explicit request is made to change the default (X server). Value Meaning -------------- --------------------------------------------------- 0 disable AGP support 1 use NVIDIA's builtin driver (if possible) 2 use the kernel's AGPGART driver (if possible) 3 use any available driver (try 2, then 1) Please note that NVIDIA's internal AGP GART driver will not be used if AGPGART was either statically linked into your kernel or built as a kernel module and loaded before the NVIDIA kernel module. ReqAGPRate Normally, the driver will compare speed modes of the chipset and the card, picking the highest common rate. This key forces a maximum limit, to limit the driver to lower speeds. The driver will not attempt a speed beyond what the chipset and card claim they are capable of. Make sure you really know what you're doing before you enable this override. By default, AGP drivers will enable the fastest AGP rate your card and motherboard chipset are capable of. Then, in some cases, our driver will force this rate down to work around bugs in both our chipsets, and motherboard chipsets. Using this variable will override our bug fixes. This may be desirable in some cases, but not most. THIS IS COMPLETELY UNSUPPORTED! This option expects a bitmask (7 = 1|2|3|4, 3=1|2, etc.) This option is disabled by default, see below for information on how to enable it. EnableAGPSBA For stability reasons, the driver will not Side Band Addressing even if both the host chipset and the AGP card support it. You may override this behaviour with the following registry key. THIS IS COMPLETELY UNSUPPORTED! Value Meaning -------------- --------------------------------------------------- 0 disable Side Band Addressing (default on x86, see below) 1 enable Side Band Addressing (if supported) EnableAGPFW Similar to Side Band Addressing, Fast Writes are disabled by default. If you wish to enable them on systems that support them, you can do so with this registry key. Please note that this may render your system unstable with many AGP chipsets. THIS IS COMPLETELY UNSUPPORTED! Value Meaning -------------------------------- -------------------------------- 0 disable Fast Writes (default) 1 enable Fast Writes SoftEDIDs The SoftEDIDs registry key enables dynamic generation of an appropriate EDID for mobile LCD displays from data stored in the video BIOS. If this is turned off, then on mobile systems, a hardcoded EDID will be chosen from a table, based on the value of the Mobile registry key. Value Meaning -------------- --------------------------------------------------- 0 disable dynamic EDID generation 1 enable dynamic EDID generation (default) Mobile The Mobile registry key should only be needed on mobile systems if SoftEDIDs is disabled (see above), in which case the mobile value will be used to lookup the correct EDID for the mobile LCD. Value Meaning -------------- --------------------------------------------------- 0 auto detect the correct value (default) 1 Dell notebooks 2 non-Compal Toshiba 3 all other notebooks 4 Compal/Toshiba 5 Gateway Make sure to specify the correct value for your notebook. ______________________________________________________________________________ Appendix G. OpenGL Environment Variable Settings ______________________________________________________________________________ FULL SCENE ANTIALIASING Antialiasing is a technique used to smooth the edges of objects in a scene to reduce the jagged "stairstep" effect that sometimes appears. Full-scene antialiasing is supported on GeForce or newer hardware. By setting the appropriate environment variable, you can enable full-scene antialiasing in any OpenGL application on these GPUs. Several antialiasing methods are available and you can select between them by setting the __GL_FSAA_MODE environment variable appropriately. Note that increasing the number of samples taken during FSAA rendering may decrease performance. The following tables describe the possible values for __GL_FSAA_MODE and the effects that they have on various NVIDIA GPUs. __GL_FSAA_MODE GeForce, GeForce2, Quadro, and Quadro2 Pro --------------- ------------------------------------------------------ 0 FSAA disabled 1 FSAA disabled 2 FSAA disabled 3 1.5 x 1.5 Supersampling 4 2 x 2 Supersampling 5 FSAA disabled 6 FSAA disabled 7 FSAA disabled __GL_FSAA_MODE GeForce4 MX, GeForce4 4xx Go, Quadro4 380,550,580 XGL, and Quadro4 NVS --------------- ------------------------------------------------------ 0 FSAA disabled 1 2x Bilinear Multisampling 2 2x Quincunx Multisampling 3 FSAA disabled 4 2 x 2 Supersampling 5 FSAA disabled 6 FSAA disabled 7 FSAA disabled __GL_FSAA_MODE GeForce3, Quadro DCC, GeForce4 Ti, GeForce4 4200 Go, and Quadro4 700,750,780,900,980 XGL --------------- ------------------------------------------------------ 0 FSAA disabled 1 2x Bilinear Multisampling 2 2x Quincunx Multisampling 3 FSAA disabled 4 4x Bilinear Multisampling 5 4x Gaussian Multisampling 6 2x Bilinear Multisampling by 4x Supersampling 7 FSAA disabled __GL_FSAA_MODE GeForce FX, GeForce 6xxx, GeForce 7xxx, Quadro FX --------------- ------------------------------------------------------ 0 FSAA disabled 1 2x Bilinear Multisampling 2 2x Quincunx Multisampling 3 FSAA disabled 4 4x Bilinear Multisampling 5 4x Gaussian Multisampling 6 2x Bilinear Multisampling by 4x Supersampling 7 4x Bilinear Multisampling by 4x Supersampling 8 4x Bilinear Multisampling by 2x Supersampling (available on GeForce FX and later GPUs; not available on Quadro GPUs) ANISOTROPIC TEXTURE FILTERING Automatic anisotropic texture filtering can be enabled by setting the environment variable __GL_LOG_MAX_ANISO. The possible values are: __GL_LOG_MAX_ANISO Filtering Type ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- 0 No anisotropic filtering 1 2x anisotropic filtering 2 4x anisotropic filtering 3 8x anisotropic filtering 4 16x anisotropic filtering 4x and greater are only available on GeForce3 or newer GPUs; 16x is only available on GeForce 6800 or newer GPUs. VBLANK SYNCING Setting the environment variable __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK to a non-zero value will force glXSwapBuffers to sync to your monitor's vertical refresh (perform a swap only during the vertical blanking period). When using __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK with TwinView, OpenGL can only sync to one of the display devices; this may cause tearing corruption on the display device to which OpenGL is not syncing. You can use the environment variable __GL_SYNC_DISPLAY_DEVICE to specify to which display device OpenGL should sync. You should set this environment variable to the name of a display device; for example "CRT-1". Please look for the line "Connected display device(s):" in your X log file for a list of the display devices present and their names. You may also find it useful to review Appendix I (Configuring Twinview) and the section on Ensuring Identical Mode Timings in Appendix L. DISABLING CPU-SPECIFIC FEATURES Setting the environment variable __GL_FORCE_GENERIC_CPU to a non-zero value will inhibit the use of CPU-specific features such as MMX, SSE, or 3DNOW!. Use of this option may result in performance loss. CONTROLLING FORK(2) HANDLING BEHAVIOR In order to clean up and reinitialize system resources the NVIDIA OpenGL implementation needs to be aware of fork(2) system calls. The mechanism used by the NVIDIA OpenGL implementation to detect fork(2) system calls does not work well on systems using the LinuxThreads implementation of pthreads. For thread safety the NVIDIA OpenGL implementation disables its fork(2) detection on LinuxThreads-based systems. Setting the environment variable __GL_ALWAYS_HANDLE_FORK to a non-zero value will enable fork(2) detection on all systems. Setting the environment variable __GL_ALWAYS_HANDLE_FORK will reduce thread safety on LinuxThreads-based systems. It is strongly recommended to only set the __GL_ALWAYS_HANDLE_FORK environment variable when running single threaded applications that are known to use fork. ______________________________________________________________________________ Appendix H. Configuring AGP ______________________________________________________________________________ There are several choices for configuring the NVIDIA kernel module's use of AGP: you can choose to either use NVIDIA's AGP module (NVAGP), or the AGP module that comes with the FreeBSD kernel (AGPGART). This is controlled through the "NvAGP" option in your X config file: Option "NvAgp" "0" ... disables AGP support Option "NvAgp" "1" ... use NVAGP, if possible Option "NvAgp" "2" ... use AGPGART, if possible Option "NvAGP" "3" ... try AGPGART; if that fails, try NVAGP Unlike other operating systems such as Linux, this option is not the only controlling factor at this point; because of known problems, 'nvidia.ko' is built without support for FreeBSD's AGP driver by default. This behavior can be changed, see 'nv-freebsd.h' for details. Please note that if you built nvidia.ko with support for the FreeBSD driver it will not load unless 'agp.ko' is loaded. 'agp.ko' is special in that you can not load it after the system boot is complete, you need to append the following line to '/boot/loader.conf' to make sure it is pre-loaded: # -- load FreeBSD AGP GART driver -- # agp_load="YES" Also note that if 'agp.ko' is loaded, it could conflict with NVIDIA's AGP GART driver (NvAGP), resulting in stability problems; for this reason, the NVIDIA driver will abort NvAGP initialization when it detects 'agp.ko'. Current FreeBSD releases are shipped with 'agp.ko' built into the kernel; in order to allow NvAGP to work, the kernel can be rebuilt without 'device agp' or the following entry added to '/boot/device.hints': hint.agp.0.disabled="1" When built with support for the FreeBSD AGP driver, 'nvidia.ko' will fall back to using NvAGP when it doesn't detect 'agp.ko' (this will be the case when 'agp.ko' does not support your AGP chipset or was explicitely disabled with device hints). It is highly recommended that you use the NVIDIA AGP driver. The following AGP chipsets are supported by NVIDIA's AGP driver; for all other chipsets it is recommended that you use the AGPGART module. Supported AGP Chipsets ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Intel 440LX Intel 440BX Intel 440GX Intel 815 ("Solano") Intel 820 ("Camino") Intel 830M Intel 840 ("Carmel") Intel 845 ("Brookdale") Intel 845G Intel 850 ("Tehama") Intel 855 ("Odem") Intel 860 ("Colusa") Intel 865G ("Springdale") Intel 875P ("Canterwood") Intel E7205 ("Granite Bay") Intel E7505 ("Placer") AMD 751 ("Irongate") AMD 761 ("IGD4") AMD 762 ("IGD4 MP") AMD 8151 ("Lokar") VIA 8371 VIA 82C694X VIA KT133 VIA KT266 VIA KT400 VIA P4M266 VIA P4M266A VIA P4X400 VIA K8T800 VIA K8N800 VIA PT880 VIA KT880 RCC CNB20LE RCC 6585HE Micron SAMDDR ("Samurai") Micron SCIDDR ("Scimitar") NVIDIA nForce NVIDIA nForce2 NVIDIA nForce3 ALi 1621 ALi 1631 ALi 1647 ALi 1651 ALi 1671 SiS 630 SiS 633 SiS 635 SiS 645 SiS 646 SiS 648 SiS 648FX SiS 650 SiS 651 SiS 655 SiS 655FX SiS 661 SiS 730 SiS 733 SiS 735 SiS 745 SiS 755 ATI RS200M If you are experiencing AGP stability problems, you should be aware of the following: Additional AGP Information AGP drive strength BIOS setting (Via-based motherboards) Many Via-based motherboards allow adjusting the AGP drive strength in the system BIOS. The setting of this option largely affects system stability, the range between 0xEA and 0xEE seems to work best for NVIDIA hardware. Setting either nibble to 0xF generally results in severe stability problems. If you decide to experiment with this, you need to be aware of the fact that you are doing so at your own risk and that you may render your system unbootable with improper settings until you reset the setting to a working value (w/ a PCI graphics card or by resetting the BIOS to its default values). System BIOS version Make sure you have the latest system BIOS provided by the motherboard manufacturer. On ALi1541 and ALi1647 chipsets, NVIDIA drivers disable AGP to work around timing and signal integrity problems. You can force AGP to be enabled on these chipsets by setting NVreg_EnableALiAGP to 1. Note that this may cause the system to become unstable. Early system BIOS revisions for the ASUS A7V8X-X KT400 motherboard misconfigure the chipset when an AGP 2.x graphics card is installed; if X hangs on your ASUS KT400 system with NvAGP enabled and the installed graphics card is not an AGP 8x device, make sure that you have the latest system BIOS installed. ______________________________________________________________________________ Appendix I. Configuring TwinView ______________________________________________________________________________ The TwinView feature is supported on NVIDIA GPUs that support dual-display functionality, such as the GeForce2 MX, GeForce2 Go, Quadro2 MXR, Quadro2 Go, GeForce4, Quadro4, GeForce FX, Quadro FX, Quadro NVS, GeForce 6 Series and GeForce 7 Series GPUs. Please consult with your video card vendor to confirm that TwinView is supported on your graphics card. TwinView is a mode of operation where two display devices (digital flat panels, CRTs, and TVs) can display the contents of a single X screen in any arbitrary configuration. This method of multiple monitor use has several distinct advantages over other techniques (such as Xinerama): o A single X screen is used. The NVIDIA driver conceals all information about multiple display devices from the X server; as far as X is concerned, there is only one screen. o Both display devices share one frame buffer. Thus, all the functionality present on a single display (e.g., accelerated OpenGL) is available with TwinView. o No additional overhead is needed to emulate having a single desktop. If you are interested in using each display device as a separate X screen, please see Appendix P. X CONFIG TWINVIEW OPTIONS To enable TwinView, you must specify the following option in the Device section of your X Config file: Option "TwinView" You may also use any of the following options, though they are not required: Option "MetaModes" "" Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "" Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "" Option "HorizSync" "" Option "VertRefresh" "" Option "TwinViewOrientation" "" Option "ConnectedMonitor" "" Please see detailed descriptions of each option below. Alternatively, you can enable TwinView by running nvidia-xconfig --twinview and restarting your X server. Or, you can configure TwinView dynamically in the "Display Configuration" page in nvidia-settings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF OPTIONS TwinView This option is required to enable TwinView; without it, all other TwinView related options are ignored. SecondMonitorHorizSync SecondMonitorVertRefresh You specify the constraints of the second monitor through these options. The values given should follow the same convention as the "HorizSync" and "VertRefresh" entries in the Monitor section. As the XF86Config man page explains it: the ranges may be a comma separated list of distinct values and/or ranges of values, where a range is given by two distinct values separated by a dash. The HorizSync is given in kHz, and the VertRefresh is given in Hz. These options are normally not needed: by default, the NVIDIA X driver retrieves the valid frequency ranges from the display device's EDID (see Appendix D for a description of the "UseEdidFreqs" option). The SecondMonitor options will override any frequency ranges retrieved from the EDID. HorizSync VertRefresh Which display device is "first" and which is "second" is often unclear. For this reason, you may use these options instead of the SecondMonitor versions. With these options, you can specify a semicolon-separated list of frequency ranges, each optionally prepended with a display device name. For example: Option "HorizSync" "CRT-0: 50-110; DFP-0: 40-70" Option "VertRefresh" "CRT-0: 60-120; DFP-0: 60" Please see Appendix Q on Display Device Names for more information. These options are normally not needed: by default, the NVIDIA X driver retrieves the valid frequency ranges from the display device's EDID (see Appendix D for a description of the "UseEdidFreqs" option). The "HorizSync" and "VertRefresh" options override any frequency ranges retrieved from the EDID or any frequency ranges specified with the "SecondMonitorHorizSync" and "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" options. MetaModes MetaModes are "containers" that store information about what mode should be used on each display device at any given time. Even if only one display device is actively in use, the NVIDIA X driver always uses a MetaMode to encapsulate the mode information per display device, so that it can support dynamically enabling TwinView. Multiple MetaModes list the combinations of modes and the sequence in which they should be used. When the NVIDIA driver tells X what modes are available, it is really the minimal bounding box of the MetaMode that is communicated to X, while the "per display device" mode is kept internal to the NVIDIA driver. In MetaMode syntax, modes within a MetaMode are comma separated, and multiple MetaModes are separated by semicolons. For example: ", ; , " Where is the name of the mode to be used on display device 0 concurrently with used on display device 1. A mode switch will then cause to be used on display device 0 and to be used on display device 1. Here is an example MetaMode: Option "MetaModes" "1280x1024,1280x1024; 1024x768,1024x768" If you want a display device to not be active for a certain MetaMode, you can use the mode name "NULL", or simply omit the mode name entirely: "1600x1200, NULL; NULL, 1024x768" or "1600x1200; , 1024x768" Optionally, mode names can be followed by offset information to control the positioning of the display devices within the virtual screen space; e.g., "1600x1200 +0+0, 1024x768 +1600+0; ..." Offset descriptions follow the conventions used in the X "-geometry" command line option; i.e., both positive and negative offsets are valid, though negative offsets are only allowed when a virtual screen size is explicitly given in the X config file. When no offsets are given for a MetaMode, the offsets will be computed following the value of the TwinViewOrientation option (see below). Note that if offsets are given for any one of the modes in a single MetaMode, then offsets will be expected for all modes within that single MetaMode; in such a case offsets will be assumed to be +0+0 when not given. When not explicitly given, the virtual screen size will be computed as the the bounding box of all MetaMode bounding boxes. MetaModes with a bounding box larger than an explicitly given virtual screen size will be discarded. A MetaMode string can be further modified with a "Panning Domain" specification; e.g., "1024x768 @1600x1200, 800x600 @1600x1200" A panning domain is the area in which a display device's viewport will be panned to follow the mouse. Panning actually happens on two levels with TwinView: first, an individual display device's viewport will be panned within its panning domain, as long as the viewport is contained by the bounding box of the MetaMode. Once the mouse leaves the bounding box of the MetaMode, the entire MetaMode (i.e., all display devices) will be panned to follow the mouse within the virtual screen. Note that individual display devices' panning domains default to being clamped to the position of the display devices' viewports, thus the default behavior is just that viewports remain "locked" together and only perform the second type of panning. The most beneficial use of panning domains is probably to eliminate dead areas -- regions of the virtual screen that are inaccessible due to display devices with different resolutions. For example: "1600x1200, 1024x768" produces an inaccessible region below the 1024x768 display. Specifying a panning domain for the second display device: "1600x1200, 1024x768 @1024x1200" provides access to that dead area by allowing you to pan the 1024x768 viewport up and down in the 1024x1200 panning domain. Offsets can be used in conjunction with panning domains to position the panning domains in the virtual screen space (note that the offset describes the panning domain, and only affects the viewport in that the viewport must be contained within the panning domain). For example, the following describes two modes, each with a panning domain width of 1900 pixels, and the second display is positioned below the first: "1600x1200 @1900x1200 +0+0, 1024x768 @1900x768 +0+1200" Because it is often unclear which mode within a MetaMode will be used on each display device, mode descriptions within a MetaMode can be prepended with a display device name. For example: "CRT-0: 1600x1200, DFP-0: 1024x768" If no MetaMode string is specified, then the X driver uses the modes listed in the relevant "Display" subsection, attempting to place matching modes on each display device. TwinViewOrientation This option controls the positioning of the second display device relative to the first within the virtual X screen, when offsets are not explicitly given in the MetaModes. The possible values are: "RightOf" (the default) "LeftOf" "Above" "Below" "Clone" When "Clone" is specified, both display devices will be assigned an offset of 0,0. Because it is often unclear which display device is "first" and which is "second", TwinViewOrientation can be confusing. You can further clarify the TwinViewOrientation with display device names to indicate which display device is positioned relative to which display device. For example: "CRT-0 LeftOf DFP-0" ConnectedMonitor With this option you can override what the NVIDIA kernel module detects is connected to your video card. This may be useful, for example, if any of your display devices do not support detection using Display Data Channel (DDC) protocols. Valid values are a comma-separated list of display device names; for example: "CRT-0, CRT-1" "CRT" "CRT-1, DFP-0" WARNING: this option overrides what display devices are detected by the NVIDIA kernel module, and is very seldom needed. You really only need this if a display device is not detected, either because it does not provide DDC information, or because it is on the other side of a KVM (Keyboard-Video-Mouse) switch. In most other cases, it is best not to specify this option. Just as in all X config entries, spaces are ignored and all entries are case insensitive. DYNAMIC TWINVIEW Using the NV-CONTROL X extension, the display devices in use by an X screen, the mode pool for each display device, and the MetaModes for each X screen can be dynamically manipulated. The "Display Configuration" page in nvidia-settings uses this functionality to modify the MetaMode list and then uses XRandR to switch between MetaModes. This gives the ability to dynamically configure TwinView. The details of how this works are documented in the nv-control-dpy.c sample NV-CONTROL client in the nvidia-settings source tarball. Because the NVIDIA X driver can now transition into and out of TwinView dynamically, MetaModes are always used internally by the NVIDIA X driver, regardless of how many display devices are currently in use by the X screen and regardless of whether the TwinView X configuration option was specified. One implication of this implementation is that each MetaMode must be uniquely identifiable to the XRandR X extension. Unfortunately, two MetaModes with the same bounding box will look the same to XRandR. For example, two MetaModes with different orientations: "CRT: 1600x1200 +0+0, DFP: 1600x1200 +1600+0" "CRT: 1600x1200 +1600+0, DFP: 1600x1200 +0+0" will look identical to the XRandR or XF86VidMode X extensions, because they have the same total size (3200x1200), and nvidia-settings would not be able to use XRandR to switch between these Me