Linux on GX280 instructions

Question

I just spent a chunk of time getting Fedora Core 2 up and running on a new GX280. I figured that I would post some of my experiences to save others time. I originally wanted to install Fedora Core 1 on this machine, due to bad experiences with sound and GNOME in FC2. However, in order to get the installer to work, I had to enable PATA emulation on the SATA drive in the BIOS. It installed fine, but I was left with a VESA video driver (rather than one supporting the i915 onboard (DVMT) chipset), SATA drives in parallel mode, and no network. So, after futzing with the downloadable drivers from Broadcom (for the 57xx integrated gigabit-e) since the tg3 driver didn't work, I discovered that they did not recognize the included chipset (adding the PCI id made it recognize the card, but it still didn't work). I figured that FC2 would have more up-to-date drivers. It did. It recognized the SATA controller without backwards compatibility enabled, so that was one thing down. It still didn't recognize the network card or the video adapter, but I happened to have a spare Netgear card kicking around. Installed it, booted, ran up2date (apt, actually) and found myself with a new kernel that included a working tg3 driver. Took out the Netgear card, booted, second thing down. Getting the graphics adapter working proved to be a bit more difficult (and isn't fully automatic yet). To begin with, you'll need Intel's drivers from here: http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-010512.htm?iid=graphics+915main& You'll also need the kernel SRPM (in my case, 2.6.6-1.435.2.3). Once that's installed, edit /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES/kernel-2.6.6-i686.config (and -smp, if appropriate) and set CONFIG_AGP=m and CONFIG_AGP_INTEL=m (everything else can be set to 'n'). Then, from /usr/src/redhat, run 'rpmbuild -ba --target=i686 SPECS/kernel-2.6.spec' to build a pair of kernel RPMS (one smp, one not). Boot into a kernel that won't conflict with the one you're replacing, 'rpm -e kernel-2.6.6' to remove it, then install the new kernel ('rpm -ivh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/kernel-2.6.6-1.435.2.3.rpm'), and reboot into the one you just installed. So, now you have a kernel with DRI drivers as modules (rather than compiled into the kernel). This is required, as the Intel drivers include replacements for agpgart and intel_agp. Untar the Intel drivers, edit drm/drm_vm.h and comment out line 104, 105, and 106: // DRM_DEBUG('baddr = 0x%lx page = 0x%p, offset = 0x%lx, count=%d
', // baddr, __va(agpmem->memory->memory[offset]), offset, // atomic_read(&page->count)); Now, from dripkg/, run './install.sh' and follow the prompts (it helps if you're in text mode, having run 'init 3' to stop X). The agpgart and intel_agp drivers that came with the kernel RPM will be replaced, a new i810 driver will be dropped in /usr/X11/lib/modules/drivers, and the gdg DRI driver will be dropped in /usr/X11/lib/modules/dri. All that remains is to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf; change the 'Driver' setting under 'Device' to 'i810' rather than 'vesa'. 'init 5' to start X, and (fingers crossed), you'll have a working Linux system with matching drivers for your devices. (You'll likely have to 'modprobe intel_agp' to get the gdg DRI driver loaded, but that's what modprobe is for...) Things I haven't done yet (comment, if you know how to do these easily): configure grub to use my kernel by default configure modprobe to insmod intel_agp automatically Good luck! seth

ncsaba · Answer

@sethf wrote:
[snip]
Things I haven't done yet (comment, if you know how to do these easily):
configure grub to use my kernel by default
configure modprobe to insmod intel_agp automatically

Good luck!

seth

Hi seth,
First of all thanks for the instructions, worked out fine for me too.
As of your TODOs, you can make your kernel the default in the grub configuration by editing /boot/grub/grub.conf and adding/modifying the line with "default=n", where n is the kernel's entry number in the configuration, starting with 0 (so the first kernel entry in the grub configuration is 0, the second one is 1, and so on).

The second todo is yet a todo for me too.

Cheers,
Csaba.

LinuxPro · Answer

I got it all working except the graphic driver part... did exactly what you wrote but get:

Compiling new agpgart module...
Compiling DRM module...

ERROR: Kernel modules did not compile

The DRI drivers can not be installed without the latest kernel modules.
Installation will be aborted. See the dri.log file for information on
what went wrong.

[root@dingo dripkg]# more dri.log
rm -f *.o *.ko dristat drmstat .depend .*.flags .*.d .*.cmd
make: *** No rule to make target `gdg.ko'. Stop.

Suggestions are (more than) welcome since I now use the VESA driver which is rather slow...

BrianAndersen · Answer

I'm having the the exact same problem using kernel 2.6.8-1.521. Has anyone had any luck with this kernel? Brian

mightyduck99 · Answer

I had the same problem. Just cd into dripkg/drm and edit Makefile.linux. Change "gdg.o" somewhere at the beginning to "gdg.ko" (this is the new extension for 2.6 kernels) and then start install.sh again. This worked for me.

Another question. Did anybody get the sound to work on the gx280? Which driver do I need for that? Apparently the stuff in SUSE 9.1 is too old and doesn't recognize the integrated soundchip.

BrianAndersen · Answer

That's how I managed to get it done, I think. Is there anyway to make sure it's running? The System Settings > Display still shows VESA Driver (Generic) even though I changed xorg.conf to i810. I assume its running since I am now getting 1400+ in glxgears instead of 380 like I was before, but it would be nice to know for sure.

xmedeko · Answer

configure modprobe to insmod intel_agp automatically:
Hi,
use modprobe.conf or make a new file in modporbe.d directory and then use directive "install", a.g.

install i810 /sbin/modprobe intel_agp; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install i810

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