Linux FAQ v1.0

Are these releases supported by 3dfx?  

These releases are supported through our newsgroup.  Please visit news://3dfx.glide.linux for all support questions and assistance.

What 3dfx cards can I use on Linux?

There are drivers for all 3dfx chipsets, specifically Voodoo Graphics, Voodoo Rush, Voodoo2, Voodoo Banshee, and Voodoo3 2000/3000/3500TV.

What about Voodoo3 3500TV support?

We know of one effort to create a driver for the Voodoo3 3500TV tuner, but it is not ready yet.

What is the difference between the beta DRI driver for Voodoo 3 and the non DRI driver?

First of all, the DRI driver is based on Xfree 4.0 and it is a beta driver. The DRI driver is an early beta the first driver from 3dfx that supports Mesa3D in a window. The non DRI driver supports Mesa3D in fullscreen mode only.

Can I run Glide games on the DRI driver?

No, this isn't supported yet. We are adding DRI support to Glide 2.6 in order to support legacy Glide-only games; we expect to release this by the end of the year.

What is DRI anyway?

It stands for "Direct Rendering Infrastructure" and was developed by Precision Insight. Direct rendering allows OpenGL programs to bypass the X protocol and to access the graphics hardware directly. See the precision insight web page for more details (www.precisioninsight.com)

What Linux distributions have you tested your drivers on?

The following distributions have been tested by our Linux team for functionality:

• Slackware 4.0, 7.0
• Red Hat 5.2, 6.0, 6.1
• SuSE  6.2 (6.2 doesn't currently work with our DRI release  non DRI works on 6.2)
• Caldera (not tested well)
• Mandrake works on 6.1, minor installation issues that should be addressed on drivers page
• TurboLinux (not tested well)
• Debian works on current stable release 2.1 (slink); haven't tested on unstable (popular) release 2.2 (potato) but haven't heard any complaints either.  3dfx also don't ship our drivers in their preferred format.

The Rush Glide2x kit is missing files – Where can I find them?  

The missing files are © Alliance Semiconductor. We were unable to secure the rights to open source the files. Please direct your comments/requests to Alliance Semiconductor.

When will Glide3x be released for Voodoo Graphics and Voodoo Rush?

We do not have any plans to release Glide 3 for Voodoo Graphics or Voodoo Rush.

How do I upload source code for Glide?              

Please visit the site http://glide.sourceforge.net/ for Glide source code and http://dri.sourceforge.net for DRI source code.

How do I install Linux drivers? 

Please consult the open source section on this website for detailed instructions on the software installation of your 3dfx video card.

For online help, visit the Glide newsgroup at news://3dfx.glide.linux for more support issues.  Or you can visit http://lca13.eastnet.gatech.edu/ for installation assistance.

Specifically, how do I get Quake running on Linux?

In order to run Quake1 on Voodoo3 or Voodoo Banshee you need to run the boxed Quake1 game published by Macmillian.  This is because the publicly available builds of Quake are linked against libc5 and our drivers aren't, with open source I suppose somebody could build libc5 versions.

How do I install Mesa3D so I can run OpenGL API programs such as Quake?

First make sure you have followed the installation instructions on our webpage and installed the 3dfx driver correctly. If you are using the DRI driver, then you are done since it contains Mesa. Otherwise you have several options:

1. Quake3 ships with a prebuilt version of Mesa3.3beta . This version of Mesa works for most people

2. You can download the Mesa source code from www.Mesa3D.org and build it with Glide rendering support (set the configuration to linux-glide)

3. You can find pre-built Mesa binaries in various places:

   1. It may come with your linux distribution, perhaps in the set of contrib (Don't unabreviate the word contrib in the final text because that is generally the name of the directory) files.

   2. Mitch is providing Binaries of Mesa at his webpage http://lca13.eastnet.gatech.edu/

For OpenGL API based program besides Quake3 you must set the environment variable MESA_GLX_FX to fullscreen in order to enable Glide enhanced rendering. 

1. If you run sh do this by typing:

   export MESA_GLX_FX=fullscreen

    

2. in csh do this:

   setenv MESA_GLX_FX fullscreen

Do I need to do anything else to get OpenGL API programs running?

Yes, if you are using the non DRI drivers and running an OpenGL API program other than Quake3, then you need to tell Mesa to run in fullscreen mode. This is done by setting the environment variable MESA_GLX_FX.

The performance of Mesa isn't what I expected. How can I tell if the 3dfx drivers are loaded?

Run lsmod to see if the 3dfx driver is loaded. If the driver is loaded and performance is still bad, then you've probably enabled features that are not supported in hardware.

How do I get Glide games like Myth2 running on Linux?

If Glide is installed properly (which includes setting resolutions correctly) then the only other issue with Myth2 is that you need to run your desktop in 16 bit color.  This applies to Voodoo Banshee and Voodoo3.  It is not clear on Voodoo Graphics, Voodoo Rush, and Voodoo2 chipsets.  Note that Glide-only games, such as Myth2, are not supported on the DRI driver yet.

Why does the X Server use so much memory?

The X Server maps the memory on the Voodoo Board into its process space.  This memory is reported by programs like ps and top.  However this memory is not part of your system memory.

Is your questions not answered?

Please visit our internet resources section for answers your 3D Linux questions.