Bug 115326

Summary:	Xserver related article for Release Notes
Product:	[openSUSE] SUSE LINUX 10.0	Reporter:	Stefan Dirsch <sndirsch>
Component:	Release Notes	Assignee:	Karl Eichwalder <ke>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED	QA Contact:	Andreas Jaeger <aj>
Severity:	Normal
Priority:	P5 - None	CC:	eich
Version:	Beta 4 Plus
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	Other
OS:	All
Whiteboard:
Found By:	Other	Services Priority:
Business Priority:		Blocker:	---
Marketing QA Status:	---	IT Deployment:	---

Description Stefan Dirsch 2005-09-05 16:19:10 UTC

Please add this to the Release Notes of SUSE Linux 10.0. Sorry for coming so late.

New GeForce Graphics Cards (6200, 6600 and 6800) and the nv Driver

Currently, some GeForce 6200, 6600 and 6800 cards are configured with Option
"ShadowFB" in the device section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Because this setting
slows down graphics output considerably, you can try to remove or comment this
option. However, this locks up some systems and you must boot your computer into
runlevel 3 to revert the change. We cannot distinguish automatically between
graphics cards that work with acceleration and those that do not.

We set this option only for cards we were able to test and suffered from this
problem. Other GeForce 6200 and 6600 based boards might be affected as well. If
your system locks up and you do not see this option in the device section of
/etc/X11/xorg.conf, try adding it.

If you see graphics distortion without Option "ShadowFB" and your system does
not lock up, you can use both Option "XaaNoPixmapCache" and Option
"XaaNoOffscreenPixmaps" in the device section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf instead.
This setting does not slow down your graphics output as much as Option
"XaaNoScreenToScreenCopy" does.

Another option is to install the binary-only driver from nVidia, which does not
seem to be affected. Use YaST Online Update (YOU) for this.

This issue is currently under investigation by SUSE/nVidia.

Comment 1 Stefan Dirsch 2005-09-05 16:22:34 UTC

I think we should simply replace "6200, 6600 and 6800" and "6200 and 6600" with
"6x00".

Comment 2 Karl Eichwalder 2005-09-06 06:14:31 UTC

For the sake of our established processes, RN snippet are to be approved by Andreas.

Comment 3 Andreas Jaeger 2005-09-06 06:32:33 UTC

Ok, with me.  Karl, could you go over the text, please?  I suggest to improve
the wording a bit.

Comment 4 Karl Eichwalder 2005-09-06 06:55:59 UTC

Thanks. Sure, with help by Rebecca.

Comment 5 Stefan Dirsch 2005-09-06 11:56:25 UTC

> ...  "XaaNoScreenToScreenCopy" ...  
  
should be '... "ShadowFB" ...'

Comment 6 Karl Eichwalder 2005-09-06 12:30:29 UTC

Final text for RC2 (milestone is missing):

  <!-- bug 115326 -->
  <sect3 id="geforce_nvidia"  status="2005-09-06">
   <title>New GeForce Graphics Cards (6x00) and the nv Driver</title>

   <para>
Currently, some new GeForce cards (6x00 series) can only be used without
acceleration to avoid system lockup or graphics distortions.  This issue is
under investigation by SUSE and nVidia.</para>

   <para>Some of these cards are configured with <literal>Option
"ShadowFB"</literal> in the <filename>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</filename> device
section. This setting disables acceleration, slowing down graphics output
considerably.  We cannot automatically detect for which graphics cards this
setting is actually necessary.  You must test it on your own by removing or
commenting the option in <filename>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</filename>. However, if
this test locks up your system, you must boot into runlevel 3 and revert the
change.</para>

   <para>
We set this option only for cards we know to be affected by this problem. Other
GeForce 6x00 based boards might be affected as well. If your system locks up
and you do not see this option in the <filename>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</filename>
device section, add it and restart the system.</para>

   <para>If you experience only graphics distortion without <literal>Option
"ShadowFB"</literal> but no system lockup, you can use both <literal>Option
"XaaNoPixmapCache"</literal> and <literal>Option
"XaaNoOffscreenPixmaps"</literal> in the
<filename>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</filename> device section instead.  This setting
does not slow down the graphics output as much as <literal>Option
"ShadowFB"</literal>.
</para>

   <para>Another solution is to install the binary-only driver from nVidia,
which does not seem to be affected. Use YaST Online Update (YOU) to install
this driver.
</para>

  </sect3>

Comment 7 Matthias Hopf 2005-09-06 12:41:43 UTC

Sorry for not noticing earlier, but NVIDIA wants to be spelled in all caps.

Comment 8 Karl Eichwalder 2005-09-06 13:03:44 UTC

If something is wrong with a bug fix, re-open the report ;)  The string is
longer than 4 character and thus Karl Spelling Rule Number 5 applies.

Rebecca, what do do you think?

Comment 9 Rebecca Walter 2005-09-06 13:11:18 UTC

I just checked their Web page and I have to agree with Matthias Hopf.  All 
caps please. 
Can you fix this Karl?

Comment 10 Karl Eichwalder 2005-09-06 13:27:07 UTC

Done.

Comment 11 Egbert Eich 2005-09-06 13:42:10 UTC

Yes, it's very importand to get this right. I've seen several emails by MarkV
correcting people's spelling of the companies name.