Call out to all Parhelia owners out there.

Cuardin

Just wondering how many of us there are. With the state of the Matrox linux support it might be worthwhile to see who else is in the same spot.

--DA
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HotKoala · n00b Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 14

All two of us, eh?

I'm having troubles getting the driver to install in gentoo using the script provided by Matrox. After moving it to ...portage/distfiles and attempting to emerge it was no go, too.

I come up with a messege that the kernel is not supported by the driver and it never installs.

Cuardin · Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 9:00 pm Post subject:

Use FEATURES="-sandbox" and emerge the mtxdrivers-pro. Then look in bugzilla for the workaround that needs to be applied to get full GL-accelleration. If you feel you want more support, open up a thread and PM me the link and I think I can give you some pointers.
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whtwtr · Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:20 pm Post subject: I'm Matrox'ed as well

Got it working in dual monitor mode, still working on getting GL support

:roll:

Has anyone else got opengl working?

Cuardin · Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 2:05 pm Post subject:

Lets see. I have full accelleration in all modes except independent dual mode.
Had some trouble with that, and I think it was related to running a 2.6 kernel, but since I use a 1-screen-per-computer, linked with Synergy (synergy2.sf.net), I have no need for multi-monitor at this time, so I didn't bother doing my homework.
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stegerpl · Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 6:36 pm Post subject: getting Parhelia working

Hi out there,

I own a Parhelia too but I could not get it working until Mai this year. At this time there was a beta driver from an internal website - not the official Matrox one. However I got it working on fedora core 3 in 32 bit mode but not in 64 mode. It seemed that the Matrox binary was in 32 bit mode and what I had to compile was 64. However I didn't dig into deep at that time.

Does anybody know if it works (compiles) now with 64 bit mode ?
_________________
[1]... AMD Phenon X4-9950 on asus M3N78-EM with 4 GB of RAM - gentoo 10.1 - kernel 2.6.32 - kde 4.3.4
[2]... AMD Athlon XP 2500+ mobile on ASUS A7N8X with 512 kB RAM and 2xTT S-2300 - vdr-1.6.0 based on gentoo-2008.0

Cuardin · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 7:10 am Post subject:

Unfortunately I still have only 32-bit machines.
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Timm · Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 9:45 pm Post subject:

Proud owner of a Parhelia 650.

I made many attempts to get NVidia and Ati cards working on 1600x1200 on DFP over DVI-I Cable. NVidia (FX5700) was crap in many ways and didn't work. ATI (Radeon 9550) worked, but the quality of the picture was not acceptable. The 2D quality of the Parhelia is outstanding, especially with the above mentioned resolution.

BTW: Today I corrected an existing ebuild for the mtxdrivers-1.4.1. emerge mtxdrivers-pro-1.4.1 works for me. If you like to use it: https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=98144. Maybe the maintainer will put into the official tree soon.

stegerpl · Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 11:53 am Post subject:

Timm · Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 3:19 pm Post subject:

As mentionend before 64 bit will not work. For 32 bit I will describe what you have to do:

1) Edit /etc/make.conf and add

stegerpl · Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:58 pm Post subject:

Hi Timm,

..that was a fast and pretty detailed reply - thanks a lot, I will try it soon.

However I have a small problem left - I changed already to kernel 2.6.12-r6 (but could downgrade easily) => what are the problems with kernel 2.6.12 and newer ?

At the matrox forum (http://forum.matrox.com/mga/viewtopic.php?t=16096) I read something that they just had to change something from 11 to 12 in the description header.

Peter
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[1]... AMD Phenon X4-9950 on asus M3N78-EM with 4 GB of RAM - gentoo 10.1 - kernel 2.6.32 - kde 4.3.4
[2]... AMD Athlon XP 2500+ mobile on ASUS A7N8X with 512 kB RAM and 2xTT S-2300 - vdr-1.6.0 based on gentoo-2008.0

Timm · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 7:28 am Post subject:

Hi Peter,

stegerpl · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:36 pm Post subject:

Hi Timm,

I just tried to get my P650 working - following your perfect instruction I easily could compile the driver and install it.

However unfortunately it does not work => the screen (CRT at the DVI port with adapter - not all pins are conneted - works perfect in VESA mode) keeps black (even does not show any blink or Matrox screen). It takes about 30 sec. and then my monitors goes to stand-by due to lost signal. Finally I have to stop the x-server by [strg] [Alt] [<--].

If I take a look to the /var/log/Xorg.0.log it shows a lot of messages (seems to scan several devices, etc.) but also that all my modelines could not be used (bad mode clock/interlace/doublescan) :

--- just a short list for example ----
(II) MTX(0): Clock range: 12.00 to 164.00 MHz
(II) MTX(0): Not using mode "1280x1024" (bad mode clock/interlace/doublescan)
(II) MTX(0): Not using mode "1280x1024" (bad mode clock/interlace/doublescan)
(II) MTX(0): Not using default mode "320x175" (bad mode clock/interlace/doublescan)
(II) MTX(0): Not using default mode "320x200" (bad mode clock/interlace/doublescan)
(II) MTX(0): Not using default mode "360x200" (bad mode clock/interlace/doublescan)
(II) MTX(0): Not using default mode "320x240" (bad mode clock/interlace/doublescan)
(II) MTX(0): Not using default mode "320x240" (bad mode clock/interlace/doublescan)
(II) MTX(0): Not using default mode "320x240" (bad mode clock/interlace/doublescan)
(II) MTX(0): Not using default mode "320x240" (bad mode clock/interlace/doublescan)
-----------------

Since I did not enable digital output I also do not understand the following messages:

(II) MTX(0): TV Standard : NTSC
(II) MTX(0): First X instance -
(II) MTX(0): Using Digital Output
(EE) MTX(0): ------------------------------------------------------------------------
(EE) MTX(0): ulDispWidth : 00001400 Display Width in pixels
(EE) MTX(0): ulDispHeight : 00001200 Display Height in pixels
(EE) MTX(0): ulDeskWidth : 00001408 Desktop Width in pixels
(EE) MTX(0): ulDeskHeight : 00001216 Desktop Height in pixels
(EE) MTX(0): ulBpp : 00000016 Bits Per Pixels / input format
(EE) MTX(0): ------------------------------------------------------------------------
(EE) MTX(0): MGAValidateMode from HALlib found the mode to be invalid.
Error: 0xb2104270
(II) MTX(0): Not using mode "1400x1200" (unknown reason)
(II) MTX(0): TV Standard : NTSC
(II) MTX(0): First X instance -
(II) MTX(0): Using Digital Output

The log-files finishes with the following lines:

Warning: font renderer for ".cid" already registered at priority 0
Could not init font path element /usr/share/fonts/local, removing from list!
(II) MTX(0): Parhelia device stopped.

My xorg.conf contains the following:

Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/local"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AllowMouseOpenFail"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "type1"
Load "dbe"
Load "freetype"
# Load "glx"
Load "v4l"
Load "extmod"
# Load "vnc"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "record"
Load "type1"
# Load "dri"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "kbd"
Identifier "Keyboard[0]"
Option "Protocol" "Standard"
Option "XkbLayout" "de"
Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse[0]"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
DisplaySize 360 270
HorizSync 28-96
Identifier "Monitor[0]"
ModelName "446XS"
# Option "DPMS"
VendorName "NOKIA"
VertRefresh 50-150
UseModes "Modes[0]"
EndSection

Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes[0]"
Modeline "1400x1150" 159.6 1400 1464 1592 1720 1150 1154 1158 1174
Modeline "1400x1200" 159.6 1400 1428 1556 1760 1200 1204 1208 1276

Modeline "1280x1024" 105.15 1280 1360 1496 1712 1024 1025 1028 1059
Modeline "1280x1024" 125.14 1280 1368 1504 1728 1024 1025 1028 1065
Modeline "1280x1024" 145.69 1280 1376 1512 1744 1024 1025 1028 1071
Modeline "1280x1024" 165.29 1280 1376 1512 1744 1024 1025 1028 1077
Modeline "1280x1024" 186.80 1280 1376 1520 1760 1024 1025 1028 1083
Modeline "1280x1024" 207.19 1280 1376 1520 1760 1024 1025 1028 1090
Modeline "1280x1024" 229.69 1280 1384 1528 1776 1024 1025 1028 1096
Modeline "1280x1024" 250.74 1280 1384 1528 1776 1024 1025 1028 1103
Modeline "1280x1024" 271.80 1280 1384 1528 1776 1024 1025 1028 1109
Modeline "640x480" 23.06 640 656 720 800 480 481 484 497
Modeline "640x480" 27.74 640 664 728 816 480 481 484 500
Modeline "640x480" 32.64 640 672 736 832 480 481 484 503
Modeline "640x480" 36.97 640 672 736 832 480 481 484 505
Modeline "640x480" 42.22 640 680 744 848 480 481 484 508
Modeline "640x480" 46.80 640 680 744 848 480 481 484 511
Modeline "640x480" 51.43 640 680 744 848 480 481 484 514
Modeline "640x480" 57.18 640 680 752 864 480 481 484 517
Modeline "640x480" 62.12 640 680 752 864 480 481 484 521
EndSection

Section "Screen"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1400x1200" "1400x1150" "1280x1024" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1400x1200" "1400x1150" "1280x1024" "640x480"
EndSubSection
Device "Device[0]"
Identifier "Screen[0]"
Monitor "Monitor[0]"
EndSection

Section "Device"
BoardName "Matrox P650"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Driver "mtx"
Identifier "Device[0]"
Screen 0
# Option "Rotate" "off"
# Option "DigitalScreen1" "on"
# Option "DigitalScreen2" "on"
# Option "Busmastering" "on"
VendorName "MATROX"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout[all]"
InputDevice "Keyboard[0]" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse[0]" "CorePointer"
Option "Clone" "off"
Option "Xinerama" "off"
Screen "Screen[0]"
EndSection

# Section "DRI"
# Group "video"
# Mode 0660
# EndSection

Section "Extensions"
EndSection

I checked also modprobe mtx agprate=2

Do you have any Idea what's going on ?

Peter
_________________
[1]... AMD Phenon X4-9950 on asus M3N78-EM with 4 GB of RAM - gentoo 10.1 - kernel 2.6.32 - kde 4.3.4
[2]... AMD Athlon XP 2500+ mobile on ASUS A7N8X with 512 kB RAM and 2xTT S-2300 - vdr-1.6.0 based on gentoo-2008.0

Timm · Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 6:49 am Post subject:

Hi Peter,

I would post this at the Matrox forum. For me your xorg.conf looks wild, but I have a DFP, which is much easier to handle than a CRT. One thing is for sure: Your Modelines seem to be incorrect, thats why you have no blink or picture.

One thing I would try: Backup your old xorg.conf and create a new one with xorgconfig. Try some modes from which you know that they are working. Something like 1280x1024 and 16 or 24 bits of color. And then go higher which each attempt.

Sorry I could help better.
_________________
Timm

gnork · n00b Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 23 Location: Germany

I managed to compile the mtxdrivers-pro-1.4.1-r1.ebuild with an 2.6.12 kernel. So far everything runs smooth.
To get this to work, you will have to comment out the kernel version check in the matrox eclass. Find these lines in matrox.eclass (look for matrox_src_compile)

Timm · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 12:27 pm Post subject:

gnork · n00b Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 23 Location: Germany

Timm · Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 1:14 pm Post subject:

I've got the same error message.
_________________
Timm

Timm · Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 3:51 pm Post subject:

Just found a patch for the AGP issue. Works fine here. I modified the ebuild and supplied a patch file. This can be found here: https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=98144
_________________
Timm

gnork · n00b Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 23 Location: Germany

I get a few warnings compiling the patched version. Right now the module (mtx.ko) is not loaded. XOrg loads the mtx driver but disables OpenGL because it is not hardware accelerated. I will have to look into that a bit further and will report back.

Rgds,
Gnork
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MrUlterior · Guru Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 511 Location: Switzerland

Having just bought a P750 because of Matrox's "Linux compatible" lie, I've put a page documenting my discontent with their handling of Linux support:

http://xs.mw/wiki/index.php/Matrox_Millenium_p750_does_NOT_support_Linux

This evening I'm going to attempt to build X.org in a 32bit chroot & see if I'm still able to launch 64bit KDE apps. If that doesn't work, I shall be solving the problem with a Louisville slugger ...
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DawgG · l33t Joined: 17 Sep 2003 Posts: 874

i got stuck with a buch of those shitcards, too, cause some stupid fool from the purchasing dept bought them without asking before.

there is a guy in austria who does a lot for matrox-drivers on linux, he's very nice and he's helped me a lot. this is his site:
http://www.tuxx-home.at
with his install-script the drivers worked on my parhelia-650 pcie up to xorg-7. he's got some stuff out for 7.1, but it's different and i haven't tested it yet
( i was a little too quick in upgrading to 7.1 and now i gotta use vesa (or fix it) if i need x.)
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frilled · Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 8:45 am Post subject:

I gave a Parhelia away recently. A shame, really, Matrox used to be great (they still have the best DACs, not that it matters much nowadays with digital outputs taking preference), and I actually have two older cards that still work nicely with the open source drivers. But after that, Matrox clearly went down the drain big time (and for what - to make room for suckers like NV and ATI). Best thing today is actually something like ATI <= 9200 that provides full functionality with open source drivers, because frankly, the binary drivers from NV and especially ATI sucks big hose, too.
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midnightflash · Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 6:40 pm Post subject:

I'm owner of a Parhelia-machine too...
And it's still a pain in the butt!
Now there is a driver supporting even xorg-7.1.1 and 64-bit since about two month. :-)

But there is still Problems with OpenGL and so on.

Would be nice to know if anyone has the same issue that every here and then the libGL.so files disapears under Gentoo. If it happens every task asking for openGL freezes the box. :-(

And really... without the austrian guy (www.tuxx-home.at) I would have broken with Matrox a long time ago.

frilled · Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 7:16 pm Post subject:

Closed source drivers will always stink. Even if they *do* work, they're still x86 only, amd64 if you're lucky. Laughable.
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