G400 in Linux, please help!

[englishpremier]

I've had my G400 card since the autum now and stil don't have it working with the framebuffer and outputting to the tv.

the guides i've tried to follow are all old and outdated only dealing with the 2.4 kernel which is no good as i use 2.6

Can someone please help me and guide me through step by step how to setup my system to enable acceleated playback on my TV?

p.s i'm using gentoo if that makes any difference.

[albatorsk]

What will you be using the G400 for? Only displaying video on a TV?

That's how I've set mine up in my server, and it works great. I haven't bothered with X, and because of that I have no idea how to set that up.

I'm using a combination of the linux kernel 2.6 framebuffer, DirectFB and MPlayer. If that's what you had in mind, I'd be glad to help.

[englishpremier]

well i have my montior connected to the G400 1st head and my Tv connected to the second head. ony my TV all I want to be able to do it play movies thats it, but I still need to keep an X display on my monitor. is this possible?

I don't mind if x is on my tv aswell as it is currently, i just want to be able to run mplayer or gmaplayer with accellerated video on the TV either through dmga or any other method.

[albatorsk]

I did a quick test, and unfortunately, it would seem as if X and DirectFB are mutually exclusive. Whenever I would start a movie, X would disappear. When the movie ends, X comes back where I left it.

You could probably use the built in TV out functions of Matrox' X-driver, but since they don't support "DVDMax" (which is what DirectFB basically does) the videoquality will not be very good on your TV.

[Wombat]

Hmmm, I'm using a MAX in my Linux machine. Running Fedora Core 3. I've played movies on the monitor with no problem using mplayer with KDE running, and I think it's accelerated. But I don't have a TV.

Is there something I could test out on my machine to help out?

[albatorsk]

Well, it might work just as well with a secondary monitor. If you have two monitors, could you try using mplayer to play a movie on the secondary head? Preferably with xv or xvidix.

[englishpremier]

ok well I would be happy with DVD-max type functionallity as it is really video that is important to me as right now i can only run mplayer with -vo x11 command I get errors with both xv and dmga

root@localhost linux # mplayer -vo help
MPlayer 1.0pre5try2-3.3.4 (C) 2000-2004 MPlayer Team

CPU: Advanced Micro Devices Athlon MP/XP/XP-M Barton 1731 MHz (Family: 6, Stepping: 0)
Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes
MMX2 supported but disabled
3DNowExt supported but disabled
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 0 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 0
Compiled for x86 CPU with extensions: MMX 3DNow SSE

Reading config file /usr/share/mplayer/mplayer.conf
Reading config file /root/.mplayer/config
Available video output drivers:
xmga Matrox G200/G4x0/G550 overlay in X11 window (using /dev/mga_vid) mga Matrox G200/G4x0/G550 overlay (/dev/mga_vid)
xv X11/Xv
x11 X11 ( XImage/Shm )
xover General X11 driver for overlay capable video output drivers
gl X11 (OpenGL)
gl2 X11 (OpenGL) - multiple textures version
dga DGA ( Direct Graphic Access V2.0 )
sdl SDL YUV/RGB/BGR renderer (SDL v1.1.7+ only!)
fbdev Framebuffer Device
fbdev2 Framebuffer Device
svga SVGAlib
aa AAlib
png PNG file
jpeg JPEG file
gif89a animated GIF output
null Null video output
pgm PGM file
md5 MD5 sum
mpegpes Mpeg-PES to DVB card
yuv4mpeg yuv4mpeg output for mjpegtools (to "stream.yuv")
vesa VESA VBE 2.0 video output
directfb Direct Framebuffer Device
dfbmga DirectFB / Matrox G200/G400/G450/G550
xvidix X11 (VIDIX)
cvidix console VIDIX

root@localhost linux #

[albatorsk]

Ok, it looks like your MPlayer already has support for DirectFB.

To use DirectFB, you need you enable the kernel framebuffer. If you're using the stock kernel that was installed by your Linux distributor, and you're not using the FB at the moment, you should disable X and try the following (as root):

/sbin/modprobe i2c-matroxfb
/sbin/modprobe matroxfb_Ti3026
/sbin/modprobe matroxfb_crtc2

If that worked, you should now be running the console in a framebuffer. Easiest way to spot it is if the resolution changed when you loaded the modules.

Put the following in directfbrc (if you installed DirectFB your self from source and didn't change the installation prefix, the standard path for that file is /usr/local/etc/. However, if you used a package made for your distribution, it is most likely that it should be in /etc):

matrox-tv-standard=pal
matrox-crtc2
primary-layer=02

Now, attach a television to your second head, and play a movie like this:

mplayer -vo dfbmga movie.avi

If mplayer complains about erroneous permissions, you might want to set the suid bit.

chmod a+s `which mplayer`

EDIT: With this said and done; I don't know how well the kernel framebuffer or DirectFB works in conjunction with Matrox' proprietary driver.

[englishpremier]

I have added support for the kernel frame buffer, and get the little penguin picture on boot.

I created a stript to run on boot called matroxfb which contains the following:

#!/bin/sh
echo "Modprobing Matrox TV-out..."
/sbin/modprobe i2c-core
/sbin/modprobe i2c-dev
/sbin/modprobe i2c-algo-bit
/sbin/modprobe i2c-matroxfb
/sbin/modprobe matroxfb_Ti3026
/sbin/modprobe matroxfb_crtc2

However when i run the script i get the following problem:

FATAL: Module matroxfb_Ti3026 not found.
FATAL: Module matroxfb_crtc2 not found.

I have checked and those modules deffinatley exist.


This is the same problem I had last time when trying to use DirectFB with Mplayer in Yoper. I have since tried with debian and now vidalinux and get the same problem, there must be something that i'm doing wrong.

[albatorsk]

You say you're sure you have those modules? Where are they? They should be somewhere in /lib/modules/`uname -r`/

If they're not, you don't have them.

However, did you try mplayer with the dfbmga video output plugin?

[englishpremier]

I have them in /usr/src/linux-2.6.10-gentoo-r4/drivers/video/matrox

Does that mean they are not installed then?

I tried mplayer -vo dfbmga and got the following out put:

carl@localhost carl $ mplayer -vo dfbmga /mnt/d/the.ap*
MPlayer 1.0pre5try2-3.3.4 (C) 2000-2004 MPlayer Team

CPU: Advanced Micro Devices Athlon MP/XP/XP-M Barton 1838 MHz (Family: 6, Stepping: 0)
Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes
MMX2 supported but disabled
3DNowExt supported but disabled
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 0 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 0
Compiled for x86 CPU with extensions: MMX 3DNow SSE

Reading config file /usr/share/mplayer/mplayer.conf
Reading config file /home/carl/.mplayer/config
Reading /home/carl/.mplayer/codecs.conf: Can't open '/home/carl/.mplayer/codecs.conf': No such file or directory
Reading /usr/share/mplayer/codecs.conf: 73 audio & 180 video codecs
font: can't open file: /home/carl/.mplayer/font/font.desc
Font /usr/share/mplayer/font/font.desc loaded successfully! (206 chars)
Using usleep() timing
Can't open input config file /home/carl/.mplayer/input.conf: No such file or directory
Input config file /usr/share/mplayer/input.conf parsed: 53 binds

Playing /mnt/d/the.apprentice.s02e03-crimson.mpg.
Cache fill: 9.86% (827392 bytes) MPEG-PS file format detected.
Detected unknown aspect_ratio_information in mpeg sequence header.
Please report the aspect value (14) along with the movie type (VGA,PAL,NTSC,SECAM) and the movie resolution (720x576,352x240,480x480,...) to the MPlayer developers, so that we can add support for it!
Assuming 1:1 aspect for now.
VIDEO: MPEG1 352x240 (aspect 14) 29.970 fps 1150.0 kbps (143.8 kbyte/s)
================================================== ========================
Opening audio decoder: [mp3lib] MPEG layer-2, layer-3
MP3lib: init layer2&3 finished, tables done
AUDIO: 44100 Hz, 2 ch, 16 bit (0x10), ratio: 28000->176400 (224.0 kbit)
Selected audio codec: [mp3] afm:mp3lib (mp3lib MPEG layer-2, layer-3)
================================================== ========================
(*) parsing config file '/etc/directfbrc'.
(*) parsing config file '/home/carl/.directfbrc'.

---------------------- DirectFB v0.9.20 ---------------------
(c) 2000-2002 convergence integrated media GmbH
(c) 2002-2003 convergence GmbH
-----------------------------------------------------------

(*) Single Application Core. (2005-01-23 18:16)
(*) DirectFB/misc/memcpy: using libc memcpy()
(!) DirectFB/core/vt: Error opening `/dev/tty0'!
--> Permission denied
(!) DirectFB/Core: Could not initialize 'system' core!
--> General initialization failure!
(!) DirectFB/Core: Error during initialization (General initialization failure!)vo_dfbmga: DirectFBCreate() failed - General initialization failure!
Error opening/initializing the selected video_out (-vo) device.




Exiting... (End of file)
carl@localhost carl $

If I run it as root my screen flashes a few times as if its changing resolution then i get the following:

root@localhost carl # mplayer -vo dfbmga /mnt/d/3*
MPlayer 1.0pre5try2-3.3.4 (C) 2000-2004 MPlayer Team

CPU: Advanced Micro Devices Athlon MP/XP/XP-M Barton 1838 MHz (Family: 6, Stepping: 0)
Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes
MMX2 supported but disabled
3DNowExt supported but disabled
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 0 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 0
Compiled for x86 CPU with extensions: MMX 3DNow SSE

Reading config file /usr/share/mplayer/mplayer.conf
Reading config file /root/.mplayer/config
Reading /root/.mplayer/codecs.conf: Can't open '/root/.mplayer/codecs.conf': No such file or directory
Reading /usr/share/mplayer/codecs.conf: 73 audio & 180 video codecs
font: can't open file: /root/.mplayer/font/font.desc
Font /usr/share/mplayer/font/font.desc loaded successfully! (206 chars)
Using usleep() timing
Can't open input config file /root/.mplayer/input.conf: No such file or directory
Input config file /usr/share/mplayer/input.conf parsed: 53 binds

Playing /mnt/d/3.avi.
Cache fill: 0.00% (0 bytes) AVI file format detected.
VIDEO: [DX50] 512x384 24bpp 29.970 fps 1275.6 kbps (155.7 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
Software: Nandub v1.0rc2
================================================== ========================
Opening audio decoder: [mp3lib] MPEG layer-2, layer-3
MP3lib: init layer2&3 finished, tables done
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, 16 bit (0x10), ratio: 14000->192000 (112.0 kbit)
Selected audio codec: [mp3] afm:mp3lib (mp3lib MPEG layer-2, layer-3)
================================================== ========================
(*) parsing config file '/etc/directfbrc'.

---------------------- DirectFB v0.9.20 ---------------------
(c) 2000-2002 convergence integrated media GmbH
(c) 2002-2003 convergence GmbH
-----------------------------------------------------------

(*) Single Application Core. (2005-01-23 18:16)
(*) DirectFB/misc/memcpy: using libc memcpy()
(*) DirectFB/InputDevice: IMPS/2 Mouse (1) 0.9 (convergence integrated media GmbH)
(*) DirectFB/InputDevice: IMPS/2 Mouse (2) 0.9 (convergence integrated media GmbH)
(*) DirectFB/InputDevice: Keyboard 0.9 (convergence integrated media GmbH)
(*) DirectFB/GraphicsDevice: Matrox G400/G450/G550 0.6 (convergence integrated media GmbH)
(!) DirectFB/Matrox/Maven: Error opening `/proc/bus/i2c'!
--> No such file or directory
(!) DirectFB/Core/layers: Failed to initialize layer 2!
(!) DirectFB/Core: Could not initialize 'layers' core!
--> File not found!
(!) DirectFB/Core: Error during initialization (File not found!)
vo_dfbmga: DirectFBCreate() failed - File not found!
Error opening/initializing the selected video_out (-vo) device.


Exiting... (End of file)
root@localhost carl #

[albatorsk]

I have them in /usr/src/linux-2.6.10-gentoo-r4/drivers/video/matrox

Does that mean they are not installed then?

Yep, that means that they are built, but not installed. Try going to /usr/src/linux-2.6.10-gentoo-r4 and run "make modules_install" as the root user.

---------------------- DirectFB v0.9.20 ---------------------
(!) DirectFB/Matrox/Maven: Error opening `/proc/bus/i2c'!
--> No such file or directory

Ah, you're using an old version of DirectFB that doesn't support Linux 2.6. Try using your distributions packagemanagement system to upgrade it for you. If you don't succeed, or don't know how, you can get the source to version 0.9.21 from http://www.directfb.org

[englishpremier]

when i compiled my kernel i used the command "make && make modules_install"

anyhow i just entered the /usr/src/linux-2.6.10-gentoo-r4 directory and ran make modules_install, it did not make or install those two modules at all. I'm guessing this is where the problem lies.

As for DirectFB i installed it with emerge DirectFB about a week ago so i guess gentoo must use an old version. if i download the latest version from the website do i need to recompile mplayer after installing DFB?

[Wombat]

I would try the emerge again. This version came out about a month ago, and it looks like Gentoo updated yesterday with it.

Or go grab it: http://www.gentoo-portage.com/dev-libs/DirectFB

[albatorsk]

Originally posted by englishpremier
when i compiled my kernel i used the command "make && make modules_install"

anyhow i just entered the /usr/src/linux-2.6.10-gentoo-r4 directory and ran make modules_install, it did not make or install those two modules at all. I'm guessing this is where the problem lies.

Are you sure those are actually modules, and not just the source code for them? They should end in .ko if they are built modules.

And about DirectFB; try what Wombat suggested. If you for some reason wish to compile the source code from directfb.org "by hand" then you will also need to recompile MPlayer to add support for the new version.

Besides, an upgrade to MPlayer 1.0pre6a wouldn't hurt either.