How to configure the nVIDIA graphics card driver in Linux (1)

In the graphics chip field, nVidia is a latecomer, and its history is only half that of ATi. NVidia was once again the strongest in the graphics processing chip field. nVIDIA's Linux driver installation software kit will automatically check various computer details and automatically install various drivers. Here we will introduce the simple process of Driver Installation and upgrade. The drivers provided by Linux only include nVIDIA 2D acceleration. To achieve better 3D acceleration, install the nVIDIA driver software toolkit. 3D hardware acceleration is very valuable when you need to draw three-degree space objects, such as games, 3D CAD, and 3D imaging. The application environment in this article is Red Had Enterprise Linux 4.0 and nVIDIA graphics card models: ASUS N6200/TD/128 M (6200AGP ).
I. Preparations

Before configuring the nVIDIA graphics card, you need to know the following information about the installed system: Display specification, display card chip type, display card memory capacity, the display specification is used by X11 to determine the display resolution and refresh rate. These specifications can usually be found in the documentation of the monitor and the manufacturer's website. You need to know two numeric ranges: vertical refresh rate and horizontal refresh rate. The chip type of the display card determines the modules used by X11 to drive the graphic hardware. The vast majority of hardware can be automatically detected, but it is useful when detecting errors automatically. The memory size of the display card determines the resolution and color depth supported by the system. It is important to understand these limits. Because the driver installation may need to be compiled with the core, the kernel source code will be used. In addition, the compiler (compiler) is also needed. Therefore, first, check whether the following software exists in your Linux system: kernel-source, kernel, gcc, and make. Open a terminal and run the following command to check:

# Rpm-qa | grep gcc; rpm-qa | grep make; rpm-qa | grep kernel

Without a 3D API, programmers must understand all the graphics card features before they can compile programs that match the graphics card to achieve all the graphics card performance. With the direct interface between the graphics card and the software of 3D API, the programmer only needs to write the program code that complies with the interface to make full use of the graphics card without having to know the specific performance and parameters of the hardware, this greatly simplifies the efficiency of program development. Similarly, chip vendors design their own hardware products based on standards to achieve optimal performance when calling hardware resources through APIS. With 3D APIs, you can achieve maximum compatibility of hardware and software from different manufacturers. For example, in the aspect of games that best reflect 3D APIs, game designers do not have to consider the features of a specific video card, but only develop games according to the 3D API interface standards, when the game is running, the hardware resources of the video card are directly called through the 3D API. Currently, DirectX and OpenGL are the main 3D APIs used in personal computers. DirectX has become the mainstream game. Most mainstream commercially available games are developed based on DirectX, for example, popular outstanding games such as the times of Empire 3, the spirit of the island, Call of Duty 2, and Half Life2. Currently, OpenGL is mainly used in professional graphics workstations. It has been used to compete with DirectX in the history of games and has produced a large number of excellent Games, for example, the first few of Quake3, Half Life, and Medal of Honor, and anti-terrorism elites are currently under the impetus of DirectX, there are fewer and fewer games using OpenGL, but there are also some classic masterpieces, such as "DOOM3" based on OpenGL and "Quake4" using the DOOM3 engine, openGL is mainly represented in the game by the famous ID Software.

· OpenGL

After DirectX, OpenGL is the next most popular 3D API. In fact, OpenGL is longer than DirectX. Compared with DirectX, it can only be applied to Microsoft platforms, while OpenGL can be applied to many different operating systems. Currently, most 3D acceleration games in Linux use OpenGL. Therefore, for the latest nVIDIA drivers, you only need to make minor changes to make them suitable for most games. 3D APIs in Linux are based on OpenGL. OpenGL is a professional 3D program interface and is a powerful underlying 3D graphics library with convenient calling. OpenGL's predecessor was iris gl developed by SGI for its graphics workstation. Iris gl is an industrial standard 3D graphics software interface, which is powerful but portable, so SGI developed OpenGL Based on iris gl.

The full name of OpenGL is "Open Graphics Library". As the name suggests, OpenGL is "Open graphical program interface ". Although DirectX leads the market in the home market, OpenGL cannot be replaced in the field of professional and high-end graphics. OpenGL is a software interface unrelated to. Hardware. It can be transplanted between different platforms, such as Windows 95, Windows NT, Unix, Linux, MacOS, and OS/2. Therefore, the software supporting OpenGL has good portability and can be widely used. Since OpenGL is the underlying graphics library of 3D graphics, it does not provide geometric entity elements and cannot be used directly to describe the scenario. However, through some conversion programs, you can easily convert the DFX and 3DS model files created by 3D graphic design software such as AutoCAD and 3DS into OpenGL vertex arrays.

OpenGL is not a free software. Its copyright and trademark (OpenGL) are all owned by SGI. But in Linux, there is a product replaced by OpenGL: Mesa. Mesa provides almost identical interfaces with OpenGL. For those who use OpenGL API programming, there is almost no difference. Mesa is a free software that complies with the GPL protocol (partially follows the LGPL Protocol). It is precisely because of Mesa's freedom that it outperforms OpenGL in terms of new hardware support. Mesa can be obtained from www.mesa3d.org. The most common tool for developing OpenGL programs in Linux is GLUT (The OpenGL Utility Toolkit ). It can create one or more OpenGL windows, respond to and process user interaction operations, simple pop-up menus, and some built-in drawing and Font Processing functions. Like OpenGL, GLUT can be transplanted to multiple platforms. Thanks to its outstanding performance, it has now become one of the standard suites released by Mesa.

· DRI, short for Direct Rendering Infrastructure, is a framework in the X Window System that allows applications to directly access display devices in a safe and effective way. It includes modifications to X server, some X client libraries, and kernel. The first major application of DRI is to create a quick OpenGL implementation. DRI is an integral part of XFree86 4.x and its successor X.org. It is also an open-source implementation of Mesa-An OpenGL API. Some 3D acceleration drivers are written according to the DRI standard, including ATI, Matrox, 3DFX, and Intel. DRI was initially developed by Precision Insight, Inc. (PI) in cooperation and partially funded by Red Hat Inc. And SGI. As PI was acquired by VA Linux and VA Linux was later withdrawn from the Linux field, DRI is now maintained by tunsten Graphics Inc. The company was created by some DRI developers of PI. Tunsten Graphics is currently the focus of all DRI development. Many open-source developers continue to contribute code to DRI through the DRI project on sourceforge.