[Mesa-users] cannot get hardware acceleration on old notebook

[Tormod Volden]

On Fri, Oct 5, 2012 at 9:09 PM,  <junk_yard at aol.com> wrote:
> Tormod, thank you for the reply.
>
> yes, i tried to install your driver before, but didn't notice any changes. i
> got it from here:
>
> http://ppa.launchpad.net/xorg-edgers/ppa/ubuntu/pool/main/m/mesa-legacy/libgl1-mesa-dri-legacy_7.11.2-0ubuntu1~edgers1_i386.deb
>
> i don't know how to handle drivers in Linux appropriately, so i just
> installed the package with some GUI installer and expected it would be
> enough. perhaps, i should have done something before and/or after the
> installation. can you please instruct me on that?

Just installing the package should have been enough. It is likely that
your card needs the mach64 driver instead.

I had a script for building and installing drm modules (including
mach64) in the old days, it is still available from
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/XorgOnTheEdge
Downloading the latest git of mesa/drm today won't work, but you can
pick an old tarball from
http://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/drm/refs/tags
Try for instance drm-2.3.0.tar.gz, unpack it and run the script like
the wiki page explains. This used to work in 2006-2008, and I am not
sure if it works on a modern distro.

> as for the video memory size, i bet i would even get 1024x768x24 under
> Windows. why else would they choose a 1024x768 panel for the machine? if
> it's possible in Windows, then why is it not so in Linux? but that's of
> course just a speculation.

You can get 1024x768x24 under Linux also, just without hardware 3D
acceleration... I believe this is a design decision in the DRI
framework that mesa is using, allocating back and depth buffers for
the benefit of the cards that have enough VRAM, sacrificing support
for those old cards that very few people use, or would use for 3D
graphics.

Tormod