T21 Ubuntu 6.06 needs Savage Video driver install help

[Bmbshl]

I have the Savage video driver, I just can't make it work. Any help installing xf44sav-27t.tgz to the Ubuntu xorg would be greatly appreciated.

Also can't seem to get the correct codecs to run the DVD (gxine,mplayer....several more give me the same library error). Kids are not happy about this!!

I have already configured 2 Ubuntu desktops with great success, so I'm not a complete novice, but this laptop is going to kill me, and I have another T21 that I'm about to undertake (Edubuntu) for my daughter (5).

Any help or redirection is greatly appreciated, and thanks are offered in advance.

[tom lightbody]

hi bmbshl,

> ...just can't make [savage driver] work...

on our SXGA t22 w/ xfree86-4.6.0 the savage driver works fine (debian). Here's a mini-HOWWEDIDIT:
1. visit http://www.probo.com/timr/savage40.html to get savage-1.1.27t.zip (way down at bottom of the page)
2. unzip it & put savage_drv.o in /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers
3. edit your XF86Config-4 file so it says

Section "Device"
Identifier "devname"
Driver "savage"
...
EndSection

4. startx:-)
hope this helps
tom

[Bmbshl]

Thank you so much.

I'll try it when I get home.

[tom lightbody]

whoops: for "savage-1.1.27t.zip" read "xf43sav-27t.tgz"
thanks
tom

[Bmbshl]

Thanks for the correction.....still trying, haven't got it yet.

I have an error when I try to install Xserver-xfree86, something about no istallation candidate, trying to overcome that now.

I also don't have the folders /modules/ and /drivers/ in my /lib/ folder. Have even tried going in as root, still no luck. I just don't seem to have them so I am working under the assumption that I have to get xfree86 to work first before I'll have those folders. Please correct me if I am way off base.

I'm still new at this can you tell?

[Bmbshl]

ok, I got the xfree86 installed and it already has the savage _drv.o included, I'm hoping that is the one I need, although I'm not finding the configuration utility XF86 -config-4 that is referenced in your post or the XFree86 -configure that was in the istall instructions.

[tom lightbody]

> the savage_drv.o [is] included [in XFree86]

sounds like progress:-)

> I'm not finding...XF86 -config-4

/etc/X11/XF86Config-4

it's a text file containing info about your video card & LCD

> or the XFree86 -configure that was in the install instructions.

you give this command as root to set up the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file

here are some references:
http://www.groupsrv.com/linux/about30240.html
http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/ibm.html
http://www.titanjp.com/t21ubuntu.html
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-HOWTO (by noted guru E.S.Raymond)

[Bmbshl]

Man, and I was so close. When I go in to edit my XF86Config-4 file it's completely empty...nothing there to edit. Tried all night to find some reference that gave hint at a fix, never found it.

I'm thinking that I might just need to reinstall Ubuntu from scratch and start over, what are your thoughts?

[Bgradid]

Wow, manual driver instillation is _NOT_ neccessary, the drivers are included with xorg , mixing them with others is only going to cause problems anyway

just switch the xorg.conf so that it has the driver name as 'savage'. That's all folks, should have DRI working out of the box too, and plays a mean game of quake 3 much more stable than the windows drivers ironically enough.

[Bmbshl]

Yeah, I figured that out on my own after only about 8 days of trying. I'm so proud of myself!

I got some really bad advice on another forum and it confused the whole matter. I'm fairly new to this and was too trusting. I got sent off in a totally wrong direction and ran with it. BUT, I did learn a lot from my mistakes.

Thanks for your input on the subject, it is greatly appreciated. I'm trying to configure my DVD right now, I may come begging for your help again soon.

[tom lightbody]

well, bmbshl worked it out herself, tho Bgradid gave the essentials: the problem lay in not specifying "savage" as the LCD driver during the setup phase in ubuntu's install proceedure. So simply by running "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg" and choosing "savage" she solved the problem. Although ubuntu is a debian variety, in this case we find some minor differences: as a debian user, instead of the above, I would say "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-XFree86"

and what "startx" starts (X) is in a different place:

ubuntu: /usr/bin/X
debian: /usr/X11R6/bin/X

and is a different sort of animal:

ubuntu: X is a (small) executable
debian: X is simply a link to XFree86

the configuration file has different name:

ubuntu: /etc/X11/xorg.conf
debian: /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

and the driver savage_drv.o is in a different place:

ubuntu: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/
debian: /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/

ubuntuns admire brevity. But the infinite configureability of unix, that holds so much of her attraction versus proprietary "do it my way or not at all" systems, is also her greatest drawback: for different organizations, with different ideas--scientific, political, and esthetic--make different decisions. And so we have AT&T unix, we have IBM "AIX" unix, we have Sun...we have the BSDs, we have minix and linux in various flavors--all different in ways great or small. The classical commands are there: ed, grep, sed, sort, cut, paste, awk...pipelines, shell scripts.... Mostly they work the same way from one system to another (and "man" always does:-) But when I, as a debian user with an AIX background, put my oar in on an unfamiliar ubuntu system, trouble ensues.

so, here's to bmbshl: fun with computers.

tom