Hi all:

As the title says. Results so far sound mixed. No great speed increases, but some new features and bug fixes. Highlights include:


- Adds support for GeForce 7300, GeForce 7400 Go, GeForce 7600 and
GeForce 7900 GPUs.
- Added support for running OpenGL applications while the Composite X
extension is enabled; see "The X Composite Extension" appendix for
details.
- Enabled hardware acceleration of the Render X extension by default.
- Added "AddARGBGLXVisuals" X configuration option, so that OpenGL
applications can render to X Windows' alpha channel.
- Added Linux/i2c support to the NVIDIA kernel module; see the "i2c Bus
Support" appendix for details.
- Improved power management support with Linux >= 2.6.14 and added
support for suspend-to-disk.
- Added new "nvidia-auto-select" mode entry for use in the X
configuration file; see description in the "Programming Modes"
appendix.
- Added support for GLX 1.4.
- Added ability for OpenGL applications to span greater than 4096 pixels
when in Xinerama.
- Improved G-Sync support.
- Fixed interlaced modes on CRTs.
- Improved compatibility with the latest Linux 2.6 kernels.


Shplad

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So why not fire it up and try it? I've supplied directions here on how to generate the needed install-nvidia-*.sh script under older versions like R5A22, and reverting is even easier if you're running 7174. Just reboot and the 7174 driver will reinstall itself.

In R5B7 you don't even need to generate a script since the driver version is a command line option. As root:

To revert:

What could be easier?

Hmmm... OK, that *SHOULD* work but apparently Nvidia screwed something up in their latest installer. Hang on while I investigate...

tjc: Looks like they forgot the Makefile at the top of the package directory. I copied the one from version 8178 and changed DSOPATCH to 8756. Commented out the part of my install-nvidia-8756 script that deletes and overwrites the extracted package directories, and it seems to have installed ok, i'm testing it now.

EDIT: Not forgotten, they claim its no longer supported: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=860719
Odd, considering it still works alright.

What I've noticed so far:

They really have fixed the "OpenGL Sync to V-Blank causes your CPU to melt" problem that was introduced in the 8xxx drivers

Hardware-accelerated rendering is indeed the default (Experimental and Dangerous to default in one version?) and the composite extension is also the default for X.org >= 6.9 since it can apparently run OpenGL and use composite at the same time properly. Doesn't seem to matter for mythtv at the moment, maybe when the menus start being rendered with OpenGL

They've deprecated the IgnoreEDID and NoDDC options, but this can be set with the option USEEDID False. They also allow ignoring the edid for only some purposes such as calculating the dot pitch or validating the mode.

No changes that I can see in nvidia-settings

Xvmc seems about the same as 8178. I can still force a crash by hitting the guide button at the wrong time, but this is probably mythtv or the experimental color OSD's problem.

Finer mode validation control: now we can disable all sorts of pesky mode validation checks to force it to use our favorite dangerous modelines

Thanks for doing the research, I got side tracked on some other tasks. Could you provide an updated version of my "drunken monkey" directions that incorporates that information? Thanks!

Well it might take a little more than a drunken monkey, but this is exactly how I went about it...Maybe later I can try to make a modified script to do it properly

As root in /usr/src:


edit /usr/src/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8756-pkg1/Makefile and change DSOPATCH=8178 to DSOPATCH=8756

edit /usr/local/bin/install-nvidia-8756-debian.sh and make the following changes:
on line 28, change VER=1.0-7174 to VER=1.0-8756

comment out the following lines (48-55):


install-nvidia-8756-debian.sh

Hi, your favorite drunken simian here...

I understand the "install-nvidia-xxxx-debian.sh" files are deprecated now. We are to use the "install-nvidia-debian.sh 1.0-xxxx" method now.

hic!

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Well the scripts look to do about the same thing, except that the newer one can install any version of the driver passed to it. But if you're hacking it to install only the 8756 drivers, what's the point? I just preferred to have a specifically 8756 script rather than messing up any good ones. But good point, it would be nice to modify the one-script -to-rule-them-all so that all the versions install properly.

Hi guys:

Slightly off-topic, I know, but could someone point me to a resource
explaining in plain English what things like "Sync to vblank",
"hardware-accelerated rendering" and "Composite extensions" are?

I Googled for them, but found only highly technical definitions which a
beginner to Linux like me would not understand.



Thanks



Shplad

_________________
KnoppMyth R5C7
Abit NF7-S
Athlon XP Mobile 2500+
Hauppauge PVR-150 + PVR-150MCE
nVidia Geforce 6600GT
Samsung Spinpoint SATA 120GB
NEC ND-3520A DVD
Seasonic Super Tornado 350
BTC 9019URF Wireless Kbd. w. Joystick

Hi All,

Has anybody gotten the 8756 drivers working? I'm in the "I use to use Custom Modelines, and now they don't work" boat. I've had a look at the new options, but I can't seem to get any to jive with my old working modelines

i was using: (only the important parts)

Modeline "1920x1080@60i" 77.60 1920 1952 2240 2272 1080 1104 1110 1135 interlace

Option "UseEdidFreqs" "True"
Option "IgnoreEDID" "True"

Modes "1920x1080@60i" "1280x720@60" "720x405@60" "NTSC-59.94i" "NTSC-59.94p" "ATSC-720-59.94p"

I know it was interlaced, but it seemed to work the best. I have a Toshbia 26hf84t, it's a 26' WideScreen.. (Tube), and using the R5B7

Thanks,
Prosonik

Have you tried using the new auto modlines that come with the new driver. Don't need any custom modlines for settings like 720x576 and 720x480 now as it has them built in.

Steve

Hi,

No , I wasn't aware of any of the automodlines. Was that metioned in the readme somewhere? i'll have a look at that tonight. I didn't see any mention of it on the nvidia news group either..

Thanks!

Pro

also the ignoreedid is now deprecated, you have to use some new switches.

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Xsecrets

I install 8756 on my system. The good news is that this is the first post-6629 version of the driver that works for me with my 1080i modeline. The bad news is that it degrades performance so badly that I can no longer playback hidef recordings. CPU utilization goes through the roof. Has anyone else experienced this and found a configuration parameter that will fix it? I've tried several without success.

marc

I just uncovered another interesting factoid. If I re-install the 8756 driver and then watch a hidef recording without rebooting, CPU utilization is normal. If I then reboot and watch the same recording, CPU utilization goes way up and I can't get smooth playback. The change is in XFree86 -- pre-reboot playback shows CPU utilization of ~35%; post-reboot playback shows CPU utilization of ~75%.

I am running R5A30.2, but had the same experience when I did a test install of R5B7.

Thoughts?