Finished AMD/ATi section, still need to verify.

Graphics Drivers in Wolvix

AMD/ATi

In Wolvix 1.1.0, Radeon 9200 and lower graphics cards should be fully supported using the free software 'radeon' driver, with both 2D and 3D acceleration. For cards newer than that, you will most likely need AMD/ATi's proprietary 'fglrx' driver to get 3D acceleration and other features.

Installing the Proprietary Driver

A somewhat old version of 'fglrx' and its kernel module can be installed from the Wolvix repository with this command (as root):

slapt-get --install fglrx-x6900 fglrx-module

When this is done, proceed to the Configuring section.

You will probably want to use the latest driver, though, as it will have better card support, and more features. To install it, you will also need the kernel sources from the Wolvix repository, which you can get with this command (as root):

slapt-get --install kernel-source

This will require a fair bit of space, but you could always remove it when finished if needed.

Next, download the latest version of fglrx from AMD's website:

http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/linux/linux-radeon.html∞

Then 'cd' into the directory you saved it in, and run this command (as root), replacing {VER} with the version of the driver (e.g. 8-7):

./ati-driver-installer-{VER}-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Slackware/All

If all goes well, this should produce two packages to install. Use 'installpkg' (as root) to do this, making sure you only have one set of these packages in the directory:

installpkg fglrx-x690* fglrx-module*

Now we need to configure a few things to get it working.

Configuring

Firstly, check if you have a line resembling this in you /etc/fstab file:

tmpfs    /dev/shm    tmpfs    defaults    0 0

If not, add it in (you will need to be root to do this).

You will now need to edit your /etc/xorg.conf file (as root) to enable the driver. This is usually done by the aticonfig tool, but that can sometimes be problematic, so I prefer to do it manually.

Under Section "Module", make sure the Load lines have the same values as this:

		Load  "glx"
		Load  "dbe"
		Load  "dri"
		Load  "extmod"
		Load  "record"
		Load  "xtrap"
		Load  "freetype"
		Load  "type1"

Next, locate the Driver line under Section "Device". It should currently have "ati", "radeon", or "vesa" after it. You will need to change that value to "fglrx". Directly under the Driver entry, add these lines:

		Option      "VideoOverlay" "on"
		Option      "OpenGLOverlay" "off"

Lastly, add this section to the bottom of the file for correct 3D acceleration:

Section "DRI"
	   Mode         0666
EndSection

Now give your computer a nice restart, hopefully to be greeted by no errors.

Testing

Once logged in, open a terminal window and pipe the information from glxinfo like this to check for 3D acceleration:

glxinfo | grep "direct rendering"

For 3D acceleration to be working, this should respond with Yes. If not, double-check the instructions, and post in the forums if you didn't make any mistakes, making sure you include the contents of /etc/xorg.conf and /var/log/Xorg.0.log, plus the complete output of glxinfo. Paste those here∞, selecting the Forever option so people can still look at it months later, and provide the link given to you in the forum post you write.

If everything worked fine, you should now be able to enjoy much increased performance in games and 3D design apps.

Troubleshooting

(Note: Feel free to add entries here with advice for specific problems)

Switching to VTs

In my experience, switching to a VT and back to X usually results in a system freeze. The only way I've found to semi-safely get out of this is using the SysRq Key∞

nVidia

Please help expand this and include instructions.