Mepis 6.5, VIA Unichrome Pro graphics chipsets and Openchrome Drivers
Posts: 25
Not all VIA Unichrome graphics chipsets work out of the box with the via driver provided by Mepis 6.5. Those that dont have the vesa driver installed by default, which is significantly inferior to the proper via driver. I have a CN700 (compatible with VM800) chipset, and I took the following steps to create the correct via driver and add 3D acceleration. I now get over 470fps using glxgears -printfps. I also have a wider choice of display resolutions and refresh rates.
Please note this guide applies only to Mepis 6.5.
Carry out all operations as ROOT.
1 Install the following packages to get the build scripts to configure (some may already be installed):
subversion
build-essential
gcc
automake1.9
libtool
pkg-config
libxvmc-dev
xserver-xorg-dev
x11proto-fonts-dev
x11proto-randr-dev
x11proto-render-dev
x11proto-xf86dri-dev
libdrm-dev
x11proto-gl-dev
libgl1-mesa-dev
2 Ensure that you are using automake1.9 - otherwise you will get errors later:
update-alternatives --config automake
3 Remove the via-module originally installed with x.org:
apt-get remove xserver-xorg-video-via
4 Compile the openChrome 2D driver. For chipsets different to K8M890 get the openchrome sourcecode:
svn checkout http://svn.openchrome.org/svn/trunk openchrome
cd openchrome*
5 Run autogen.sh with the prefix option so that the driver is being installed in the correct directory:
./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr
make
make install
make clean
6 Change /etc/X11/xorg.conf to use the via driver and AGPDMA:
In Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Change Driver "vesa" to "via"
Add Option "EnableAGPDMA" "true"
7 To confirm correct installation the following command should return no error message:
modprobe via
8 Reboot
After you get it working test it with "glxinfo" to confirm direct rendering, "glxgears -printfps", and the TuxKart 3D game.
Not working
Posts: 3
It's not working for me. I get error messages at the stage for make. I'm not sure what information is relevant here.
You Must Do The Steps As User Root
Posts: 5513
cmacis, according to the original post, you must perform all steps as user root. Is that what you are doing, or are you trying to perform these steps as a regular user?
Also, none of this will work run the Live CD of Mepis. Mepis must be INSTALLED to your hard drive before you can install any software.
Jon
No computer is magic, no operating system is magic, no website is magic. They all require human interaction, thought, and responsibility to work.
Yep was using a proper
Posts: 3
Yep was using a proper installed version and unless su doesn't really let you run as root then I've been running as root.
helpful info
Posts: 25
posting your Xorg.0.log file and the make error messages may be helpful
When I did it, I logged out
Posts: 3
When I did it, I logged out of my normal user account, and logged in as root to ensure there were no problems.
Well, tried it and it went
Posts: 3
Well, tried it and it went well right up to reboot. Then it wouldn't load the graphical environment. Up to that point, not one error. Even with working as root. Even with double checking that all the packages were installed. 
Bravo!! Thank you, Thank
Posts: 3
Bravo!!
Thank you, Thank you!