[resolved] Xorg 1.8, GeForce4 MX 4000, tv-out

stryder · 2010-06-23 11:10:53

I have been happily watching videos from my computer to the TV via the svideo output. It looks like with Xorg 1.8 this is no longer possible as nvidia-96xx does not support the new xorg. Nouveau as far as I can figure out does not support tv-out for nv10 which is the category my card belongs. Hopefully someone can help me with some information:

1. Am I right to say that I won't get to watch videos on TV with my card and using nouveau?

2. Assuming that I am right, my options are

a) to change to the lts kernel (because the latest kernel is also incompatible with nvidia-96xx) and hold xorg as it is now (I have not upgraded yet) and continuing to upgrade regularly

b) or to completely not upgrade at all, assuming that freezing xorg and kernel will cause problems down the road if I continue to upgrade the rest. Hope for nvidia-96xx to be updated in due course.

Which option would you advise, and if it is a) can someone tell me what packages I need to get pacman to ignore?

Last edited by stryder (2010-06-24 07:37:32)

mandog · 2010-06-23 15:02:04

I would suggest a new graphics card than not upgrading they are cheap to buy.

berbae · 2010-06-23 15:14:24

From http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/FeatureMatrix the Output TVout is currently under development for NV10 chipset cards, so not yet implemented.
But it's said that the Output TVout is DONE for NV30 chipset cards, ie GeForce 5 / GeForce FX cards.
So if you can afford one, that could solve your problem.

For your a) option, to prevent an xorg upgrade/update you can use :
IgnoreGroup = xorg
IgnorePkg = <all the xf86 packages, maybe some others I don't see presently>

And if you intend not to use the kernel26, but only the kernel26-lts one, you can uninstall the kernel26 altogether.
But don't forget to change your menu.lst for grub to boot with kernel26-lts as default choice.

That could be a temporary solution, waiting for a nvidia-96xx update, or for getting more recent hardware in your machine.

stryder · 2010-06-24 00:39:13

Thanks guys. I do have a newer computer that I mainly use for work. This is an older machine that I am using as a backup and am using it mainly for multimedia. That's the reason why I am considering the option to not update at all, just so I can use it for it's intended purpose. I also don't intend to get a new card for this machine just to accommodate xorg 1.8 as I have workable options without doing so. Am actually surprised that linux is "forcing" me to upgrade hardware.

skottish · 2010-06-24 01:48:41

stryder wrote:

Thanks guys. I do have a newer computer that I mainly use for work. This is an older machine that I am using as a backup and am using it mainly for multimedia. That's the reason why I am considering the option to not update at all, just so I can use it for it's intended purpose. I also don't intend to get a new card for this machine just to accommodate xorg 1.8 as I have workable options without doing so. Am actually surprised that linux is "forcing" me to upgrade hardware.

Linux isn't. Staying up-to-date with Arch right this second could seem like an option. Honestly, buying new hardware only to keep up with Arch is rediculous. If you want to stay with Arch on that machine, I'd recomend downgrading to get to a useable state, then waiting until one of the graphic drivers does what you need it to do.

stryder · 2010-06-24 07:36:19

skottish wrote:

Honestly, buying new hardware only to keep up with Arch is rediculous. If you want to stay with Arch on that machine, I'd recomend downgrading to get to a useable state, then waiting until one of the graphic drivers does what you need it to do.

Yup, I agree. For those facing similar issues, here's what I did:

1. I use an old arch installation in a spare partition and upgraded to current.
2. pacman -Rd xorg-server xf86-input-evdev xf86-input-keyboard xf86-input-mouse xf86-video-nv
3. pacman -U older versions of those packages (you gotta do them simultaneously)
4. Kernel26-lts cannot be used as nvidia-96xx cannot determine that it is <2.6.34 so I downgraded to the last 2.6.33 version. Similarly kernel26-headers.
5. I installed nvidia-96xx and nvidia-96xx-utils
6. Set the ignorepkg in pacman.conf to ignore the above as well as ignoregroup xorg for extra insurance.
7. reboot and everything works.
8. pacman -Syu and I am back to current except for kernel and xorg.

Will use this and keep packages current. Will have my other arch installation (now frozen) as fallback option in case this one gets borked.

*Edit*
Solution to upgrading everything here: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=99857

Last edited by stryder (2010-06-28 05:02:19)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-06-23 11:10:53

[resolved] Xorg 1.8, GeForce4 MX 4000, tv-out

#2 2010-06-23 15:02:04

Re: [resolved] Xorg 1.8, GeForce4 MX 4000, tv-out

#3 2010-06-23 15:14:24

Re: [resolved] Xorg 1.8, GeForce4 MX 4000, tv-out

#4 2010-06-24 00:39:13

Re: [resolved] Xorg 1.8, GeForce4 MX 4000, tv-out

#5 2010-06-24 01:48:41

Re: [resolved] Xorg 1.8, GeForce4 MX 4000, tv-out

#6 2010-06-24 07:36:19

Re: [resolved] Xorg 1.8, GeForce4 MX 4000, tv-out

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