The X server configuration guide should be updated to include information on setting up the nvidia and ati proprietary drivers. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: N/A Feature request. Actual Results: N/A Expected Results: Ideally mention that for both nvidia and ati prop. drivers, the Xorg.conf still needs to be present with some basic screen setup information. The nvidia and ati drivers need to be explicitly declared in this file in order for X to use them. -
We already point users to the separate ATI and nVidia guides, since configuring proprietary drivers is beyond the scope of this guide: "Note: More instructions on how to configure nVidia and ATI cards can be found in the Gentoo Linux nVidia Guide and in the Gentoo Linux ATI FAQ. If you don't know which drivers you should choose, refer to these guides for more information."
(In reply to comment #1) > We already point users to the separate ATI and nVidia guides, since configuring > proprietary drivers is beyond the scope of this guide: > > "Note: More instructions on how to configure nVidia and ATI cards can be found > in the Gentoo Linux nVidia Guide and in the Gentoo Linux ATI FAQ. If you don't > know which drivers you should choose, refer to these guides for more > information." > I am aware of this but that isn't the issue. Those pages are not very helpful for people using nvidia or ati proprietary drivers with Xorg 1.7.7 . Ideally, we should mention the fact that HAL alone cannot be used when wanting to using a driver like the nvidia or ATI one. It would be nice if we could add a couple of lines to state that for 1.7.7 (which in the Xorg-guide clearly states you shouldn't use an xorg.conf unless absolutely necessary), you do need an Xorg.conf. Since the vast majority of users _will_ be using nvidia or ati drivers, this needs to be made more clear. Please see forum post: http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-839546.html for more discussion. I'm only asking for one or two lines here, nothing major. Let's just make this clear to readers. For example in the HAL section of the Xorg guide: "Note that when using the nvidia-drivers package, it will be necessary to create an xorg.conf file as HAl will not utilize the nvidia driver by default" If that line had been in the guide when I read it, I'd have saved a hell of a lot of time searching on Google and asking on forums as I was trying to configure everything without using an xorg.conf as per the guide. I've re-opened this as I don't think anything has been resolved...
(In reply to comment #2) As stated previously: > configuring proprietary drivers is beyond the scope of this guide Soon there will be even fewer references to the proprietary drivers in the doc, since there are pending changes in bug #328001. We will not be duplicating the proprietary driver instructions inside the base guide; that's why we created the nVidia and ATI guides in the first place, because there's so much that needs to be done to get a working setup.
(In reply to comment #3) > (In reply to comment #2) > > As stated previously: > > > configuring proprietary drivers is beyond the scope of this guide > > Soon there will be even fewer references to the proprietary drivers in the doc, > since there are pending changes in bug #328001. > > We will not be duplicating the proprietary driver instructions inside the base > guide; that's why we created the nVidia and ATI guides in the first place, > because there's so much that needs to be done to get a working setup. > You don't seem to be reading what I'm asking for. The request for this bug came from NeddySeagoon, not myself so maybe you should iase with him as well. If this cannot be put in the Xorg guide, I'd suggest we put it in the nvidia and ati docs.
If the view of the docs project is that the binary blobs are out of scope of the main Xorg guide thats fine. However, the main Xorg guide says that an xorg.conf is a weapon of last resort and the nvidia guide is written expecting a fully fledged xorg.conf to be available for editing. To me thats a 'rough edge' on our docs that could do with smoothing off. I suggested a change to the Xorg guide as its one change, rather than changing both the binary blob guides.
(In reply to comment #5) > To me thats a 'rough edge' on our docs that could do with smoothing off. > I suggested a change to the Xorg guide as its one change, rather than changing > both the binary blob guides. > Even more so. In section 2 of the guide the example that is given for the choice of video card drivers is (For mouse, keyboard, and Synaptics touchpad support) INPUT_DEVICES="evdev synaptics" (For Nvidia cards) VIDEO_CARDS="nvidia" (OR, for ATI Radeon cards) VIDEO_CARDS="radeon" i.e proprietary nvidia driver. Which leaves an impression that if you follow the guide to the letter with this choice, everything should work. While the first thing you need to do for nvidia is create xorg.conf
Thankyou guys for highlighting these points. They are exactly what I found when reading through this.
Dupe of #328001, since it will include updated open-source/proprietary driver information anyway. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 328001 ***
