[ILUG] Debian, rpm's, xfree86 and xi graphics?

[Gay, John]

This is going to be quite long-winded and rather confusing. For warned is
for armed ;)

I noticed that XFree864.2.0 has finally added support for 3DLabs GVX1
boards, so, I had the sources on a CD from Linux Format, I needed to
re-install my entire system from scratch anyway, and I was tired of not
getting to play with 3D stuff properly with only an 8M ATI RageIIc+ AGP
card, so . . .

I re-installed from Debian Woody CD's from PCPlus DVD, re-formatting all but
the /home drive.
Only installed the minimum system, since I've gotten bitten too many time
trying to install too much at once, and I planned to build X from sources
anyway. Got the system running in CLI. Untarred the X sources and did a make
world, this took ages and several attempts adding required libs and dev
packages as needed.

Eventually got everything built and installed, but the graphical config tool
would not work with my GVX1 card, I used the CLI one instead to get a
working X. Success! Proceeded to re-install all the rest of what I
wanted/needed on my system with a mix from the Woody CD's and both testing
and unstable apt sites.

The one place I was sure to notice my new, super-fast, 32M Accelerated 3D
graphics would be in tuxracer. Got it, installed it, ran it, still getting
several seconds per frame???

A little searching, learning and questioning I find that GVX1 is only
supported for 2D acceleration, not 3D. The original DRI stuff was written on
an earlier 3DLabs card, but 3DLabs is no longer supported at all. And the
general consensus at XFree themselves is 3D stuff will probably never be
supported in XFree86 for 3DLabs cards.

This gives me few options:

1) Start asking, begging, pleading, annoying the XFree people until they do
support my card.
	Likely to create more enemies then friends.

2) Learn C,(started), learn X, learn OpenGL, reverse-engineer my card and
create the 3D support myself.
	Yea, right! If you buy that, can I interest you in a Beachhouse on
the Moon?

3) Give up the 3DLabs stuff and buy a 'real' video card.
	Would cost more than I realy want to spend, plus I've got a PCI
version I want to put into my Daughters PC, once I figure out how to get it
working.

4) Bite the bullet and buy(ouch) the accelerated X server from XI-Graphics.
$129.00
	Seems my best option, but there are a few problems I need to sort
out first.

So, I would like to try this option. xig are nice enough to provide
time-limited demos for testing before paying hard-earned cash. Decent of
them.

Unfortunately, these are only in RPM format. I know alien 'should' be able
to convert these to .deb's, but I've never had much luck before. I was
hoping to be able to 'open' these rpm's and then be able to move what I
needed to the proper locations. Rather tricky, considering that Debian and
RedHat are notorious for having incompatible file system layouts.

To make things even more scary, I need to remove 'ALL' OpenGL from my system
BEFORE installed the new X server, which comes with it's own OpenGL.

Once I get this working, I can try the new server for 25 Minutes at a time.
When/If I like it, I can then pay for it on my credit card and plug the
licience into it and have it working perfectly.

But this is not a perfect world. When/If the server does not work or is not
worth the $129.00, I want to be able to restore my old XFree86 and OpenGL
back. I should have enough room on my /opt to move X and OpenGL for safe
keeping, I just need to know what I need to save, both X and OpenGL, how to
translate from the rpm-centric xserver to install the Accelerated X server
on my Debian system?

And of course I'll need to be able to put everything back again.

I know that there are quite a few Debian and RedHat experts on this list.
Hopefully, with your input this can be a rather painless experience. It will
still be an experience, but this is wy we all love Linux.

Don't bother replying to the bench.com address, I've just got notice that my
contract is terminated so I won't be here. You can reply to the cc address,
or the list, as I'm on the archive from home anyway.

Thanks for all the assistance!

Cheers,

	John Gay

Adding Kingston memory to your system will allow you to open more files, run
larger applications and download from the Internet faster???