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kindjal
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Joined: 18 Apr 2002
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2002 8:26 pm    Post subject: vmware + kernel config Reply with quote

I am using VMWare 3.1 and when configuring the kernel,
I don't know if I should enable /dev/agpart and if I do,
what chipset support should I enable.

Does anyone has an idea or advice about it ?
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DreadPirate
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2002 9:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

VMware does not support agp video cards. The best it can do is a low-end pci video card. It does not take advantage of whatever video card you have installed in your system, it just uses a "virtual" one and emulates how it would perform. So in this situation you don't have to worry about anything related to agp while you are inside vmware.
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bbibber
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 24, 2002 7:15 pm    Post subject: VMware needs DGA to perform well Reply with quote

Without DGA support (an Xfree feature), VMware is really slow in full-screen mode. imho it's the only feature that matters at the moment
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cr0nos
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 24, 2002 8:11 pm    Post subject: Re: VMware needs DGA to perform well Reply with quote

bbibber wrote:
Without DGA support (an Xfree feature), VMware is really slow in full-screen mode. imho it's the only feature that matters at the moment


How do I get DGA support? Vmware complains about it all the time. is there a USE variable?
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klieber
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 24, 2002 9:31 pm    Post subject: Re: VMware needs DGA to perform well Reply with quote

cr0nos wrote:
How do I get DGA support? Vmware complains about it all the time. is there a USE variable?


Did you search the vmware support docs?

Searching for "DGA support" on vmware.com turned up this page:

http://www.vmware.com/support/ws3/ts/ws31ts_soundvid2.html

which in turn has the following FAQ:

Quote:
When I try to put a virtual machine on my Linux host into full screen mode, I get a DGA error, or else the virtual machine does not enter full screen mode at all or enters full screen mode very slowly. What is the problem?

The ability to place virtual machines in full screen mode is a function of the Xserver and video card driver you have installed on the Linux host. In order for VMware Workstation to run a virtual machine in full screen mode at optimal performance, the following conditions need to be present:

XFree86 must be installed on the physical host machine.
The XF86Config file or XF86Config-4 file must be configured to start DGA with acceleration.
The XFree86 driver for your video card, and your video card hardware, must support DGA with acceleration.
If the X server on your host cannot run DGA with acceleration, when you try to place a virtual machine into full screen mode, an error message should appear on your host stating that full screen mode will run slowly. If this message appears, it is best to run the virtual machine in windowed mode, as trying to switch to full screen mode may be slow or may not work at all.

Here are more notes on the standard behavior of XFree86 4.x and higher on Linux hosts.

Make sure that DGA is not disabled in your XF86Config-4 file. Comment out the following lines in the XF86Config-4 file:

SubSection "extmod"

Option "omit xfree86-dga" # don't initialise the DGA extension

EndSubSection

Add the following line to the XF86Config-4 file:

load "extmod"

Then restart your host X server.

Not all drivers support DGA in XFree86 4.x. If there is an error about DGA not being enabled, and you have already checked this, then the driver for your graphics card probably does not support DGA.

Not all drivers in XFree86 4.x are optimized for DGA with acceleration, so the performance might be poor in comparison to XFree86 3.3.x.

Unlike XFree86 3.3.x, full screen mode does not resize the screen, so if the virtual machine has a lower resolution then the host, it displays in the center of the screen, surrounded by a black border.

If your virtual machine performs erratically or not at all when you try to use full screen mode on your Linux host, please contact your video card manufacturer or computer manufacturer for the most updated XFree86 4.x video driver for your type of graphics card. Make sure to install that driver according to the manufacturer's guidelines.


Might check there
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cr0nos
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Joined: 22 Apr 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 25, 2002 8:40 am    Post subject: Re: VMware needs DGA to perform well Reply with quote

klieber wrote:
cr0nos wrote:
How do I get DGA support? Vmware complains about it all the time. is there a USE variable?


Did you search the vmware support docs?

Searching for "DGA support" on vmware.com turned up this page:

http://www.vmware.com/support/ws3/ts/ws31ts_soundvid2.html

which in turn has the following FAQ:

Quote:
When I try to put a virtual machine on my Linux host into full screen mode, I get a DGA error, or else the virtual machine does not enter full screen mode at all or enters full screen mode very slowly. What is the problem?

The ability to place virtual machines in full screen mode is a function of the Xserver and video card driver you have installed on the Linux host. In order for VMware Workstation to run a virtual machine in full screen mode at optimal performance, the following conditions need to be present:

XFree86 must be installed on the physical host machine.
The XF86Config file or XF86Config-4 file must be configured to start DGA with acceleration.
The XFree86 driver for your video card, and your video card hardware, must support DGA with acceleration.
If the X server on your host cannot run DGA with acceleration, when you try to place a virtual machine into full screen mode, an error message should appear on your host stating that full screen mode will run slowly. If this message appears, it is best to run the virtual machine in windowed mode, as trying to switch to full screen mode may be slow or may not work at all.

Here are more notes on the standard behavior of XFree86 4.x and higher on Linux hosts.

Make sure that DGA is not disabled in your XF86Config-4 file. Comment out the following lines in the XF86Config-4 file:

SubSection "extmod"

Option "omit xfree86-dga" # don't initialise the DGA extension

EndSubSection

Add the following line to the XF86Config-4 file:

load "extmod"

Then restart your host X server.

Not all drivers support DGA in XFree86 4.x. If there is an error about DGA not being enabled, and you have already checked this, then the driver for your graphics card probably does not support DGA.

Not all drivers in XFree86 4.x are optimized for DGA with acceleration, so the performance might be poor in comparison to XFree86 3.3.x.

Unlike XFree86 3.3.x, full screen mode does not resize the screen, so if the virtual machine has a lower resolution then the host, it displays in the center of the screen, surrounded by a black border.

If your virtual machine performs erratically or not at all when you try to use full screen mode on your Linux host, please contact your video card manufacturer or computer manufacturer for the most updated XFree86 4.x video driver for your type of graphics card. Make sure to install that driver according to the manufacturer's guidelines.


Might check there



thanks. that worked out quite nicely.
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