Hints for hardware with non-free requirements

Due to the complexity of law, sidux live-ISO will only provide dfsg-free software.

Open Source Xorg drivers for nVidia, ATI, Radeon, Intel

Open Source Xorg drivers for nVidia, ATI, Radeon, Intel are pre-installed with sidux.

Intel drivers should work perfectly for 2D and 3D video acceleration as the drivers are included in the Intel free series.

If you have been running proprietary drivers and wish to revert back to opensource drivers you need to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf, HOWEVER YOU MUST MAKE A BACKUP COPY FIRST, as editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf incorrectly will result in many tears by you.

To edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf, open it in an editor with root permissions. Find the section that reads SECTION DEVICE and change the display driver to read nv OR ati OR intel (to name but a few).

Editing xorg.conf is entirely at your own risk!!

More information about Intel   ati radeon   radeonhd   nv  X.Org

Sources List

As the sidux iso contains only dfsg free software, you will probably want to add contrib/ non-free to your /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sidux.list or /etc/apt/sources.list and ensure internet access:

# See sources.list(5) for more information, especially
# Remember that you can only use http, ftp or file URIs
# CDROMs are managed through the apt-cdrom tool.
# The /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory provides a way to add sources.list
# entries in separate files that end with sources.list file.

# Unstable
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
# deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free

# sidux
deb http://sidux.com/debian/ sid main contrib non-free firmware fix.main fix.contrib fix.non-free
#deb-src http://sidux.com/debian/ sid main contrib non-free firmware fix.main fix.contrib fix.non-free

Binary, closed source drivers for: nVidia with dmakms

Prepare the module:

apt-get install nvidia-kernel-source nvidia-kernel-common dmakms

Then activate Dynamic Module-Assistant Kernel Module Support (dmakms) for nvidia, so that the next time the Linux kernel is updated a nvidia module is prepared for it too, without manual intervention. To do that, add nvidia-kernel-source to the /etc/default/dmakms configuration file:

echo nvidia-kernel-source >> /etc/default/dmakms

Then:

m-a a-i nvidia-kernel-source

Followed by:

apt-get install nvidia-glx

Next alter xorg.conf:

sed -i s/nv\"/nvidia\"/ /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Reboot PC for installation of the module to take effect.

Module load failure

Should nvidia fail to load, for whatever reason [new xorg component, a file system problem or if X doesnt start after reboot] :

modprobe nvidia

Then reboot the computer.

Should the module still fail to load:

 m-a a-i -f nvidia-kernel-source

This rebuilds the module then reboot.

Read:

$ /usr/share/doc/dmakms

ATI, Radeon and other video drivers

2D Drivers

The drivers for the X.Org X server (see xserver-xorg for a further description) provides support in 2D for NVIDIA Riva, TNT, GeForce, and Quadro cards and the ATI Mach, Rage, Radeon, and FireGL cards along with atimisc, r128, r6xx/r7xx and radeon sub-drivers. Radeon and Intel both support 2d acceleration (textured xv) for video playback.

3D Drivers

Some ATI cards also support 3D, so far up to the r5xx chipsets.

To automatically inherit newly packaged non-free firmware when they get updated for 2D and 3D video cards:

apt-get install firmware-linux

Then reboot the computer.

Firmware drivers

The required firmware can be determined with the following device/ firmware enumeration or by using the newly developed fw-detect script (packaged in sidux-scripts).

$ fw-detect

It is good practice to do a modprobe -r <modulename> before modprobe <modulename>, especially for intel.

We try to provide packages for legally redistributable firmware from our non-free repositories, but not all vendors allow this.

Writing to NTFS-partitions with ntfs-3g

Be warned: Whilst the ntfs-3g is stated to be 'stable', never use it without external backup, and of course not on production systems! If you do, it's your fault if your data gets lost, so use at your own risk!

Open a shell and enter the following commands:See Partitioning your HD - Disk Naming

sux
apt-get update && apt-get install ntfs-3g
umount /media/xdxx
mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/disk/by-uuid/xxyyzz[etc] /media/xdxx
To get out of the konsole type: exit

Now your NTFS-Volume should be mounted rw and you should be able to store data on it. But again, be warned! Use it in emergency situations, it is not recommended for use on a daily basis.

Page last revised 13/06/2009 0940 UTC