[GRASS5] Re: NVIZ crashes

GRASS GRASS developer
1

Hi all NVIZ lovers,

an update on Redhat7.1/Nviz crashes:
It seems to be related to Xfree86. I have a Matrox G450 card
running and Xfree 4.0.3 with DRI activated (= nviz crashes
the server).

After disabling DRI (direct rendering) it works fine...
In case of this problems, check your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4
and disable
# Load "dri"
# Load "glx"

restart the Xserver and try agin NVIZ.

But... starting
nviz dem
and
nviz -q dem

leads to different values for zexxag...
Anyway, NVIZ seems to work again.

Markus

2

Markus Neteler wrote:

Hi all NVIZ lovers,

an update on Redhat7.1/Nviz crashes:
It seems to be related to Xfree86. I have a Matrox G450 card
running and Xfree 4.0.3 with DRI activated (= nviz crashes
the server).

After disabling DRI (direct rendering) it works fine...
In case of this problems, check your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4
and disable
# Load "dri"
# Load "glx"

restart the Xserver and try agin NVIZ.

but then I am getting the following
is there anything else that I need to do? I have NVIDIA and it needs
the glx. But these are things that I absolutely don't know anything
about.

Adding panels from /usr/local/grass5/etc/nviz2.2/scripts
Nv_(panels)
toplevel made
Error in startup script: Togl: X server has no OpenGL GLX extension
    while executing
"togl $BASE.canvas -rgba true -double true -depth true "
    (procedure "Nv_makeGUI" line 24)
    invoked from within
"Nv_makeGUI .top"
    (file "/usr/local/grass5/etc/nviz2.2/scripts/nviz2.2_script" line
637)
child process exited abnormally
    while executing
"exec /usr/local/grass5/etc/nviz2.2/NVWISH2.2 -f
/usr/local/grass5/etc/nviz2.2/scripts/nviz2.2_script -q -name NVIZ

&@stdout"

    ("eval" body line 1)
    invoked from within
"eval exec $env(GISBASE)/etc/nviz2.2/NVWISH2.2 -f
$env(GISBASE)/etc/nviz2.2/scripts/nviz2.2_script $argv -name NVIZ

&@stdout"

    invoked from within
"if {$argv == ""} {
#no arguments
eval exec $env(GISBASE)/etc/nviz2.2/NVWISH2.2 -f
$env(GISBASE)/etc/nviz2.2/scripts/nviz2.2_script -name NVIZ >&@stdo..."
    (file "/usr/local/grass5/bin/nviz" line 13)

But... starting
nviz dem
and
nviz -q dem

leads to different values for zexxag...

that is correct, you are not supposed to put anything after nviz -q : it
is for opening nviz
without any input and uses different initial setting than if you give it
a file (without -q) -
then it computes the initial settings from your data. I actually use
nviz -q more often
because the tuning of viewing parameters works better than when they are
computed
from the data (but this is an old issue related to the differences
between SG3d and nviz controls)

Anyway, NVIZ seems to work again.

not yet for me,

Helena

Markus
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3

On Mon, Aug 13, 2001 at 12:26:26PM -0400, Helena Mitasova wrote:

Markus Neteler wrote:

> Hi all NVIZ lovers,
>
> an update on Redhat7.1/Nviz crashes:
> It seems to be related to Xfree86. I have a Matrox G450 card
> running and Xfree 4.0.3 with DRI activated (= nviz crashes
> the server).
>
> After disabling DRI (direct rendering) it works fine...
> In case of this problems, check your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4
> and disable
> # Load "dri"
> # Load "glx"
>
> restart the Xserver and try agin NVIZ.

but then I am getting the following
is there anything else that I need to do? I have NVIDIA and it needs
the glx. But these are things that I absolutely don't know anything
about.

Adding panels from /usr/local/grass5/etc/nviz2.2/scripts
Nv_(panels)
toplevel made
Error in startup script: Togl: X server has no OpenGL GLX extension
    while executing
"togl $BASE.canvas -rgba true -double true -depth true "
    (procedure "Nv_makeGUI" line 24)
    invoked from within
"Nv_makeGUI .top"
    (file "/usr/local/grass5/etc/nviz2.2/scripts/nviz2.2_script" line
637)
child process exited abnormally
    while executing
"exec /usr/local/grass5/etc/nviz2.2/NVWISH2.2 -f
/usr/local/grass5/etc/nviz2.2/scripts/nviz2.2_script -q -name NVIZ
>&@stdout"
    ("eval" body line 1)
    invoked from within
"eval exec $env(GISBASE)/etc/nviz2.2/NVWISH2.2 -f
$env(GISBASE)/etc/nviz2.2/scripts/nviz2.2_script $argv -name NVIZ
>&@stdout"
    invoked from within
"if {$argv == ""} {
#no arguments
eval exec $env(GISBASE)/etc/nviz2.2/NVWISH2.2 -f
$env(GISBASE)/etc/nviz2.2/scripts/nviz2.2_script -name NVIZ >&@stdo..."
    (file "/usr/local/grass5/bin/nviz" line 13)

Helena,

I guess you have to
- either install MESA (for software openGL) or
- upgrade to Xfree 4.1.0

> But... starting
> nviz dem
> and
> nviz -q dem
>
> leads to different values for zexxag...

that is correct, you are not supposed to put anything after nviz -q : it
is for opening nviz
without any input and uses different initial setting than if you give it

... if so, it should *ignore* additional data and print a warning
respectively (sorry, mostly I don't read documentation :-).

a file (without -q) -
then it computes the initial settings from your data. I actually use
nviz -q more often
because the tuning of viewing parameters works better than when they are
computed
from the data (but this is an old issue related to the differences
between SG3d and nviz controls)
>
> Anyway, NVIZ seems to work again.

not yet for me,

Helena

hopefully soon,

Markus

4

Helena Mitasova wrote:

Markus Neteler wrote:

> Hi all NVIZ lovers,
>
> an update on Redhat7.1/Nviz crashes:
> It seems to be related to Xfree86. I have a Matrox G450 card
> running and Xfree 4.0.3 with DRI activated (= nviz crashes
> the server).
>
> After disabling DRI (direct rendering) it works fine...
> In case of this problems, check your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4
> and disable
> # Load "dri"
> # Load "glx"
>
> restart the Xserver and try agin NVIZ.

but then I am getting the following

[snip]

To both Markus and Helena:

What happens if you just disable loading "dri", but still load "glx"?

If there are problems when using the XFree86 GLX extension, that
should probably be investigated further. OTOH, if the problems are
limited to DRI, that's to be expected. Although, you might want to add
a "don't use DRI" notice, just in case anyone still hasn't figured
that one out for themselves yet :wink:

--
Glynn Clements <glynn.clements@virgin.net>

5

On Mon, Aug 13, 2001 at 07:13:50PM +0100, Glynn Clements wrote:

Helena Mitasova wrote:

> Markus Neteler wrote:
>
> > Hi all NVIZ lovers,
> >
> > an update on Redhat7.1/Nviz crashes:
> > It seems to be related to Xfree86. I have a Matrox G450 card
> > running and Xfree 4.0.3 with DRI activated (= nviz crashes
> > the server).
> >
> > After disabling DRI (direct rendering) it works fine...
> > In case of this problems, check your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4
> > and disable
> > # Load "dri"
> > # Load "glx"
> >
> > restart the Xserver and try agin NVIZ.
>
> but then I am getting the following

[snip]

To both Markus and Helena:

What happens if you just disable loading "dri", but still load "glx"?

If there are problems when using the XFree86 GLX extension, that
should probably be investigated further. OTOH, if the problems are
limited to DRI, that's to be expected. Although, you might want to add
a "don't use DRI" notice, just in case anyone still hasn't figured
that one out for themselves yet :wink:

Thanks for the hint, I'll try. However, it must be video card dependent
as I had both "dri" and "glx" active in Hannover.

Later,

Markus

6

On Tue, Aug 14, 2001 at 08:50:49AM -0300, Bob Covill wrote:

Markus Neteler wrote:
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> > To both Markus and Helena:
> >
> > What happens if you just disable loading "dri", but still load "glx"?
> >
> > If there are problems when using the XFree86 GLX extension, that
> > should probably be investigated further. OTOH, if the problems are
> > limited to DRI, that's to be expected. Although, you might want to add
> > a "don't use DRI" notice, just in case anyone still hasn't figured
> > that one out for themselves yet :wink:
>
> Thanks for the hint, I'll try. However, it must be video card dependent
> as I had both "dri" and "glx" active in Hannover.
>
> Later,
>
> Markus

Markus and Helena;

I finally got RedHat Linux 7.1 re-installed. To date I have had no
problems with NVIZ. I have tried repeatedly opening and closing it with
no problems.

The motherboard is an older single processor (300 MHz Pentium II). The
video card is a Matrox Milleneum G200.

Helena -- do you know the make and model of the video card in your
system?

Hopefully we can pull all these bits of information together for a good
solution. You seem to be getting close Markus.

Bob and others,

we have tested today for a while. The problem is DRI (direct rendering,
needed for openGL hardware acceleration). If DRI is disabled, NVIZ
works on Xfree4.0.3 (redhat 7.1) even when glx is active.

If DRI is enabled, the mesa-glxdemo programs run, but nviz crashes.
It is talking about a bad integer initialization (integer out of range).
No idea, how to debug this.

On thursday I'll switch to Xfree4.1.0, which provides an improved DRI.
Eventually the problems will be solved then... if not, it is a NVIZ
problem (probably the TOGL).

Bob, if you are willing to upgrade the TOGL1.0 to TOGL1.5, eventually
this will help as well? Of course I would test it here! Do you expect
side effects from such upgrade?

Markus

7

Markus Neteler wrote:

On Tue, Aug 14, 2001 at 08:50:49AM -0300, Bob Covill wrote:
> Markus Neteler wrote:
> > >
> > > [snip]
> > >
> > > To both Markus and Helena:
> > >
> > > What happens if you just disable loading "dri", but still load "glx"?

that is how I am running it here

>
> I finally got RedHat Linux 7.1 re-installed. To date I have had no
> problems with NVIZ. I have tried repeatedly opening and closing it with
> no problems.
>
> The motherboard is an older single processor (300 MHz Pentium II). The
> video card is a Matrox Milleneum G200.
>
> Helena -- do you know the make and model of the video card in your
> system?

NVIDIA Quadro 2 Pro - except for the crashes, it is really great, the graphics
has
a "look and feel" of SGI, but everything is faster.
the other crashing machine has NVIDIA GeForce

we have tested today for a while. The problem is DRI (direct rendering,
needed for openGL hardware acceleration). If DRI is disabled, NVIZ
works on Xfree4.0.3 (redhat 7.1) even when glx is active.

I have had dri disabled all the time, so that is not a problem for me.
We have also tried to run it on a single processor - it crashes too but at
least
it gives an error message.
Bob, I put my Xconfig and log file from the crash at
http://bathy.meas.ncsu.edu/grasswork/XF86Config-4
http://bathy.meas.ncsu.edu/grasswork/XFree86.0.log

maybe you will see something obvious there that we are missing.
I don't have any problems with rendering or any other NVIZ functionality.
the crashes happen when the interface window is being opened or when I
am closing it.

thanks for looking at it,

Helena

If DRI is enabled, the mesa-glxdemo programs run, but nviz crashes.
It is talking about a bad integer initialization (integer out of range).
No idea, how to debug this.

On thursday I'll switch to Xfree4.1.0, which provides an improved DRI.
Eventually the problems will be solved then... if not, it is a NVIZ
problem (probably the TOGL).

Bob, if you are willing to upgrade the TOGL1.0 to TOGL1.5, eventually
this will help as well? Of course I would test it here! Do you expect
side effects from such upgrade?

Markus
_______________________________________________
grass5 mailing list
grass5@grass.itc.it
http://grass.itc.it/mailman/listinfo/grass5

8

Cópia Helena <hmitaso@unity.ncsu.edu>:

  Hi,

> > > > What happens if you just disable loading "dri", but still load

"glx"?

that is how I am running it here

  For the nvidia driver, don't load the dri module, NVidia has it's own
implementation of a kernel module. Just make sure that the glx module you
are loading in XFree86 is the NVidia version, not the XFree86 one. Make
also sure that only the NVidia versions of the /usr/lib/libGL*.so* files
are available.

  See http://dri.sourceforge.net/ for the list of dri open-source
supported cards.

> > I finally got RedHat Linux 7.1 re-installed. To date I have had no
> > problems with NVIZ. I have tried repeatedly opening and closing it
with
> > no problems.
> >
> > The motherboard is an older single processor (300 MHz Pentium II).
The
> > video card is a Matrox Milleneum G200.
> >
> > Helena -- do you know the make and model of the video card in your
> > system?

NVIDIA Quadro 2 Pro - except for the crashes, it is really great, the
graphics
has
a "look and feel" of SGI, but everything is faster.
the other crashing machine has NVIDIA GeForce

>
> we have tested today for a while. The problem is DRI (direct
rendering,
> needed for openGL hardware acceleration). If DRI is disabled, NVIZ
> works on Xfree4.0.3 (redhat 7.1) even when glx is active.

I have had dri disabled all the time, so that is not a problem for me.
We have also tried to run it on a single processor - it crashes too but
at
least
it gives an error message.
Bob, I put my Xconfig and log file from the crash at
http://bathy.meas.ncsu.edu/grasswork/XF86Config-4
http://bathy.meas.ncsu.edu/grasswork/XFree86.0.log

  Try changing the DefaultDepth to either 16 or 32.

maybe you will see something obvious there that we are missing.
I don't have any problems with rendering or any other NVIZ
functionality.
the crashes happen when the interface window is being opened or when I
am closing it.

thanks for looking at it,

Helena

> If DRI is enabled, the mesa-glxdemo programs run, but nviz crashes.
> It is talking about a bad integer initialization (integer out of
range).
> No idea, how to debug this.
>
> On thursday I'll switch to Xfree4.1.0, which provides an improved
DRI.
> Eventually the problems will be solved then... if not, it is a NVIZ
> problem (probably the TOGL).
>
> Bob, if you are willing to upgrade the TOGL1.0 to TOGL1.5,
eventually
> this will help as well? Of course I would test it here! Do you
expect
> side effects from such upgrade?
>
> Markus

Paulo

9

Helena wrote:

> > > > What happens if you just disable loading "dri", but still load "glx"?

that is how I am running it here

OK, but you're running NVidia's glX module, which presumably uses
hardware acceleration.

Unfortunately, hardware acceleration and reliability seem to be
mutually exclusive (unless you're using an SGI).

I use the stock XFree86 glX module without DRI, so Mesa is used for
the rendering. It isn't particularly fast, but at least it doesn't
crash the system so hard that not even Alt-SysRq-* work.

A suggestion regarding NVIZ bug reports: ask the user to post the
output from "glxinfo", and check that it contains:

  OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect

If it doesn't, tell them to try using the stock XFree86 glX module
without DRI, and see if the problem persists. If it does, we have a
problem. If it goes away, it's yet another failed attempt at OpenGL.

--
Glynn Clements <glynn.clements@virgin.net>

10

On Wed, Aug 15, 2001 at 12:51:07PM +0100, Glynn Clements wrote:

Helena wrote:

> > > > > What happens if you just disable loading "dri", but still load "glx"?
>
> that is how I am running it here

OK, but you're running NVidia's glX module, which presumably uses
hardware acceleration.

Unfortunately, hardware acceleration and reliability seem to be
mutually exclusive (unless you're using an SGI).

From our tests here I can agree (up to X4.0.3). It didn't help for nviz
to use the Matrox provided driver, the Xfree glx is slightly faster.

I use the stock XFree86 glX module without DRI, so Mesa is used for
the rendering. It isn't particularly fast, but at least it doesn't
crash the system so hard that not even Alt-SysRq-* work.

With DRI disabled and glx enabled the result is twice as fast as
with both disabled (try "gears"), better than nothing...

A suggestion regarding NVIZ bug reports: ask the user to post the
output from "glxinfo", and check that it contains:

  OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect

If it doesn't, tell them to try using the stock XFree86 glX module
without DRI, and see if the problem persists. If it does, we have a
problem. If it goes away, it's yet another failed attempt at OpenGL.

Yes, confirmation that this is working:

glxinfo |grep "OpenGL\|glx"
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.2
server glx extensions:
client glx vendor string: SGI
client glx version string: 1.2
client glx extensions:
OpenGL vendor string: VA Linux Systems, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
OpenGL version string: 1.2 Mesa 3.4
OpenGL extensions:

This is working on Redhat7.1 with Xfree 4.0.3 and nviz and Matrox G450.

Today I'll try Xfree 4.1.0. Maybe a new chance for DRI?

Later,

Markus