TIP_Switching_between_the_nv_free_driver_and_the_3D_nVidia_driver

Introduction

Ever wanted to be able to switch between the free 2D in-kernel nv driver and the 3D nVidia driver?

The only possibility, as those drivers are incompatible, is to do 2 different kernels. We need an init boot script to change Xorg configuration and the opengl configuration.

The kernels

The kernels can be of the same version or of different versions. We will use here 2 different kernels from the same sources.

Kernel for the 2D nv driver

Follow the Gentoo Linux Kernel Configuration Guide

Device Drivers --->
Graphics Support --->
<m>   nVidia Framebuffer Support
    or
<m>   nVidia Riva support

Compile and install your kernel as usual.

The sources of the 2 kernels will be the same, so it will be safer to install all your extra drivers, as those from the alsa-driver package if you don't use the in-kernel alsa driver, before to begin the second kernel configuration. Or use 2 sources trees in /usr/src.

Kernel for the 3D nVidia driver

mv /usr/src/linux/.config /.config
cd /usr/src/linux
make mrproper
mv /.config /usr/src/linux/.config
make oldconfig

Follow the Gentoo Linux nVidia Guide. But a special step is neccessary:

General setup --->
(-3D) Local version - append to kernel release

With this append string, the modules will not be messed when running make modules_install and we will get a second directory in /lib/modules for this version of the kernel.

If you already have nvidia in /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-<ver>, remove it from the file and run

update-modules

Grub configuration

Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and do 2 configurations as usual, one for each of the 2 kernels. Here are the relevant part of my file as example:

 
 title           Gentoo 2.6.16-rt29-3D
 root            (hd0,0)
 kernel          /vmlinuz-2.6.16-rt29-3D root=/dev/hda3 ro acpi=off X_DRIVER=nvidia
 savedefault
 boot

 title           Gentoo 2.6.16-rt29
 root            (hd0,0)
 kernel          /vmlinuz-2.6.16-rt29 root=/dev/hda3 ro acpi=off X_DRIVER=nv
 savedefault
 boot
  

I need the acpi=off for my rt kernel to work well. Your configuration can be different. What is relevant here for you is only the /vmlinuz-* and the X_DRIVER=*.

X_DRIVER is a boot parameter that grub will pass to the kernel. As the kernel will not understand this boot parameter, it will pass this parameter as environment variable to init.

Installing Xorg

Follow the X Server Configuration HOWTO and in code listing 2.1 select both the nv and the nvidia driver.

Xorg configuration

The script removes the xorg.conf file and creates a symlink xorg.conf that points to xorg.${X_DRIVER}.conf. For that to work, we need 2 files: xorg.nv.conf and xorg.nvidia.conf.

First, rename your existing xorg.conf file.

cd /etc/X11

I suppose that your xorg.conf uses the nv driver. Otherwise, just change nv to nvidia and nvidia to nv in the 2 following commands:

mv xorg.conf xorg.nv.conf

Do a copy:

cp xorg.nv.conf xorg.nvidia.conf

xorg.nv.conf must contain:

 
 Section "Device"
  ...
  Driver       "nv"
  ...
 EndSection 
  

And xorg.nvidia.conf must contain:

 
 Section "Device"
  ...
  Driver       "nvidia"
  ...
 EndSection 
  

For the other options, follow the X Server Configuration HOWTO and the Gentoo Linux nVidia Guide.

Init switch script

Open an editor and paste the following code:

#!/sbin/runscript
depend() {
        need bootmisc localmount
        after modules isapnp coldplug hotplug
        before xdm
}

start() {
        ebegin "Loading: ${X_DRIVER} X infrastructure"
        if [[ ${X_DRIVER} != "nv" && ${X_DRIVER} != "nvidia" ]] ; then
            eerror "We failed to switch to ${X_DRIVER}"
            return 1
        else
            if [[ ! -f /etc/X11/xorg.${X_DRIVER}.conf ]] ; then
                eerror "We failed to find /etc/X11/xorg.${X_DRIVER}.conf"
                return 1
            else
                rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf
                ln -s /etc/X11/xorg.${X_DRIVER}.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf
                    if [[ ${X_DRIVER} == "nv" ]] ; then
                        if [[ $(eselect opengl show) == "nvidia" ]] ; then
                        eselect opengl set xorg-x11
                        fi
                    else
                        modprobe -q ${X_DRIVER} &>/dev/null
                        if [[ $(eselect opengl show) == "xorg-x11" ]] ; then
                            eselect opengl set nvidia
                        fi
                    fi
            fi
        fi
        eend $?
}

Save this file as nv-nvidia. We must change the owner and the permissions. The last command will move the file to /etc/init.d

chown root:root nv-nvidia
chmod +x nv-nvidia
mv nv-nvidia /etc/init.d

This script uses the X_DRIVER parameter to symlink the corresponding xorg.${X_DRIVER}.conf and run eselect accordingly to set the opengl interface. As it take time to change the opengl infrastructure, I added a test that check which version of the opengl is in use and skip the change if it is not needed.

Added a X_DRIVER test, just to be sure at a non valid symlink will not be created. If X_DRIVER is non valid, the script do nothing but issue an error message.

Added a /etc/X11/xorg.${X_DRIVER}.conf test to be sure at xorg.conf will not be erased by mistake. So now, this script will be safe to use.

Init configuration

We need to add the X_DRIVER variable in /etc/conf.d/env_whitelist, because this variable must be allowed to be passed from the environment to the rc-system.

echo X_DRIVER >> /etc/conf.d/env_whitelist

The last thing to do is to add our new init script in the default runlevel:

rc-update add nv-nvidia default

To Do

• Check my bad English.
• Who knows?

See also

• Switching nv and nvidia video driver at boot time A big thank's to Corona688 that give me the right clue.
• Gentoo Linux nVidia Guide
• X Server Configuration HOWTO
• Hardware 3D Acceleration Guide
• Initscripts
• Gentoo Linux Kernel Configuration Guide
• bash -- Standard Shell

Feedback

Concerns or Compliments? Please use the Discussion section.