OpenGL Failures - Debian Sarge, Matrox G550, Kernel 2.6.8

Second Life gets as far as opening a window and then crashes. I'm including what I hope is useful information for debugging or getting some tips on how to make it start. I note that OpenGL does work on my system with direct rendering. I probably qualify as a power user, not quite a pro admin, but no amatuer.

--- Machine Info ---
Distro: Debian 3.1 (Sarge) Stable
Desktop: Gnome 2.8
Kernel Info: Linux movebox 2.6.8-2-k7 #1 Tue Aug 16 14:00:15 UTC 2005 i686 GNU/Linux
X Version: XFree86 version: 4.3.0.1
Driver: mga
Graphics Card: Millenium G550 32MB

--- Error Log ---
2006-03-10T18:43:31Z INFO: Failed to find OpenGL symbol 'glBindBufferARB' in '(default OpenGL library)
2006-03-10T18:43:31Z INFO: Failed to find OpenGL symbol 'glDeleteBuffersARB' in '(default OpenGL library)
...
2006-03-10T18:43:31Z INFO: Failed to find OpenGL symbol 'glGetProgramivARB' in '(default OpenGL library)
2006-03-10T18:43:31Z INFO: Failed to find OpenGL symbol 'glGetProgramStringARB' in '(default OpenGL library)
2006-03-10T18:43:31Z INFO: Failed to find OpenGL symbol 'glIsProgramARB' in '(default OpenGL library)

2006-03-10T18:43:31Z INFO: Loaded OpenGL symbol 'glColorTableEXT'.
2006-03-10T18:43:31Z INFO: Loaded OpenGL symbol 'glCompressedTexImage2DARB'.
2006-03-10T18:43:31Z INFO: Failed to find OpenGL symbol 'glEnableVertexAttribArrayARB' in '(default OpenGL library)
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Failed to find OpenGL symbol 'glDisableVertexAttribArrayARB' in '(default OpenGL library)

2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Loaded OpenGL symbol 'glDrawElements'.
...
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Loaded OpenGL symbol 'glMap2f'.


2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Failed to find OpenGL symbol 'glVertexAttribPointerARB' in '(default OpenGL library)
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Failed to find OpenGL symbol 'glNewObjectBufferATI' in '(default OpenGL library)
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Failed to find OpenGL symbol 'glUpdateObjectBufferATI' in '(default OpenGL library)
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Failed to find OpenGL symbol 'glFreeObjectBufferATI' in '(default OpenGL library)
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Failed to find OpenGL symbol 'glArrayObjectATI' in '(default OpenGL library)
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Failed to find OpenGL symbol 'glVertexAttribArrayObjectATI' in '(default OpenGL library)
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Loaded OpenGL symbol 'glXGetCurrentDisplay'.
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Loaded OpenGL symbol 'glXQueryExtensionsString'.
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Loaded OpenGL symbol 'glXGetProcAddressARB'.
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z WARNING: Frame buffer has less than 8 bits of alpha. Avatar texture compositing will fail.
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Couldn't initialize mipmap generation
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Couldn't initialize GL_EXT_paletted_texture
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Couldn't initialize GL_NV_vertex_array_range
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Couldn't initialize GL_NV_fence
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Couldn't initialize separate specular color
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: Couldn't initialize anisotropic filtering
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z WARNING: Invalid control RenderUserFarClip
2006-03-10T18:43:32Z INFO: remove_marker_file()

What does glxinfo report?

It looks like you may have an incomplete OpenGL implementation. Are you using a special libGL.so that came with your graphics card drivers?

(try apt-get installing dlocate and running 'dlocate /usr/lib/libGL.so')

Glxinfo reports, among other things:

OpenGL vendor string: VA Linux Systems Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI G400 20020221 AGP 1x x86/MMX/3DNow!
OpenGL version string: 1.2 Mesa 4.0.4

dlocate:
xlibmesa-gl: /usr/lib/libGL.so.1
xlibmesa-gl: /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.2

Which is to say I'm using what ought to be called the standard (at least for Linux) Mesa 3d libraries.

I have a bad feeling someone's going to want me to swap drivers or video cards. I'd consider switching to vendor drivers in the short term, but despite their reputation for being very F/OSS friendly, I discovered some time after buyng this card that Matrox hasn't done a good job of keeping their own drivers up to speed with X. So far just using the Mesa drivers hasn't posed a problem.

What did glxinfo say beside "direct rendering"?

name of display: :0.0
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.2
server glx extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context
client glx vendor string: SGI
client glx version string: 1.2
client glx extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context
GLX extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context
OpenGL vendor string: VA Linux Systems Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI G400 20020221 AGP 1x x86/MMX/3DNow!
OpenGL version string: 1.2 Mesa 4.0.4
OpenGL extensions:
GL_ARB_multisample, GL_ARB_multitexture, GL_ARB_texture_compression,
GL_ARB_texture_env_add, GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_EXT_abgr,
GL_EXT_bgra, GL_EXT_clip_volume_hint, GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array,
GL_EXT_packed_pixels, GL_EXT_polygon_offset, GL_EXT_rescale_normal,
GL_EXT_texture3D, GL_EXT_texture_env_add, GL_EXT_texture_object,
GL_EXT_vertex_array, GL_IBM_rasterpos_clip, GL_MESA_window_pos,
GL_NV_texgen_reflection, GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap
glu version: 1.3
glu extensions:
GLU_EXT_nurbs_tessellator, GLU_EXT_object_space_tess

visual x bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer ms cav
id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro r g b a bf th cl r g b a ns b eat
----------------------------------------------------------------------
0x23 24 tc 1 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x24 24 tc 1 24 0 r . . 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x25 24 tc 1 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x26 24 tc 1 24 0 r . . 8 8 8 0 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x27 24 tc 1 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 16 16 16 0 0 0 Slow
0x28 24 tc 1 24 0 r . . 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 16 16 16 0 0 0 Slow
0x29 24 tc 1 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 24 8 16 16 16 0 0 0 Slow
0x2a 24 tc 1 24 0 r . . 8 8 8 0 0 24 8 16 16 16 0 0 0 Slow
0x2b 24 dc 1 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x2c 24 dc 1 24 0 r . . 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x2d 24 dc 1 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x2e 24 dc 1 24 0 r . . 8 8 8 0 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x2f 24 dc 1 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 16 16 16 0 0 0 Slow
0x30 24 dc 1 24 0 r . . 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 16 16 16 0 0 0 Slow
0x31 24 dc 1 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 24 8 16 16 16 0 0 0 Slow
0x32 24 dc 1 24 0 r . . 8 8 8 0 0 24 8 16 16 16 0 0 0 Slow

No go huh? Well, maybe I'll check back when you hit beta. Best of luck.

I'm no expert but it looks like your OpenGL implementation is incomplete and lacks some features that SL needs.

Given that Matrox cards are rather old cards (I haven't seen a new one lately) that are usually lumped into the old 3dfx Voodoo and Savage3D area, I'd say you'll need to upgrade your video card to an ATI or NVidia.

That could end up being true, but before doing anything so drastic (well, unless you have some $$$ laying around) you could try upgrading your drivers (which might require upgrading your X server) since Mesa 4.0.4 based drivers are going to be really really old. I don't think a G550 is going to give a great SL experience even it it worked at all -- it's just not very fast for SL's fillrate hunger and doesn't have much graphics memory. Worth a shot though.

Granted, these are the minimum Mac/Windows reqs, but it sure won't run on my Radeon 7500.