Debian errors

When I attempted to install SecondLife on Debian 4.0 (Etch) with KDE I always get the message "unable to create window"

Is Debin 4 an "approved" distribution or do I need to go back to the 3.1 (sarge)?

Do you have the latest drivers for your graphics card installed? That often helps with this error. (See 5.1 at /263/67/175157/1.html)

Yes, I do have the current video drivers installed. I even install the Gnome and received the same error message in case that was the problem.

Hi there...

I can assure you that SL works with Debian 4.0 (Etch).
I have it running without much troubles with it....and I use Nvidia.

Your error message does also happen if you try to run programs out of a bash-shell being root.
This is not possible. You need to be "normal" user.
However, I dont know how you start your SL....

Greetings
Rover

I have yet to get SL installed. That's when I get the message of unable to create window.

It runs fine when I boot the system into Windows, so the video card does support the full 32-bit colour. So the question is how do I change the colour depth to 32-bit? According to the man page on the X window system, and various web sites, it does not support 32-bit colour depth, only up to 24-bit.

I've also tried it under Open SUSE 10.2 ane Fedora with the same problem.

How did you manage that when according to the man pages:

32 is not a valid depth value. Most hardware that uses 32 bits per pixel only uses 24 of them to old the colour information, which means that the colour depth is 24, not 32.

So simply put one can not use 32 bit colour as required by Second Life. The video card I have supports 32-bit colour under non Linux operating systems and they told me the same thing the man page says.

How is yours faking the 32 bit colour under Linux?

Hiya LDK,

Try this:....

Open a console window and type 'gl-info' (withouth the single quotes) - and hit the enter button.

You may see a whole load of stuff like....

my_computer:~$ gl-info
GL_VENDOR = "ATI Technologies Inc."
GL_RENDERER = "ATI RADEON X800 XL"
GL_VERSION = "2.0.6474 (8.38.6)"
GL_EXTENSIONS = "GL_ARB_multitexture GL_EXT_texture_env_add GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array GL_S3_s3tc GL_ARB_depth_texture GL_ARB_fragment_program GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow GL_ARB_fragment_shader GL_ARB_multisample GL_ARB_occlusion_query GL_ARB_point_parameters GL_ARB_point_sprite GL_ARB_shader_objects GL_ARB_shading_language_100 GL_ARB_shadow....

If so, then it should list the maker of your graphics card, and what GL features it supports.

If you don't see similar information being listed (albeit with your graphics card details). then you may not have set up your graphics card drivers correctly.

You can also try typing in at the console 'glxinfo' (again - without the quotes) - and hitting the enter key, which may give you similar output to the following...

my_computer:~:~$ glxinfo
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_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating,
GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, GLX_OML_swap_method,
GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_hyperpipe,...

Similarly, if you don't see something similar - then your graphics card may not be set up correctly.

Output that mentions either mesa or vesa - are probably not what you want to see.

Hope this helps.

That still doesn't tell me how to get 32-bit colour when the manufacture and the KDE fourms all say the sam as the man page does. Video cards do not truly support 32-bit colour. In fact this is the only place I have seen that claims you can get 32-bit colour out of the X Window system.

How do you configure the X Window system to support it?

Sounds to me LadyDeath that you are using the Open Source NVidia driver called NV, which has no support for OpenGL and therefore cannot run SecondLife. If you have downloaded a driver direct from NVIdia's website then you do not have the correct driver, as Debian will not pollute its free software principles by used the closed source binary drivers from NVidia (nor will Ubuntu). If running Debian is not crucial and you have a 32bit processor (not colour) then I recommend you download Mepis, On its boot screen for the Live CD it allows you to opt in to NVidia's binary driver. On a 32-bit Packard Bell Mepis got SL running out of the box. You can then install Mepis to your hard disk once you know it is working via CD. Alternatively I actually found SL usable when Mepis was running from the CD, so although there is a performance hit, you could run SL from a Mepis Live CD, but make sure you have AT LEAST 2GB RAM. I now use Debian Etch on a Dell AMD64 so now struggling, but that is another thread.

Mercia

Okay....

I guess (wild guess) that we need more information to be able to help you.

1) What kind of graphic card do use?
2) What driver do you use? Binary driver or opensource driver (this one comes with the distribution, but does not offer the necessary 3D stuff)
3) How does your xorg.conf look like?

After this I am sure we can help you.

Unless I am completly wrong, most troubles occur when trying to run SL without the proper driver (binary driver, countless official manuals out there).

Well, as I said...only a guess.
Best Regards
Rover

I am using the driver that came with it, and when I modified the xorg.conf and replaced the 24-bit colour with the 32-bit colour all I got then was the 16-bit colour.

According to the man page for the xorg.conf you can not get 32-bit colour regardless of the video card. Which is what's confusing me as this is the ONLY place I have seen that says it does support full 32-bit colour.

The KDE fourms basically say the same thing as the man page, 24-bit colour is the maximum you can get with the X window system.

So is anybody getting higher colour than possible?

(I suspect MS-Windows drivers do too but are not so honest about it so setting your xorg.conf to 24bit is correct - the driver will tell SL it is 32-bit even though it isn't and that part will work (well it does for me on Deb/testing + nvidia driver). The "Window Creation Error" reporting an inability to make a 32-bit colour space is a bit misleading - it probably should be read as "could not make any colour space at all, regardless of bit depth, though in this case the request was for a 32-bit one".

If you are using KDE, check the OpenGL entry in KInfoCenter. If activating this option crashes/closes your X session then you have got bits of the open and closed drivers installed at the same time (well for NV and Nvidia anyway, as I discovered last week ;-D)

In KinfoCenter, the OpenGL version should read something like "2.1.1 Nvidia 100.14.11" or an equivalent ATI version string. If it reports 'Mesa..." then that is likely your problem - you need to re-install the Nvidia or Radeon driver (as in last thing after any Kernel or xorg/mesa update which will aways mess up the proprietary driver install -- which is why non-open drivers are such a PITA).

Let us know if this does/n't help.

Hi,

I'm using the SL client with Debian 4 Etch (and maybe 30% Lenny) with X.org 7.1 and the (not so latest) nvidia proprietary driver downloaded from their site with an old FX5200 card. It is working fine for me and still better when using the "Override applications settings" checkbox for antialiasing in the nvidia X server Panel Settings (command: nvidia-settings)

This panel gives you lots of informations about opengl settings and capabilities and will tell you if you have 3D enabled.
The command 'glxinfo' may give you useful information too.

The client seems to work faster with Icewm desktop, but it maybe happens only in my mind

My xorg.conf color depth is set to 32 because of the Beryl stuff i use sometimes.
It seems to me that you have 24 bits for color info and the last 8 bits for the alpha channel, so there may be a difference between 24 and 32.

Hope it will help you