Switching video cards : "HowTo" ??

[david]

On Thu, 2005-01-13 at 08:13, Vincent Trouilliez wrote:
> > I resolved this by manually editing the file to select the correct
> > driver. This was much simpler and faster than running the reconfigure
> > tool. 
> 
> Could you take my hand and guide me through the porcedure ?
> I tried everything that people suggested, but no luck, the XF86Config-4
> file won't be updated. So can yo help me modify it by hand ?
> I have attached the file to this mail.
> I have already added the 'nvidia' to  /etc/modules.
> 
> What sections do I need to modify, "device" and "modules" ?
> 
> this is what I tried, but it failed :
> 
> current ATI card setup
> ***********
> Section "Device"
> 	Identifier	"ATI Technologies, Inc. Rage 128 PF/PRO (AGP TMDS)"
> 	Driver		"ati"
> 	BusID		"PCI:2:0:0"
> 	Option		"HWCursor"	"false"
> EndSection
> ******
> 
> I changed "Identifier" for a string of my own "NForce NVidia GeForce 2
> MX"
> Then I I replaced "ati" Driver by "nvidia". Should that be "nv"
> instead ?
> For "BusID", I let it alone, because I did 'lspci' and apparently the
> on-board NVidia chip uses the same address as the AGP slot that the ATI
> card is plugged in.
> At the top of the file, in the "modules" section, there are lots of
> modules loaded. I don't know what they are for. All I did is add
> "nvidia" at the end. But maybe I need to remove some modules ? Maybe
> some of them are related to the ATI card, which I don't need for the
> NVidia chip ?
> And the "DRI" section at the very bottom of the file, can I just leave
> it as is ?
> 
> Maybe, someone uses a Geforce 2 video card or like me, on-board chip
> (MSI K7N420 Pro motherboard, NForce chipset), and could send me his
> config file so I can copy the 'modules' section ?
> 
> Vince
> 
> ______________________________________________________________________
Here is my Ubuntu XF86Config-4 file: (or bit's thereof)

Section "Module"
	Load	"GLcore"
	Load	"bitmap"
	Load	"dbe"
	Load	"ddc"
	Load	"dri"
	Load	"extmod"
	Load	"freetype"
	Load	"glx"
	Load	"int10"
	Load	"record"
	Load	"speedo"
	Load	"type1"
	Load	"v4l"
	Load	"vbe"
	Load	"xtt"

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"NVIDIA Corporation NV31 [GeForce FX 5600]"
	Driver		"nvidia"
	BusID		"PCI:1:0:0"
	VideoRam	131702
EndSection

The system doesn't care what you call the card in the identifier
section. That's for humans. The pertinent sections are 
Load "glx" in modules and
Driver, BusID and VideoRam in the Device section.
(There are extra options addable to the device section where you can
rurn the nvidia splash logo off and specify custom AGP settings.)

Hope this helps

David