Re: [Plib-users] Re: [Flightgear-users] ..ran '/usr/local/bin/gl-info'...

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Arnt Karlsen wrote:

> [arnt@Lena demos]$ gears
> 118 frames in  5.013 seconds = 23.539 FPS

> [arnt@Lena demos]$ glinfo

> GL_RENDERER: Mesa GLX Indirect
               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
               Not good!  You don't seem
              to have hardware accelleration.

This accounts for the distinctly S-L-O-W frame rates you are
getting out of the simplest OpenGL program on the planet.

> direct rendering: No
                    ^^
                 Also not good.
                 Indirect Rendering == S-L-O-W

> ..firm diagnosis, I guess.  How should I fix it?

Remove **ALL** traces of OpenGL and Mesa from your machine.

   find / -name lib\*GL.\* -print

...Erase the lot...*NO* mercy.

Re-install Mesa from the Mesa web site...from the sources...not
some possibly dubious RedHat version. (Remember what these guys
distributed as a C compiler?  Do you trust them to get you
a good version of the Mesa library?)

Maybe wipe out Xfree86 and re-install that.

We could go back and forth trying to find out exactly what
got screwed up - BUT THIS IS THE WRONG MAILING LIST FOR
OPENGL
PROBLEM DIAGNOSIS.

It's screwed up - it's not PLIB's problem (we already knew that
actually) - we don't fix that stuff here.

> ..I have "FATAL: puInit called without a valid OpenGL context"

I still don't understand this message - you clearly *DO* have OpenGL,
but it may be that it's failing because we are demanding a DIRECT
rendering context and you have some weird indirect one.  You aren't
going to get any kind of performance with this setup anyway...so it's
got to go.

> on all plib_examples-1.4.1 tests except:

> /usr/local/source/plib_examples-1.4.1/src/sg/sg_quat_test
> /usr/local/source/plib_examples-1.4.1/src/sl/example
> /usr/local/source/plib_examples-1.4.1/src/sl/mod_demo
> /usr/local/source/plib_examples-1.4.1/src/util/test_dir
> ...which works ok,

(None of those use OpenGL)

> /usr/local/source/plib_examples-1.4.1/src/ssg/load_save/save
> which segfaulted and dumped core,

This one does use OpenGL - dunno why it core dumps though...
ooohhh!  It doesn't call ssgInit!!! Naughty!  So instead of
hitting the trap that says it couldn't get an OpenGL context,
it tries to use the (non-existant) OpenGL context and crashes
instead.

I'll fix that bug right now - but that'll only make it produce
the same polite error message that the other SSG programs generate.

> and:
> /usr/local/source/plib_examples-1.4.1/src/ssg/majik/majik_demo
> which :"Majik_Demo: Joystick with at least two axes required.".

True.

> ..on Red Hat 7.1,the standard plib setup accepts this without
> warnings. SimGear and FlightGear does not catch this error on
> install,  FG simply dies "without a valid OpenGL context".
> As the "mail-stream" linux distro (count them!), this distro
> should be tested out, before release of sw.

Eh?  Oh - you mean "Main Stream".  Well, RedHat's 7.0 and 7.1 releases
are totally fscked because of their apalling choice of C and C++
compiler.  They *SUCK* right now...and it has always been the case
that "Linux Is Not RedHat".

As to whether we should test with RedHat - well, "we" are a bunch of
individuals who write this software for our own amusement in our
spare time - we have no *OBLIGATION* to test anything on anything.

I wouldn't run RedHat 7.x on one of my machines if you paid me to.
It's a pile of pooh - and I'll stick with SuSE 7.1 thanks!
When RedHat get their act together again, probably one or more
PLIB developers will use it and PLIB will be tested on RedHat
on a regular basis - but I don't have the power to force my
fellow developers to run crappy distro's just to test with.

Actually, RedHat 7.x and PLIB *DO* work together if both are
installed correctly.  You have software only rendering - and
only in INDIRECT mode - even with the simplest of Mesa demo
programs.  Your OpenGL/Mesa is **NOT** correctly installed.

Whether that's your fault or RedHat's fault or a stray
Cosmic Ray that hit your RAM chip at the precise moment
you were installing it...I don't know.

So:

  * Not PLIB's fault - hence end this thread on this
    mailing list please.

  * Mesa **NOT** correctly installed...go fix it.

> ..here, I would like some more verbosity.

The message we emit reflects *ALL* the information we have.

I ask the X server  "Do you have an OpenGL rendering context?"
and it says "No"...so my message is passing on to you
*ALL* the information I have at hand.  There isn't anything
more to say.  Nothing in X or OpenGL can tell my program what
it was that you or RedHat screwed up...it ain't there - and
that's all I know.

> Also installing non-native software in '/usr' as plib do,
> should happen in the distro-native software package format.

As it happens, I had a LONG discussion with the RedHat guy who
is assigned to track PLIB and it was he who asked me to move
PLIB out of /usr/local/plib and into /usr/lib way back in
PLIB 1.0.xx days.  I can't maintain a "distro-native software
package format" because that would require me to have a row
of a dozen computers here at home - one running each Linux
distro that is out there *just* so I could make RPM's and
APT-GET's and SPM's and christ knows what other stuff.

What you PAY for when you buy a copy of RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake
or whatever is the cost to package source packages like PLIB
into RPM's that work together.  I don't regard it as my job
to do that.

I release a source tarball - that's UTTERLY portable and
that one file is enough for Windoze 95/98/2000/NT/ME, every
flavor of Linux, Free/Open/NetBSD, MacOS, OS-X, BeOS, IRIX,
Solaris, etc.

If it's not good enough for you - go write your own graphics
library!  (Heck - that's what I did!)

> ..I have a Chinese 3 axis usb joystick with a "throttle" slider,
> 4 buttons, one throw switch, and a 4-way hat trim switch, and
> 2 rc radio type stick trim potmeters on the bottom.
> 
> ..never used. ;-)  Spoon-feed me, the joystick newbie:
> How do I get this one working?

Well, if the Linux driver supports it, and if you installed it
right - it'll "just work" with PLIB - there is no special
magic.  If the Linux driver doesn't support it, neither will
PLIB.

You can find out whether it's working using the js_demo program
which is in examples/src/js/js_demo

If it's not working - please ask your question on the Linux
joystick mailing list.

         lin...@at...

(USB sticks are kinda tricky...but I have one that works at
work on SuSE 7.1 - so it's possible)

> ..to fill in the good people of the plib user mailing list

> 1600x1200x24bpp@60Hz on a 8MB ATI Rage IIC agp card,

Hmmm - is that chip actually supported by Mesa?

If not - that may go some way to explaining your problem?

----------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------------
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