vlc working on Inspiron 7K using Rage LT Pro

[Matthew Kenworthy]

> Have a look at http://www.linuxvideo.org/gatos/
> They basically say that Xvideo (XvImage) is supported by the ATI Mach64 out
> of the box by Xfree4.1.0. So I would suggest you to upgrade.
> ( anyway they don't propose any ati.2 driver for Xfree4.0.1, because this
> version is really too old )
> --
> Gildas

Bingo!

Thanks to Gildas' suggestion, I now have vlc working on my laptop. The key
part was to get the ati.2 drivers from the gatos address mentioned above.

So, the installation as I did it, starting with RH 7.1:

Downloaded the XFree86 4.1.0 according to the instructions at
http://www.xfree86.org/4.1.0/Install2.html#2 and I used the
Xinstall.sh script method. I was nervous that this would break the RPM
structure of RedHat, but *shrug* what the heck... I remembered to make
backup copies of /usr/X11R6 and /etc/X11 before putting in the
4.1.0 binaries - quite a life-saver if the installation hoses.

The XFree86 configurator didn't work, so I copied my old XF86Config-4 file
into the new distro, and the X server started up fine. vlc 0.2.81 now was
still jerky in X11, but there was some improvement. XVideo still
segfaulted and there was a complaint of no xvideo available.

Looking through /var/log/Xfree86.0.log showed that I had no MTRR in the
kernel. Looking in the kernel .config, I found CONFIG_MTRR=n, so I flipped
it to y and recompiled (2.4.6). x11 playback now was a LOT smoother, but
still jerky.

Finally, I downloaded the
http://www.linuxvideo.org/gatos/ATI-4.1.0.i386.tar.gz file, and followed
the instructions on http://www.linuxvideo.org/gatos/ which replace the X11
ATI drivers with the gatos modified versions. I kicked on the X server
again, and vlc now played in Xvideo mode, looking quite smooth with very
few artifacts!

Thanks Gildas and Jeremy Bailin for the hints :)

I apologise for the message size, but this really does sort out playback
on an Inspiron 7000 laptop.

Matt

-- 
___Dr Matthew Kenworthy_____________________________________
Center for Astronomical Adaptive Optics, Steward Observatory
933 N. Cherry Avenue, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85721
vox(520)626-3494 fax(520)621-9843  focus.as.arizona.edu/~mak