trident

trident is a family of the X.Org graphics drivers for Trident graphics cards. This article details how to configure the kernel and your userspace in order to use the trident (tridentfb) driver.

Documentation

Full Documentation can be found under /usr/src/linux/<your_kernal_name_here>/Documentation/fb/tridentfb.txt

Kernel

You need to activate the following kernel options, note that you don't need to enable AGP Support if your card doesn't sit in a AGP slot:

Kernel configurationIncluding trident driver

Processor type and features  --->
	[*] MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) support
Device Drivers  --->
	Graphics support  --->
		<*> /dev/agpgart (AGP Support)  --->
			<*> ALI chipset support

			(NOTE: ALI chipsets are typically bundled with
			Trident graphics cards in laptops, but choose your
			own correct agpgart here!)

			<*> Support for frame buffer devices  --->
				[*] Enable firmware EDID
				[*] VESA VGA graphics support
				<*> Trident/CyberXXX/CyberBlade support

				(NOTE: the above Trident support enables the Kernel
				"tridentfb" framebuffer driver to be used
				such as video=tridentfb:1024x768-16@60)

Firmware

Unknown IRQ microcode needed for Trident graphics support at this time, since the Kernel driver (tridentfb) should support most functions for Trident cards. Unknown KMS details (may not work without it?).

Make sure firmware for your model (check available ones in /lib/firmware/trident) is included in kernel:

Kernel configurationIncluding trident firmware

Device Drivers  --->
	-*- Userspace firmware loading support
	[*] Include in-kernel firmware blobs in kernel binary
		(trident/<YOUR-MODEL>.bin)
		(/lib/firmware) Firmware blobs root directory

Below is a list of the firmware files needed for each family of cards:

No known firmware files are needed for any particular Trident card at this time.

Framebuffer (GRUB or LILO)

video=tridentfb:1024x768-16@60

Driver

Portage uses the variable VIDEO_CARDS for enabling support for various graphics cards in packages. Setting VIDEO_CARDS to trident will pull in the correct driver:

File/etc/portage/make.conf

 VIDEO_CARDS="trident"

After setting this you want to update your system so the changes take effect:

root # emerge --ask --changed-use --deep world

You can force X11 to use desired driver with:

File/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/trident.confExplicit trident driver section

 Section "Device"
   Identifier  "trident"
   Driver      "trident"
 EndSection

Permissions

If you have the USE flag acl enabled globally and are using ConsoleKit (i.e you're using a Desktop profile) permissions to video cards will be handled automatically. You can check the permissions using getfacl:

user $ getfacl /dev/dri/card0 | grep larry

---

user:larry:rw-

A broader solution is to add the user you want to be able to access the video card to the video group:

root # gpasswd -a larry video

Note that you will still be able to run X without permission to the DRI subsystem, but usually not with acceleration enabled.

Troubleshooting

• Gentoo bugtracker: known bugs
• fdo bugtracker: known bugs

Links

• X.Org Wiki - trident