Wrong Xfree+nvidia+mplayer appli load sequence


Forum: Multimedia
Topic: Wrong Xfree+nvidia+mplayer appli load sequence
started by: gammaburst

Posted by gammaburst on Feb. 20 2006,20:57
Hi all,
Mplayer works fine on my system if i install it after Xfree86 and the nvidia drivers. However, if i just put all of those in my boot device root, Mplayer will install first, because it has .gz extension, and Xfree + nvidia will come only after.
When trying to start the player under those conditions it usually crashes teh system with some varying degrees of severity.
Any way to gain some control over the sequence ? I've tried adding figures before the name, but to no avail. And i suppose it wouldn't be a good idea to change the gz extension...., so i'm stuck. Anyone gone throught that ?

Running a frugal-like installation...

Posted by mikshaw on Feb. 20 2006,21:09
I don't think mplayer affects anything.  It's most likely gl libs of one extension overwriting those of the other.  If i remember correctly, nvidia should be installed after XFree86 (which should occur anyway, since uppercase X comes before lowercase n).  It could also be an issue with your XF86Config file.

It would be very helpful if you could give us the error messages, as specific as possible.

Posted by RoGuE_StreaK on Feb. 20 2006,22:40
Might not help, but you could try renaming the files (eg add a letter to the front), so that they load in a particular order...  I know I had to do that for something, but can't remember what...
Posted by gammaburst on Feb. 20 2006,22:42
Thanks for the quick answer, but it seems i cannot reproduce the problem, now, it just works. Could it be because i did not always activate the nvidia driver in XF86Config-4 ? There were no error messages anyway, i just lost control over the graphic interface. But i will try to log more information if it ever reappears. Sorry for the disturbance if it does not.

However the question about control of the load sequence remains. Or does it never matter?

Just wanted to add the following details for those trying to optimize their video setup :
On my good old 400 Mhz/64 MB system, activating the dma boot option, as well as the cache in Mplayer preferences Misc menu with a high enough value (say 8192 or perhaps 16384) makes a very big difference (provides a smooth enough motion in full screen).
I am also using hdparm -E 5 /dev/cdrom to kill the cdrom noise (up to E 10 is tolerable, slow speeds would tend to require bigger cache).

Using DSL 2.2 with Xfree86, Nvidia, and the related special Mplayer apps.

Posted by gammaburst on Feb. 20 2006,23:11
It happened again !!!
No error message at boot time, everything is perfect until i click on the Media player Icon. The display panel opens but is just filled with a uniform color. The control panel is there but filled with some black steps in a roughly triangular shape and ... The system is completely frozen. The only thing i can still do is move the mouse pointer about, but clicking has no effect. No way to switch to an alternate console. The only way out is to reset the machine (and loose all the session data). Isn't that a shame ?
If i just load Xfree and Nvidia at boot time, and use Emelfm   to install Mplayer from disk afterwards, i have no problem.

Posted by adraker on Feb. 21 2006,10:23
I've seen it, or similar, I put it down to changed .xserverrc.
Or at least changed from what mplayer saw when it installed.

My setup is Frugal with an /optional directory.
I'm not using nvidia, but the xfree.dsl goes in the root directory,
preceeded by a "machine-specific.dsl", (a little tarball I made
with the xf86config-4, the .xserverrc, and backup stuff), and the mplayer package goes in the /optional directory.
You could also include the nvidia package in the / or root directory,
renamed "ynvidia.dsl" to load last if needed.

After packages in /, the contents of /optional are loaded.
The mplayer package won't actually install until you select it
from the Mydsl menu.
So you have to wait like 5 seconds for it to install and load.
But X was already set and stable when you started the desktop.

Having said that, I am not using the "latest" DSL release,
but I'd be surprised if the /optional directory function is no
longer valid.

The "machine-specific.dsl" tarball is just made by including the
files you want in your .filetool.lst (I think it's called),
doing a backup to somewhere handy, and renaming
the resultant "backup.tar.gz" to I dunno, "myconf.dsl" or something.
Then throwing it in your / directory.

*Edit- afterthought, you might want to call it wmyconf.dsl, so it
loads before xfree and ynvidia.You'll need to think about what
else is in your backup, and when you want it to load.Adjust capitals
accordingly.

Which gives you the superpower to write to places like /etc/X11.
And worse.
Be aware that you can get yourself into a lot of trouble doing this.

It's a suggestion, you can try if you want, at your own risk.

If you're running Frugal, (a wonderful thing), you can blow that
"wmyconf.dsl" away, and get back to what you had before.

As Rogue suggested, it would be simpler to just set the loading
order of packages with a prefixed letter, but this has one advantage
in that your config files are loaded with your other backup stuff,
"hands-free" so to speak.Then mplayer isn't installed until much later.

You can always get lots of info from mplayer if you start it from a terminal- /opt/mplayer/mplayer abc.avi.
A wonderfully verbose and informative application.

Hope this helps..

Posted by gammaburst on Feb. 21 2006,21:42
Lot's of useful information in there, i might try out some of it. Am i to understand that your first solution does not provide for automatic loading of Mplayer, though ?

For the sake of completeness , i will include a short description of my setup :
The knoppix iso image and boot directory are on a Windows partition /dev/hdg1
The home and other data are saved in a linux root partition /dev/hdg3
/dev/hdg5 linux swap partition used
The whole contraption is booted from GRUB using :

title DSL (Damn Small Linux) 2.2
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/dsl22/linux24 fromhd=/dev/hdg1 vga=792 quiet ramdisk=64000 noeject knoppix_dir=KnoppixDSL22 lang=fr dma
initrd /boot/dsl22/minirt24.gz
#savedefault
boot

Copied XF86Config-4_nvidia_accel_ready provided with Xfree86.dsl to /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

Changed
Driver      "nv"
to
Driver      "nvidia"

content of .xserverrc :
exec /usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86 -nolisten  tcp -I &>/dev/null

Posted by gammaburst on Feb. 21 2006,22:35
I finally tried to start from terminal and it says this :

MPlayer 1.0pre6-3.3.1 © 2000-2004 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel Celeron A Mendocino/Pentium II Dixon (Family: 6, Stepping: 5)
Detected cache-line size is 32 bytes
CPUflags:  MMX: 1 MMX2: 0 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 0 SSE2: 0
Compiled with runtime CPU detection - WARNING - this is not optimal!
To get best performance, recompile MPlayer with --disable-runtime-cpudetection.

Linux RTC init error in ioctl (rtc_irqp_set 1024): Permission denied
Try adding "echo 1024 > /proc/sys/dev/rtc/max-user-freq" to your system startup scripts.
Playing /mnt/hdg3/YouOnlyLiveTwice_1967.avi.
AVI file format detected.
VIDEO:  [DIV3]  720x480  24bpp  23.977 fps  635.2 kbps (77.5 kbyte/s)
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [mp3lib] MPEG layer-2, layer-3
AUDIO: 44100 Hz, 2 ch, 16 bit (0x10), ratio: 12000->176400 (96.0 kbit)
Selected audio codec: [mp3] afm:mp3lib (mp3lib MPEG layer-2, layer-3)
==========================================================================
vo: X11 running at 1024x768 with depth 24 and 32 bpp (":0.0" => local display)
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffdivx] vfm:ffmpeg (FFmpeg DivX ;-) (MS MPEG-4 v3))
==========================================================================
Checking audio filter chain for 44100Hz/2ch/16bit -> 44100Hz/2ch/16bit...
AF_pre: af format: 2 bps, 2 ch, 44100 hz, little endian signed int
AF_pre: 44100Hz 2ch Signed 16-bit (Little-Endian)
AO: [oss] 44100Hz 2ch Signed 16-bit (Little-Endian) (2 bps)
Building audio filter chain for 44100Hz/2ch/16bit -> 44100Hz/2ch/16bit...
Starting playback...
VDec: vo config request - 720 x 480 (preferred csp: Planar YV12)
VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
Movie-Aspect is undefined - no prescaling applied.
VO: [xv] 720x480 => 720x480 Planar YV12
A:   3.9 V:   3.9 A-V:  0.003 ct:  0.035  94/ 94 44% 14%  3.1% 1 0

Posted by jls legalize on Feb. 22 2006,00:54
hdg3?
Posted by adraker on Feb. 22 2006,02:38
Hdg3!/?
O.K., I don't really understand the setup,
I've never done the persistent home and opt thing myself.
I had never seen the knoppix_dir=x boot code, or never used it.
But yes, the idea was to get the mplayer app "appearing" in the Mydsl menu from an /optional directory, under the root
directory of wherever the the basic iso is.
So the mplayer is not autoloaded as such, but is in the menu
waiting to be loaded.You click on the menu item, and it installs
and opens.
This is so that mplayer wouldn't load first, then after xfree changes the X environment, it sees a whole "new" X
environment.
Thats what I thought the problem was.
But perhaps I have misunderstood.

That output from mplayer you posted looks quite normal.
It didn't freeze that time I suppose!

Posted by gammaburst on Feb. 22 2006,22:23
Yes you're right, the problem is there. But i already have the mplayer .gz file on some directory on /dev/hdg3, and can load it from emelfm after DSL has launched. In those conditions , it works. Only  iwas hoping it could be done completely automatically, as with the other apps.

As for hdg3, it is just that i access my hard disk through a HTP 366 chipset for UDMA66, seen as EXT by the bios. Hence the exotic name . I am glad DSL has reverted to Linux 2.4, as 2.6 has a problem with those chips. One lesee problem to worry about.

Thanks for the asistance anyway. Still some experimenting to do on my side.

Posted by gammaburst on Feb. 26 2006,15:07
Thanks to adraker informations , i changed the .tar.gz mplayer extension to .dsl, and i also added a 0 in front of XFree86, a 1 in dront of nvidia, and a 2 in front of mplayer.
That way, the applis do load in the sequence i wanted and the mplayer icon appears on the DSL desktop.
In that sense, the original question of the thread has been solved.

However, as anticipated, clicking on the icon still freezes the system .So the basic goal of having mplayer install automatically and work correctly like the other apps is not fullfilled. I have little hope about that and think i'll have to stick with some of the post startup manual install proposal for the time being.

Posted by gammaburst on Mar. 05 2006,02:30
4ive finally settled on a fully automatic solution :
Xfree86.dsl and nvidia.dsl are in / in my boot partition and load the normal way in teh correct order since X in uppercase is seen before n. Then i add in .xinitrc before the final $DESKTOP section with the execs :

mydsl-load /(mplayer path)/mplayer-xfree86.tar.gz

That way mplayer is intalled only after X is up and running. No intervention necessary at start-up and the player does not freeze the system anymore.

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