# New Vid card - new USE - what to recompile?

## id10t

I'm replacing my Voodoo3 card with a GF2 GTS card .  This means I will be removing "voodoo3" and "3dfx" from my USE variable.  

What will I need to recompile?  I am assuming X for sure, but what else?

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## AutoBot

You shouldn't have to recompile anything, just emerge nvidia-kernel, nvidia-glx, and edit your XF86Config file to use the nvidia driver.

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## jean-michel

You'll also want to run

opengl-update nvidia

to be sure all the GL stuff is pointing to the NVidia stuff (as opposed to xfree).  This makes all the difference in performance.

You'll also find you periodically want to switch back ('opengl-update xfree') to do some compiles which break with the nvidia headers ... but run just fine with them once the program is compiled.  Celestia is an example of this.  In other words, you'll find yourself using opengl-update to toggle back and forth when compiling fairly often.

Also, be sure to check out the __GL_FSAA_MODE (c.f. /usr/share/doc/nvidia-glx*/README.gz) for getting your 3d apps to use good antialiasing automatically, without the need for the software to have implimented it itself.  Produces very nice results!

A good test of the stability of your system when running 3d apps:

run celestia, go to Saturn, follow one of the inner moons while tracking Saturn, crank the time compression up to 10000x or so, and just let it run for a couple of hours.  If there is any instability in your system due to opengl/nvidia stuff, this'll trigger it.  If it survives this stress test, your config is probably pretty solid.

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## lain iwakura

i agree.   :Smile:    yes, and remove any referneces to your old vid card in your make file (if there are any -- never used 3dfx in linux.)

obviously, too, you're going to need to reconfigure your video card to work with X -- the XF86Config-4 file.  there are a few ways to do this.  it may be best to follow what the Desktop Guide on-line help page says, if you have no clue how to do this.

oh, and i want to thank john-micheal for point out the program celestia.  very cool, as it is most helpful for i am taking an astronomy class.

edit oh, autobot already metioned that xf86config would need editting.  my bad.    :Razz:    anyways, i really just wanted to comment on celesta and not be off-topic.   :Very Happy: 

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## klieber

moving to hardware forum.

--kurt

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## id10t

Thanks for the info y'all.  Setting this up should be easy, but I've never used anything in Linux but my Voodoo3 (bought it 3 years ago when I decided to go to Linux 100%).

Now... anyone know how to make the UPS guy show up faster?  Some env. variable, or perhaps a shell script?

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