Re: headless Dell servers, Matrox

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Hi Jeff,

Your questions are good. Let me try to answer them to the best of my
knowledge.

1) Yes, almost certainly. The last Matrox cards with open drivers were
based on the G450 and G550, which top out around OpenGL 1.3 or so. I am
guessing (and admit I'm shooting from the hip here) that the integrated
video is some kind of server motherboard-provided G200 IGP, which is very
quaint by modern DRM standards and has been deprecated. I expect *llvmpipe*
would deliver a more consistent experience now, if it wouldn't create too
much CPU load. Was the OpenGL running a GUI compositor, or something more
demanding?
2) Can't say that I have. Even cajoling the Matrox M9120 I played with for
a while into cooperating with a modern-ish Linux distribution with closed
drivers was a headache, and I haven't used a G400 in Linux in roughly 20
years.
3) You are probably at the leading edge of modern Matrox users dealing with
these issues, unfortunately. But I hope I'm wrong and someone else here has
better advice...

Best wishes,
Matt

On Mon, Feb 10, 2025 at 9:40=E2=80=AFAM Jeff Berry <[email protected].=
ac.uk>
wrote:

> Good afternoon,
>
>
>
> I'm hoping this is a good place to seek some guidance.  We've got a set o=
f
> Dell rack servers that we run headless.  We'd been using CentOS 7 and wer=
e
> able to get OpenGL running via vnc or x2go.  We are upgrading our cluster
> to Ubuntu 24, and now the OpenGL is not running.  After running around in
> circles and chasing down various leads, I suspect the problem is that mes=
a
> no longer supports the Matrox cards which the Dell racks are using.  (If
> someone has a better idea, I'd love to hear it!)   I can get OpenGL sort =
of
> working if I stick a bunch of old GL and  Mesa libs in a directory and se=
t
> that up using LD_LIBRARY_PATH, but that's not ideal.  (And doesn't really
> work very well.)
>
>
>
>
>
> The docs (https://docs.mesa3d.org/systems.html) say that Matrox  is
> deprecated but ' If anyone=E2=80=99s interested though, the code can be f=
ound in
> the Git repo.'
>
>
>
> My questions are roughly:
>
> 1)      am I off base in thinking this is probably the issue?
>
> a)       if so, what else should I be looking at?
>
> 2)      has anyone had a similar issue and tried to get the Matrox
> drivers built for later versions of Mesa
>
> a)       if so, any pointers?
>
> 3)      more generally, are there pointers or docs on where to get the
> code and how to integrate it?  git is not something I use much, and
> although I had poke at it, I've not got a good idea of where to get the
> code.
>
>
>
>
>
> Hoping that someone can point me in the right direction ...
>
>
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Jeff Berry, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit
>

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div>Hi Jeff,</div><div><br></div><div>Your questions are =
good. Let me try to answer them to the best of my knowledge.</div><div><br>=
</div><div>1) Yes, almost certainly. The last Matrox cards with open driver=
s were based on the G450 and G550, which top out around OpenGL 1.3 or so. I=
 am guessing (and admit I&#39;m shooting from the hip here) that the integr=
ated video is some kind of server motherboard-provided G200 IGP, which is v=
ery quaint by modern DRM standards and has been deprecated. I expect <b>llv=
mpipe</b> would deliver a more consistent experience now, if it wouldn&#39;=
t create too much CPU load. Was the OpenGL running a GUI compositor, or som=
ething more demanding?</div><div>2) Can&#39;t say that I have. Even cajolin=
g the Matrox M9120 I played with for a while into cooperating with a modern=
-ish Linux distribution with closed drivers was a headache, and I haven&#39=
;t used a G400 in Linux in roughly 20 years.</div><div>3) You are probably =
at the leading edge of modern Matrox users dealing with these issues, unfor=
tunately. But I hope I&#39;m wrong and someone else here has better advice.=
..</div><div><br></div><div>Best wishes,</div><div>Matt</div></div><br><div=
 class=3D"gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmai=
l_attr">On Mon, Feb 10, 2025 at 9:40=E2=80=AFAM Jeff Berry &lt;<a href=3D"m=
ailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>&gt; wr=
ote:<br></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px=
 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div class=
=3D"msg5461700346571869906">





<div lang=3D"EN-GB">
<div class=3D"m_5461700346571869906WordSection1">
<p class=3D"MsoNormal">Good afternoon,<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><u></u>=C2=A0<u></u></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal">I&#39;m hoping this is a good place to seek some gui=
dance.=C2=A0 We&#39;ve got a set of Dell rack servers that we run headless.=
=C2=A0 We&#39;d been using CentOS 7 and were able to get OpenGL running via=
 vnc or x2go.=C2=A0 We are upgrading our cluster to Ubuntu 24,
 and now the OpenGL is not running.=C2=A0 After running around in circles a=
nd chasing down various leads, I suspect the problem is that mesa no longer=
 supports the Matrox cards which the Dell racks are using.=C2=A0 (If someon=
e has a better idea, I&#39;d love to hear it!)=C2=A0=C2=A0
 I can get OpenGL sort of working if I stick a bunch of old GL and=C2=A0 Me=
sa libs in a directory and set that up using LD_LIBRARY_PATH, but that&#39;=
s not ideal.=C2=A0 (And doesn&#39;t really work very well.)<u></u><u></u></=
p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><u></u>=C2=A0<u></u></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><u></u>=C2=A0<u></u></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal">The docs (<a href=3D"https://docs.mesa3d.org/systems=
.html" target=3D"_blank">https://docs.mesa3d.org/systems.html</a>) say that=
 Matrox=C2=A0 is deprecated but &#39; If anyone=E2=80=99s interested though=
, the code can be found in the Git repo.&#39;=C2=A0
<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><u></u>=C2=A0<u></u></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal">My questions are roughly:<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class=3D"m_5461700346571869906MsoListParagraph"><u></u><span>1)<span sty=
le=3D"font:7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;">=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0
</span></span><u></u>am I off base in thinking this is probably the issue?<=
u></u><u></u></p>
<p class=3D"m_5461700346571869906MsoListParagraph" style=3D"margin-left:54p=
t">
<u></u><span>a)<span style=3D"font:7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;">=C2=A0=
=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0
</span></span><u></u>if so, what else should I be looking at?<u></u><u></u>=
</p>
<p class=3D"m_5461700346571869906MsoListParagraph"><u></u><span>2)<span sty=
le=3D"font:7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;">=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0
</span></span><u></u>has anyone had a similar issue and tried to get the Ma=
trox drivers built for later versions of Mesa<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class=3D"m_5461700346571869906MsoListParagraph" style=3D"margin-left:54p=
t">
<u></u><span>a)<span style=3D"font:7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;">=C2=A0=
=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0
</span></span><u></u>if so, any pointers?<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class=3D"m_5461700346571869906MsoListParagraph"><u></u><span>3)<span sty=
le=3D"font:7pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;">=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0
</span></span><u></u>more generally, are there pointers or docs on where to=
 get the code and how to integrate it?=C2=A0 git is not something I use muc=
h, and although I had poke at it, I&#39;ve not got a good idea of where to =
get the code.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><u></u>=C2=A0<u></u></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><u></u>=C2=A0<u></u></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal">Hoping that someone can point me in the right direct=
ion ...<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal"><u></u>=C2=A0<u></u></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal">Kind regards,<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class=3D"MsoNormal">Jeff Berry, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit<u>=
</u><u></u></p>
</div>
</div>

</div></blockquote></div>

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