Script kiddie needed....

[John E]

Although I've been programming for longer than I can remember, I've somehow managed to avoid scripting languages. I'm trying to install a new graphics driver for my Ubuntu PC but it keeps throwing up this error:- " Could not find X server driver install path ". I looked in install.sh where i found the function that throws up the error.....

function SetXInstallPath
{
if [ "$XPRESENT"=="1" ]; then
export XINSTALLDIR=$XPATH/$LIBPATH/modules/drivers
if ! test -e $XINSTALLDIR ; then
echo -e "$RED\033[1mERROR\033[0m: \033[1mCould not find X server driver install path.\033[0m"
echo ""
exit 1
fi
else
echo -e "$RED\033[1mERROR\033[0m: \033[1mX server not present.\033[0m"
echo ""
exit 1
fi
}
Obviously, $XINSTALLDIR isn't being set up (or found). But I don't understand the line:- export XINSTALLDIR=$XPATH/$LIBPATH/modules/drivers. What exactly is the program trying to find (or set up) here? I'm just wondering if there might be something I could set up manually to get me past this error?

[po0f]

John E,

You could try changing the export line to the following:

export XINSTALLDIR="$XPATH/$LIBPATH/modules/drivers"

The script is trying to combine the variables XPATH and LIBPATH ( and modules/drivers) into XINSTALLDIR, where, presumably, X is installed in. Maybe set up an `echo "$XINSTALLDIR"` right before the if statement to see if anything looks fishy with where the script thinks you have X installed to.

BTW, there are probably easier ways to install a video card driver than using some script you found on the forums. What kinda card is it?

[John E]

It's a Matrox Millennium G400. I downloaded the driver (as a tarball) and unpacked it. According to the instructions, I now need to run this script file. But if there's another way, I'll happily try it...!

[Edit...]
I tried that modification but it didn't make a difference However, adding the echo line produced:- /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers

/usr/X11R6/lib seems to exist on my system - but not modules/drivers. I'll try creating them manually and see what happens.

[po0f]

John E,

I thought it might have been a quoting problem; guess not.

Have you tried installing this (http://packages.ubuntu.com/edgy/x11/xserver-xorg-video-mga)?

[John E]

I downloaded it and unpacked the tar file - but there are no instructions for what to do with the files. I've tried a couple of obvious things such as 'make' and 'sh install-sh' but nothing seems to work.... :(

[po0f]

John E,

Install it via Apt. Use `aptitude` from the command line, or Synaptic for a GUI.

[John E]

I haven't got much experience of apt and Synaptic doesn't seem to list it as an installable package. I tried typing this:-

sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-mga

but it returned these messages:-

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
E: Couldn't find package xserver-xorg-video-mga

Am I doing something obviously wrong?

[po0f]

John E,

No, I just thought you were using Edgy. Try this one:

$ sudo aptitude install xserver-xorg-driver-mga

[John E]

That seemed a bit more positive but I'm still not sure if anything got installed. Here's the output I got:-


Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Building tag database... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
acpi-support app-install-data app-install-data-commercial base-files
bind9-host binutils binutils-static capplets-data cpio cupsys cupsys-bsd
cupsys-client deskbar-applet desktop-file-utils dnsutils dpkg dpkg-dev
dselect eog evince file-roller firefox firefox-gnome-support gdb gdm
gedit gedit-common gimp gimp-data gimp-python gnome-about
gnome-accessibility-themes gnome-app-install gnome-applets
gnome-applets-data gnome-control-center gnome-desktop-data
gnome-doc-utils gnome-games gnome-games-data gnome-media gnome-menus
gnome-panel gnome-panel-data gnome-screensaver gnome-session
gnome-terminal gnome-terminal-data gnome-themes gnupg gstreamer0.10-alsa
gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gstreamer0.10-plugins-base
gstreamer0.10-plugins-base-apps gstreamer0.10-x gtk2-engines-clearlooks
gtk2-engines-crux gtk2-engines-highcontrast gtk2-engines-industrial
gtk2-engines-lighthouseblue gtk2-engines-mist gtk2-engines-pixbuf
gtk2-engines-redmond95 gtk2-engines-smooth gtk2-engines-thinice
gtkhtml3.8 gzip hal hal-device-manager info language-pack-en
language-pack-en-base language-pack-gnome-en language-pack-gnome-en-base
language-selector language-selector-common libavahi-client3
libavahi-common-data libavahi-common3 libavahi-glib1 libbind9-0
libcupsimage2 libcupsys2 libdns21 libeel2-2 libeel2-data libfreetype6
libgd2-noxpm libgimp2.0 libglib2.0-0 libglib2.0-data libgnome-desktop-2
libgnome-menu2 libgnomecups1.0-1 libgnomeprint2.2-0 libgnomeprint2.2-data
libgnomeui-0 libgnomeui-common libgnomevfs2-0 libgnomevfs2-bin
libgnomevfs2-common libgnomevfs2-extra libgnutls12 libgsf-1-113
libgsf-1-common libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0 libgtk2.0-0 libgtk2.0-bin
libgtk2.0-common libgtkhtml3.8-15 libgtksourceview-common
libgtksourceview1.0-0 libhal-storage1 libhal1 libisc11 libisccc0
libisccfg1 libkrb53 liblwres9 libmagick9 libmetacity0 libmusicbrainz4c2a
libmysqlclient15off libnautilus-burn3 libnautilus-extension1 libnspr4
libnss3 libpanel-applet2-0 libpango1.0-0 libpango1.0-common libpng12-0
libpq4 libsmbclient libsoup2.2-8 libssl0.9.8 libtiff4 libtotem-plparser1
libvte-common libvte4 libwmf0.2-7 libwnck-common libwnck18 libxfont1
linux-386 linux-image-386 linux-restricted-modules-386
linux-restricted-modules-common login lvm2 metacity mysql-common nautilus
nautilus-cd-burner nautilus-data openoffice.org openoffice.org-base
openoffice.org-calc openoffice.org-common openoffice.org-core
openoffice.org-draw openoffice.org-evolution openoffice.org-gnome
openoffice.org-gtk openoffice.org-impress openoffice.org-java-common
openoffice.org-l10n-en-us openoffice.org-math openoffice.org-writer
openssh-client openssl passwd pcmcia-cs pmount ppp python-gmenu
python-pyorbit python-uno python-vte python2.4 python2.4-examples
python2.4-gdbm python2.4-minimal python2.4-pyorbit python2.4-tk
samba-common screen smbclient sound-juicer ssh-askpass-gnome tar totem
totem-gstreamer ttf-opensymbol ubuntu-base ubuntu-desktop ubuntu-docs
ubuntu-minimal ubuntu-standard wpasupplicant xinit xserver-xorg-core
xserver-xorg-input-mouse yelp zenity
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 204 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 0B will be used.
Writing extended state information... Done

[po0f]

John E,

Looks like it is already installed. Are you having problems configuring it?

[John E]

To my amazement, I eventually managed to get this working this morning. I came across this install script (http://tuxx-home.at/archives/2006/10/24/T11_52_15/) and found that I needed to install the drivers with the --overwrite option (note the double '-' sign). The problem seems to be caused by the installer. If you don't specifiy that particular option, it tells you that the drivers are up-to-date - even if they're not.

It's taken me 5 whole weeks to install this driver and I must say that I'm still bitterly disappointed that driver installation, in general, is so massively difficult under Linux. There seems to be no unified installation procedure and even the most experienced of users seem to be fumbling around in the dark. This really is a very weak area that needs tightening up considerably.

[clubsoda]

Hi John E,
I'm right there with you, battling the same problems with my Matrox G550 and the official scripts which only support up to Xorg 7.0.0. I tried hacking the script, replacing 7.0.0 with 7.1.1 and renaming the directory, however I got errors running the script. The tuxx-home.at link looked very promising but it throws out similar errors then deletes itself, so it's kind of hard to debug!

Someone please help with this error:-
Verifying archive integrity... All good.
Uncompressing Unofficial Matrox G-Series Driver by tuxx-home.at........................................... ...
./install.sh: 42: function: not found
./install.sh: 54: function: not found
./install.sh: 63: function: not found
./install.sh: 80: function: not found
./install.sh: 128: function: not found
[: 173: ==: unexpected operatorLooks like Xubuntu uses dash instead of bash. Does dash not support inline function definitions? The code probably looks something like this:-
function IsRoot
{
# check for superuser mode
if ! test -r /proc/kmsg ; then
echo "---------------------------------------------------------"
echo -e "$RED\033[1mERROR\033[0m: \033[1mYou must be logged in as Root to run this program.\033[0m"
echo "---------------------------------------------------------"
echo ""
exit 1
fi
}Cheers.

[clubsoda]

Solved. Looks like it is indeed a dash problem. This page (http://www.tuxx-home.at/cmt.php?article=/2006/10/24/T11_52_15/index.html) helped.
sh matroxdriver_mga-x86_32-4.4.1-installer.run --extract-only
sudo bash install.sh -overwriteHave to reboot now and see if my graphics are fixed...

[John E]

clubsoda - you're right about the dash/bash issue. If you still have problems, join this thread (http://forum.matrox.com/mga/viewtopic.php?p=113424#113424) on the Matrox user forum.