[SOLVED] EVGA graphics card

[otautahi]

My Linux desktop is an older model which doesn't have a PCI express expansion slot (only PCI's) which appears the norm for todays modern graphics cards. I don't want to upgrade motherboard etc because I know my hardware is compatible with the Mandrake/Mandriva series and should be the same with Mageia (not installed yet - waiting on DVD).
As I would like to update graphics from the onboard restriction of the VIA mobo, there is a card available here, an EVGA PCI GF6200LE 256M but from my searching I don't think there is a Linux driver available. Before I go ahead and buy the EVGA, is anyone using this type of card with Mageia pls?
Brian

[dubigrasu]

EVGA PCI GF6200LE 256M is also a relative modern PCI express card. It's a Nvidia Card for which Linux drivers are available but as I said it needs a PCI express slot.

Better to upgrade the motherboard I say, even if you buy the cheapest components available you'll will still end up with a PC much faster/better than yours.
I don't think there a reason to fear about compatibility issues, Linux can be installed on everything, like on a dead badger for example: http://www.strangehorizons.com/2004/200 ... dger.shtml

But how old is your motherboard, doesn't have at least an AGP slot?
Can you give some details about it?

[otautahi]

Mobo is a VIA VT8237R Plus (cheap Chinese)
I haven't yet been able to install any kind of Linux on either my Toshiba 650 notebook, or Acer Travelmate 370 - both set to boot from CD/DVD drive - and they don't boot - but that's another issue I don't want to get into.
With 2GB of ram, my current Mandriva 10.0 desktop skips along nicely and I really don't want to upgrade just yet.
What I haven't done sofar is go around the computer recycle places and get a secondhand PCI graphics card - that's next. The website where the EVGA PCI GF6200LE 256M is, lists this card as a "PCI" and not a "PCI express" which is a different menu item so I will be ringing them about this.
So is the EVGA supported, perhaps with a NVIDIA driver?

cheers

[doktor5000]

Yes, generally all Nvidia cards are supported by the proprietary nvidia driver, going back till Geforce 2 series.

[dubigrasu]

Whatever they are listing there that card is a PCI express x16 card . It wont work on your motherboard.

The chipset you have supports AGP, http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chips ... /specs.jsp
so you still have the chance to find some decent AGP card (BTW, go for Nvidia, not ATI/AMD) for your motherboard. What card do you have now?

[otautahi]

the video/graphics is onboard, ie built into the mobo, possibly an S3. Now that you have established that it will take an AGP card, I will take your advice and look for a Nvidia for the non-free (I think it's described in Mageia as "tainted") driver support that I know exists. Thanks and I'll post the result. Mageia DVD should arrive next week. cheers

[otautahi]

My local tech shop has the following AGP cards:

NVIDIA 6200
EVGA 6200 256MB AGP8x TVOUT DVI-SL

POV AGP FX6200 512M DDR ??

NVIDIA 6200
EVGA 6200 512MB AGP8xTVOUT DVI(512-A8-N405-KR)

I'm not a technical person so I can't compare them, but they appear to be low-end cards.

[dubigrasu]

They are more or less the same but I would choose the last one.

Don't forget to check if you actually have the AGP slot on your motherboard. The info I found in my previous post is about the chipset, not the motherboard itself.

http://tips4pc.com/computer%20terms/agp ... -terms.htm
If you still have doubts google images for agp slot.

[otautahi]

Thanks. Pretty sure I have an AGP slot - there are 3 white PCI slots and one shorter green one. Anyway I'll take the tower into the shop and make sure the card fits. If it works with Mandriva, it'll work with Mageia.
Here's a pic

[otautahi]

I bought the AGP card you recommended this morning. It worked out of the box. Went into MCC and did some adjustments and put my monitor on auto adjust and I now have a very crisp wide-screen and clear high-res picture.
I'm chuffed. As a bonus, the Mageia 1 DVD has arrived, so I'm incognito for the next few hours.
Many thanks for your help.

p.s. I went to add [SOLVED] to my first post but the edit button has gone.

Brian

[otautahi]

Well not totally incognito - I have the use of my wife's notebook with the dark side of the force installed.
Sofar so good with the DVD, it's up to the installing part with 37 mins to go. If I can get the wireless going without complications, I'll be a very happy chappy indeed and that will be the icing on the cake for today.

Mageia 1 up and running! and the phone/broadband (USB) connection is going. Haven't been able to get the linksys wireless (TP-Link USB stick) working yet but will work on that over the next few days. one out of two 'aint bad.
Damn, this distro is fast.

[dubigrasu]

Yes, there is a time limit for editing posts, probably a moderator will do it for you.
Good job.

[otautahi]

thanks - one last favour pls - a starting point to install my wireless USB adapter - a Mageia/mandriva howto?

[doktor5000]

Well, check with lspci -nn the vendor and product id, and find out what chipset it uses, then install the driver/firmware needed,
also please post the exact TP-Link product name for it. But please open up a new thread for that one.

[otautahi]

Thanks. I'm not going to go with the wireless - the company server is so slow, Noah is still waiting for a connection, and I have a fast broadband USB dongle which was simple to get running. Thanks to everyone for their help with the video card setup.
Brian