How to do a graphics diagnostics

[newbot80]

Well I am having trouble with graphics on my Linux box and it seems to be a trend on every linux box I have installed. Does anyone know how to run a diagnostic through the shell on Xorg or any other graphics property that might be pertinent. I have been doing some googling and I haven't been finding anything useful. I think it would be better to run a diagnostic instead of posting I have a problem with my graphics and no idea how to solve it. Thank you very much for the help.

[sdimhoff]

If you are having trouble getting your x-server started, your best starting points are:
1.) Determine which kernel drivers you need for your card
2.) Look at your /etc/xorg.conf file.
there is an x configuration xorgcfg or xorgconfig that you can use from a command line to help in the initial setup (if you havn't set one up before)

If you can get the xserver running (i.e. kde/gnome/xfce etc are running) but you can't seem to do things like play some games, then you may not have 3d acceleration up and running. Drivers such as the nvidia drivers sometimes need to be installed after your install.

Whether or not you have those drivers installed you should be able to run these two commands to get information about your 3d acceleration:

glxinfo (this will give you all the particulars)
glxgears (this is a simple utility which will show some 3d rendered gears moving if everything is up and running. You can test things like framerate by maximizing the window)

Note: To see if your 3d rendering is up and running you can shortcut glxinfo to give you what you need by using:

$ glxinfo | grep "direct rendering"

you should get something like the following:
direct rendering: Yes


I hope these help. Getting over the first hurdle of setting up your xorg.conf file can be difficult if you have never done it. You will soon see that it isn't too bad after the learning curve.

[newbot80]

I appreciate the post it helped a lot. I was able to take a look at the extensions and test if my 3d rendering worked. They did, so now all I have to do is figure out how to get my gui and everything else working smoothly. Thank you for the help this forum has been awesome so far.