Hi everybody -

I'm kind of new to Houdini, but I'm pretty sure the following isn't what the software is supposed to do: :-)

When I start up Houdini Master, it opens a window which has a frame but nothing in it! In other words, just the outline of the window – you can see the desktop right through it!

I'm using 64-bit Debian Linux with an ATI X300 card. I suspect that it's the graphics card which is causing the problem. It took me quite a while to even find a stable configuration which works with the ATI card.

If I turn of hardware-based OpenGL, Houdini works, but it's painfully slow. With the hardware OpenGL turned on, I get the above bug.


My question: Does ANYONE have a working Houdini installation on Linux with an ATI card? If so, PLEASE tell me what setup you're using! I'm stuck!

Thanks!

-andrew

Well, not what you want to hear, but ATI + Linux is bad news for many. For 3D work, anyway. ATI just can't seem to get their act together, NVidia with a reasonably powerful card will get you stability and power. Are you using the latest drivers from ATI?

I'm also completely unsure how old that card is - the older the card, with ATI+Linux, the more troubles you will have. They haven't had good linux driver support for long, and some would argue, never. I've googled articles from mid 2004 referring to that card. That's quite a long time ago. Adding 64 bit to the mix only adds potential issues.

Cheers,

J.C.

JColdrick
Well, not what you want to hear, but ATI + Linux is bad news for many. For 3D work, anyway. ATI just can't seem to get their act together, NVidia with a reasonably powerful card will get you stability and power. Are you using the latest drivers from ATI?

I'm also completely unsure how old that card is - the older the card, with ATI+Linux, the more troubles you will have. They haven't had good linux driver support for long, and some would argue, never. I've googled articles from mid 2004 referring to that card. That's quite a long time ago. Adding 64 bit to the mix only adds potential issues.

Cheers,

J.C.

Yeah, I sorta gathered that ATI was bad news by reading some of the articles on this forum. I think the card is an older model, but I'm using the latest drivers (1-20-06, or something).

In general, I've had the experience you describe with ATI + Linux in general – it's taken me a week to even get a working, stable X configuration, let alone run Houdini!

So, the point of my post is to find out what *will* work with Linux. Looks like I'm going to have to buy another card. I want to get some recommendations on configurations which actually work before wasting money on another card.

-andrew

i´m using a firegl x1 card and can´t say i´m very happy with the performance of their linux drivers.
the problem with your empty houdini window is 99.9% the driver. i installed the new one today and it happend to me,too.
just try one of their previous drivers.
i personaly stick to a older driver, which didn`t support opengl 2.0.(thats 8.19.10 for firegl cards)
as for some obscure reasons the newer drivers with ogl 2 did slow down glxgears by 800 fps at my pc.

thomas.waldinger
i´m using a firegl x1 card and can´t say i´m very happy with the performance of their linux drivers.
the problem with your empty houdini window is 99.9% the driver. i installed the new one today and it happend to me,too.
just try one of their previous drivers.
i personaly stick to a older driver, which didn`t support opengl 2.0.(thats 8.19.10 for firegl cards)
as for some obscure reasons the newer drivers with ogl 2 did slow down glxgears by 800 fps at my pc.

Hmmm… tried 8.19.10 and it did the same thing :-(

And for me, it slowed down glxgears by about 20%!!

But, I'm using a different card, so I guess that's not unexpected. Just shows how bad ATI's drivers are.

-andrew

As a curiosity: what laptops are recommended for Houdini. The majority of laptops use ATi.

Dragos