Appendix E. The Sysctl Interface
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## Appendix E. The Sysctl Interface

The sysctl interface allows you to obtain run-time information about the driver, any installed NVIDIA graphics cards and the AGP status. It also allows you to control low-level configuration options and/or overrides.

The various pieces of information are held in a hierarchy under hw.nvidia and are accessible with the sysctl(8) command.

NVIDIA sysctl Entries

hw.nvidia.version

  Prints the installed driver revision

hw.nvidia.cards.n.*

  These OIDs provide information about NVIDIA device 'n':

  ID | Description
  --- | ---
  model | the device's product name
  irq | the IRQ claimed by this device
  vbios | the device's VBIOS revision
  type | the bus type of this device

hw.nvidia.agp.host-bridge.*, hw.nvidia.agp.card.*,

  These OIDs provide information about the AGP capabilities of the installed AGP graphics card and host-bridge respectively. These values are most likely to be correct after system boot and before the X server is started (and the AGP subsystem intialized).

  ID | Description
  --- | ---
  rates | the AGP rates supported by this device
  fw | if the device suppoprts AGP fast-writes
  sba | if the device supports AGP side-band-addressing
  registers | the device's AGP registers, status:command

hw.nvidia.agp.status.*

  Prints AGP status information based on the AGP command registers of the host-bridge and of the AGP card.

  ID | Description
  --- | ---
  status | if AGP is enabled or disabled
  driver | which driver is being used
  rate | the programmed AGP rate
  fw | if fast-writes are enabled or disabled
  sba | if side-band-addressing is enabled or disabled

hw.nvidia.registry.*

  Low-level kernel module configuration options. Changing these is typically not necessary and potentially dangerous. If you do need to change any of these options, you will need to do so before you start the X server.

  ID | Description
  --- | ---
  status | if AGP is enabled or disabled
  driver | which driver is being used
  rate | the programmed AGP rate
  fw | if fast-writes are enabled or disabled
  sba | if side-band-addressing is enabled or disabled

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