Last Updated: Mar 19, 2003

Qualification of Maya 4.5 on Linux
Products Version Software Date
Maya Complete 4.5 200208160126
Maya Unlimited 4.5 200208160126
 

Operating System

Maya 4.5 is qualified on the following Computer Models with Red Hat 7.2 and where applicable Red Hat 7.3. Maya may not run on non-Red Hat systems
Important Note: The Linux operating system is extremely flexible with regards to precise versioning of different components, drivers and libraries. Maya may behave very differently on superficially similar systems and while Alias|Wavefront will do our best to help solve problems that are probably due to operating system configuration issues, we may be unable to explain or determine the cause of a problem.
Internally at Alias|Wavefront we have stabilized on the following configurations. We provide this list for the purpose of aiding our customers, but we can make no guarantees to the reliability, stability or availability of these components. This is not a complete list of Linux configuration choices, but are only the important components that we are aware significantly affect Maya.
Redhat 7.2
Redhat 7.3
  • XFree86 4.2.0
  • 2.4.18-17.7x kernel
  • glibc i686 version
 

Computer Models
Maya 4.5 is qualified on the following systems:
Company Model Web
HP HP Workstation X1000/X1100/X2000/X2100/X4000 www.hp.com
IBM IBM MPRO 6850 www.ibm.com
Compaq W6000/W8000 www.compaq.com
 

Graphics
Maya is qualified with the following graphics adapters (with the specified driver for the specified operating systems). Alias|Wavefront has tested only drivers listed under each OS. While it may be possible to use Maya successfully on earlier or later drivers, Alias|Wavefront cannot guarantee their performance or behaviour. If you encounter problems with a driver, we strongly suggest that you contact the graphic card vendor to report your problem.
Company Graphics Controller Red Hat 7.2 Red Hat 7.3
HP FX5/FX10 1.5.13-1
nVIDIA Quadro 2 Pro XFree86 1.0-4071
nVIDIA Quadro 4 700/750/900XGL XFree86 1.0-4071 XFree86 1.0-4170
nVIDIA Quadro 4 980XGL   XFree86 1.0-4321
ATI Fire GL2 XFree86 4.1.0
1.9.7 1		  
ATI Fire GL4 XFree86 4.1.0
1.9.7 1		 XFree86 4.2.0
1.9.25
ATI Fire GL8800 XFree86 4.1.0
2.3.1		  
ATI Fire GL X1   XFree86 4.2.0
2.9.2
       
see below for important details about each of these graphics cards.
1 At time of publication we were unable to obtain a suitable combination of driver and kernel for this card. We are continuing to investigate, and it is likely we will use 1.9.23. Until we can provide an update we believe the driver qualified for Maya 4.0 is adequate.

Video Cards without Hardware Overlay Planes

There will be visual differences compared with Hardware overlays that may result in difficulty seeing or manipulating aspects of the scene or Maya interface. Examples of Graphics cards without Hardware overlays include (but are not restricted to):
  • VR3
  • Quadro line of cards
Although Maya may be used successfully on systems containing these Graphics Cards, only those specifically listed here have been tested. Please review the notes below carefully as some of these cards have limitations which may make them unsuitable for your purposes.

Sound
Alias|Wavefront is aware that sound reproduction inside Maya (scrubbing and playback) doesn't work on many sound cards on Linux. At this time we must caution you that sound reproduction may not be adequate for your purposes. Sound playback does behave correctly on some cards and some on-board/built-in sound devices, and we are currently attempting to identify specific sound cards that provide better performance.
So far we have identified Soundblaster 16, onboard sound device on sgi 230 and 330 as providing adequate performance.
Soundblaster Live cards are currently known to provide inadequate performance for interactive sound playback - particularly scrubbing.
We are also aware that sound will not work on some sounds cards (e.g. Soundblaster 16) when another application is already using the sound system.

General Configuration
  • A three button mouse is required.
  • At least 128 MB of RAM is required and 256 MB or more is strongly recommended.
  • It may be possible to successfully use Maya with a non-qualified or partially qualified configuration, but support and maintenance programs will be subject to the Alias|Wavefront Support services guidelines.
  • The configurations shown are subject to change, and additional qualified configurations may be added after qualification testing has been carried out.
  • Where Graphics Controllers are configurable, you must have at least 16MB of texture memory (TRAM). Due to the differences in the manner in which hardware vendors approach display memory, we suggest that you consult your hardware vendor to ensure that your configuration will support your required resolution.
  • The graphics drivers specified in this table are the drivers that were used for the qualification process. While it may be possible to use Maya successfully on earlier or later drivers, Alias|Wavefront cannot guarantee their performance or behaviour.
  • We do not recommend saving data directly from Maya to NFS or other remote mounted file systems. We strongly recommend that you save the files locally and then copy the data to the mounted storage system.
  • Linux Compiler Requirement: Maya 4.5 was compiled using the Redhat 7.2 default compiler gcc 2.96-98. To build Maya plug-ins, your system must have the a libstdc++.so RedHat compatible file.
  • When texture images are stored on systems remote from the rendering process; depending on network speed, specifications and load it is possible that the renderer may be unable to access a texture file on demand and may 'drop' individual textures on a frame by frame basis. To reduce this occurrence store textures on a system local to the rendering process.


Information Specific to Operating Systems:

Redhat 7.2 or 7.3
Limitations and Solutions
Limitation The startTrack initial image may appear very small, and the playblast may appear with no image. Sometimes the files are created correctly even though they do not play back with fcheck manually.
Solution None
Limitation While many NFS issues with Irix file servers were fixed in Redhat 7.2, issues are still occurring on Redhat 7.2 and 7.3 when exporting to 64 bit file systems (e.g. IRIX).
Solution Exporting with the ,32bitclients attribute sometimes helps.
Check your /etc/exports file and append ,32bitclients on each line that exports to a 64bit file system. E.g;
/var -access=hosts,32bitclients
Note: with this setting you will not be able to access files larger than 2GB.

Non Red Hat systems
Limitations and Solutions
Limitation Maya 4.5 was compiled using the Redhat 7.2 default compiler gcc 2.96-98. Maya will not run on systems that do not have a libstdc++.so Redhat compatible file.
Solution It is possible to copy selected .so files, however the precise files and locations vary on different versions of Linux and we are unable to provide replacement .so files, precise instructions nor provide Support on how to resolve this.

Information Specific to Graphics Cards/Drivers:
Model Version Driver Settings    
FX5/FX10 (HP) Red Hat 7.2: 1.5.13-1 default settings
         
Limitations and Solutions
Limitation Multipass hardware renders in textured mode can result in black renders.
Solution None.
Limitation Occasionally Hardware rendering of sprites render as grey rectangles.
Solution None.
Limitation Enter key in script editor may not work properly.
Solution Keyboard configuration file can be adjusted to match expected functionality.
Limitation Image plane display may be corrupted when alpha gain is less than 1.0.
Solution None.
Limitation "tracked point" movie does not display correctly.
Solution None.

 

Quadro 2 Pro
Model Version Driver Settings    
Quadro 2 Pro (NVIDIA) Red Hat 7.2: XFree86
1.0-4071		 default settings
         
Limitations and Solutions
Limitation No Hardware Overlay Planes - Features making use of the the overlay planes (brush outlines, timeline indicators, texture placements, etc) will appear grey instead of the appropriate highlight colour.
Solution None
Limitation alpha and luminance are not displayed in image planes.
Solution None
Limitation Depending on your requirements, the performance of Paint Effects on this system may not be suitable.
Solution None

 

Quadro 4 700/750/900XGL
Model Version Driver Settings    
Quadro 4 700/750/900XGL(NVIDIA) Red Hat 7.2
1.0-4071
Red Hat 7.3
1.0-4170		 default settings
         
Limitations and Solutions
Limitation Imageplanes consisting of alpha only are not displayed correctly.
Solution None

 

Quadro 4 980XGL
Model Version Driver Settings    
Quadro 4 980XGL(NVIDIA) Red Hat 7.3
1.0-4321		 default settings
         
Limitations and Solutions
Limitation Imageplanes consisting of alpha only are not displayed correctly.
Solution None
Limitation There is a known issue with previous released driver (1.0-4191) which is otherwise suitable for Maya:
when using any other desktop manager "theme" than the default, the X-server may hang.
Solution Set the desktop manager theme to default.

 

Fire GL2
Model Version Driver Settings    
Fire GL2 (ATI) Red Hat 7.2: 1.97 default settings
         
Limitations and Solutions
Limitation None
Solution None

 

Fire GL4
Model Version Driver Settings    
Fire GL4 (ATI) Red Hat 7.2: 1.9.7
Red Hat 7.3: 1.9.25		 default settings
         
Limitations and Solutions
Limitation With 1.9.25 on Red Hat 7.3, Hardware shadows may not display even when the setting is enabled in the menu.
Solution None

 

Fire GL8800
Model Version Driver Settings    
Fire GL8800 (ATI) Red Hat 7.2: 2.3.1 default settings
         
Limitations and Solutions
Limitation Image planes do not display properly in Luminance or Alpha mode.
Solution None

 

Fire GL X1
Model Version Driver Settings    
Fire GL8800 (ATI) Red Hat 7.3: 2.9.2 default settings
         
Limitations and Solutions
Image planes do not display properly in Luminance or Alpha mode.
Solution None