Best way to install Nvidia Driver on a Lenny system?

[L_V]

get someone else to explain it.

Who are you talking to ? To me ? Ho, read again, I did not ask you anything.
If I had one thing to ask you, it would be to check what you write instead of this useless agressivity on this forum.

For those trying to install the nvidia-legacy on lenny, the so called Debian way (lenny+SID repos activated):

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aptitude install nvidia-kernel-legacy-71xx-source
m-a prepare
m-a a-i nvidia
modprobe -v nvidia

aptitude install nvidia-glx-legacy-71xx
aptitude install nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig

following package are broken
nvidia-glx-legacy-71xx
following packages have unmet dependencies
nvidia-glx-legacy-71xx
   depends: nvidia-kernel-legacy-71xx-71.86.04
while is a virtual package
Unable to resolve dependencies: Giving up

And modprobe -v nvidia is not happy with the generated nvidia.ko.

The explanation is this one:
nvidia-kernel-legacy-71xx-2.6-yy
will install nvidia-kernel-legacy-71xx-2.6.18-4-yy

Unfortunately, I don't use 2.6.18, but 2.6.25 on lenny.

If somebody (but rick) can currently install nvidia-legacy on lenny, with the Debian way, either he is lucky, or ... a developer tweaking files.

In the meantime, nvidia.run works like a charm.

[the dsc]

I'm quite far from being a developer, and yet I was able to install nvidia legacy (96xx) by the debian way, and I'm running the .25 kernel as well.

As I've said before, I didn't use "modprobe" commands at any moment, and I've also referred to nvidia-something-else, like legacy-kernel and/or -legacy-96xx, on the m-a commands.



Do you experience something weird with the driver, specially with a rotated monitor? I'm having often some "vestiges" left on browsers when scrolling the pages (and a few other oddities), I think that specially on firefox, not so much (if something at all) in Opera, and I use konqueror way too rarely to compare. I think it also does not happen with PDF or flash. But it also happens with the screen in general, not only inside windows.

I also do not use the monitor in the normal, "landscape" position, but I think it does not have this problem when not rotated for some reason. I've tried a few variations on xorg.conf on some options like "accelmethod" and "migrationherustics", but didn't make such a difference that I could notice very easily, so I didn't test much further.


I'm somewhat undecisive about installing by the nvidia way, perhaps it's somewhat better than whatever I did right to make it work, but apparently the version is the same, so I suppose that wouldn't make any difference...

[mdriftmeyer]

I've included an in-depth approach to building the nvidia-kernel-source module here:

viewtopic.php?p=167999#167999

[L_V]

I don't use 96xx but 74xx legacy driver and no special monitor at all, 100% standard.

"nvidia-glx-legacy-71xx => Depends: nvidia-kernel-legacy-71xx-71.86.04 which is a virtual package."

The legacy branch has been reviewed:
In etch, the package is nvidia-glx-legacy (same for 71xx and 96xx)
In SID, it is now nvidia-glx-legacy-71xx.

The problem is a mix between nvidia legacy 7185, and nvidia legacy 7186.
Once the 7186 nvidia kernel is created, the glx-legacy package will look for 7185 /2.6.18 package, which of course aptitude does not find (nvidia-kernel-legacy-71xx-2.6.18-4-686_1.0.7185+1)
I don't have any etch on my system, which is a pure lenny + SID only for nvidia.
It's then normal that aptitude gets lost and confused and cannot solve dependencies.

That's the gap between the "that's easy, just do it, if not you are stupid" (from rick ?), and the reality.
A user forum should better support reality than just the theory, especially for packages from SID.

I am closer to reality than just the theory, and the primary copy/paste method.
Some others are the opposite, that's life !

[phantomlord]

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/etc/init.d/gdm stop #if using gdm
/etc/init.d/kdm stop #if using kdm

Login as root, than:

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cd /usr/local/bin && wget http://techpatterns.com/downloads/distro/sgfxi && chmod +x sgfxi && sgfxi

Everything else is done automaticly.

[L_V]

Everything else is done automaticly.

Ok, but sometimes, I like to understand what a script is doing....., especially if I want to go backward.

I did not use sgfxi script I already had, because it took me too much time to try to understand which commands were really applied for my card.

May be one day, if the nvidia script does not work anymore for my G card !

[the dsc]

Before I spend too much time trying to make it... is there any possibility that the nvidia-legacy from etch would work better on lenny than sid's? Or it's safe to assume that not, that would be equal at best, or even that is it even unlikely to work at all?

[Yarnar]

My understanding is that nvidia.run overwrites stuff that is managed by the package manager (I could be wrong on this though) so it seems to me that installing with nvidia.run then upgrading x then doing nvidia-run --uninstall could screw things up by restoring old versions of stuff.

Think thats is what happened to me. Long story, but in the end couldn't even startx with my old xorg.conf or the new one set on driver "nv". No expert, so after hours of thinkering reinstalled lenny root partition, or whatever its called. So be carefull!

[the dsc]

I've tried the nvidia installer with another computer (and an even older nvidia board), yet on lenny, and it works fine up to know. Actually, it works better than the one I've managed to install by the "debian way", which I gave up using. I don't know if it was a problem of the driver itself or my installation. I've tried the nvidia installer, but wasn't any better. I guess this means that this specific board, geforce mx 4000 or 2000, I think, (or some other combination of hardware and software) is not well supported. Or perhaps I've not uninstalled it totally somehow, and some of the defects of the earlier install still afected the newer.

Overall, I've found the nvidia-way much easier, at least on lenny. But I might have done lots of unnecessary stuff due to newbieness, so it's not a bold assertion that it's the best way, or that's much easeier.

Somehow mplayer is failing to run (on the PC I did more experiences, the other one, with nviidia installed with the nvidia installer is fine), segmentation fault before starting. But I don't know if it's related at all, may be just a coincidence.

[arkara]

I have used the nv open driver for some time now.
yesterday i installed the closed source driver from the lenny repositories.

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aptitude install nvidia-glx nvidia-setting nvidia-xconfig

i used the nvidia-xconfig program to create a new xorg.conf file(i backed up old xorg.conf first just to be on the safe side.)

and i am ready.

[Eck]

Gosh, that's even easier. Makes sense though. Aptitude installs recommends and dependencies by default so it pulled in the pre-built nvidia-kernel as needed by the nvidia-glx package. Once nvidia-xconfig activated nvidia in the device section of xorg.conf, you were all set.

Not only do we not need to use module-assistant, but we don't even need to specify the nvidia kernel module to install. It's getting easier and easier!

Of course, one now gets the bugs in the NVidia proprietary driver. The one that makes the system freeze annoyingly was the one that made me switch to an ATI Radeon x850 Pro. Now I didn't need to configure anything. The open source xorg radeon driver activated 3D and the composite extension (through AIGLX, but no Extensions with any option composite enable, weird) automatically. I did do dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg and had aptitude remove the nvidia stuff before switching cards.

I suppose there are bugs in any driver, but this ATI card hasn't frozen anything yet and everything works. Newer cards without the 3D support (needing fglrx) would need more configuring and once again depend on proprietary, in house bug-fixing by ATI. I'm happy my cards are old! (And happy that the Debian X Strike Force and the xorg/dri folks did some nice work on the open source driver.)

[Qew]

Gosh, that's even easier. Makes sense though. Aptitude installs recommends and dependencies by default so it pulled in the pre-built nvidia-kernel as needed by the nvidia-glx package. Once nvidia-xconfig activated nvidia in the device section of xorg.conf, you were all set.

Not only do we not need to use module-assistant, but we don't even need to specify the nvidia kernel module to install. It's getting easier and easier!

Surely it's been this way for ages? I remember when I first installed Debian, when Etch first came out, pulling in the pre-built Nvidia packages supplied by non-free, as suggested by the Debian Nvidia Wiki, meaning that using Module Assistant wasn't necessary, at least in my case using the stock Debian kernels. Once you do that, you shouldn't need to worry about it again, because the packages get upgraded when required.

Mind you, even with stock Debian kernels, the use of Module Assistant and having a mixed system was needed only a few months ago with Lenny, but that was taken care of a few months ago when the pre-built Nvidia packages were finally uploaded onto the Lenny repositories. Still, at least for now, you can just pull in the pre-built packages rather than use Module Assistant.

[Eck]

It was fine for Etch users (easy, pre-built modules for those that the older drivers worked fine), but anyone who dist-upgraded to Lenny as I did just a couple of months after the Etch release there wasn't any NVidia available.

At first I used the NVidia script until I learned more and got rid of all that and added the Sid sources and module-assistant.

Even Etch users who wanted to use Compiz Fusion (from the Shame repo) needed a newer NVidia driver than what Etch provides. Since mixing stuff from testing or unstable with Stable is very unlike mixing unstable with Testing, those folks actually had no choice but to use the NVidia script.

So, no it hasn't been that easy until very recently when Randell made the modules to get into the imminent Lenny release. Seems to do that only when a final release is near since it's a great deal of work and would need to be done for every Kernel upgrade.

[Qew]

Thanks for the clarification. I kept on using Etch for a long time, only getting to Lenny a couple of months ago. As I'm going to stick with Testing from now on, it seems that I should read up on module-assistant if the pre-built Nvidia modules disappear for a while, but from what I already know about it from past reading (including this thread), it seems straightforward enough to use.

BTW, I like how I used the word "ages", when we're only talking about 19 months or so. It's not as if I'm some teenager, where 19 months would seem like an eternity, so forgive my exaggeration.

[aljosa]

hello,

I am new to Debian and I can't install my nvidia drivers. I tried module assistant and apt-get and even compiling a source from nvidia homepage, I made them both according to debian wiki, but both fail when I change xorg.conf.

They all say, they've installed correctly, but when I set the driver to "nvidia", GNOME doesn't show up. Infact when GNOME starts nothing works and the screen is blank (black). I can't even restart X (ctrl+alt+backspace) etc.

What should I do? I really want to use the 3d support for avant-window-manager, as I am used to that kind of dock...

My configuration:

AMD Athlon64 2800+
1 GB RAM
GeForce 6600
Gigabyte K8N-S
System is DEBIAN STABLE 4r05, upgraded via apt-get upgrade

I really don't know the problem and now I probably have computer full of nvidia shit, I presume I firstly need to clean that up. The nvidia drivers worked fine under ubuntu, so ..