Nvidia Driver and the 2.6.25 rc kernels

[Jackiebrown]

I realize this how-to will be dated very soon, but to save some searching.

Download the latest rc kernel.

Download the latest nvidia driver.

Here are the patches.

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpos ... stcount=54

Now extract the kernel enter the top level kernel directory.

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patch -p1 </[path to patch]/2.6.25-nvidia-fix.patch

Then make any changes you want to the kernel and compile it.

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fakeroot make-kpkg --initrd kernel_headers kernel_image

Now extract the nvidia installer

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sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-169.12-pkg2.run -x

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cd NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-169.12-pkg2

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patch -p1 </[path to patch]/nvidia-drivers-169.12-kernel.patch

Reboot into your new kernel

Do not run the Nvidia installer. Instead go to the Nvidia directory that was created when you extracted the driver.

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./nvidia-installer

Should be good to go.

[mzilikazi]

Anyone successfully appllied this patch to Debians nvidia-kernel-source? I really don't like to use the Nvidia script.

[Jackiebrown]

More "offical" patch

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthr ... b&t=110088

mzilikazi - I am going to mess with it today and see if I can. (I don't like to use the nvidia script either)

[Jackiebrown]

Actually, there is a bug with instructiions on how to apply the patch on the tracker

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=476504


***edit***

Got it working. If anyone needs the modified kernel-source package for 64 bit sys, I can email it you. (It's pretty easy though. Just follow the directions in the bug report but take care to note the path changes. I just use dpkg-repack to rebuild the deb.)

[mzilikazi]

Actually, there is a bug with instructiions on how to apply the patch on the tracker

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=476504


***edit***

Got it working. If anyone needs the modified kernel-source package for 64 bit sys, I can email it you. (It's pretty easy though. Just follow the directions in the bug report but take care to note the path changes. I just use dpkg-repack to rebuild the deb.)

Did you get it working with nvidia-kernel source or the legacy source? I had no luck with nvidia-kernel source. It keeps asking for the file to patch.

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/usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel# patch -p3 -s </home/glenn/Downloads/NVIDIA_kernel-169.12-2286310.diff.txt
The text leading up to this was:
--------------------------
|diff -ru usr/src/nv/Makefile.kbuild usr/src/nv.2286310/Makefile.kbuild
|--- usr/src/nv/Makefile.kbuild   2008-03-16 14:13:10.000000000 -0700
|+++ usr/src/nv.2286310/Makefile.kbuild   2008-03-16 14:37:47.204131496 -0700
--------------------------
File to patch:

[Jackiebrown]

the nvidia-kernel source.

I had to move the nv directory directly to /usr/src so that the paths would match the patch. Otherwise I would get the same error you are getting.

I suppose a sym link might work.

To be safe, I started with a clean extract
cp /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-source.bz2 /home/username/

unp nvidia-kernel-source.bz2

mv /home/username/modules/nvidia-kernel/nv /usr/src/ (could try a sym link instead)

cd /usr/src/nv/

patch -p3 -s < /home/username/NVIDIA_kernel-169.12-2286310.diff.txt

mv /usr/src/nv /home/username/modules/nvidia-kernel/

rm /home/username/nvidia-kernel-source.bz2

tar -cjf nvidia-kernel.tar.bz2 nvidia-kernel-source.bz2

mv /home/username/nvidia-kernel-source.bz2 /usr/src/

[Jackiebrown]

probably, it could be condensed to
unp /usr/src/nvidia-kernel.tar.bz2
ln -s /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel/nv /usr/src/
cd /usr/src/
patch -p3 -s </home/glenn/Downloads/NVIDIA_kernel-169.12-2286310.diff.txt

[mzilikazi]

the nvidia-kernel source.
I suppose a sym link might work.

I tried that but no workie. Maybe I should've started with a clean source.

Thanks for the writeup.

[rickh]

I see that 2.6.25 is in the "new" queue. Sure hope this issue is cleared up quickly.

[HP-X]

Anyone successfully appllied this patch to Debians nvidia-kernel-source? I really don't like to use the Nvidia script.

Ok, so I didn't really patch the drivers although I guess ops solution would work (haven't tried it).

I'm running a custom kernel and since the nvidia-kernel-source wouldn't compile against 2.6.25 without patching I downloaded the beta drivers for nvidia which had this fixed.

Non-working. :O

Anyone knows how to export DEBIAN/control etc from a deb?

Found this link here: http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlo17/howto/nvidia.html I will try both patching and this link when I get home on sunday.

[rickh]

2.6.25 kernel is now in Sid, but the nvidia-kernel-source is still 169.12

Looking at Nvidia's pages, it appears that there have been a couple betas since 169.12. Do any of you know what kernel-source version I should wait for to avoid this patching exercise.

[Eck]

Carefully read any release note type information provided on the nvnews forum for these beta series drivers.

I recall seeing there with the initial beta that 3D glx hadn't been implemented yet for at least the late model cards these beta series drivers add support for and possibly (I was unclear when reading it) just installing them on the 2.6.25 Kernel.

I think the work around in the sticky below the beta driver sticky over there may be the better way to go, still using the 169.12 driver which fully implements glx.

There have been threads started over there from folks complaining of the beta driver only offering 2D.

Yeah, I sure hope NVidia is busy trying to get us an official release for both the new Kernels and new cards. Not sure how fast we'll be getting 2.6.25 in Lenny but I'd hate to see us unable to get our 3D going. And I sure understand Sid users wanting this solved fast.

Edit -

I was just over there and saw that the lack of GLX is only on the experimental support for xserver-xorg-1.5. Since no version of that is in Debian yet, that's one problem we don't need to worry about.

The beta's do support 3D via GLX. Just not on the sometime in the future 1.5 xorg.

[Jackiebrown]

I read that 2d sucks on it

[Hadret]

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_disp ... 73.08.html

Restored compatibility with recent Linux 2.6 kernels

(:

[Jackiebrown]

Yeah, but the Debian maintainer does not usually package the beta drivers.

The link you gave doesn't mention it is a beta (or I missed it.)

See http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=111460