Would like to install Nvidia drivers in 2.6.5

[MillTek]

Hi,
First, I am very new to linux but Knoppix looks great!

I downloaded the CD and did a HD install 2.6.5. I have a video card that is Nvidia GEforce FX 5200 and would like to install the proper drivers for it. It also has two monitor heads that allow NVidia twinview to run.


Can someone please supply fairly straightforward instructions on how to do this.

I have searched through the forum but all the NVidia instructions seem to relate to previous kernels or before Nvidia started issuing the '.run' package.

Thanks
Jim

[blockme]

hiho

i installed knoppix 3.3 and upgraded my kernel to 2.6.5 manually. (hopefully going to install knoppix 3.4 this evening).

when i installed my nvidia drivers (i got the same card) i was using the installing instructions from nvidia (download drivers -> geforce -> linux ia32), download NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run and run it like described. it will guide you through the install process. when i ran this script it said that there is no precompiled module for this version of the kernel and downloaded some additional files from the internet.
after this i got the nice NVIDIA logo when starting X.

so it works fine for me.

[MillTek]

Hi Blockme,

Please let me know how the upgrade to 3.4 works out.




Thanks,
Jim

[Linuxshark]

I just tried to install the Nvidia driver, yet without success. My specs are

- Knoppix 3.4 HDD install (the first "official" 3.4 version that came out, not sure about the date), standard boot set to 2.6 (in fact my kernel is what came with Knoppix 3.4 plus all apt-get available kernel-updates).

- I downloaded the aforementioned Nvidia .run package

- left X (by typing "init 3" in a root console, it took me a while to find out how to leave X )

- I started the .run package. It told me that there is no compiled version of the driver for my kernel, then suggests to get the necessary package from the Nvidia FTP. I confirm but it tells me that the required package is not available via FTP.

- It then offers to compile the driver from scratch. I confirm but the installer ends up giving me a final "not possible" message. I do not remember the exact reason it gave me.

In a nutshell, it is NOT POSSIBLE to install the Nvidia driver on a Knoppix 3.4 HDD-install by using the Nvidia installer package.

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could give me a workaround for this issue. I know it will mean to compile the driver myself, but even after 1 year of Linux I have never ever compiled anything myself so I guess I really need a detailed walkthrough.

Thank you very much in advance!

Linuxshark

[Stephen]

- left X (by typing "init 3" in a root console, it took me a while to find out how to leave X )

Another way to accomplish the same would have been /etc/init.d/kdm stop which assuming you are using kdm for the display manager would have stopped it and X.

- It then offers to compile the driver from scratch. I confirm but the installer ends up giving me a final "not possible" message. I do not remember the exact reason it gave me.

It should have told you to look for the error messages in the log file which you could have posted here most likely it was a CC mismatch for the compiler. If this was the case then typing in then enter key export CC=/usr/bin/gcc-2.95 just before you tried to run the installer should have solved the problem.

In a nutshell, it is NOT POSSIBLE to install the Nvidia driver on a Knoppix 3.4 HDD-install by using the Nvidia installer package.

Just because it failed in your effort does not make it impossible.

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could give me a workaround for this issue. I know it will mean to compile the driver myself, but even after 1 year of Linux I have never ever compiled anything myself so I guess I really need a detailed walkthrough.

Thank you very much in advance!

Linuxshark

http://kanotix.com/files/ has a couple of scripts to install different versions of the driver download the script for the version you want to install then make it executable (chmod +x script_name.sh) then run it (./script_name.sh) as root and it will do everything needed to install the driver.

[MillTek]

I got the Nvidia drivers installed by using the procedures in Kelmo's post. Worked great.



Jim

[Linuxshark]

Stephen, thank you for the reply. I guess I shouldn't have said that it is not possible at all to use the Nvidia installer, but at least it doesn't work "as such" on a Knoppix 3.4 HDD install.

I tried the steps you mentioned and indeed the gcc-change helped to avoid the gcc-error-message. When the installer tries to compile the driver I get the message "Unable to determine the NVIDIA kernel module filename". I figure this might be due to the lack of kernel headers on a standard 3.4 HDD install. I found the "apt-get install kerner-headers", but I simply do not know what my exact kernel-version is (I'm still a noob, eh?). How can I determine my exact kernel version needed for the kernel-headers?

Finally I would like to warn noobs like me to use the kanotix installer if you do not know what you do. I tried this one, too, but it resulted in the same kernel-issue mentioned above. The thing that made this installer worse is that it changes the "/etc/X11/XF86Config-4" BEFORE it tries to install the driver. As the driver-install failed on my system (but the config file remained changed), my next reboot ended on the textmode (console) level. I couldn't even manually start X because it didn't find the "nvidia" driver. Fortunately, I had made a manual backup of the config file and could restore it.

Thanks again Stephen for your support.

Linuxshark

[kelmo]

Linuxshark,

Until someone tells me otherwise, you need to get the full kernel source for compiling modules for the 2.6 series of kernel. Get them from kernel.org, not via apt. Debian kernel sources are slightly tweaked and may cause grief. Klaus always uses vanilla kernel sources.

[user unknown]

Linuxshark: The kernelversion might be found out by typing:

uname -a

which gives you - i.e.: 2.6.5

[QCompson]

I'm having the same issue as you, Linuxshark. This is what I have done so far (I'm using the 5-10-04 3.4 knoppix btw):

-downloaded 2.6.5 kernel source from kernel.org and unpacked in usr/src
-used apt-get to install kernel-headers-2.6.5-1 (wrong one?)

when I try "export CC=/usr/bin/gcc-2.95" and then "sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run", I get the same error message of:
"Unable to determine the NVIDIA kernel module filename"

What am I doing wrong?

I appreciate any help.