[SCRIPT] Install nvidia-gfx-drivers while running from CD

**Fabianx** · 08-03-2003, 02:02 PM

Hi,

I've written some script, that allows you to install the nvidia-graphics drivers while running from CD.

It'll download all necessary files, will then compile the kernel module, will create an linked /usr-structure (that can take some time), patch your XF86Config, restart X.

So close all important applications, before starting the script!

And while its restarting X, it creates an knoppix.sh and nvidia.tbz (in /home/knoppix/dist/nvidia), which you can copy to the root of some partition (start with knoppix myconf=scan or knoppix myconf=/mnt/partition) or /cdrom/KNOPPIX and which will automatically set up the nvidia-drivers before starting X.

You can download the script here to compile it for yourself:

http://debian.tu-bs.de/knoppix/live/nvidia-live.sh

You can download knoppix.sh and nvidia.tbz for kernel 2.4.20 (Knoppix 06-06 and earlier) also here:

http://debian.tu-bs.de/knoppix/live/

This is done under the linux-exception of the nvidia-license, that the binaries can be redistributed as long as they are not changed.

Enjoy and test!

cu

Fabian

PS: This work is based on the ideas from Kano's scripts.
PPS: I have no nvidia-card, so I'm just following isntructions how it _could_ work. But I'm sure it will

**aay** · 08-04-2003, 01:10 AM

Looks good. I recently had to trade out an Nvidia card on this machine so I don't have one either at the moment.

For those who want to test, try doing this:

Boot to text mode with the 2 option.

Dowload the script: wget http://debian.tu-bs.de/knoppix/live/nvidia-live.sh

Make it executable: chmod +x nvidia-live.sh

Run it: ./nvidia-live.sh

Go ahead and boot to graphical mode: init 5

Please people test this one out as it would be really nice for this to be available on the CD.

----------
edit

Whopps. I just read Fabian's post a little closer and see that the script will restart X itself. Ok then no excuses - download it, run it, test, post results

**Fabianx** · 08-04-2003, 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by Fabianx

Hi,

I've written some script, that allows you to install the nvidia-graphics drivers while running from CD.

It'll download all necessary files, will then compile the kernel module, will create an linked /usr-structure (that can take some time), patch your XF86Config, restart X.

So close all important applications, before starting the script!

And while its restarting X, it creates an knoppix.sh and nvidia.tbz (in /home/knoppix/dist/nvidia), which you can copy to the root of some partition (start with knoppix myconf=scan or knoppix myconf=/mnt/partition) or /cdrom/KNOPPIX and which will automatically set up the nvidia-drivers before starting X.

You can download the script here to compile it for yourself:

http://debian.tu-bs.de/knoppix/live/nvidia-live.sh

You can download knoppix.sh and nvidia.tbz for kernel 2.4.20 (Knoppix 06-06 and earlier) also here:

http://debian.tu-bs.de/knoppix/live/

This is done under the linux-exception of the nvidia-license, that the binaries can be redistributed as long as they are not changed.

Enjoy and test!

cu

Fabian

PS: This work is based on the ideas from Kano's scripts.
PPS: I have no nvidia-card, so I'm just following isntructions how it _could_ work. But I'm sure it will

We now had the first success.
It does work with the knoppix.sh and I can now even provide an multi-kernel knoppix.sh. (thx to sblock)

Download it here:

http://debian.tu-bs.de/knoppix/live/knoppix.sh

and

http://debian.tu-bs.de/knoppix/live/nvidia.tbz

Put both into the root of some partition and start with knoppix myconf=/mnt/partition

and "boom"

, you should have nvidia-drivers available.

But you can also install them with the script mentioned above ...

and now ppl, start testing. It was one of the most asked features, so come on

.

cu

Fabian

PS: Again binaries are redistributed under the linux-exception of the nvidia-license.

**aay** · 08-04-2003, 04:16 PM

Agreed. If you have an Nvidia card, please download this and give it a try. It has been heavily requested within these forums before, but the only way that it will get added to Knoppix is if people try it out and post back results.

**aay** · 08-08-2003, 07:47 PM

Kinda disappointing that no one's giving feed back here.

Fabianx, I have a question. The idea of an installer is nice, but would it not be better to just include the drivers on the CD? I believe the Nvidia license provides for this.

If you look at the license <a href"http://www.nvidia.com/object/nv_swlicense.html">here</a>

You'll see this:

2.1.1 Rights. Customer may install and use one copy of the SOFTWARE on a single computer, and except for making one back-up copy of the Software, may not otherwise copy the SOFTWARE. This LICENSE of SOFTWARE may not be shared or used concurrently on different computers.

Sounds like the license won't allow for this until you read the next section.

2.1.2 Linux Exception. Notwithstanding the foregoing terms of Section 2.1.1, SOFTWARE designed exclusively for use on the Linux operating system may be copied and redistributed, provided that the binary files thereof are not modified in any way (except for unzipping of compressed files).

I believe this is the reason why Alextreeme includes the Nvidia drivers on his gaming version of Morphix.

What do you think?

**Fabianx** · 08-08-2003, 08:07 PM

Originally Posted by aay

Kinda disappointing that no one's giving feed back here.

Fabianx, I have a question. The idea of an installer is nice, but would it not be better to just include the drivers on the CD? I believe the Nvidia license provides for this.

If you look at the license <a href"http://www.nvidia.com/object/nv_swlicense.html">here</a>

You'll see this:

2.1.1 Rights. Customer may install and use one copy of the SOFTWARE on a single computer, and except for making one back-up copy of the Software, may not otherwise copy the SOFTWARE. This LICENSE of SOFTWARE may not be shared or used concurrently on different computers.

Sounds like the license won't allow for this until you read the next section.

2.1.2 Linux Exception. Notwithstanding the foregoing terms of Section 2.1.1, SOFTWARE designed exclusively for use on the Linux operating system may be copied and redistributed, provided that the binary files thereof are not modified in any way (except for unzipping of compressed files).

I believe this is the reason why Alextreeme includes the Nvidia drivers on his gaming version of Morphix.

What do you think?

Klaus does not allow this. As such I'm searching for alternatives that Klaus allows ...

cu

Fabian

**Duffin444** · 08-08-2003, 11:13 PM

I have a Geforce 3 and a rather old monitor that only supports 60 hertz. I believe that the nvidia drivers work because sometimes i can see the large nvidia written on my screen at bootup. I still can't, however, get my screen to show up at anything greater than 600 x 400. Even though it does show up at a bad resolution, i was going to deal with the problem in more depth once installed to the hard drive. So i used another of your great scripts and installed Knoppix. On reboot, however, the screen did not show up and my monitor said that it had recieved a signal outside of the viewable range.

Maybe you can help me....but i just posted to let you know how it worked

**mrdark** · 08-09-2003, 04:30 AM

Hey everybody. This is my first post here and I have to say that Knoppix is by far one of the most enjoyable projects I have ever played with. I started using knoppix three weeks ago (actually knoppix is my first real linux experience ever) and now I have remastered it about a dozen times (learning can be addictive) Anyway, I have to say that this script is a good idea but not everyone wants to install knoppix to a hd (or create a persistant home dir) just to get the nvidia drivers to work. If Mr. Knopper doesn't want to include the drivers in the normal knoppix release I can accept that. But why not give some "how to" for those that want to include them into their own personal remasters. Personally I have three main machines I work on.

(1). at work has a matrox card
(2). at home has nvidia
(3). laptop has ati

knoppix running on 1 & 3 works perfect but the home pc (nvidia) doesn't (no hardware accel). I have been trying to include the latest set of drivers for the past week with some old posts from this site but can't quite seem to get it to work right with the hardware auto detection. I don't really want to create two different disks for the three different pc's as that kinda defeats the purpose of a good remastering.

So why not clue those of us in on how to get it to work with auto detection (including install) for our own personal editions, so knoppix doesn't have to.

Just my two cents. Anyway thanks for turning me into a linux junky, I need to get back to compiling spacehulk.

**Fabianx** · 08-09-2003, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by mrdark

Hey everybody. This is my first post here and I have to say that Knoppix is by far one of the most enjoyable projects I have ever played with. I started using knoppix three weeks ago (actually knoppix is my first real linux experience ever) and now I have remastered it about a dozen times (learning can be addictive) Anyway, I have to say that this script is a good idea but not everyone wants to install knoppix to a hd (or create a persistant home dir) just to get the nvidia drivers to work. If Mr. Knopper doesn't want to include the drivers in the normal knoppix release I can accept that. But why not give some "how to" for those that want to include them into their own personal remasters. Personally I have three main machines I work on.

(1). at work has a matrox card
(2). at home has nvidia
(3). laptop has ati

knoppix running on 1 & 3 works perfect but the home pc (nvidia) doesn't (no hardware accel). I have been trying to include the latest set of drivers for the past week with some old posts from this site but can't quite seem to get it to work right with the hardware auto detection. I don't really want to create two different disks for the three different pc's as that kinda defeats the purpose of a good remastering.

So why not clue those of us in on how to get it to work with auto detection (including install) for our own personal editions, so knoppix doesn't have to.

Just my two cents. Anyway thanks for turning me into a linux junky, I need to get back to compiling spacehulk.

It _is_ already possible to do an remaster very easily with this script and the provided things ...

You copy knoppix.sh and nvidia.tbz from above site to /cdrom/KNOPPIX/.

You can then rebuild the master. (No need to modify the compressed part of the image)

You restart with this new CD and boom if there is an card, where nv or vesa would be used, its set to nvidia ...

For other cards I believe 3d will be disabled but they'll also work ...

But you are right, there should be a part that determines if there is a nvidia in there and only then start the knoppix.sh

You can easily add it:

at the beginning of knoppix.sh do:

if [ -z "$(lspci | grep VGA | grep -i nvidia)" ]
then
echo "No nVidia graphics adapter could be found."
exit 3
fi

I won't add it a the moment, as I'm on holidays.

)

Btw. it does work best with myconfig at the moment, not perfect with persistent home ...

cu

Fabian

**aay** · 08-09-2003, 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by Fabianx

Originally Posted by aay

Kinda disappointing that no one's giving feed back here.

Fabianx, I have a question. The idea of an installer is nice, but would it not be better to just include the drivers on the CD? I believe the Nvidia license provides for this.

If you look at the license <a href"http://www.nvidia.com/object/nv_swlicense.html">here</a>

You'll see this:

2.1.1 Rights. Customer may install and use one copy of the SOFTWARE on a single computer, and except for making one back-up copy of the Software, may not otherwise copy the SOFTWARE. This LICENSE of SOFTWARE may not be shared or used concurrently on different computers.

Sounds like the license won't allow for this until you read the next section.

2.1.2 Linux Exception. Notwithstanding the foregoing terms of Section 2.1.1, SOFTWARE designed exclusively for use on the Linux operating system may be copied and redistributed, provided that the binary files thereof are not modified in any way (except for unzipping of compressed files).

I believe this is the reason why Alextreeme includes the Nvidia drivers on his gaming version of Morphix.

What do you think?

Klaus does not allow this. As such I'm searching for alternatives that Klaus allows ...

cu

Fabian

Understood. I (and other's I'm sure) appreciate the effort.