My First Linux

Its the card in my profile. A Geforce FX 5900. I've been having problems with it in Windows so I'm not sure whether it will work on linux either. But its worth a try.

 

addis, I'm pretty sure it's the motherboard. I've had two of the kt6v lsr's and after a period of time they both went funky under any 3d applications.

 

arg bollocks the stupid blonde at the computer fair said that they discontinued my good ole K7N2s.

 

Your hardware configuration should work fine. I have almost the same card, and I get more framerates in Linux than I did in Windows 2000. You'll need to install the kernel source that matches the kernel you're using, even if you don't plan on recompiling your kernel -- the NVidia module will need to see it in order to build properly. It's also a good idea to make a directory to keep the drivers, in case you ever have to reinstall them later. As root:

Code:

mkdir /usr/src/nvidia-7174

Then copy the driver to its new folder, and set its ownership to root:

Code:

mv NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1.run /usr/src/nvidia-7174
chmod 750 /usr/src/nvidia-7174/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1.run
chown root:root /usr/src/nvidia-7174/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1.run

Then you boot without an X interface, and:

Code:

su - root
/usr/src/nvidia-7174/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1.run

...go throught the installation process. At the end, it should say that the module was installed correctly. Now we have to tell your X interface that your video module has changed. Type the following:

Code:

vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If you're not familiar with the 'vi' text editor, be very cautious at this point. Scroll down in the file until you come upon the line which says something like: Driver "nv" which is around line 77 or so. Hit the 'i' key to enter interactive mode, so you can edit the file. Change it so it reads:

Code:

Driver "nvidia"

Hit the 'Esc' key to exit interactive mode, then hit the ':' (colon) key to enter command mode, and type:

Code:

wq!

...followed by the 'Enter' key. Log out of the root account by typing:

Code:

exit

...and log in as your regular user account. Type:

Code:

startx

...to start an X session. Start a terminal, and type:

Code:

glxinfo | grep direct

The terminal should spit 'direct rendering: Yes' back at you. Success! You can now set the system to start X at startup, if you so choose.

-AT

 

I tried to install the driver, but it said it needs the kernel source like you said. How would I get it? I'm not sure which kernel I'm using.

 

You can find out which kernel you're currently running by typing:

Code:

uname -r

Then you'd download the appropriate source using either urpmi or gurpmi (aka "Install Software"). It'll look something like kernel-source-2.6-2.6.8.1-24mdk.rpm. Hope this helps...

-AT