Debian 4, problems with nvidia driver install
 

(new to Linux)
I've an ASUS nVidia FX 5950u AGP card
running Debian 4
system says all packages are installed when I do dselect
manually installed cclib .7 today
not sure I did it right

when I do 'sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-100.14.11-pkg1.run"

I get the following:

nvidia-installer log file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log'
creation time: Fri Aug 17 21:20:55 2007

option status:
license pre-accepted : false
update : false
force update : false
expert : false
uninstall : false
driver info : false
precompiled interfaces : true
no ncurses color : false
query latest version : false
OpenGL header files : true
no questions : false
silent : false
no recursion : false
no backup : false
kernel module only : false
sanity : false
add this kernel : false
no runlevel check : false
no network : false
no ABI note : false
no RPMs : false
no kernel module : false
force SELinux : default
no X server check : false
force tls : (not specified)
X install prefix : (not specified)
X library install path : (not specified)
X module install path : (not specified)
OpenGL install prefix : (not specified)
OpenGL install libdir : (not specified)
utility install prefix : (not specified)
utility install libdir : (not specified)
doc install prefix : (not specified)
kernel name : (not specified)
kernel include path : (not specified)
kernel source path : (not specified)
kernel output path : (not specified)
kernel install path : (not specified)
proc mount point : /proc
ui : (not specified)
tmpdir : /tmp
ftp mirror : ftp://download.nvidia.com
RPM file list : (not specified)

Using: nvidia-installer ncurses user interface
-> License accepted.
-> No precompiled kernel interface was found to match your kernel; would you like the installer to attempt to download a kernel interface for your kernel from the NVIDIA ftp site (ftp://download.nvidia.com)? (Answer: Yes)
-> No matching precompiled kernel interface was found on the NVIDIA ftp site; this means that the installer will need to compile a kernel interface for your kernel.
ERROR: Unable to find the development tool `cc` in your path; please make sure that you have the package 'gcc' installed. If gcc is installed on your system, then please check that `cc` is in your PATH.
ERROR: Installation has failed. Please see the file
'/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for details. You may find suggestions
on fixing installation problems in the README available on the Linux
driver download page at www.nvidia.com.

I'm kinda lost I don't understand what it means by "your PATH" or how to make certain that its entered properly in said "PATH".

begin edit *

downloaded deb package "gcc-4.1_4.1.1-21_i386.deb" and did <dpkg -i gcc-4.1_4.1.1-21_i386.deb>
errored on dependency so ...
then had to install "libssp0_4.1.1-21_i386.deb" with <dpkg i- libssp0_4.1.1-21_i386.deb>
then did gcc install successfully.

still gives me the same error.

in all likelyhood, the gcc version that the kernel was compiled with is different from that whch you using to install the driver...also maybe that card requires a legacy driver...also the install must be at root in terminal mode.

Lahru:
Install a package called "gcc", should be at the beggining of the list of various gcc packages in synaptic. Use either synaptic GUI or apt-get CLI to install packages and their dependencies, unless of course, if you do not have the unit on-line. If that's the case, look in the "Development" section of the link below to download it:
http://packages.debian.org/stable/

Thread Hijacked
 

I don't mean to bash or flame anyone, but can we get back to the original purpose of this post? I started this thread to figure out a problem with and Nvidia video card driver install problem. Not a modem!

I have gcc installed and now its telling me that I need to install the libc-dev package but I can't seem to do this.

Here is what I am getting currently in the log file:

ERROR: You do not appear to have libc header files installed on your system.
Please install your distribution's libc development package.

I don't understand this .... I've tried installing libc6_2.6-2_i386..deb
&
libc6-dev_2.6-2_i386..deb but they will not install

here are the commands I've input and their resultant output:

# dpkg -i libc6_2.6-2_i386.deb
dpkg: regarding libc6_2.6-2_i386.deb containing libc6:
libc6 conflicts with tzdata (<< 2007e-2)
tzdata (version 2007b-1) is installed.
dpkg: error processing libc6_2.6-2_i386.deb (--install):
conflicting packages - not installing libc6
Errors were encountered while processing:
libc6_2.6-2_i386.deb

&

# dpkg -i libc6-dev_2.6-2_i386.deb
dpkg: regarding libc6-dev_2.6-2_i386.deb containing libc6-dev:
libc6-dev conflicts with binutils (<< 2.17cvs20070426-1)
binutils (version 2.17-3) is installed.
dpkg: error processing libc6-dev_2.6-2_i386.deb (--install):
conflicting packages - not installing libc6-dev
Errors were encountered while processing:
libc6-dev_2.6-2_i386.deb

is there another file or package I need to install? I can't seem to find a libc dev package.. per se

How can I tell?
doing this as root from command line

more info
 

all my attempts at installing libc6-dev result in a conflict with binutils
should I uninstall binutils? how?

should I be editing the PATH? I don't know how.

I understand that to do this your supposed to do something to link the directory for the lib into the PATH??

I'm confused ... maybe that is just the wrong approach to take?

is it possible that you have different versions of debian installed together,,,,looks like you may have libc6 from testing or unstable mixed with conflicting files from stable.....

what kernel are you using? debian or kernel.org and what version number.

And why are you using "dpkg -i <packagename>" to install these, instead of "apt-get install <packagename>" or "aptitude install <packagename">? You're defeating the Debian package manager's dependency checking system.

umm well I'm not the most savvy of Linux users.
when I boot the system GRUB asks me which kernel to use and I've been choosing the one at the top 2.16.18-5-K7

I've been installing with dpkg because its thus far told me of dependancy failures, at least it looks like it, but it is only telling me of these 1 at a time.

I've tried running the command aptitude and I don't understand it ... I don't see anything happening when I try to mark certain packages for install ... the interface isn't very intuitive for me, thus its quite frustrating

Try installing the nVidia driver the "Debian way."

NvidiaGraphicsDrivers - Debian Wiki
http://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers

If you were to issue command as mentioned earlier:
Your problems would be taken care of including dependencies, using the GUI interface called "synaptic" would do the same. Before using aptitude, you need to issue command:
To keep the current configuration. Try installing "linux-libc-dev" and see what it tells you, it is a dependency to libc6.

Here is some highly recommended reading material. The default kernel for Debian 4 is kernel 2.6.18-4, most all packages from the installation media which will be in your only repository if you're not on-line can be used in conjunction with that kernel. Use your package management system, it will tell you all the dependencies also when asking for confirmation before installing them.

Evidently, you already got a good answer on the "nvnews" (official nvidia) forum.

As they said,

aptitude install build-essential

should pull in the tools you need to compile the driver.

If you're using a stock Debian kernel,

aptitude install linux-headers-`(uname -r)`

will install the kernel headers (you don't need the entire kernel source). After installing the linux headers for your kernel, you don't have to tell the nvidia driver where they are; it will automagically find them.

The main thing is, try to understand the difference between manually downloading a package from, say, the Debian Packages site and using "dpkg" to install it, vs. using "apt-get" or "aptitude" to pull packages from your installation media or from a Debian repo over the Internet. In the first case, you're defeating the entire purpose of Debian's package management system, which is to not only install the package you want, but also to install all its dependencies (or to inform you that it can't and why). It might install newer (and more secure) versions in the process. You're making a whole lot more work for yourself when you download and install each *.deb manually - work that Debian will do for you.

The nice part about the GUI synaptic package management application is that it will give information regarding the packages. You'll find that build-essential is not required for building kernel modules.

I have compressed images of all my operating systems, it only takes 8 minutes to wipe out a 10GB Linux partition with zeros and load a copy of a fresh, configured installation image with not much extra software. For this reason, and because I keep all downloaded packages, I prefer to use apt-get over aptitude. Aptitude installs way too much, when I do a base minimum installation, using apt-get I install the x-window-system and KDE, if I use aptitude, it will also install Gnome which adds over a hundred packages I don't need.