Howdy folks.

SPM complains every time I launch it that it can't find the packages from my cdrom. OK. I'll just disable those 3 options (file:///cdrom, deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 r0a_Sarge_-Official i386 Binary-1(20050607)]/ unstable contrib main, and ...Binary-2...). Now it only has this listed as enabled:
"_htp://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free_"

I may have edited in the non-free...don't remember.

Anyway, WHERE ELSE should I be getting my packages? I've tried this week for days with some measure of success/failure to add to it....

What's in YOUR repository? HOW is a person to know to add to it? I'd love to obtain the need ed Nvidia 'module-assistant' and 'nvidia-kernel-common' via SPM. I tried 'apt-get install nvidia-kernel-common module-assistant' but neither by SPM or root-terminal can it locate them. WTF am I doing wrong? Thx for your input.

Try adding something like this to your /etc/apt/sources.list
I'll admit I'm a little bit of a debian newbie, but I used those repositories and these instructions and got the drivers working just fine.

thx for the quick reply.

Yes, those instructions -- I was reading them just within the past two hours. Still don't understand them yet but I'll get there.

Rhetorical question: why doesn't the base-normal-regular Debian installation include a zillion repository sources?

I realize I can manually cd to, find, and edit the file. I admit I like point & click for most things.

Note to self: /etc/apt/sources.list -- the file to manually enter repository info.

Mmmm. Yes. There we go.

I added these:
deb _http://ftp.debian.org/
sarge
main contrib non-free

deb-src _http://ftp.debian.org/
sarge
main contrib non-free

deb _http://http.us.debian.org/debian/
stable
main contrib non-free

deb _http://http.us.debian.org/debian/
testings
main contrib non-free

(disabled)deb _http://http.us.debian.org/debian/
unstable
main contrib non-free

Awesome! The nvidia packages are all there now! And so is a bundle o' games (like Xarchon)(anyone remember this on the old 8bit Atari...?).

Thanks a bunch.

I found a list of someone's /var/apt/source.list on one of those links:
_http://home.comcast.net/~andrex/Debian-nVidia/files/sources.list_

# Official Debian archives
deb _http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free
deb _http://secure-testing.debian.net/debian-secure-testing testing/security-updates main contrib non-free
deb _http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free
deb _http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
deb _http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free
#deb-src _http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free

# Experimental
deb _http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ ../project/experimental main contrib

# KDE 3.4
deb _http://pkg-kde.alioth.debian.org/kde-3.4.0/ ./
deb _http://pkg-kde.alioth.debian.org/kde-3.4.1/ ./

# K3B
deb _http://www.planet-moll.de/debian/ sarge main

# Randall Donald's prebuilt nvidia kernel modules
deb _http://people.debian.org/~rdonald/nvidia modules-unstable/i386/

# unofficial packages by Christian Marillat:
# acroread, mplayer & friends, realplayer, others.
# see _http://hpisi.nerim.net
deb _ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ sarge main
deb _ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ etch main
deb _ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ sid main
deb _ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ experimental main

# Kalyxo (_http://kalyxo.mornfall.net):
# Qt themes for GTK; KDE goodies for Debian.
#deb _http://archive.kalyxo.org/kalyxo/ staging main
#deb _http://archive.kalyxo.org/kalyxo/ experimental main
#deb _http://62.104.23.254/kalyxo/ staging main
#deb _http://62.104.23.254/kalyxo/ experimental main

# bootsplash themes
# see _www.bootsplash.de
deb _http://debian.bootsplash.de unstable main

# Matthias Ulrich: gpgsm, brings S/MIME support to KMail
#deb _http://smurf.noris.de/code/debian/ experimental smurf

# Real Time custom repository: PwManager
#deb _ftp://ftp.real-time.com/linux/real-time unstable custom

# another mplayer source
#deb _http://debian.kcore.org/ ./

# backports, sideports, almost-official packages
#deb _http://debian.jones.dk/ sarge misc
#deb _http://debian.jones.dk/ sid misc

# NuFW
#deb _http://www.nufw.org/debian/ unstable/

# TeX Live: _http://www.tug.org/texlive/debian.html
deb _http://www.tug.org/texlive/Debian/ pool/


NICE. Maybe I will just manually edit my sources.list ....

those _http://http.us.debian_ sites didn't work.

I changed them to read:
_http://ftp.debian.org/debian
stable (also testing & unstable)
main contrib non-free

These work great.