Alright I am pretty new to linux but I am not a fool, so here is my question. I installed Debian, then went to nividia.com and clicked download drivers, graphics drivers->Geforce->LinuxIA32. It says to shutdown X Windows, and i have no idea how to do this. My gui seems to be gnome? where are the x windows commands? Do I have to pay to use these free drivers? I read some stuff by googling that mentioned the "non-free" packages? ...and how do i run the NTP support it says to run when i click sync clock from internet? thanks in advance

follow this nice tutorial how to install and configure nvidia drivers

http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/nvidia.htm

If you want to set you machine to set time sync you need to install ntpdate

#apt-get install ntpdate

this is automatically sync your time to local

that tutorial doesn't work, when i try 'apt-get install nvidia-kernel-common module-assistant' it says 'E: couldn't find package nvidia-kernel-common' i am using debian 3.1r1 the newest release, and when i do uname -a it says 2.4.27-2-386

You will need to edit your sources.list (/etc/apt/sources.list) so that it might include lines like these:

(But then include a server close to you)

After that, run apt-get update.
After that, apt-cache search nvidia-kernel will give you a list of the modules you may add.

Edit: Really nice of them to forget mentioning that. It seems to me that most of the people who are installing nvidia drivers are those with a fresh install.

Or you can run the nvidia package you downloaded. That's what worked for me. Log into a text session ( hit <ctrl><alt><F1>) as root. Then type "telinit 3" That will end the X session and give you a text-only session. Then just run the nvidia package you downloaded.

they have menctioned about that "main contrib non-free"

I believe for the nvidia installer to work you need kernel-headers for your kernel. Otherwise the debian way guide should work. See http://wiki.serios.net/wiki/Main_Page section 1.2. Have fun. Be sure your nvidia card is supported by the latest driver. Some times you need an older driver.NB I think ctl-alt-F1 from desktop will get you to log in prompt without X running.

Is there a reason to do it the "debian way" rather than just running the nvidia installer (after satifing the header and other dependincies.)

i still can't get these drivers installed. I added the two things to sources.list, then rebooted into recovery mode and changed to usr/src. I have already downloaded kernel-source-2.6.8 to here. I put up a screenshot of this directory (usr/src), but the forum says i can't post links until i make at least 5 posts. I don't have that many questions yet, nor do i have the knowledge to help anyone else! anyway, i do apt-cache search to find nvidia kernels, and none are 2.6.8, so i download one that looks appropriate though lower version level. It ended in k7, which was something i had to download earlier. i witch to the kernel-source-2.6.8 folder and do make mrproper (<- what is mrproper?) then switch back to where i have the nvidia driver downloaded and do an sh on that. I even tried doing the --kernel-source-path option they recommend. it won't work.

it tries to download an interface or something from nvidia ftp server; this fails. it doesn't detect anything preinstalled so it trys to build something from scratch; this fails. it says it can't find the source? i don't know what is going on. Hopefully you guys can help, for now i am going to try ubuntu

I think you may have to rebuild your kernel before the nVidia drivers can compile themselves and install.

Google or look on here, cos theres lots of help on re-building your 2.6 kernel.

Top tip (I think) is that when you compile modules for your kernel, do not include the nVidia module. I did this originally, and couldnt get hardware acceleration to work. Then, after downloading the 8178 nVidia binary, the installer complains, and eventually uninstalls your kernel module.

Dont worry about cocking up your first kernel re-compile. As long as you follow the good advice about keeping an entry in /etc/lilo.conf or /boot/grub/menu.lst for your original working kernel you will be ok. I think I must have done 20 kernel compiles before I began getting it right 75% of the time. When you do get it right, or close to right, keep and re-name your half decent .config file to something else, and put it somewhere safe. It will give you a start point for when/if something unexpected happens, an it usually does lol

Hope this helps..... :-)

mrproper is a powerful cleaning product from Finland, by the way. I imagine its rather like typing make mrmuscle if Linus had been English.

Wow, that reply is exactly the reason I'm glad I switched to Ubuntu, which is Debian based but loaded with functionality for a casual user like myself. I fully endorse Ubuntu.

Type "uname -r" in a terminal to get your kernel version. You can also install a kernel for your processor, for 2.6 kernel type "apt-get update" "apt-get install kernel-image-2.6-k7" for AMD k7, "apt-get install kernel-image-2.6-686" for Intel 686...etc.
Once you reboot into the new kernel do as LeftyAce above says then, "apt-get install linux-headers-2.6-k7" change k7 to the version you installed.
Then "sh NVIDIA-Linux-....."

As RanDrake said you just need to install the kernel headers (not source) and then use the nvidia installer. As you may have noticed no one posted why the "derbian" way would be better.
With the nvidia installer, you don't need to mess with modules or compile or patch the kernel.