I decided to post a walkthrough about how to get the newest Nvidia drivers to work with Suse 9.1. The reason for this is that there are a great deal of posts about it with all kinds of misinformation and some accurate information. I wanted to level it off and post a reproducible sequence of events for another user(me) with a very problematic system. The problem is with the actual kernel revision and compilation itself not handling the rivafb and vice-versa properly. This is a recent change to the kernel in 2.6.8 development. The 2.6.5 kernel was miscompiled and possibly had rivafb interaction issues as well. I don't know why exactly, and from what I've read on kerneltrap.org, not many people do. So onward...

So, where to start. My configuration of hardware of course:

Asus A7N8X-X Motherboard
1 GB PC 2700 DDR RAM Kingston
AMD Athlon XP 2600
Nvidia(Asus) 5950 video card
Plextor Premium CD-RW
Toshiba DVD-ROM reader drive
3ware 7006-4 IDE Parallel RAID array
4X120 GB Western Digital drives
floppy

OK, so my configuration is fairly generic, if you forget about the raid card which is kernel native.. and the slightly higher end graphics card(if i do say so myself). OK, enough BS. Here's what I did:

To prep your system for this I'd recommend as an aside(not necessary) that you have apt4rpm available to you. It's not necessary, but a good backup in case things get squirrely. For reference,
http://linux01.gwdg.de/apt4rpm/
http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/suse/ap...MS.suser-rbos/
http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/suse/ap...urces.list.FTP

Also, I recommend that you lookup the Horizontal and Vertical viewable mm size for your monitor. The manual or data is online. It always is. Make sure sax2-gui is installed via yast or apt or whatever does it for ya.

OK, now on with the actual. Grab these files:
(If using a NForce chipset motherboard- like me)
http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/n...-0283-pkg1.run
(if using a Nvidia card)
http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/L...-6111-pkg1.run

Grab these files from ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/kernel/kotd/i386/
kernel-default-2.6.8-X-i586.rpm
kernel-default-nongpl-2.6.8-X-i586.rpm
kernel-source-2.6.8-X-i586.rpm
Where X=the variable for the days date. Not complex. If you're lost, please swallow your tongue and support Darwin's cause.

OK, those are all the files you need.

If using an AMD processor, Open Yast/System/Bootloader Configuration/Edit Configuration Files/
In this section:title Linux
kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda2 vga=0x317 splash=silent desktop acpi=off noapic resume=/dev/sda3 showopts
initrd (hd0,0)/initrd

You'll notice that noapic and acpi is added and turned off. Add it as you see above. The function of acpi is debatable in this case. You may choose that it's God's gift to man and leave it alone. It's up to you. I can only verify that it hosed my particular system.


Now, as root type init 3

edit /etc/inittab(with emacs/vi/nano/whatever) to be:
# The default runlevel is defined here
id:3:initdefault:

This is so when you reboot your X won't convulse.

If you have previously installed the nvidia/nforce drivers, remove them now:
./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6111-pkg1.run --uninstall
./NFORCE-Linux-x86-1.0-0283-pkg1.run --uninstall
rmmod nvidia or rmmod nvidia.ko if it's being an ass.

If you have never installed the Nvidia drivers, then change under:
/etc/X11/XF86Config
In the drivers section
"nv" to "nvidia"

OK, now do this in the directory where you downloaded the 2.6.8 kernel, hit:

rpm -ivh kernel*

Do a complimentary SuSEconfig/ldconfig after it's done.

Reboot if everything looks smooth(initrd created/grub doesn't give a shit,etc)

On reboot, disable APIC(disable)/ACPI(set to user defined) in your bios if needed.

At boot, login as root.

You should be in your new kernel with all the nasty proprietary trimmings of the nongpl addon.
Now the part we all know. In /usr/src/linux hit:
make cloneconfig
make prepare-all

Go to your directory with your NForce or Nvidia drivers. Install the Nforce first, if you have that motherborad chipset.

./NFORCE-Linux-x86-1.0-0283-pkg1.run --kernel-source-path=/usr/src/linux
Now the vid card,
./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6111-pkg1.run -q --kernel-source-path=/usr/src/linux

You will notice that the rivafb module is nowhere to be found. This is recent among recent with the Suse compiled kernels. It wasn't that way yesterday- and trust me, I have been trying for a month.

Now hit:
modprobe nvidia
You should see nothing. Good.

Hit:
sax2 -m 0=nvidia
Choose the proper card, resolution, etc. Enter the X/Y=H/V mm viewable monitor parameters if it wants them. Make sure 3D is checked. It probably will be already. YMMV.

Reboot

Boot up and login as root. Your modules should have loaded the NvAGP/nvidia module proper. Type dmesg to verify(It's at the end). If all is well,

edit /etc/inittab:
# The default runlevel is defined here
id:5:initdefault:

Change it back to graphical(5). Reboot.

Login, and your screen should be all pretty n such. Via yast or apt remove the previous kernel-default and kernel-default-sources for 2.6.5. After that, do cleanup.
Remove /usr/src/linux/kernel-source-2.6.5-X
Remove /lib/modules/2.6.5-X

Now for shits n grins you can reboot again if you want and welcome your new 2.6.8 fully functional system.

After you are up, you can run glxinfo and glxgears. I gained 1000 fps in glxgears with the Nvidia module. Which may or may not mean something, but it sounds impressive to the ignorant. And that's good enough for me.

If you have any modifications or comments about this little post, please put it up on a followup posting. This is more art than science, so the more options the better.

I hope this helps some folks. Take care.

Thor.

Thor-->

Your directions are perfect and worked like a charm for me.

Thanks alot,

LarsenMTL