Hello All!

I finally have had a more or less stable Kernel for around 4 days now and would like to install the updated driver for my Graphics Card. I have been reluctant to do so thus far as previous installations Kept bring up a grey login screen and after one or two reboots xConsole hi-jacked the whole system. When I could get into KDE I was only ever able to get out of it by opening a console and typing reboot or halt.

I can currently log in as root or user and each time I can use KDE to log out and then shut down (The Default Suse Green Screens) and most definitely do not want to kiss this facility goodbye. Coming from a Windows background I have very little Linux Command line language to date and therefore followed nVidias suggestions to the letter on previous installs but still ran into trouble.

This included unloading the nVidia from xServer prior to installation

rebooting

downloading the update

rebooting....................

Please can anyone tell me how to avoid being hijacked by xServer if I try this process once again.

Thanks

- Blackbeard

were you able to shutdown the Xserver using ctrl+alt+backspace ?

Not sure I even heard of that one Finlay.............. would that take me back into my 'Green' environment as opposed to the 'Grey' one leaving everything 'Hunky Dory'?

On another note on one of the previous installs I opted for Gnome environment instead of KDE on install. When everything started up the keyboard locked up completely so instead of messing around with stuff to get a look at Gnome I reinstalled straight away electing KDE.

I really just want the confidence now that should I update this driver once more I won't be kissing KDE goodbye once again and therefore the whole kernel. Can you elaborate on the CTRL + ALT + Backspace switch please - what will it do?

Thanks

ctrl+alt+backspace kills the Xwindow server, you go to the command prompt, i boot to the command line, but if you are booting into Xwindows i'm not sure if it will work or where it will take you. Also i use Slackware so i'm not sure what this Green thing you are talking about. If you have a CD burner go ahead and burn a backup of your kernel and if the NVidia driver screws it up just restore it.

Thanks again Finlay!

The green think is the login screen (interface) for Suse Linux 9.3. I reinstalled the driver and this time it seems to have worked without affecting the Operating Environment. So all seems cool for now.

As a vitual Linux Virgin booting from the command line etc is totally strange to me and am not even sute how you do that (unless through the (Failsafe) option.

I have indeed got a CD and DVD burner but if I am to save the Kernel am not exactly sure what I need to save or how to go about it. Doubtless it would be a very good idea.

Forgive me if my questions at times seem a little naiive or even stupid but where Linux is concerned I'm not so sure there is such thing as a stupid question!

Your help is very much appreciated - Thanks once more

- Blackbeard

as a day job i am a windows administrator. linux has taught me how computing should really work, and i understand windows a lot more because of it. why does windows suck so bad, that is something i may never learn. glad to know you are up and running smooth.

I am 100% in agreement that Windows sucks and I may never know the full extent as to why neither. I am of the opinion that Micro$oft have in all their years as market leaders only ever release two worthwhile products - The intellimouse optical (whick is doubtless manufactured by a third party and carries the Microsoft name) and more recently the anti-spyware beta. That's about the sum total of it all. The next generation seems to be even more horrific than whats gone before and at last it's time to cut and run.

Linux has been the more likeky option though I would love to have the money to buy a Mac and doubtless the programs to accompany it. Linux can offer me a lot but as a graphic and web designer principally Linux as yet does not offer the Macromedia suite nor the adobe suite. The gimp seems at first glanve like a nice tool but will take some learning but as for a wysiwyg editor I have not discovered anything like dreamweaver yet. I will have to figure out how to install and run Apache/Php/My SQL etc........

So for a few reasons I will need to continue in dual boot mode for the time being.

- But as for backing up the current kernel, please can you let me know just what I need to backup and how to go about it. I would as always appreciate the help

Thanks again

well once you get a kernel that works on your system the way you want it to the easiest is to simply copy the /boot directory to a CD or some other form of backup media. to backup service settings you would copy the /etc directory and its subdirectories. if you want to preserve the source version of your kernel for further modifications then you would copy the /usr/source/linux directory and subdirectories.

Finlay, Thanks a lot for all the help - it's been invaluable. I will backup accordingly in case of further hiccups.

All that remains for now is trying to push the resolution to the 1680 x 1050 I currently enjoy in Windows. This has been giving me some trouble and I'm not sure why.

I elected the Vesa 1600 x 1200 monitor type at 60hz which I beleive is somewhat close to my monitor profile on the Inspiron 8600 (an xvga widescreen type at 15.4 in).

I selected similar resolution settings in sax 2 but yet am only allowed to confiure 1400 x 1050. If you have any ideas on this please let me know.

Thank you again for all the valuable input

- Barabus