And not being very successful.
I have a client who wanted a dedicated Linux box. He had bought Linspire a year earlier and wanted to use it, despite my recommendations to use Ubuntu , OpenSuse, etc.
Now he wants a graphics card installed. I thought, "no problem." After all, I have installed Nvidia cards and their drivers successfully via the command line back in Mandrake 9, and more recently with Automatix in Ubuntu. Turns out it's not so easy in Linspire.
I followed the directions here:
http://forum.linspire.com/viewtopic.php?t=409856
DO NOT POST QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS HINT HERE. POST IN THE GETTING HELP, VIDEO ISSUES FORUM. YOU CAN PASTE THIS POST'S LINK IF YOU'RE ARE HAVING PROBLEMS.
http://forum.linspire.com/viewtopic.php?t=409856
This hint is for recent versions of the NVidia driver with Linspire 5.0
The new NVidia drivers are part binary and part source, which must be compiled into a module to suit your Linux kernel. Let's use a simple step by step process.
1. You will need to add some things from CNR if you haven't already. These are the 2 products in the Compile Tools. They are the Linspire source code and a C compiler.
Once downloaded, you will need to do three things.
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2a. For gcc-3.3 browse to /usr/bin, press F4 for a console prompt. As root user, ln -s gcc-3.3 gcc (this creates a 'shortcut'). Some people have mentioned that ln -s gcc-3.3 cc is also useful.
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2b. For the kernel source, browse to /usr/src, press F4. As the root user, tar -xzf los-kernel-config-2.6.10.tar.gz (these include the headers)
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2c. In the same location, /usr/src, you should also have a packaged file for the source. If not, go back to CNR and install it. Then tar -xzf los-kernel-source-2.6.10.tar.gz
This will set up the basic environment for compiling. Okay, lets start on the NVidia driver.
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3. Download the driver from NVidia. This link will give you the Latest Driver
Download this to a directory like /root or /tmp (tmp is emptied after a reboot so use a different place if you want to keep the file). If you download the driver to My Documents, you may need to do to move the NVidia file up one level to a directory without a space in it. The NVidia script may not like having a path with a space in it. (See Note 5)
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4. Now the driver will have to be installed without the graphical environment running. Press Ctrl-Alt-F2. This will bring you to a login prompt. Login as root. Type pwd and you should get something like /root. Stop the XServer by typing /etc/init.d/ldm stop
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5. I'm going to assume you have downloaded the driver into /root. If not, then you need to # cd yourdirectory
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6. Now the good stuff. Install the driver
# sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7667-pkg#.run (replace the # with the number after pkg). Alternatively, try commandline completion. Type sh NV then press the TAB key.
Follow the bouncing ball. You should be able to accept all defaults.
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7. The easiest way to get back to the graphical environment is to use the reboot command. However, you could also do /etc/init.d/ldm start. (See the next note first to check your configuration file).
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8. From the NVidia readme;
Quote:
If you have a working X config file for a different driver (such as the "nv"
or "vesa" driver), then simply edit the file as follows.
Remove the line:
Driver "nv"
(or Driver "vesa")
(or Driver "fbdev")
and replace it with the line:
Driver "nvidia"
Remove the following lines:
Load "dri"
Load "GLCore"
In the "Module" section of the file, add the line (if it does not already
exist):
Load "glx"
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9. Checking. Once Linspire hsa rebooted, use a console prompt and try out the following 2 commands.
glxgears to test frame rates and glxinfo to provide info on the driver. You should find a line like
OpenGL version string: 1.5.3 NVIDIA 76.67
I added the following to step 6: sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7667-pkg#.run
-k $(uname -r) per a subsequent post in the same thead.
The NVIDIA driver claimed to be installed. I edited Xorg.conf per the instructions and rebooted. Nothing... In fact, Xorg.conf had reverted to its original state, with no mention of Nvidia or glx.
Any advice or pointers would be appreciated.
Thanks!
