SuSE 3D Drivers for NVidia

PlantPerson · 06-15-2004, 02:42 PM

I have SuSE 9.0, dual-boot with WinXP. I'm beginning to think I should never have tried to use Linux... it's turning out to be harder than I thought. My first problem is that the main thing I wanted was a better platform for my 3D graphics work. Finally, at the end of the installation, SuSE announces that I'll have to install the 3D drivers for my NVidia card myself. Thanks. Very helpful. At the moment, Linux won't connect to the Internet (that's another story) so I downloaded the correct driver under windows and began reading the installation instructions. I'm baffled right from the beginning.

Quote:

Before beginning the driver installation, you should exit the X server.
In addition you should set your default run level so you will boot to a
vga console and not boot directly into X (please consult the documentation
that came with your Linux distribution if you are unsure how to do this;
this is normally done by modifying your /etc/inittab file). This will
make it easier to recover if there is a problem during the installation.
After installing the driver you must edit your XF86Config file before
the newly installed driver will be used. See the section below entitled
EDITING YOUR XF86CONFIG FILE.

I'm lost. How do I exit the X server? Isn't that the program behind the GUI or something? If I boot directly into console mode, how will I fix it so I can get back to the GUI mode again? And editing my XF86Config file! Help! I'm scared!
This is the readme file:
ftp

://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-5336/README

Will someone please help me? I must sound pretty pathetic....

I had to add the smiley so it would let me post the URL

jens · 06-15-2004, 04:09 PM

*Close X (you could use the init command)
*Install your driver:

Code:

sh NVIDIA-XXX*--pkg1.run

*Configure Sax:

Code:

sax2 -m 0=nvidia

Restart.

That's all.

Tino27 · 06-15-2004, 04:16 PM

Plant --

First step is to calm down. The first time I did this I was pretty clueless, too. There are some excellent other posts on how to install the NVIDIA drivers, but first let me address a few of your other questions.

I'll assume that by default when SuSE boots up you get to a nice GUI login screen. I'll also assume that you are using the default window manager that comes with SuSE -- KDE. At this login screen, you can either log in as the "root" account, or if you've created a user account for yourself, log in under that account.

When the desktop comes up, you'll need to launch a terminal window. KDE provides a program called "Konsole". You can more than likely find it on the default KDE program bar, but you can also find it in the "K" menu (the icon that when clicked brings up a hierarchical list of programs currently installed on your computer). Once you've launched Konsole, if you originally logged into the KDE session as a generic user (not as root), you now have to give yourself "root" privileges by typing the following into the terminal window:

su
******** (<-- this is the root password)

Once you are root, to exit out of X, simply change the runlevel by typing in...

init 3

Runlevel 3 corresponds to multi-user with networking (I belive), but without X. At this point you will need to login using the console. It works the same way as with the GUI login.

When you have finished installing the NVIDIA drivers, the easiest way to start X back up is to say (as the "root" user)

init 6

Runlevel 6 will reboot the computer for you. When the GUI login comes back up, log in as normal.

PlantPerson · 06-16-2004, 05:05 AM

Tino27: Thank you SO MUCH!
I DID IT!!!! I'm so proud of myself, I even edited the XF86 file!!

Now I'm so happy!

thank you thank you thank you!!!