I recently upgraded my video card to an nVidia tnt2. The up2date does not provide the driver update. If I download the driver from nvidia, can the package manager handle the install? I think I remember some reference to installing within x windows and checking the config file to make sure the nvidia 3d mode is listed. If that is correct, does that mean runing the package from a terminal window? With Suse, yast did the driver install so that part was transparent to me. Are docs available within Fedora?

Take a look here. Since you are using a TnT2 card you may need to install an older driver since the new nvidia drivers don't support this card properly.

I read the links, but some confusion set in as I read the older driver versions. Is this .run file suitable for a tnt2 vidio card with fedora core 1?
Version: 1.0-6111
Operating System: Linux IA32
Release Date: August 5, 2004

I first went for the oldest one, but could not get the http or ftp link to work, so I worked my way up the releases and settled on this one.

The newest version is 1.0.7676. The newest version that supports old cards like TNT2 is 1.0.7174.

The docs are straight forward, however, a few questions before I dive in:

1. How do you 'kill' openGL applications after exiting the X server?
2. I recently updated the kernel thru up2date. Is it a good idea to have the kernel source as well on the system?
3. The docs said: If the driver installer must compile a kernel interface for the system and does not find a linker for the kernel interface already installed on my system, then one must be installed. How is that done?

I'm Using FC4 and i am in the same boat as sirius57

You need to read the instructions provided at Nividia's site regarding the driver.

Here is what you need to do and what I did to get my Gforce card working. (Note: the instructions might be different your card.)

Read the instructions.

Lauch Yum and download/install the kernel development.
Install the driver
Which will make changes to the kernel so reboot
Now you can either knock down the GUI after reboot or boot without a GUI

Now here is where you need to read the instructions.

You will need to delete dri and GLCORE or GCOLOR what ever it is in the X config
Next you will need to change the nv to nvidia in the X config
startx and you should see the Nvidia splash screen
If you do not see the splash screen then there is a problem

Read Nvidia's instructions.

Once the driver is installed and in the event there is a problem, is there a way to go back
to the system's previous state and try again or boot in a mode so the problem
can be safely fixed? Can a backup of the config file be used? I have read other
posts regarding video problems, so this is a concern of mine.

Save your X config before you edit it.

I found this web page that describes an nVidia driver install via Yum by doing the following:

Installing NVIDIA driver RPM packages
In this example, NVIDIA driver RPMs from Livna.org are installed for Fedora Core 1 via yum:

1. Add the following entries to /etc/yum.conf:

[livna-stable]
name=Livna.org Fedora Compatible Packages (stable)
baseurl= http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/$releasever/$basearch/yum/stable
gpgcheck=1

2. Import the Livna.org GPG key in order to verify the digitally signed NVIDIA RPM packages.
rpm --import http://rpm.livna.org/RPM-LIVNA-GPG-KEY

3. Install the NVIDIA driver RPM and dependencies.
yum -y install kernel-module-nvidia-`uname -r`

4. Modify /etc/X11/XF86Config to use the NVIDIA driver.
/usr/sbin/nvidia-config-xfree86 enable

Restart the X Window System to use the NVIDIA driver.

For more information on NVIDIA packages from Livna.org, please visit http://rpm.livna.org/.

Back to brandonhutchinson.com.

I am assuming that you must exit x and perform yum as root. I figured out how to edit the inittab file to run level 3 using the vi editor. I am confused by line no. 4. Is that a command to edit xf86config?

I followed the suggestions in this forum thread and my system is working well! I tested 3d with Tux racer. Question: in the xf86config file, is the driver 'nv' a standard 2d nvidia driver? If I do a kernal update, do I have to reinstall the 3d driver?

By default the driver will be "nv" so you need to change it to "nvidia". When you upgrade your kernel, you have to reinstall the driver.

I found a glitch in my system where the system will freeze after browsing for awhile after the driver update. I am using the latest version of Firefox. I use a rack system to swap hard drives and have seen this happen with Suse 9.3. With Suse, I updated the driver thru Yast. In Fedora, it did not happen until I updated to the 3d driver, so I am assuming the driver is in conflict somewhere. Is it possible to edit the config file back to nv and use the default driver for browsing and back to nvidia for 3d?

I found I had a bad ram module by running memtest86. I removed one module and the test was ok. I now have a stable system. I am assuming now that some problems do not make themselves apparant under most operating conditions. I missed the bad module until I did a driver update.