Ok, i'm VERY linux n00b. so far i think it's awesome compared to windows and mac os structure, but completely foreign to me. the question i have is that i downloaded the linux istallation for the geforce fx5200 graphics card, but the install file has an extension ".run". can someone tell me how to mount these drivers in a way that only a unix-based would understand? i am running FC2 with an upgraded kernal 2.6.10. please help me with the basics?

do the following :
the above will make it an executable file, then type :
to run the file
and since you say this is for your video card,
you will need to be root to execute this properly.

I used the shell terminal, but the command chmod +x NAMEOFFILE.run didn't produce an executable file, but also didn't give me a "____ is not a valid command" error. Is there something i'md doing wrong?

For nvidia drivers , you have to type : -

and press enter .

The driver may give an error , saying that you have X server still running . In that case , go to a virtual console ( by pressing ctrl+alt+F1 ) , then login as root , and type

After about 10 seconds , press enter . You should get the prompt back . Now , run the driver file again , by using the same sh command given above . This time , it should work . If it says that it will have to build a custom kernel module for your system , let it .

Read the readme file ( the driver installer will tell you where it is located ) to find what changes you may have to make to your X configuration file ( located at /etc/X11/xorg.conf , in case of FC3 ) .

The changes I had to make were simple . In the module section , comment out ( commenting out is done by putting a "#" symbol at the begginning of the line ) the lines which load dri and GLcore . Also , add , if it does not exist , the line Load glx . In the driver section , change the driver from nv or vesa to nvidia . But still check out the readme file mentioned in the installer , just to be sure .

If necessary , you may have to

as root to resolve a driver conflict . Do this only if the installer tells you to , though .

To get back into graphical mode , type ( as root , of course ) , in the console

I presume you know how to use console-mode text editors ( like vi/vim ) to edit files . If you don't , then here is how to use vi to make the appropriate changes to the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file .

Type , as root , at the terminal , before starting graphical mode

Press the i key once to allow you edit text like any other text editor . When you are done , press escape ( twice or thrice , if you want to be on the safe side ) , then type

, and press enter . The semicolon brings up the command mode of the editor , and thw wq command stands for Write ( to disk ) and Quit . You can also use the w command as a standalone . If you make a mistake and cannot reverse it , then use the q! command in command mode ( after bringing up the semicolon ) to quit without saving .






Good luck .

Also if you go to where you downloaded there are instructions on the site that you can use. Here ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Li...167/README.txt is a shortcut to it for you.

well, i got it to work... thank you all. i owe my thanks to you guys