I have installed Libranet 2.7 (The free version) in Dual Boot with XP Pro.

Now I have a glut of questions - This is the first time I have ever seen Linux and it a whole different kettle of fish.

1. When my GF4 was detected and installed, like XP, was that a basic VGA driver, do I still need a Detonator installed? On nVidia.com I have no idea which to get and how the hell they are installed.

2. Same goes for my nForce2 drivers, I have got two files .tar and .rpm but they are only like 80Kb in size, that can't be right.

3. It seems the Linux Kernel needs to be a later version than the one I have, and hence I assume needs to be updated (Recompiled?) once again I have no idea what I am doing.

So basically is there a dumbass guide to doing any of the above (Especially getting that Kernel sorted) on the Web or can anyone point me in the right direction, once I get going I should be fine. Any help will extremely appreciated.

It's a bit of an ask I know, but I am seriously lost at sea here. All the pages I visit for help assume you are already Linux wise - I AM NOT

I should have prob stuck this in the Newbie section, I didn't see it. I am gonna post there. I will check this in case anyone is good enough to reply.

You can download it at http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_d..._ia32_1.0-4496
the file is named NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run
You need to open a text consol by pressing crtl+alt+f1.
Log in as root
Go to were you downloaded it (cd /home/name probibly)
Run the file by typing ./filename (that is a period and a slash. You can then type the first few letters of the file then hit tab to auto compleat the file name)
Then hit enter and answer the questions it askes you.
From the README file
"If you already have an XF86Config file working with a different driver
(such as the 'nv' or 'vesa' driver), then all you need to do is find
the relevant Device section and replace the line:

Driver "nv"
(or Driver "vesa")

with

Driver "nvidia"

In the Module section, make sure you have:

Load "glx"

You should also remove the following lines:

Load "dri"
Load "GLcore"

press ctrl+f7 to go back to X windows Open a terminal window su to root and type "kedit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4" Then make the above change and save the file.
Log out of your session then at the login window press ctrl+alt+backspace to restart X. You should thn see a nVidia spalch screen.

(Librant 2.8.1 will ask if want to use the nvidia driver and install it for you and avoid all this)

You don't need the rpm, that is for Red Hat or Mandrake. The tar file is a kernel patch file. It is probibly for 2.4.20 or 2.4.21. If you get 2.4.22 then the nforce drivers are all ready in there, you just need to enable them and then you don't need to bother with the tar file. Updateing the kernel is not that hard.

Download kernel source from kernel.org to /usr/src (or to your home dir and become root and move it over)
cd /usr/src
rm linux (removes link to old kernel source if there is one)
tar xjvf kernel-source-2.4.22.tar.bz2 (uncompress the .tar.bz2 file)
ln -s kernel-source-2.4.22 linux (makes the link to new source)
Run adminmenu, select reinstall kernel defaults. (This will copy the configuration file into the new source)
Then select Recompile the kernel. Goto Character Devices and make sure /dev/agpart (AGP Support) has a '*', if not press 'y'. The same for NVIDIA chipset support.
Then exit, save your changes and recompile.

Bingo! You just answered about 95,000 questions I had in one swoop. I am gonna nail this tommorow, if only I knew all this when I started this morning.

Right now I feel like the Villiage Idiot of your Realm.

Made an oops, it should be alt+f7 to get back to X windows.

Didn't work!

Got the driver NVIDIA Linux x86 1.0-4496 pkg2.run.
Did CTRL/ALT/F1.
Logged In, did SU to goto Root.
Typed ./ NVI (Press Tab to complete)
Pressed Enter and it did nothing, just another Root command prompt?

The file didn't run.

As for the Kernel I still can't save anything to the usr/src folder, it won't let me. Tried to do it from root and still nothing.

Redownloaded the file again in case it was damaged or similar. Did it exactly as you said, and the same thing, the file just doesn't run.

Then I started to get error messages saying something about refused packets, TCP, and what looked like a MAC address, so some kind of internet access was happening, but why I have no idea.

My opinion of Linux hasn't changed much, it is still way clunky and awkward to use. It gets a bit silly when after two days I still can't get a Gfx driver to install! Frustrating to say the least.

Sorry about that, it isn't your fault.

Need to change the permission on the file. Usally downloaded files are not exicutable for security reasons. To change prmisson do; chmod a+x filename There is a balence between security and usablity that Linux has not yet reached for most people.

For the Nvidia file use sh ./NVI..... and make sure that you have /etc/init.d/kdm stop as root. For the /isr/src what error does it give you. You may also want to check if you are a member of the src group with groups in a console window if not adduser user_name src logout and back in for the changes to take effect.

OK. It seems to be one wall after another at the moment.

sh gets it to start installin (Cheers for that) but then I get an error cos I am still in an X window. So I had a bit of a dig around and I kill X with a CTRL/ALT/Backspace but this just takes me back to the login screen. From what I can gather that means X is still running. So I CTRL/ALT/F1 and log in as root (su). Then I tried the init3 command to kill X? But I still get the same error?

So now I am stuck again, is the init3 not for Debian/Libranet? I have gone throught nVidia FAQ and that seems to be the way to do it. There is also mention of editing a file in the /etc folder that I don't appear to have, this apparently stops X from re-starting and goes to a text prompt.

As I say, one wall after another, so I get past the X problem, and start to do the driver install, and yet ANOTHER problem........which appears to be this..

The NVIDIA kernel module has a kernel interface layer which must be
compiled specifically for the configuration and version of the kernel
you are running. NVIDIA distributes the source code to this kernel
interface layer, as well as a precompiled version for many of the kernels
distributed by some popular distributions.

When the installer is run, it will determine if it has a precompiled
kernel interface for the kernel you are running. If it does not have
one, it will check if there is one on the NVIDIA ftp site (assuming you
have an internet connection), and download it.

If a precompiled kernel interface is found that matches your kernel,
then that will be linked[1] against the binary portion of the NVIDIA
kernel module. The result of this operation will be a kernel module
appropriate for your kernel.

If no matching precompiled kernel interface is found, then the installer
will compile the kernel interface for you. However, first it will
check that you have the correct kernel headers intalled on your system.
If the installer must compile the kernel interface, then you must install
the kernel-sources package for your kernel????

Well that is about as clear as mud. Dos6.22 and Win3.11 were easier to work out than this.


Note: It tried to connect to nVidia to download the required file(s) and failed miserably with the same type of error I described before....lots of numbers, one of them is a mac address, the rest look like IP address's, yet internet is fine (I am here typing). I don't know what the hell is going on.

The installer will download and compile the driver for you. That is what all that text translates as.

Damn it, for some reason despite I have a connection when in a browser it doesn't appear to be working when I am logged in root, it can't seem to make a connection.

Here's your problem:

As root, go to /usr/src

You'll see an archive called something like kernel-source-2.4.20.tar.bz2 or something like that. Well, extract the sucker:

tar xjf kernel-source-2.4.20.tar.bz2

Now, you have to create a standard symlink to the kernel source. type this:

ln -s linux-2.4.20 linux

You should also check out the man pages for ln and tar. They are used quite often.

Now, the NVIDIA installer should be able to find your kernel headers. The problem was not, by the way, anything to do with the network. When the network is up, any user (especially root!) can access it. Root always (and sometimes dangerously so) has more power than a regular user account, so if something appears not to be working that normally would for another user, there must be something else wrong.

By the way, you seem quite intimidated. Don't flip out so bad -- Linux is a bit complex, but you just have to make yourself comfortable making mistakes for a while. Making mistakes is how we learn.

That should get your NVIDIA drivers working. Also, NVIDIA has good documentation about the drivers. It is worth a few minutes of your time to read it over. It'll also tell you how to get antialiasing going and stuff like that.

Good luck.. And you're doing the right thing by asking questions. You will usually get them answered.

Oh, and head on over to Amazon and get yourself a good Linux book. You'll be glad you did. Read the reviews for the best ones.

Also, one last thing, you can always change runlevels as root by typing something like:

init 1

This command, for instance, will get you into single user mode, where you can do really funky stuf with your system. It'll also kill X until you switch back to the default runlevel.