how to make unity work with nvidia
 

I installed Ubuntu 11.04 final, then it said "it appears that your hardware is incompatible with unity, go to login screen, select ubuntu classic". I use nvidia, it had a compatibility problems with linux, so it made ubuntu mouse cursor sporadically disappear and fedora never appear at all, so I installed the proprietary nvidia driver, rebooted to finish installation and unity worked!

(this step may not be nedded
on top right, light switch icon -> switch from you -> on top, select yourself -> on bottom, select ubuntu classic
temporarily, use ubuntu classic)

(this step is definitely needed
System -> Administration -> Additional Drivers -> nvidia current recommended -> Install -> Restart to complete installation
permantenly, use ubuntu unity)

enjoy default settings

Thanks for the adviced
 

I am new to Ubuntu and Linux commands but enjoying the experience.

Like you, I had the "incompatibilty message"
Display card - NVIDA GeForce 9500 GS
I have downloaded the shell script file for what looks like the correct driver for Linux from NVIDIA's website.
Also some instructions from NVIDIA. (pages and pages of them)
I am summoning up courage to install the driver.

All information like yours is very welcome.

Thanks
TOMJAFFA

You are much better off using jockey-gtk to install the nVidia drivers with ubuntu. Jockey-gtk is found at-

System -> Administration -> Additional Drivers

Unity arrived!
 

Thanks for the help.
By a devious route, trying help from different sites, I finally managed to get Unity!

If I could be reasonably sure of the precise reasons for success, I could possibly be more help to others.

Certainly, System ... Administration ... Additional drivers was a vital part of the process.
I also installed compizconfig-settings-manager and any other package relevant using Synaptic Package Manager

In the desktop, I right-clicked and used Create Launcher. I typed compiz in the name field and for the command typed
/usr/bin/ccsm
I closed that window and a new short cut had been created. A double click on that and ccsm was opened up, then made sure that 'Ubuntu Unity Plugin' was enabled

In the left column of ccsm, a click on 'Preferences', ensured 'Unity' was selected under 'Profile'
Close the window and reboot the PC. (A recommended method was to switch to tty 1 and type sudo reboot now) I used the easier way and it's working

Nvidia doesn't like linux, so I had to uninstall the official nvidia driver, so I don't have unity any longer.
Ubuntu 10:
- with the open source nvidia driver, a sporadically disappearing mouse pointer problem
- with the official nvidia driver, no sporadically disappearing mouse pointer problem
Ubuntu 11:
- with the open source nvidia driver, can't use unity and without unity, no sporadically disappearing mouse pointer
- with the official nvidia driver, can use unity and with unity, crashes a lot, must reboot each time
Fedora 14:
- like Ubuntu 10
Fedora 15:
- I wonder if it'll be like Ubuntu 11 is now hehehe