ok i got feisty installed, all thats left is the nvidia drivers.

i have an nvidia EN8500GT video card. i tried installing the nvidia drivers that are in automatix, but they didnt work, it crashed my X server. does anyone know which drivers i should be using?

thanks, bj

Go to nVidia's site and download the drivers there. Make sure gcc compiler, header files for the kernel and X11 are installed, and other require header files. Force the nVidia installer to compile the modules. Change /etc/X11/xorg.conf to use the nvidia as the video driver and also comment dri in the modules section.

The cause of X Window System not starting after installing nVidia's drivers is a module is already loaded that is using the video card. Another cause could be that the nvidia module is not loaded. Also the change from vesa or nv to nvidia could screw up modeline detection by X Window System. I suggest using a utility named gtf to create modelines with the desire resolution and refresh rate. Put the modelines in the monitor section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf. With out knowing the logs of Xorg, I or someone can only make suggestions. All the logs are in /var/log unless noted in the config file.

im am a Linux 'noob' , so everything you said went right over my head. i remember Reading on the Mepis forums of something called 'envy'. the guy said he used this to successfully install his 8500 card.