Hi. I'm a total newbie and am trying to install nvidia drivers for mandrake 9.2 - i've read all the posts that say i need to download the newest kernel and install that, then download and install the nvidia drivers. I need someone to take a few seconds to explain exactly how this is done from the command line.

1. where can i download the latest kernel via ftp\
2. what do i type at the command line in order to install this once i get it?
3. after this i "sh nvid***" - and should be self explanatory from there, right?

thx in advance

1. The ftp sites is http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_d..._ia32_1.0-4496
2. Check to see if you have the latest kernel source. Do a alt-cnt-f2 and check the running kernel number against the one in /usr/src
if they are not the same or is missing download the correct one.
3. when the nvidia driver are downloaed type in sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run
and follow the instruction on the screen.
Make shur that the gui is not running. in root type in init 3
When finsihed installing type in init 5 or reboot

thanks for the response - now i'm getting "unable to find the system utility 'ld'" within the nvidia driver install. How do i deal with this? i don't know what it is, where it is, or how to install. also, my kernel is 2.4.22-10mdksmp - running on a dual p3 933 box - is this the right one? Thanks again.

also i don't see a kernel number in usr/src. do i need to do anything to find it? sorry, i'm a rookie. i'm guessing i should download, but need to do via ftp on my linux box because windows seems to corrupt any file i download for the linux box. do you know of an ftp site where i can download the kernel at the command line in linux? I'm having trouble finding. Thanks again.

Your kernel source code should be in /usr/src/linux-<kernel version>. If it's not, either install it from your distro CDs or download it. Being a modem user, i'd recommend you grab it of your distro CDs.

ld is the GNU linker, a programming tool. I'm guessing you're compiling a new kernel interface. This means you need the development tools installed (also from your distro CDs).

the kernel is apparently not installed. can you tell me how to install from the distro cd? i don't know where it is or what to type or where to put it. thx

mandrake 9.2 does not have the source on the cd... you have to download it

ok. downloaded it. now what? Anyone? Please be specific. I've never done this before.

ok. it says the kernel is already installed when i rpm -ivh kernal*** , then when i try to install nvidia drivers it says "no precompiled kernel interface was found". any clues? anyone?

I didn't install the new Kernal and i'm using the Nvidia drivers. I just went to their site and installed them. They work fine. All I did was the following

1. Went to http://www.nvidia.com
2. Downloaded the Linux ia-32 drivers
3. set Xfree not to boot using the mandrake configuration utility
4. Logged in as root then navigated to my documents folder (where i saved the file)
5. sh (filename)
6. Then it tells you to go view a readme file and change it. You must do this as root
7. Locate the file, (I did this using xfree as root, I know it's not good to do but i'm not familar with the text based editors other then kwrite).
8. Changed the driver from "nv" to "nvidia"
9. I didn't have to do the other two steps but they are located in the readme file so just read it.
10. Rebooted, logged in to my username and typed in "startx" and I was off and running.

That is correct, no precompiled kernel interface is found! It then asks you if you want to download one from NVidia and you can try it, but if it can't find one then you choose to compile a new interface. Then it compiles one automatically for you.

Then in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 you change Driver "nv" to Driver "nvidia". Make sure you also have Load "glx".

*Remove* Load "dri" and Load "Glcore"

Enjoy

thanks guys. that seems to have worked.