Hi all, I have decided to replace my old Nvidia video card for an ATI Radeon 9250 that can have 3D support. The "problem" (or is not a problem ? ) is that I already have installed Mandriva 2007 Free and has obviously the Nvidia driver by default.
I worry that if I replace the card and reboot, I will get a black screen and won't know what to do then on. Any ideas? Should I install the Opensource driver for ATI cards then shut up the computer, install the ATI card and reboot? Or am I just being paranoid. The thing is that I have spent considerable time configuring up my Mandriva system and I dont want to do something wrong forcing me to re-install the whole thing.
Please advice me. Thanks a lot. Keep posting.

Maxei

I would suggest installing the ATI card, then running the Mandriva install CD/DVD again, but choosing to do an "upgrade", but don't do any upgrades to any of the installed packages.

Just skip on forward to the Summary screen at the end, and tweak the video settings there.

I see. Thanks a lot indienick. About the tweaking, do you mean that I can select the Radeon (vesa) driver? I suppose that I should do it in Mandriva Control Center? Also, it seems that the PLF has a rpm package for these cards (last I read was 8.28.8): my next question is: should I install the one in the install DVD (I suppose there is one in the DVD) or should I go straight to the PLF? Sorry for so many questions.

By tweaking, I meant refining the settings made available by clicking the "Configure" button that referrs to your video settings on the Summary page in the setup (ie., resolution, other X settings, etc.).

As far as PLF packages go, I'm not too sure. My Mandriva distro that's currently installed has yet to get networking (I refuse to go wireless, and I'm just waiting for the paycheck to get me enough flow to purchase a 70-ft. RJ45 cable).

By the time you get to the Summary screen on the Mandriva installer, Mandriva should have already detected the card and installed the appropriate packages to support it.

If PLF is available to you in the Mandriva setup, sweet, go for it - but like anything in Linux, no guarantee it'll work off the bat. Mandriva almost certainly has a usable Radeon driver on the DVD.

Thanks indien, I followed your advice and everything went smooth. During this process, at configuration I had the chance to select the correct driver for this card, which is the Radeon (Vesa) driver present in the DVD. The installer was proposing to install Radeon (fglrx) which I refused 'cause I read people have had misery with this ATI package (proprietary). I will test 3D as soon as I understand how to do it.

Maxei