All I know is that I install everything from testing and nouveau works, if mesa gives problems then downgrade to the older mesa. Are you sure your running the generic kernel and not the huge kernel, most times you need to run mkinitrd for the generic kernel to work

Making an initrd.gz is very easy if you use the script

/usr/share/mkinitrd/mkinitrd_command_generator.sh

Installed the 2.6.38.4 kernel and rebooted into the same mess as when 2.6.37.6
was being used. I got the extremely small resolution fb console (nouveaufb instead
of vesafb) but as with the 37 kernel everything seemed to work OK.

However, ran X -configure again and it finished with no problem but when I tested
the X server with X -config /root/xorg.conf.new it bombed. The log indicated:

[ 608.098] (EE) NV: The PCI device 0x10de03d6 ((null)) at 00@00:13:0 has a kernel module claiming it.
[ 608.098] (EE) NV: This driver cannot operate until it has been unloaded.
[ 608.098] Number of created screens does not match number of detected devices.
Configuration failed.

It looks like NV is now interfering with nouveau. It would appear I will have to remove
the NV package but since you didn't mention this I didn't think it would matter.

All of what I see is a repeat of what I first saw under the 37 kernel.

BTW: Yes, I was booting the generic 2.6.37.6 kernel w/o an initrd. I know the generic
kernel package says an initrd is necessary so I am at a loss to explain this. I am, however using the huge 38 kernel.

Just a quick note about the generic kernel. To boot it, I simply removed the symlinks
in /boot and created new ones pointing to the generic System.map, config and vmlinuz.
This booted the generic 2.6.37.6 kernel. I remember seeing Generic on the boot screen.
When I installed the 2.6.38.4 huge kernel, the symlinks were overwritten and I had to
redo them to point to the 37.6 generic kernel. When I rebooted the generic kernel, it
halted and I realized I was going to now need the initrd. Created an ext4 module for
the initrd and generic kernel booted just fine. Don't ask me how the first circumstance
happened.

I partially fixed the Xorg problem by removing the NV package so it wouldn't interfere with
nouveau when using the 2.6.38.4 kernel. This did away with the "kernel module claiming
device" error message when X -configure was run, but neither "X -config
/root/xorg.conf.new" nor "startx" would produce anything but a blank screen and I had to
use Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to return to the console. Finally decided to read Changes and Hints
from the install DVD which suggested that if KDE crashes on startup, disabling "Composite"
in a separate .conf file in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d might solve the problem. Not knowing
whether KDE was crashing or simply not starting for some reason, I went ahead and disabled
"Composite". Much to my amazement that worked. I booted into KDE, adjusted the screen
resolution and finally had a workable X environment. This would only work under the
2.6.38.4 kernel though; it would still not work under the 2.6.37.6 kernel.

I was also able to remedy the very fine resolution presented after the console frame
buffer switched to nouveau (I guess the nvidiafb) during boot by specifying
append="video=1024x768" in lilo.conf. This also worked to get a readable console when
using the generic 2.6.37.6 kernel.

I also understand now that Xorg doesn't require an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file anymore and
that configuration is directed by .conf files in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d which can be
overridden/supplemented by snippets in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d.

I hope I haven't spoken too soon else something crops up later. For now, however it all
seems to be working. I guess I'll venture next into loading the nvidia proprietary
driver and see if I can get something better.

The final chapter.

I have managed to install the proprietary nvidia binary driver using the SlackBuild scripts.
It was a little more complicated than I had originally thought so I decided to make a
record of it for my own use and I present it here for informational purposes.

1. Install the package extra/xf86-video-nouveau-blacklist as it is required.
2. Download the three Slackbuild packages indicated into /opt or some clear directory:
libvdpau.tar.gz
nvidia-kernel.tar.gz (64 bit)
nvidia-driver.tar.gz (64 bit)
3. Issue a tar -xzvf to unpack each file into their respective components & directories
4. Download libvdpau-0.4.1.tar.gz and place it in the SlackBuild libvdpau directory
5. Downoad NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-285.05.09.run (64 bit) and place it in the SlackBuild nvidia-kernel directory
6. Downoad and place in the SlackBuild nvidia-driver directory the following 64 bit files:
NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-285.05.09.run
nvidia-installer-285.05.09.tar.bz2
nvidia-settings-285.05.09.tar.bz2
nvidia-xconfig-285.05.09.tar.bz2
7. None of the source code packages need to be uncompressed
8. Run each of the SlackBuild scripts within each directory in the following order:
./libvdpau.SlackBuild
./nvidia-kernel.SlackBuild
Install the first two binary packages (present in /tmp) with pkgtool
./nvidia-driver.SlackBuild *Apparently this script requires the two previous packages be installed
Install the driver binary (present in /tmp) with pkgtool
9. Make sure /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10 nvidia.conf exists

The nouveau blacklist package prevents nouveau from loading in both X and initially
in the framebuffer switch seen during boot. This only works with the 2.6.38.4 kernel.
The vesa framebuffer takes over during boot and remains in control until startx is
initiated and then the nvidia binary takes over for X only.

To me the nvidia binary makes a little better presentation; KDE desktop icons and widgets
are a little clearer, less fuzzy than with nouveau.

All of this involved an awful lot of hand-wringing and hair pulling to get it right.
I have never spent this much effort in installing a new system and making things work.
Even though the SlackBuild script procedures were revealed through a slight trial and
error, I cant imagine what the installation of the nvidia driver would have been like
without them. They are a very useful install tool for Slackware.

glad you got it working

I almost forgot.

I order to properly compile the nvidia kernel-driver package, you have to have the
2.6.38.4 kernel source code installed.

I realize I asked this question before when I was trying to determine which kernel files
I would need to make nouveau work properly. It will work out of the box so to speak
but the nvidia driver requires compiling which involves kernel source code.

That's the bad thing I don't like about the Nvidia blob as it requires specific sources at times to work correctly. Certain kernels get pushed out due to support issues or never work right at all. I don't mind the Nvidia Blob driver at times, but it's too finicky sometimes with what it wants and needs to work right.

I've been using kernel 3.0.9 on my laptop with nouveau working with mesa-7.11.2 and libdrm 2.4.27 and it has a GeForce Go 6150, and so far it's been fairly stable. Not as fast as the blob driver but stable enough to get work done if I use driconf.

You need versions drm/dri, Mesa to match the nouveau kernel module version.

Mesa is the OpenGL API, nouveau, nv, nvidia kernel modules talk to the hardware. The nvidia proprietary blob replaces some bits from Mesa. The nvidia-driver on SBo installs a script to allow flip-flopping without having to reinstall the F/OSS bits nvidia stomps on.