Nvidia and Fedora 3-5

[Dan]

alan wrote:
> On Thu, 23 Mar 2006, Steven Pasternak wrote:
>
>> Hi! I have been using Fedora since core 1, and since core 3, nvidia 
>> has always caused a problem. I always have to jump through hoops to 
>> get it to work. How come? On SuSE 9-10 Nvidia has never caused a 
>> problem. It doesn't complain that the kernel module can't be built or 
>> something weird like that. I was able to get it to work with core 5, 
>> but I had to get a new kernel, recompile an rpm, and install a 
>> boot-script (found out how on fedoraforums.org)!! What is up with that?
>
> It is a lot easier than that.  (With the exception of core 5, but I 
> will get to that.)
>
> First, make sure you have kernel-devel loaded for your current kernel. 
> ("yum install kernel-devel" should work.) You may also need xorg-sdk 
> as well.
>
> Download the nVIDIA driver from www.nvidia.com. 
> http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html
>
> Next, set your default init run level to 3 in /etc/inittab and reboot. 
> (The driver will not build if X is running.)
>
> Run "sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-1.0-8178-pkg2.run" as root. (Yeah, I know, 
> but it needs to install modules.)  Answer the questions as you go. 
> There is an option that will modify your xconfig for you.
>
> Start X with the "startx" command to test.  Should work.  When you 
> know it works, then change /etc/inittab to default to runlevel 5.  (Or 
> not, if you prefer having a bit more control over X loading.)
>
> I have not gotten the nvidia drivers working with the latest FC5 
> kernel. (I have not tried very hard, to be honest.)  There is a symbol 
> that does not get built.  I will have to look on nvidia's forums to 
> see if there is a workaround.  (I assume there is.)
>
> Hope that helps.
>
Again with the exception of FC5, it is even easier than that. Simply add 
the livna repository to yum (rpm -Uvh 
http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release5.rpm) and yum install nvidia-glx 
kernel-module-nvidia-`uname -r` . In FC5, cause of the kernel symbol 
issue, these packages aren't released yet, but when the kernel is 
updated, livna will release such packages (though I believe under a 
different name, so as to be more compliant with Extras naming schemes).
-Dan