Linux Mint Forums

I am thinking about experimenting with LMDE on smaller 40gb extended partition. I might use it for web surfing and other activities when I need speed. I am currently debating between installing this as my second 'speedy' OS, or if I want to use Peppermint One or the XFCE edition. The Main edition is currently my primary work and multi-media edition since it seems to be working out better with multiple video cards now.

There are a few considerations for my choice, but one of the big ones before I get started is what steps do I need to take to install the Nvidia drivers. I prefer the proprietary drivers, and ideally would like to do some gaming in Wine. I use 2 screens, including a television, and may incorporate a third screen, though it isnt necessary or even a primary factor in my decision. I am most interested in 3D rendering for DirectX via Wine and not just OpenGL.

Can anyone spell out the steps I need to take? I dabble in the command line, but am not proficient enough to plan steps on my own....like it takes me a long time to direct myself to a certain location in the terminal with the command line to build an application from source. I can sort of do it though. I sometimes get lost if people skip steps and assume I know how to do them.

If its too difficult to install the proprietary Nvidia drivers I may have to skip it for now.



On a side note, what is the performance, speed, and level of polish like for LMDE compared to LM-XFCE edition?

I've used LM XFCE, LMDE 32-bit, and am currently running LMDE 64-bit on my laptop. I have found all of these Mints to be speedy and polished. In many ways, it really boils down to whether you prefer the Ubuntu or Debian way of doing things. I have nothing against Ubuntu and think that it has been doing great things, but I heavily prefer Debian because I find it to be leaner, easier to manage repositories, and easier to maintain over the long run.

Other people have commented on the easiest ways to update graphic card drivers on LMDE, and several people have pointed to smxi. It's a script that you run after exiting out of X (after pressing ctrl + alt + F1). To initiate it, you then log in as root and then enter "smxi".
See http://smxi.org/site/install.htm for more information.

smxi make it really easy to update your kernel and your Nvidia graphics driver at the same time. I've used it to successfully on my desktop (which runs vanilla Debian Sid 64) to update the driver for my Nvidia 460 GTX.

One caveat -- smxi starts up easily with a wired connection, but it is difficult to get it to run on wireless. I've searched around on Google, and I've yet to figure out how to set it up. Maybe somebody here knows how?

In short -- LMDE 64 +smxi makes for an easy way to install Nvidia drivers.

Nick,

Driver video open source

This is the driver pre-installed in the system and it works with every VGA used: ATI/AMD,nVIDIA and Intel.

It is recommended if you do not want to install the proprietary drivers or if these are not campatible.
If your AMD/ATI model is NOT in the "HD series" category or an Intel graphic card, you can use only this driver; if you use an AMD/ATI in the "HD series" or nVIDIA, you can use the proprietary driver which is
usually more stable and performing of the Open drivers.

The Open driver does not need to be installed, and is disabled by default.
To activate it open Synaptic and search the package named: libgl1-mesa-dri
Doble click to install the package, then click on Apply.
Close Synaptic and reboot the system.
After the system has rebooted open the terminal and type:
glxinfo | grep render
if the output is similar to the image, the driver is active and working.

Proprietary nVIDIA Video Driver
If we want the maximum from our nVIDIA video card we must install the proprietary driver.
Open the terminal and type:
su -> password
apt-get install module-assistant
apt-get install nvidia-kernel-common
apt-get install nvidia-glx
apt-get install nvdia-kernel-source
apt-get install nvidia-xconfig
after the installation need to activate the driver from the same terminal by typing:
m-a prepare
m-a a-i nvidia
modprobe nvidia
nvidia-xconfig
.
Shut-down and reboot the PC
Verify if the driver has been successfully installed by typing from the terminal:
glxinfo | grep render

Proprietary ATI/AMD video driver
are available only for the more recent models, those in the "HD series"

The models NOT in the "HD series" can use only the Open driver.

For the "HD series" this is the procedure:
download the correct driver from here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx
put the downloaded file in your Home and rename it " driver.run "
open the terminal and type: cd /home/yourusername
make the file executable by typing: sudo chmod a+rwx driver.run
execute the file by typing : sudo ./driver.run
follow the on-screen instructions till the end of the installation
activate the driver from the same terminal by typing : sudo aticonfig --initial -f
shutdown and reboot the system open the terminal and verify if the driver has been successfully installed
by typing : glxinfo | grep render
----------------
hope this will help you

Nick_Djinn, I really have to wince every time people post every single step required to do a manual nvidia / ati driver install, this is why I created sgfxi, so we can move beyond this primitive stage and towards using computers more productively than just spending our time learning obscure command line steps to achieve a single thing.

Why people persist in thinking that doing things by hand when they are using ultra power computers that are fully capable of running software to make our tasks easier is absolutely beyond me, but it's a tendency in the especially FOSS world that I feel we should start moving beyond.

To install nvidia: cd /usr/local/bin; wget smxi.org/sgfxi; chmod +x sgfxi; sgfxi

once installed, sgfxi updates itself automatically so after that first instsall all you need to do to update drivers is: sgfxi

To run the steps above, more or less, run: sgfxi -d

this picks the proper driver package ( a step, as usual, skipped in the direction) for your card, and then builds the distro packaged driver.

Any bugs in this process should be reported via the script forums, I have to admit I do not bother testing the distro package (-d) option very often because it's so often not working correctly for new systems/kernels/xorgs, I use the direct driver install from nvidia, which is: sgfxi

Or learn all the commands and remember them, along with all the other manual ways of operating your system. Some people have brains that work that way, I certainly don't.

Most excellent h2-1! I remember & used sgfxi from my sidux days. Thank you very much!

The way I've always updated Nvidia drivers, is to drop to runlevel 3, kill gdm or kdm, and run the Nvidia install script from the website, rebooting then running nvidia-xconfig at the terminal as root.

Any problem doing it this way with LMDE x64? I was just about to do it when I saw this thread. thanks

@twa

modprobe nvidia doesn't seem to work on me.
It says no such device.