[SOLVED] LMDE, Nvidia, & sgfxi

[digitalking]

NOTE: I posted this by mistake in Main Edition Newbie Questions a few minutes ago. I deleted that post and moved it here since this relates to LMDE.

I have figured out almost everything I need to do to build my LMDE system exactly the way I want it. I have had no graphical issues in LMDE, but I'm positive I haven't been using my Nvidia driver for the GeForce 9500 card. In standard Mint and Ubuntu I've always used the basic install drivers tool that's easily and readily available.

I've learned that some choose to use sgfxi to install Nvidia drivers on their system. I've read up on this script and I had a couple of questions. I'm mostly asking to save time, failed attempts, etc. I'd appreciate any feedback from the community.

1. Should I install the latest ISO 201109 Gnome 32-bit open a terminal, and install the script using the following before doing ANYTHING else, or should I update to Update Pack 3 first?

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cd /usr/local/bin && wget -Nc smxi.org/sgfxi && chmod +x sgfxi && sgfxi

2. Once I install the script, do I simply need to open a terminal and type the following to auto install the drivers?

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sgxfi

I also read that if I use the following command it will create nvidia kernel modules for all kernels. Has anyone tried this? Would this basically auto-update my drivers when moving to new update packs, etc.

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sgfxi -! 40

Thanks!

[zerozero]

disclaimer here first: i don't use sgfxi (tho i recommend it several times), i always use dkms (the debian way as "they say")

but I'm positive I haven't been using my Nvidia driver for the GeForce 9500 card

no, unless you explicitly install it, there's no nvidia/amd binaries in the default lmde install (you are running with nouveau)

or should I update to Update Pack 3 first?

first update, stabilize your system (if there's anything that needs taking care off; i see that you installed the 32bit v., so you should install the pae kernel (image and headers) << again after the update to UP3 and then get your nvidia in

about the rest (of course) i'm not going to talk (because i have no experience)

[Bill_KY]

zerozero has given good advice, I think. By all means make sure your new system is stble and working as it should and then turn to sgfxi.

I used sgfxi to install the required driver for my nvidia chip (G93 as I recall without looking) and sgfxi handled it cleanly. Nouveau can be cranky about black-listing so do not be surprised if sgfxi asks you to repeat your initial installation. That has been the case for me every time I have done it.

BTW while I use smxi to manage my two Debian systems smxi does not work well with LMDE because LMDE does not use the repository array that smxi expects. You can use the standard LMDE upgrade tools or just do apt-get update && apt-get upgrade in a root terminal. That is what I do, out of habit I suppose, and it works fine.

[digitalking]

disclaimer here first: i don't use sgfxi (tho i recommend it several times), i always use dkms (the debian way as "they say")

but I'm positive I haven't been using my Nvidia driver for the GeForce 9500 card

no, unless you explicitly install it, there's no nvidia/amd binaries in the default lmde install (you are running with nouveau)

or should I update to Update Pack 3 first?

first update, stabilize your system (if there's anything that needs taking care off; i see that you installed the 32bit v., so you should install the pae kernel (image and headers) << again after the update to UP3 and then get your nvidia in

about the rest (of course) i'm not going to talk (because i have no experience)

zerozero,

Thanks for the feedback. I've actually had no problems running any applications even when changing the repositories to incoming and using Gnome 3. I would just rather use my Nvidia drivers, learn what I'm doing, and put it to rest as it's the one thing I'm still having trouble figuring out how to do. I have read several threads and the suggestions always point to different methods of running various terminal commands, compiling a script yourself, etc.

I have installed the 32 bit ISO at least 4 of 5 times testing things out. I know to remove the gstreamer problem package, update the sources list and I usually update via terminal sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade rather than using the mint update tool. However, after upgrading/updating I've never heard of or seen anything related to installing the pae kernel (image and headers), can you explain that please?

Also you have some steps that can be used to run dkms? If this is the Debian way I'd rather do it that way.

[zerozero]

about the 32bit kernel

Multi-core and multi-CPU support in 32-bit kernel:

To guarantee compatibility with non-PAE processors, the 32-bit versions of Linux Mint Debian come with a 486 kernel by default. This kernel does not support SMP, and as a consequence is only able to detect one core and one CPU. If your CPU has multiple cores, or if you have more than one CPU, simply install the 686-PAE kernel and reboot your computer.

here http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1818
and http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... rs#p549789 and http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... rs#p543760 (these are just a couple of examples: if you do a forum search for headers you'll find a lot of hits)

as for dkms, i only do this

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apt install nvidia-kernel-dkms nvidia-glx build-essential nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig

and after that (and before reboot very important)

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sudo nvidia-xconfig

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=191&t=82424

of course my system is a lot different from yours but i hope this output helps

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amadeu@amadeu:~$ dpkg --list | egrep '(nvidia)|(linux-image*)|(linux-headers*)|(kbuild*)'
ii  glx-alternative-nvidia                        0.2.1                           allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider
ii  libgl1-nvidia-alternatives                    295.33-1                        transition libGL.so* diversions to glx-alternative-nvidia
ii  libgl1-nvidia-glx:amd64                       295.33-1                        NVIDIA binary OpenGL libraries
ii  libglx-nvidia-alternatives                    295.33-1                        transition libgl.so diversions to glx-alternative-nvidia
ii  linux-headers-2.6-amd64                       3.2+44                          Header files for Linux amd64 configuration (dummy package)
ii  linux-headers-2.6.32-5-common                 2.6.32-31                       Common header files for Linux 2.6.32-5
ii  linux-headers-2.6.38-2-amd64                  2.6.38-5                        Header files for Linux 2.6.38-2-amd64
ii  linux-headers-2.6.38-2-common                 2.6.38-5                        Common header files for Linux 2.6.38-2
ii  linux-headers-2.6.39-2-amd64                  2.6.39-3                        Header files for Linux 2.6.39-2-amd64
ii  linux-headers-2.6.39-2-common                 2.6.39-3                        Common header files for Linux 2.6.39-2
ii  linux-headers-3.0.0-1-amd64                   3.0.0-3                         Header files for Linux 3.0.0-1-amd64
ii  linux-headers-3.0.0-1-common                  3.0.0-3                         Common header files for Linux 3.0.0-1
ii  linux-headers-3.1.0-1-amd64                   3.1.8-2                         Header files for Linux 3.1.0-1-amd64
ii  linux-headers-3.1.0-1-common                  3.1.8-2                         Common header files for Linux 3.1.0-1
ii  linux-headers-3.2.0-1-amd64                   3.2.6-1                         Header files for Linux 3.2.0-1-amd64
ii  linux-headers-3.2.0-1-common                  3.2.6-1                         Common header files for Linux 3.2.0-1
ii  linux-headers-3.2.0-2-amd64                   3.2.12-1                        Header files for Linux 3.2.0-2-amd64
ii  linux-headers-3.2.0-2-common                  3.2.12-1                        Common header files for Linux 3.2.0-2
ii  linux-headers-amd64                           3.2+44                          Header files for Linux amd64 configuration (meta-package)
ii  linux-image-2.6-amd64                         3.2+44                          Linux for 64-bit PCs (dummy package)
ii  linux-image-2.6.32-5-amd64                    2.6.32-31                       Linux 2.6.32 for 64-bit PCs
ii  linux-image-2.6.38-2-amd64                    2.6.38-5                        Linux 2.6.38 for 64-bit PCs
ii  linux-image-2.6.39-2-amd64                    2.6.39-3                        Linux 2.6.39 for 64-bit PCs
ii  linux-image-3.0.0-1-amd64                     3.0.0-3                         Linux 3.0.0 for 64-bit PCs
ii  linux-image-3.1.0-1-amd64                     3.1.8-2                         Linux 3.1 for 64-bit PCs
ii  linux-image-3.2.0-1-amd64                     3.2.6-1                         Linux 3.2 for 64-bit PCs
ii  linux-image-3.2.0-2-amd64                     3.2.12-1                        Linux 3.2 for 64-bit PCs
ii  linux-image-amd64                             3.2+44                          Linux for 64-bit PCs (meta-package)
ii  linux-kbuild-2.6.32                           2.6.32-1                        Kbuild infrastructure for Linux 2.6.32
ii  linux-kbuild-2.6.38                           2.6.38-1                        Kbuild infrastructure for Linux 2.6.38
ii  linux-kbuild-2.6.39                           2.6.39-1                        Kbuild infrastructure for Linux 2.6.39
ii  linux-kbuild-3.0.0                            3.0.0-2                         Kbuild infrastructure for Linux 3.0.0
ii  linux-kbuild-3.1                              3.1.1-3                         Kbuild infrastructure for Linux 3.1
ii  linux-kbuild-3.2                              3.2.7-2                         Kbuild infrastructure for Linux 3.2
ii  nvidia-alternative                            295.33-1                        allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider
rc  nvidia-common                                 20110426+1                      NVIDIA binary graphics driver support files
ii  nvidia-glx                                    295.33-1                        NVIDIA metapackage
ii  nvidia-installer-cleanup                      20111111+3                      Cleanup after driver installation with the nvidia-installer
ii  nvidia-kernel-common                          20111111+3                      NVIDIA binary kernel module support files
ii  nvidia-kernel-dkms                            295.33-1                        NVIDIA binary kernel module DKMS source
ii  nvidia-settings                               295.20-1                        Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
ii  nvidia-support                                20111111+3                      NVIDIA binary graphics driver support files
ii  nvidia-vdpau-driver:amd64                     295.33-1                        NVIDIA vdpau driver
ii  nvidia-xconfig                                295.20-1                        X configuration tool for non-free NVIDIA drivers
ii  xserver-xorg-video-nvidia                     295.33-1                        NVIDIA binary Xorg driver
amadeu@amadeu:~$ 

[digitalking]

Thanks for all the assitance. I marked the thread solved since the inital question has been answered.