nvidia or ati ?

[Mihamina Rakotomandimby]

Hi,
I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.

[Gilboa Davara]

If you're willing to work with binary only drivers, go nVidia. Period.
In most cases (barring problematic/less supported AGP chipsets and older
GPUs) you'll get Windows like 3D performance with Linux stability.

Plus, the next nVidia drivers (8x.xx) due to be released any time soon,
are supposed to include SLI support. (Maybe it's time to add that second
6800GT card to my workstation? :))

What hardware configuration do you plan on using?
Gilboa

On Tue, 2005-10-04 at 16:29 +0200, Rakotomandimby Mihamina wrote:
> Hi,
> I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.
>
> -- 
> Administration & Formation à l'administration
> de serveurs dédiés:
> http://www.google.fr/search?q=aspo+infogerance+serveur

[Neal Becker]

I _strongly_ recommend the nvidia driver packaged by livna.  rpms.livna.org,
IIRC.

[Rodolfo Alcazar Portillo]

On Tue, 2005-10-04 at 16:29 +0200, Rakotomandimby Mihamina wrote:
> I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.

Nvidia works fine with my FC4 at work. Had problems and didnt finish
configuration with ATI at home.

--
Rodolfo Alcazar [e-mail]
Netzmanager Padep, GTZ
591-70656800, -22417628
LA PAZ, BOLIVIA

-- Darth Vader:
When I left you, I was but the learner.
Now I am the master.

[Mihamina Rakotomandimby]

On Tue, 2005-10-04 at 11:00 -0400, Neal Becker wrote:
> I _strongly_ recommend the nvidia driver packaged by livna.  rpms.livna.org,
> IIRC.

Thank you.

[Robin Laing]

Neal Becker wrote:
> I _strongly_ recommend the nvidia driver packaged by livna.  rpms.livna.org,
> IIRC.

Two computers up and running with FC4 installs on the weekend using 
nVidia.  Used the livna drivers this time.  Used to use the nVidia 
files in the past but thought I would try the rpms.  No problems.

I went to nVidia after spending three weeks trying to get an ATI 9600 
working using the ATI drivers.  No luck.  Less than 30 minutes from 
cashier to fulling working nVidia card in FC1.

[Robert Bell]

Not ATI - I have not been able to get my Radeon 9800 to do 3D with *any* 
drivers.  I'm going to have to get an nVidia card myself.

Rakotomandimby Mihamina wrote:
> Hi,
> I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.

[Jim Cornette]

Robert Bell wrote:
> Not ATI - I have not been able to get my Radeon 9800 to do 3D with 
> *any* drivers.  I'm going to have to get an nVidia card myself.

Did you try adding the below to your device section of xorg.conf?
 Option "AccelMethod" "exa"

and also adding an Extentions section to the tail of your xorg.conf file?

Section "Extensions"
    Option "Composite" "enable"

My "ATI Radeon Mobility U1" works with or without the option added. I am 
not sure if work there is something that will do you any good or not.

Nvidia, Intel or ATI?

Jim
> Rakotomandimby Mihamina wrote:
> > Hi,
> > I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> > better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.

[Bruno Wolff III]

On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 16:29:39 +0200,
  Rakotomandimby Mihamina  wrote:
> Hi,
> I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.

If you were think of getting a less expensive card, the ATI 9200 will work
with free drivers. There is a project to have free drivers for later ATI
cards, but you should go looking for the current status of that project
to make sure it is far enough along for you before committing to using a
ATI model.

[Richard Gelling]

On Sun, 2005-10-23 at 11:09 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 16:29:39 +0200,
>   Rakotomandimby Mihamina  wrote:
> > Hi,
> > I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> > better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.
>
> If you were think of getting a less expensive card, the ATI 9200 will work
> with free drivers. There is a project to have free drivers for later ATI
> cards, but you should go looking for the current status of that project
> to make sure it is far enough along for you before committing to using a
> ATI model.

I have found the Nvidia 3D drivers easier to install

[Kahn Seidl]

here is the low down with ati vs. nvidia in linux

ati doesnt care about linux, there drivers horrible.

in the time before last release drivers, a geforce 5700 would beat a 9800 by 
a sizable margin.

nvidias drivers are much better and perfom much better.  the new ati drivers 
improve the situation, but, it is still crappy compared to nvidia.

martin
> From: Richard Gelling 
> Reply-To: For users of Fedora Core releases 
> To: For users of Fedora Core releases 
> Subject: Re: nvidia or ati ?
> Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 17:29:23 +0100
>
> On Sun, 2005-10-23 at 11:09 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> > On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 16:29:39 +0200,
> >   Rakotomandimby Mihamina
>
> wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > > I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it
>
> is
> > > better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.
> >
> > If you were think of getting a less expensive card, the ATI 9200 will
>
> work
> > with free drivers. There is a project to have free drivers for later ATI
> > cards, but you should go looking for the current status of that project
> > to make sure it is far enough along for you before committing to using a
> > ATI model.
>
> I have found the Nvidia 3D drivers easier to install
>
> --
> Registered Linux User: 256848
> Failure isn't an option -- it comes bundled with microsoft windows
>
> --
> fedora-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[Joel Jaeggli]

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005, Kahn Seidl wrote:
> here is the low down with ati vs. nvidia in linux
>
> ati doesnt care about linux, there drivers horrible.

It's not that they don't care, their execution is a little lacking. If 
they didn't care their wouldn't be a proprietary driver. That was the case 
before the radeon 8500.

If you're willing to use a radeon 9000/9200/9250 you can a decent 
non-proprietary open-gl support. It won't be adequate for high-end games 
becuase it can't among other things  support s3-texture compression, but 
it works, and it's non-proprietary.
> in the time before last release drivers, a geforce 5700 would beat a 9800 by 
> a sizable margin.

In windows-land driver quality has been an issue that has dogged both 
vendors at various times. if enough people use the linux driver it's 
liekly that they'll spend more cycles on it. As it is they view the market 
as rather small, and spend most of their time supporting their workstation 
cards and applications, as those customers are the most valueable.
> nvidias drivers are much better and perfom much better.  the new ati drivers 
> improve the situation, but, it is still crappy compared to nvidia.

It is yes. Most of our boxes save the one that actually needs opengl that 
have nividia cards we use the x.org driver. in the recent past we've been 
buying all the laptops with intel graphics, because frankly the hassle of 
dealing with propietary drivers when you also want the thing to sleep is 
just to much work. Yes it's slower and not adequate for high-end gaming, 
but it works out of the box.

name of display: :0.0
display: :0  screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.2

...

OpenGL vendor string: Tungsten Graphics, Inc
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) 915GM 20050225 x86/MMX/SSE2
OpenGL version string: 1.3 Mesa 6.3.2
> martin
> > From: Richard Gelling 
> > Reply-To: For users of Fedora Core releases 
> > To: For users of Fedora Core releases 
> > Subject: Re: nvidia or ati ?
> > Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 17:29:23 +0100
> >
> > On Sun, 2005-10-23 at 11:09 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> > > On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 16:29:39 +0200,
> > >   Rakotomandimby Mihamina
> >
> > wrote:
> > > > Hi,
> > > > I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> > > > better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.
> > >
> > > If you were think of getting a less expensive card, the ATI 9200 will
> >
> > work
> > > with free drivers. There is a project to have free drivers for later ATI
> > > cards, but you should go looking for the current status of that project
> > > to make sure it is far enough along for you before committing to using a
> > > ATI model.
> >
> > I have found the Nvidia 3D drivers easier to install
> >
> > --
> > Registered Linux User: 256848
> > Failure isn't an option -- it comes bundled with microsoft windows
> >
> > --
> > fedora-list mailing list
> > [e-mail]
> > To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[Claus Reheis]

On Sun, 2005-10-23 at 11:09 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 16:29:39 +0200,
>   Rakotomandimby Mihamina  wrote:
> > Hi,
> > I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> > better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.
>
> If you were think of getting a less expensive card, the ATI 9200 will work
> with free drivers. There is a project to have free drivers for later ATI
> cards, but you should go looking for the current status of that project
> to make sure it is far enough along for you before committing to using a
> ATI model.

If you want it easy going and you want 3D Support I would suggest you a
NVIDIA model!
I also had a good experience with cads from Intel...

Claus

___________________________________________________________ 
Gesendet von Yahoo! Mail - Jetzt mit 1GB Speicher kostenlos - Hier anmelden: http://mail.yahoo.de

[tlc]

On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 12:47 +0800, Claus Reheis wrote:
> On Sun, 2005-10-23 at 11:09 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> > On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 16:29:39 +0200,
> >   Rakotomandimby Mihamina  wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > > I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> > > better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.
> >
> > If you were think of getting a less expensive card, the ATI 9200 will work
> > with free drivers. There is a project to have free drivers for later ATI
> > cards, but you should go looking for the current status of that project
> > to make sure it is far enough along for you before committing to using a
> > ATI model.
>
> If you want it easy going and you want 3D Support I would suggest you a
> NVIDIA model!
> I also had a good experience with cads from Intel...
>
> Claus

nvidia
> ___________________________________________________________ 
> Gesendet von Yahoo! Mail - Jetzt mit 1GB Speicher kostenlos - Hier anmelden: http://mail.yahoo.de

[Rudolf Kastl]

if you wanna play games id seriously recommend an nvidia card.
price money comparison under linux will just give you more value atm...

e.g.  i am pretty happy with a gforce 6200 128bit/128mb pcie for just 80 euros
atleast doom3 works like a charm.

on the other hand...my work thinkpads radeon works without the need to
install proprietary drivers at all but for gaming... ;).

i hope that should help you finding the right choice for you... also
if you plan to play windows games on wine... id seriously suggest
nvidia aswell...

2005/10/24, tlc :
> On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 12:47 +0800, Claus Reheis wrote:
> > On Sun, 2005-10-23 at 11:09 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> > > On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 16:29:39 +0200,
> > >   Rakotomandimby Mihamina  wrote:
> > > > Hi,
> > > > I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> > > > better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.
> > >
> > > If you were think of getting a less expensive card, the ATI 9200 will work
> > > with free drivers. There is a project to have free drivers for later ATI
> > > cards, but you should go looking for the current status of that project
> > > to make sure it is far enough along for you before committing to using a
> > > ATI model.
> >
> > If you want it easy going and you want 3D Support I would suggest you a
> > NVIDIA model!
> > I also had a good experience with cads from Intel...
> >
> > Claus
>
> nvidia
> > Gesendet von Yahoo! Mail - Jetzt mit 1GB Speicher kostenlos - Hier anmelden: http://mail.yahoo.de
>
> --
> fedora-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[tlc]

On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 15:48 +0200, Rudolf Kastl wrote:
> if you wanna play games id seriously recommend an nvidia card.
> price money comparison under linux will just give you more value atm...
>
> e.g.  i am pretty happy with a gforce 6200 128bit/128mb pcie for just 80 euros
> atleast doom3 works like a charm.
>
> on the other hand...my work thinkpads radeon works without the need to
> install proprietary drivers at all but for gaming... ;).

the nvidia cards will work with out the proprietary drivers as well ..
as a matter of fact they work great with the nv driver. Its just nice to
be able to install the nvidia driver to boost performance.
> i hope that should help you finding the right choice for you... also
> if you plan to play windows games on wine... id seriously suggest
> nvidia aswell...
>
> 2005/10/24, tlc :
> > On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 12:47 +0800, Claus Reheis wrote:
> > > On Sun, 2005-10-23 at 11:09 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> > > > On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 16:29:39 +0200,
> > > >   Rakotomandimby Mihamina  wrote:
> > > > > Hi,
> > > > > I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> > > > > better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.
> > > >
> > > > If you were think of getting a less expensive card, the ATI 9200 will work
> > > > with free drivers. There is a project to have free drivers for later ATI
> > > > cards, but you should go looking for the current status of that project
> > > > to make sure it is far enough along for you before committing to using a
> > > > ATI model.
> > >
> > > If you want it easy going and you want 3D Support I would suggest you a
> > > NVIDIA model!
> > > I also had a good experience with cads from Intel...
> > >
> > > Claus
> >
> > nvidia
> > > Gesendet von Yahoo! Mail - Jetzt mit 1GB Speicher kostenlos - Hier anmelden: http://mail.yahoo.de
> >
> > --
> > fedora-list mailing list
> > [e-mail]
> > To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[john bray]

On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 12:47 +0800, Claus Reheis wrote:
> On Sun, 2005-10-23 at 11:09 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> > On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 16:29:39 +0200,
> >   Rakotomandimby Mihamina  wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > > I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> > > better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.
> >
> > If you were think of getting a less expensive card, the ATI 9200 will work
> > with free drivers. There is a project to have free drivers for later ATI
> > cards, but you should go looking for the current status of that project
> > to make sure it is far enough along for you before committing to using a
> > ATI model.
>
> If you want it easy going and you want 3D Support I would suggest you a
> NVIDIA model!
> I also had a good experience with cads from Intel...

one of the considerations that i hadn't thought about until recently is
that all the recent nvidia cards have mpeg2 decoders built into them.  i
believe -- dont' know for sure -- ati cards don't have them.  this means
that if you get into atsc hdtv or movies, it can reduce the load on your
system.

john

[Bruno Wolff III]

On Sun, Oct 23, 2005 at 17:29:23 +0100,
  Richard Gelling  wrote:
> On Sun, 2005-10-23 at 11:09 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> > On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 16:29:39 +0200,
> >   Rakotomandimby Mihamina  wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > > I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> > > better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.
> >
> > If you were think of getting a less expensive card, the ATI 9200 will work
> > with free drivers. There is a project to have free drivers for later ATI
> > cards, but you should go looking for the current status of that project
> > to make sure it is far enough along for you before committing to using a
> > ATI model.
>
> I have found the Nvidia 3D drivers easier to install

The free ATI drivers come as part of the xorg package. You don't have to do
anything to install them.

[tlc]

On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 21:52 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> On Sun, Oct 23, 2005 at 17:29:23 +0100,
>   Richard Gelling  wrote:
> > On Sun, 2005-10-23 at 11:09 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> > > On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 16:29:39 +0200,
> > >   Rakotomandimby Mihamina  wrote:
> > > > Hi,
> > > > I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> > > > better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.
> > >
> > > If you were think of getting a less expensive card, the ATI 9200 will work
> > > with free drivers. There is a project to have free drivers for later ATI
> > > cards, but you should go looking for the current status of that project
> > > to make sure it is far enough along for you before committing to using a
> > > ATI model.
> >
> > I have found the Nvidia 3D drivers easier to install
>
> The free ATI drivers come as part of the xorg package. You don't have to do
> anything to install them.

so do the free nvidia drivers.

[Rudolf Kastl]

nvidia "nv"  driver doesnt provide any hw acceleration at all... go
ahead and try tux racer with software rendering ;) its fun to watch.
sure if you dont intend to run anything 3d it doesent matter...

regards,
Rudolf Kastl

2005/10/24, tlc :
> On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 15:48 +0200, Rudolf Kastl wrote:
> > if you wanna play games id seriously recommend an nvidia card.
> > price money comparison under linux will just give you more value atm...
> >
> > e.g.  i am pretty happy with a gforce 6200 128bit/128mb pcie for just 80 euros
> > atleast doom3 works like a charm.
> >
> > on the other hand...my work thinkpads radeon works without the need to
> > install proprietary drivers at all but for gaming... ;).
>
> the nvidia cards will work with out the proprietary drivers as well ..
> as a matter of fact they work great with the nv driver. Its just nice to
> be able to install the nvidia driver to boost performance.
> > i hope that should help you finding the right choice for you... also
> > if you plan to play windows games on wine... id seriously suggest
> > nvidia aswell...
> >
> > 2005/10/24, tlc :
> > > On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 12:47 +0800, Claus Reheis wrote:
> > > > On Sun, 2005-10-23 at 11:09 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> > > > > On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 16:29:39 +0200,
> > > > >   Rakotomandimby Mihamina  wrote:
> > > > > > Hi,
> > > > > > I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> > > > > > better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.
> > > > >
> > > > > If you were think of getting a less expensive card, the ATI 9200 will work
> > > > > with free drivers. There is a project to have free drivers for later ATI
> > > > > cards, but you should go looking for the current status of that project
> > > > > to make sure it is far enough along for you before committing to using a
> > > > > ATI model.
> > > >
> > > > If you want it easy going and you want 3D Support I would suggest you a
> > > > NVIDIA model!
> > > > I also had a good experience with cads from Intel...
> > > >
> > > > Claus
> > >
> > > nvidia
> > > > Gesendet von Yahoo! Mail - Jetzt mit 1GB Speicher kostenlos - Hier anmelden: http://mail.yahoo.de
> > >
> > > --
> > > fedora-list mailing list
> > > [e-mail]
> > > To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
>
> --
> fedora-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[tlc]

On Tue, 2005-10-25 at 15:14 +0200, Rudolf Kastl wrote:
> nvidia "nv"  driver doesnt provide any hw acceleration at all... go
> ahead and try tux racer with software rendering ;) its fun to watch.
> sure if you dont intend to run anything 3d it doesent matter...
>
> regards,
> Rudolf Kastl

It works fine for me even with the nv driver. And the nvidia driver is a
very easy to install.

[Rudolf Kastl]

yeah it works but the performance is below acceptable for me, even
with a rather fast cpu ;).

2005/10/25, tlc :
> On Tue, 2005-10-25 at 15:14 +0200, Rudolf Kastl wrote:
> > nvidia "nv"  driver doesnt provide any hw acceleration at all... go
> > ahead and try tux racer with software rendering ;) its fun to watch.
> > sure if you dont intend to run anything 3d it doesent matter...
> >
> > regards,
> > Rudolf Kastl
>
> It works fine for me even with the nv driver. And the nvidia driver is a
> very easy to install.
>
> --
> fedora-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[Michael A. Peters]

On Tuesday, October 25, 2005, at 06:29AM, Rudolf Kastl  wrote:
> yeah it works but the performance is below acceptable for me, even
> with a rather fast cpu ;).
>
> 2005/10/25, tlc :
> > On Tue, 2005-10-25 at 15:14 +0200, Rudolf Kastl wrote:
> > > nvidia "nv"  driver doesnt provide any hw acceleration at all... go
> > > ahead and try tux racer with software rendering ;) its fun to watch.
> > > sure if you dont intend to run anything 3d it doesent matter...
> > >
> > > regards,
> > > Rudolf Kastl
> >
> > It works fine for me even with the nv driver. And the nvidia driver is a
> > very easy to install.

I have to recommend against using the nvidia binary driver.
Sometimes it is good, sometimes it ain't so good.

For example - I was experiencing a crash (segfault) in grep and slowness in balsa.
When using nv.ko (the open source driver) - grep did not segfault and balsa was fine.

Your experiences may differ - but I finally said enough is enough and I no longer will use binary only video drivers. With Open Source video drivers, sometimes there are problems too - but at least the source to the driver is available for people to look at and determine how to proceed with a solution.

I do wish we had a modern video card with good 3D acceleration and an open source driver - I don't know of one, maybe one exists - fortunately for me, 3D hardware acceleration isn't something I need.

I think some of the onboard Intel cards have good open source 3D acceleration.
Probably not as good as NVidia is capable of, but better than nothing.

[tlc]

On Tue, 2005-10-25 at 06:38 -0700, Michael Peters wrote:
> I have to recommend against using the nvidia binary driver.
> Sometimes it is good, sometimes it ain't so good.
>
> For example - I was experiencing a crash (segfault) in grep and slowness in balsa.
> When using nv.ko (the open source driver) - grep did not segfault and balsa was fine.

are you certain nothing else changed? I have been using the nvidia
driver since RH7 and have never heard of anything like that.
> I think some of the onboard Intel cards have good open source 3D acceleration.
> Probably not as good as NVidia is capable of, but better than nothing.

I have not had much luck with the onboard intel cards, but I also have
never tried tweaking anything.

[Robin Laing]

Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> On Sun, Oct 23, 2005 at 17:29:23 +0100,
>   Richard Gelling  wrote:
> > On Sun, 2005-10-23 at 11:09 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> > > On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 16:29:39 +0200,
> > >  Rakotomandimby Mihamina  wrote:
> > > > Hi,
> > > > I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to know if it is
> > > > better either to have a nVidia or an ATI graphic card.
> > >
> > > If you were think of getting a less expensive card, the ATI 9200 will work
> > > with free drivers. There is a project to have free drivers for later ATI
> > > cards, but you should go looking for the current status of that project
> > > to make sure it is far enough along for you before committing to using a
> > > ATI model.
> >
> > I have found the Nvidia 3D drivers easier to install
>
> The free ATI drivers come as part of the xorg package. You don't have to do
> anything to install them.

Does the xorg driver provide 3d in the newest ATI cards?

I went through video card hell on a new computer with ATI trying to 
use the ATI binary drivers as well.  Never did see 3d on the card.

Installed FC4 on two computers (desktop and laptop) a few weeks ago. 
Worked out of the box.

Installed the nVidia binaries from livna and all is great.  Of course 
I could tweak some and maybe get things better but that takes time 
which is harder to find.

I dumped ATI for nVidia.  A friend of mine just did the same in the 
Windows world.

I won't even consider ATI any more.

[Michael A. Peters]

On Tuesday, October 25, 2005, at 06:45AM, tlc  wrote:
> On Tue, 2005-10-25 at 06:38 -0700, Michael Peters wrote:
> > I have to recommend against using the nvidia binary driver.
> > Sometimes it is good, sometimes it ain't so good.
> >
> > For example - I was experiencing a crash (segfault) in grep and slowness in balsa.
> > When using nv.ko (the open source driver) - grep did not segfault and balsa was fine.
>
> are you certain nothing else changed? I have been using the nvidia
> driver since RH7 and have never heard of anything like that.

Yup - dmesg showed it was nvidia responsible for the grep segfault - it only happened under certain repeatable conditions (a grep of a directory that included device nodes, if I recall)

The balsa thing was weird. Startup was really slow with the nvidia binary driver, normal with nv.ko driver. I don't know what caused that effect.

[Bruno Wolff III]

On Tue, Oct 25, 2005 at 08:41:26 -0600,
  Robin Laing  wrote:
> Does the xorg driver provide 3d in the newest ATI cards?

I don't know, but my understanding is that r300 support is still being worked
on and even if it was included you may not want to count on it.

[Mogens Kjaer]

Neal Becker wrote:
> I _strongly_ recommend the nvidia driver packaged by livna.  rpms.livna.org,
> IIRC.

Is it possible to set it up so that if you run
yum update every night, a new kernel is not installed
until the corresponding nvidia kernel module from livna
is available?

Mogens

[Igor Jagec]

Mogens Kjaer kaže:
> Neal Becker wrote:
> > I _strongly_ recommend the nvidia driver packaged by livna.  rpms.livna.org,
> > IIRC.
>
> Is it possible to set it up so that if you run
> yum update every night, a new kernel is not installed
> until the corresponding nvidia kernel module from livna
> is available?

I would advice you to get the nvidia-glx-1.0.7676-0.lvn.2.4.src.rpm
package and recompile it when the new kernel package is released. You
have all the build instructions in the spec file. It works for me on FC4
and CentOS 4.2.

[Mogens Kjaer]

Igor Jagec wrote:
....
> I would advice you to get the nvidia-glx-1.0.7676-0.lvn.2.4.src.rpm
> package and recompile it when the new kernel package is released.

Yes, but this is not done automatically.

So if the machine is rebooted after the new
kernel is installed, but before the nvidia driver
is recompiled, the machine starts up without
graphics.

This has annoyed quite a few people here... :-)

Mogens

[Robin Laing]

Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2005 at 08:41:26 -0600,
>   Robin Laing  wrote:
> > Does the xorg driver provide 3d in the newest ATI cards?
>
> I don't know, but my understanding is that r300 support is still being worked
> on and even if it was included you may not want to count on it.

I will never purchase or recommend an ATI card again.  Neither will my 
Windows friend after his problems with ATI.  This is worse as he is a 
sysadmin and now specifically requests that all video hardware is nVidia.

[Gene Heskett]

On Tuesday 25 October 2005 09:14, Rudolf Kastl wrote:
> nvidia "nv"  driver doesnt provide any hw acceleration at all... go
> ahead and try tux racer with software rendering ;) its fun to watch.
> sure if you dont intend to run anything 3d it doesent matter...

Whereas my ATI Radion 9200SE does tuxracer just fine using the default
drivers compiled into the kernel, using x.org-6.8.1-901, home built.

My last nvidia card failed, and burnt the mobo up too.  But I've since
taken that cpu, put it and the half gig of memory on a Mach-Speed board
with the onboard video disabled and a newer nvidia card in it, and its
running my milling machine fairly well using emc-4.30.
> regards,
> Rudolf Kastl
>
> 2005/10/24, tlc :
> > On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 15:48 +0200, Rudolf Kastl wrote:
> > > if you wanna play games id seriously recommend an nvidia card.
> > > price money comparison under linux will just give you more value
> > > atm...
> > >
> > > e.g.  i am pretty happy with a gforce 6200 128bit/128mb pcie for
> > > just 80 euros atleast doom3 works like a charm.
> > >
> > > on the other hand...my work thinkpads radeon works without the need
> > > to install proprietary drivers at all but for gaming... ;).
> >
> > the nvidia cards will work with out the proprietary drivers as well ..
> > as a matter of fact they work great with the nv driver. Its just nice
> > to be able to install the nvidia driver to boost performance.
> > > i hope that should help you finding the right choice for you... also
> > > if you plan to play windows games on wine... id seriously suggest
> > > nvidia aswell...
> > >
> > > 2005/10/24, tlc :
> > > > On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 12:47 +0800, Claus Reheis wrote:
> > > > > On Sun, 2005-10-23 at 11:09 -0500, Bruno Wolff III wrote:
> > > > > > On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 16:29:39 +0200,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Rakotomandimby Mihamina

 wrote:
> > > > > > > Hi,
> > > > > > > I am going ti buy a brand new computer, and would like to
> > > > > > > know if it is better either to have a nVidia or an ATI
> > > > > > > graphic card.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > If you were think of getting a less expensive card, the ATI
> > > > > > 9200 will work with free drivers. There is a project to have
> > > > > > free drivers for later ATI cards, but you should go looking
> > > > > > for the current status of that project to make sure it is far
> > > > > > enough along for you before committing to using a ATI model.
> > > > >
> > > > > If you want it easy going and you want 3D Support I would
> > > > > suggest you a NVIDIA model!
> > > > > I also had a good experience with cads from Intel...
> > > > >
> > > > > Claus
> > > >
> > > > nvidia
> > > > > Gesendet von Yahoo! Mail - Jetzt mit 1GB Speicher kostenlos -
> > > > > Hier anmelden: http://mail.yahoo.de
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > fedora-list mailing list
> > > > [e-mail]
> > > > To unsubscribe:
> > > > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
> >
> > --
> > fedora-list mailing list
> > [e-mail]
> > To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[Guy Fraser]

On Tue, 2005-25-10 at 18:33 +0200, Mogens Kjaer wrote:
> Igor Jagec wrote:
> ....
> > I would advice you to get the nvidia-glx-1.0.7676-0.lvn.2.4.src.rpm
> > package and recompile it when the new kernel package is released.
>
> Yes, but this is not done automatically.
>
> So if the machine is rebooted after the new
> kernel is installed, but before the nvidia driver
> is recompiled, the machine starts up without
> graphics.
>
> This has annoyed quite a few people here... :-)
>
> Mogens

When I was using the binary driver, I had a script that I kept 
in /root/bin to build, install the driver and add it to initrd.
If I forgot to update it before I booted a new kernel it was 
easy to log in as root, run the script and reboot. Unfortunately 
I am not using that script anymore and am not sure if I still 
have a copy of it anywhere.

Here is a hint on making it work easily in BASH scripts :

KERNVER = `uname -r`

I am currently using an ATI card in that machine but only 
so that I can convert some .vcr files to mpeg2 in windows.

Have a good day.

[Thorsten Leemhuis]

Am Dienstag, den 25.10.2005, 18:33 +0200 schrieb Mogens Kjaer:
> Igor Jagec wrote:
> ....
> > I would advice you to get the nvidia-glx-1.0.7676-0.lvn.2.4.src.rpm
> > package and recompile it when the new kernel package is released.
> Yes, but this is not done automatically.
>
> So if the machine is rebooted after the new
> kernel is installed, but before the nvidia driver
> is recompiled, the machine starts up without
> graphics.

This should not happen -- the livna package should disable the nvidia
driver and switch to nv when the kernel-module for the new kernel is
missing. If not file a bug.

BTW, livna is quite fast with updating modules these days -- most times
they have them online 24 hours after a new kernel gets published.

[Mogens Kjaer]

Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
...
> This should not happen -- the livna package should disable the nvidia
> driver and switch to nv when the kernel-module for the new kernel is
> missing. If not file a bug.

This :-( :-( "feature" made me dump the livna way a long time ago.

Not only do you have to get the kernel module installed, you
also have to set up X again to use the nvidia driver.

Now if only some cleaver rpm dependencies could be set
up so that the kernel isn't updated until a new livna
nvidia rpm is available - that would be useful!

Mogens

[Brian Anderson]

Mogens Kjaer wrote:
> Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
> ...
> > This should not happen -- the livna package should disable the nvidia
> > driver and switch to nv when the kernel-module for the new kernel is
> > missing. If not file a bug.
>
> This :-( :-( "feature" made me dump the livna way a long time ago.
>
> Not only do you have to get the kernel module installed, you
> also have to set up X again to use the nvidia driver.
>
> Now if only some cleaver rpm dependencies could be set
> up so that the kernel isn't updated until a new livna
> nvidia rpm is available - that would be useful!
>
> Mogens

Actually, the new nvidia and ati rpms out of livna, will fall back to 
the standard drivers if the proprietary kernel modules couldn't be 
loaded.  This allows one to upgrade the kernel without losing X even if 
the proprietary modules aren't built yet.  There are also command line 
utilities to turn off the proprietary drivers on next boot, which is 
usefull if you have a laptop since neither ati nor nvidia proprietary 
drivers support suspend while the open source drivers both do.

[Michael A. Peters]

On Tue, 2005-10-25 at 19:52 +0200, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
> Am Dienstag, den 25.10.2005, 18:33 +0200 schrieb Mogens Kjaer:
> > Igor Jagec wrote:
> > ....
> > > I would advice you to get the nvidia-glx-1.0.7676-0.lvn.2.4.src.rpm
> > > package and recompile it when the new kernel package is released.
> > Yes, but this is not done automatically.
> >
> > So if the machine is rebooted after the new
> > kernel is installed, but before the nvidia driver
> > is recompiled, the machine starts up without
> > graphics.
>
> This should not happen -- the livna package should disable the nvidia
> driver and switch to nv when the kernel-module for the new kernel is
> missing. If not file a bug.
>
> BTW, livna is quite fast with updating modules these days -- most times
> they have them online 24 hours after a new kernel gets published.

Yes - what I do with the binary module I need (not video) - I disable
the kernel update in my /etc/yum.conf file via exclude=kernel

That way I can just yum update to my hearts content.

Every couple of weeks I just check for a new livna module - and if there
is one, I comment out the exclude line and then use yum install to
install the new livna module for what I need, and it pulls the new
kernel in as a dependency.

[Jeff Vian]

On Tue, 2005-10-25 at 18:08 +0200, Mogens Kjaer wrote:
> Neal Becker wrote:
> > I _strongly_ recommend the nvidia driver packaged by livna.  rpms.livna.org,
> > IIRC.
>
> Is it possible to set it up so that if you run
> yum update every night, a new kernel is not installed
> until the corresponding nvidia kernel module from livna
> is available?

The kernel is installed, not updated.
It does not load the new kernel until a reboot occurs so if you watch
for the update in the yum.log then you can do the reboot and driver
update at your convenience.
> Mogens
>
> -- 
> Mogens Kjaer, Carlsberg A/S, Computer Department
> Gamle Carlsberg Vej 10, DK-2500 Valby, Denmark
> Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone]
> Email: [e-mail] Homepage: http://www.crc.dk

[Mogens Kjaer]

Jeff Vian wrote:
...
> The kernel is installed, not updated.
> It does not load the new kernel until a reboot occurs so if you watch
> for the update in the yum.log then you can do the reboot and driver
> update at your convenience.

I can do that, you can do that.

The "ordinary users" I have can't. :-(

Some of them have dualboot machines, and therefore
reboot regularly.

Hm, I'll guess it would be easier to stick with the files
from nvidia and make a script that is run during boot
that builds and installs the kernel module, if necessary.

Mogens

[Matthew Saltzman]

On Thu, 27 Oct 2005, Jeff Vian wrote:
> On Tue, 2005-10-25 at 18:08 +0200, Mogens Kjaer wrote:
> > Neal Becker wrote:
> > > I _strongly_ recommend the nvidia driver packaged by livna.  rpms.livna.org,
> > > IIRC.
> >
> > Is it possible to set it up so that if you run
> > yum update every night, a new kernel is not installed
> > until the corresponding nvidia kernel module from livna
> > is available?
>
> The kernel is installed, not updated.
> It does not load the new kernel until a reboot occurs so if you watch
> for the update in the yum.log then you can do the reboot and driver
> update at your convenience.

Also see /etc/sysconfig/kernel, where you can specify that the kernel 
install not change grub to boot the new kernel by default.  Then when the 
nvidia module comes out, you can install it and update /etc/grub.conf by 
hand to boot the new kernel.
> > Mogens

[Tony Nelson]

At 8:08 AM +0200 10/28/05, Mogens Kjaer wrote:
> Jeff Vian wrote:
> ...
> > The kernel is installed, not updated.
> > It does not load the new kernel until a reboot occurs so if you watch
> > for the update in the yum.log then you can do the reboot and driver
> > update at your convenience.
>
> I can do that, you can do that.
>
> The "ordinary users" I have can't. :-(
>
> Some of them have dualboot machines, and therefore
> reboot regularly.
>
> Hm, I'll guess it would be easier to stick with the files
> from nvidia and make a script that is run during boot
> that builds and installs the kernel module, if necessary.

Yes, and after your users have tested it a while, how about submitting it
as a RFE for the livna packages?  It sounds useful.
____________________________________________________________________
TonyN.:'                       
      '                              http://www.georgeanelson.com/

[Thorsten Leemhuis]

Am Freitag, den 28.10.2005, 14:22 -0400 schrieb Tony Nelson:
> At 8:08 AM +0200 10/28/05, Mogens Kjaer wrote:
> > Jeff Vian wrote:
> > ...
> > > The kernel is installed, not updated.
> > > It does not load the new kernel until a reboot occurs so if you watch
> > > for the update in the yum.log then you can do the reboot and driver
> > > update at your convenience.
> >
> > I can do that, you can do that.
> >
> > The "ordinary users" I have can't. :-(
> >
> > Some of them have dualboot machines, and therefore
> > reboot regularly.
> >
> > Hm, I'll guess it would be easier to stick with the files
> > from nvidia and make a script that is run during boot
> > that builds and installs the kernel module, if necessary.
>
> Yes, and after your users have tested it a while, how about submitting it
> as a RFE for the livna packages?  It sounds useful.

I have something like that already, but never finished it nor included
it in the nvidia or ati livna packages. If people are interested in it
and (most important!) help testing I'm going to work on this further.

[Tony Nelson]

At 10:07 AM +0200 10/29/05, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
> Am Freitag, den 28.10.2005, 14:22 -0400 schrieb Tony Nelson:
> > At 8:08 AM +0200 10/28/05, Mogens Kjaer wrote:
> > > Jeff Vian wrote:
> > > ...
> > > > The kernel is installed, not updated.
> > > > It does not load the new kernel until a reboot occurs so if you watch
> > > > for the update in the yum.log then you can do the reboot and driver
> > > > update at your convenience.
> > >
> > > I can do that, you can do that.
> > >
> > > The "ordinary users" I have can't. :-(
> > >
> > > Some of them have dualboot machines, and therefore
> > > reboot regularly.
> > >
> > > Hm, I'll guess it would be easier to stick with the files
> > > from nvidia and make a script that is run during boot
> > > that builds and installs the kernel module, if necessary.
> >
> > Yes, and after your users have tested it a while, how about submitting it
> > as a RFE for the livna packages?  It sounds useful.
>
> I have something like that already, but never finished it nor included
> it in the nvidia or ati livna packages. If people are interested in it
> and (most important!) help testing I'm going to work on this further.

I'm not using any such package now (don't do 3D games), but I do have an
(old) ATI card (Radeon 7000/VE) in my machine.  As I'm willing to volunteer
the time of others, I suppose I could test an ATI package on my machine if
that would be useful.  Let me know.
____________________________________________________________________
TonyN.:'                       
      '                              http://www.georgeanelson.com/

[Thorsten Leemhuis]

Am Samstag, den 29.10.2005, 17:32 -0400 schrieb Tony Nelson:
> At 10:07 AM +0200 10/29/05, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
> > Am Freitag, den 28.10.2005, 14:22 -0400 schrieb Tony Nelson:
> > > At 8:08 AM +0200 10/28/05, Mogens Kjaer wrote:
> > > > Jeff Vian wrote:
> > > > ...
> > > > > The kernel is installed, not updated.
> > > > > It does not load the new kernel until a reboot occurs so if you watch
> > > > > for the update in the yum.log then you can do the reboot and driver
> > > > > update at your convenience.
> > > >
> > > > I can do that, you can do that.
> > > >
> > > > The "ordinary users" I have can't. :-(
> > > >
> > > > Some of them have dualboot machines, and therefore
> > > > reboot regularly.
> > > >
> > > > Hm, I'll guess it would be easier to stick with the files
> > > > from nvidia and make a script that is run during boot
> > > > that builds and installs the kernel module, if necessary.
> > >
> > > Yes, and after your users have tested it a while, how about submitting it
> > > as a RFE for the livna packages?  It sounds useful.
> >
> > I have something like that already, but never finished it nor included
> > it in the nvidia or ati livna packages. If people are interested in it
> > and (most important!) help testing I'm going to work on this further.
>
> I'm not using any such package now (don't do 3D games), but I do have an
> (old) ATI card (Radeon 7000/VE) in my machine.  As I'm willing to volunteer
> the time of others, I suppose I could test an ATI package on my machine if
> that would be useful.  Let me know.

Won't be very useful because the ati-fglrx packages need a Radeon 8500
or above.

Maurie

-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Nelson 
To: [e-mail]
Sent: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 17:32:14 -0400
Subject: Re: nvidia or ati ?

At 10:07 AM +0200 10/29/05, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
> Am Freitag, den 28.10.2005, 14:22 -0400 schrieb Tony Nelson:
> > At 8:08 AM +0200 10/28/05, Mogens Kjaer wrote:
> > > Jeff Vian wrote:
> > > ...
> > > > The kernel is installed, not updated.
> > > > It does not load the new kernel until a reboot occurs so if you watch
> > > > for the update in the yum.log then you can do the reboot and driver
> > > > update at your convenience.
> > >
> > > I can do that, you can do that.
> > >
> > > The "ordinary users" I have can't. :-(
> > >
> > > Some of them have dualboot machines, and therefore
> > > reboot regularly.
> > >
> > > Hm, I'll guess it would be easier to stick with the files
> > > from nvidia and make a script that is run during boot
> > > that builds and installs the kernel module, if necessary.
> >
> > Yes, and after your users have tested it a while, how about submitting it
> > as a RFE for the livna packages?  It sounds useful.
>
> I have something like that already, but never finished it nor included
> it in the nvidia or ati livna packages. If people are interested in it
> and (most important!) help testing I'm going to work on this further.

I'm not using any such package now (don't do 3D games), but I do have an
(old) ATI card (Radeon 7000/VE) in my machine.  As I'm willing to volunteer
the time of others, I suppose I could test an ATI package on my machine if
that would be useful.  Let me know.
____________________________________________________________________
TonyN.:'                       
      '                              http://www.georgeanelson.com/

Maurie

-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Nelson 
To: [e-mail]
Sent: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 17:32:14 -0400
Subject: Re: nvidia or ati ?

At 10:07 AM +0200 10/29/05, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
> Am Freitag, den 28.10.2005, 14:22 -0400 schrieb Tony Nelson:
> > At 8:08 AM +0200 10/28/05, Mogens Kjaer wrote:
> > > Jeff Vian wrote:
> > > ...
> > > > The kernel is installed, not updated.
> > > > It does not load the new kernel until a reboot occurs so if you watch
> > > > for the update in the yum.log then you can do the reboot and driver
> > > > update at your convenience.
> > >
> > > I can do that, you can do that.
> > >
> > > The "ordinary users" I have can't. :-(
> > >
> > > Some of them have dualboot machines, and therefore
> > > reboot regularly.
> > >
> > > Hm, I'll guess it would be easier to stick with the files
> > > from nvidia and make a script that is run during boot
> > > that builds and installs the kernel module, if necessary.
> >
> > Yes, and after your users have tested it a while, how about submitting it
> > as a RFE for the livna packages?  It sounds useful.
>
> I have something like that already, but never finished it nor included
> it in the nvidia or ati livna packages. If people are interested in it
> and (most important!) help testing I'm going to work on this further.

I'm not using any such package now (don't do 3D games), but I do have an
(old) ATI card (Radeon 7000/VE) in my machine.  As I'm willing to volunteer
the time of others, I suppose I could test an ATI package on my machine if
that would be useful.  Let me know.
____________________________________________________________________
TonyN.:'                       
      '                              http://www.georgeanelson.com/

[micheal]

On Tue, 2005-10-25 at 22:43 +0200, Mogens Kjaer wrote:
> Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
> ...
> > This should not happen -- the livna package should disable the nvidia
> > driver and switch to nv when the kernel-module for the new kernel is
> > missing. If not file a bug.
>
> This :-( :-( "feature" made me dump the livna way a long time ago.
>
> Not only do you have to get the kernel module installed, you
> also have to set up X again to use the nvidia driver.
>
> Now if only some cleaver rpm dependencies could be set
> up so that the kernel isn't updated until a new livna
> nvidia rpm is available - that would be useful!
>
> Mogens
>
> -- 
> Mogens Kjaer, Carlsberg A/S, Computer Department
> Gamle Carlsberg Vej 10, DK-2500 Valby, Denmark
> Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone]
> Email: [e-mail] Homepage: http://www.crc.dk

I may be daft, but for my ATI card, whenever I update my kernel from
updates released it defautls to use the radeon driver. I just update the
kernel-module from livna manually.

I don't see why this would not work for nVidia.

Micheal

[Mogens Kjaer]

micheal wrote:
...
> I may be daft, but for my ATI card, whenever I update my kernel from
> updates released it defautls to use the radeon driver. I just update the
> kernel-module from livna manually.
>
> I don't see why this would not work for nVidia.

It does, it's just not what I want.

I want a delayed installation of the kernel until
the graphics module is available.

My users can't use their machine for anything unless
the 3D driver is loaded. They can't manually install
the graphics driver.

Anyway, I've added a /etc/init.d script that checks if
the nvidia kernel module exists.

If it doesn't, it reinstalls the nvidia driver.

I've put the driver on an NFS share, with a symlink
at /server1/nvidia/latest.x86. The script is shown below.

Mogens

#!/bin/sh
#
# nvidia:       Install nvidia driver if module doesn't exist.
#
# chkconfig: 5 90 10
# description:  Install nvidia driver if module doesn't exist.
#
#

# Source function library.

. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions

start() {
   if [ -f /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko ]; then
     echo 'Nvidia module already exists.'
   else
     echo 'Nvidia module does not exist; reinstalling nvidia driver. 
This will take a few minutes.'
     if [ -f /server1/nvidia/latest.x86 ]; then
       cp /server1/nvidia/latest.x86 /tmp
       sh /tmp/latest.x86 -s --update --force-update
       echo 'A warning from the installer about something being altered 
can be ignored.'
     else
       echo '/server1/nvidia/latest.x86 does not exist'
     fi
   fi

}

stop() {
   true
}

# See how we were called.
case "$1" in
   start)
         start
         ;;
   stop)
         stop
         ;;
   restart|reload)
         stop
         start
         ;;
   condrestart)
         ;;
   *)
         echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|reload|condrestart}"
         exit 1
esac

exit 0

[Gene Heskett]

On Monday 31 October 2005 02:52, Mogens Kjaer wrote:

Many thanks, I'm going to try this on a box with an nvidia card in it.
Just one further question:  Whats the path at livna where the driver
can be found, I'd like to somewhat automate the fetching too.
> micheal wrote:
> ...
> > I may be daft, but for my ATI card, whenever I update my kernel from
> > updates released it defautls to use the radeon driver. I just update
> > the kernel-module from livna manually.
> >
> > I don't see why this would not work for nVidia.
>
> It does, it's just not what I want.
>
> I want a delayed installation of the kernel until
> the graphics module is available.
>
> My users can't use their machine for anything unless
> the 3D driver is loaded. They can't manually install
> the graphics driver.
>
> Anyway, I've added a /etc/init.d script that checks if
> the nvidia kernel module exists.
>
> If it doesn't, it reinstalls the nvidia driver.
>
> I've put the driver on an NFS share, with a symlink
> at /server1/nvidia/latest.x86. The script is shown below.
>
> Mogens
>
> #!/bin/sh
> #
> # nvidia:       Install nvidia driver if module doesn't exist.
> #
> # chkconfig: 5 90 10
> # description:  Install nvidia driver if module doesn't exist.
> #
> #
>
> # Source function library.
>
> . /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
>
> start() {
>   if [ -f /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko ];
> then echo 'Nvidia module already exists.'
>   else
>     echo 'Nvidia module does not exist; reinstalling nvidia driver.
> This will take a few minutes.'
>     if [ -f /server1/nvidia/latest.x86 ]; then
>       cp /server1/nvidia/latest.x86 /tmp
>       sh /tmp/latest.x86 -s --update --force-update
>       echo 'A warning from the installer about something being altered
> can be ignored.'
>     else
>       echo '/server1/nvidia/latest.x86 does not exist'
>     fi
>   fi
>
> }
>
> stop() {
>   true
> }
>
> # See how we were called.
> case "$1" in
>   start)
>         start
>         ;;
>   stop)
>         stop
>         ;;
>   restart|reload)
>         stop
>         start
>         ;;
>   condrestart)
>         ;;
>   *)
>         echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|reload|condrestart}"
>         exit 1
> esac
>
> exit 0
>
> --
> Mogens Kjaer, Carlsberg A/S, Computer Department
> Gamle Carlsberg Vej 10, DK-2500 Valby, Denmark
> Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone]
> Email: [e-mail] Homepage: http://www.crc.dk

[Jonathan Berry]

On 10/31/05, Mogens Kjaer  wrote:
> micheal wrote:
> ...
> > I may be daft, but for my ATI card, whenever I update my kernel from
> > updates released it defautls to use the radeon driver. I just update the
> > kernel-module from livna manually.
> >
> > I don't see why this would not work for nVidia.
>
> It does, it's just not what I want.
>
> I want a delayed installation of the kernel until
> the graphics module is available.
>
> My users can't use their machine for anything unless
> the 3D driver is loaded. They can't manually install
> the graphics driver.
>
> Anyway, I've added a /etc/init.d script that checks if
> the nvidia kernel module exists.
>
> If it doesn't, it reinstalls the nvidia driver.
>
> I've put the driver on an NFS share, with a symlink
> at /server1/nvidia/latest.x86. The script is shown below.

By the way, the -k and -K options to the nvidia installer (one takes
the kernel version as an argument, but I can never remember which) can
be used to only install the kernel module, which will not uninstall it
for previous kernels.  Which means should you need to boot an older
kernel, it will work just fine without the script running again and
clobbering the install for the latest kernel.  Should also be a little
faster.

Also, is there a command that will tell you if a kernel module exists
without having to look in a specific location? (maybe modinfo?)  Might
be better if for some strange reason the kernel module gets moved. 
Just some thoughts.

Jonathan
> Mogens
>
> #!/bin/sh
> #
> # nvidia:       Install nvidia driver if module doesn't exist.
> #
> # chkconfig: 5 90 10
> # description:  Install nvidia driver if module doesn't exist.
> #
> #
>
> # Source function library.
>
> . /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
>
> start() {
>    if [ -f /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko ]; then
>      echo 'Nvidia module already exists.'
>    else
>      echo 'Nvidia module does not exist; reinstalling nvidia driver.
> This will take a few minutes.'
>      if [ -f /server1/nvidia/latest.x86 ]; then
>        cp /server1/nvidia/latest.x86 /tmp
>        sh /tmp/latest.x86 -s --update --force-update
>        echo 'A warning from the installer about something being altered
> can be ignored.'
>      else
>        echo '/server1/nvidia/latest.x86 does not exist'
>      fi
>    fi
>
> }
>
> stop() {
>    true
> }
>
> # See how we were called.
> case "$1" in
>    start)
>          start
>          ;;
>    stop)
>          stop
>          ;;
>    restart|reload)
>          stop
>          start
>          ;;
>    condrestart)
>          ;;
>    *)
>          echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|reload|condrestart}"
>          exit 1
> esac
>
> exit 0

[Mogens Kjaer]

Gene Heskett wrote:
> On Monday 31 October 2005 02:52, Mogens Kjaer wrote:
>
> Many thanks, I'm going to try this on a box with an nvidia card in it.
> Just one further question:  Whats the path at livna where the driver
> can be found, I'd like to somewhat automate the fetching too.

I think that the nvidia installer actually looks for
a newer version.

Actually, the script should be modified so that if a
newer driver exists, it should be installed.

As it is now, you'll have to wait until the kernel
is updated until a newer nvidia driver is installed.

Mogens