Geforce Drivers - Confused

[Jef Spaleta]

Jim Radford wrote:
> Can somebody please tell me what to install and ease my aching 
> brain.

I would encourage you to use the nvidia rpms at www.livna.org,
which have been recently published. 4620 exists in the stable branch
while 53xy versions are in the testing branch(primarily because there
are spotty reports from nvidia users everywhere no matter how they
install the 53xy drivers that they have problems)

Of course there are several questions that inevitable get asked about
the personal recommendation that I make.
Why isn't nvidia's drivers part of fedora officially?
Though nvidia's license allows for redistribution and packaging of the
drivers/libraries, the drivers/libraries are not open source (the gl
library is distributed binary only, the kernel module is distributed as
source code so it can be recompiled for the kernel you are using), and
the objectives of Fedora Project are to make an operating system
completely from open source solutions.
http://fedora.redhat.com/about/objectives.html

Why rpms and not nvidia's installer?
nvidia's installer is built for the purpose of being as generally
useful as possible across ALL linux distributions. But by doing so,
nvidia's installer can not take advantage of distribution specific
differences very well. Using a package designed for the distribution you
are using allows for tighter integration in some ways, and lets you
install the driver in a way that respects the package management system
the distribution is using and can help avoid problems that arise from
replacing library files in an unmanaged way( long long story here that I
am not qualified to speak on with detailed specifics).  
http://www.genesis-x.nildram.co.uk/livna-switcher.htm

Why livna rpms? as compared to other 3rd party rpms?
There are multiple attempts at providing quality 3rd party repositories
of software for rhl and now fedora core. For every popular package you'd
like to install via RPM, there is probably more than one repository
offering an rpm. Making a recommendation about which 3rd party to use
can be highly political, and it's certainly colored by personal
experience and opinion.  So why do I recommend livna? I value the idea
of an open community process. Livna uses an open community peer-review
process(fedora.us's process currently) as part of publishing rpms. Livna
has a public bugzilla to file bugreports into.
http://rpm.livna.org/

-jef