Nvidia sucks, sucks, sucks !

[Ingemar Nilsson]

Kim Lux <lux at diesel-research.com> writes:

> Yesterday I absentmindedly ran "yum update".  Stupid me, I didn't watch
> it and apparently a new kernel got installed (2835).

2835? Do you have any testing repository enabled? I subscribe to the
fedora-announce-list, but I haven't seen any mail about kernel 2835 (or any
other kernel for that matter).

> So, then I decide that I am being silly trying to build the driver in
> the first place as I've heard great things about livna and they have a
> driver prebuilt.   So I do a "yum install nvidia" and "yum install
> module-nvidia" of course if fails.  I've got the wrong package name.  So
> I shut down Linux and boot XP and go searching on the web to find that
> the package name is "kmod-nvidia".

yum list available | grep -i nvidia

This provides a list of every package with 'nvidia' in the
name. Alternatively, you may

yum search nvidia

For all you commands, try

yum help

or

man yum

> Total time wasted, over an hour.  And this sort of game happens EVERY
> time one upgrades a kernel !  

Which is why I use the prebuilt packages in Livna. I haven't touched the
original nVidia driver package in years, and it has been a breeze.

> Its funny, we have people in the Linux community debating about whether
> Linux is ready for the desktop for the average user.  With this sort of
> issue still alive and well in Linux, the answer to that question is
> absolutely NO !

I understand if you didn't know about Livna, but now that you do, there is
hardly any reason to do a manual installation. So in my own experience, the
question of "ready or not" isn't as clear as you think.

> In summary, I am totally frustrated with Nvidia with this driver
> situation.  I will never, ever buy a piece of Nvidia hardware again
> unless this situation is rectified.  I'd replace the Nvidia video driver
> I have but its built into the laptop that I otherwise love.   

Be aware that nVidia has comparably a good reputation among Linux users. I
have heard a lot worse things about ATI.

Regards
Ingemar