Re: NVidia GeForce 2 and XFree86

[Brian Nelson <nelson@bignachos.com>]

"Kirk Cheney" <k.cheney@clear.net.nz> writes:

> Hi,
> 
> I have a GeForce 2 video card and Debian 2.2r2, and cannot start X windows at
> all.  I have been looking at some of the previous postings about these cards,
> but am confused.  I looked at the instructions on the NVidia site, and noted
> that I needed to upgrade my XFree86.  I looked at the XFree86 site and saw that
> 4.1.0 supports my card.  I have upgraded to 4.1.0 (apt-get x-window-system from
> Woody), but still can't get X to start.  

Try:

# dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

> Do I still need to install the NVidia Kernel component or gtx, or both?   

You don't have to, unless you want to use nvidia's proprietary
drivers.  The "nv" driver is the opensource one that comes with
XFree86.  The "nvidia" driver is the one supplied by nvidia.  Try to
get the nv driver working first.

> If so, do I need to recompile my kernel or downgrade my gcc (the x-window-system
> seems to have upgraded my gcc, so is not the same version that compiled my kernel)?
>  If so, how?

Not if you use the nv driver.  If you want to use nvidia's drivers, I
would roll my own 2.4.x kernel and build the nvidia modules using the
debian packages from unstable.

> Otherwise, what changes do I need to make to my XF86Config-4?

You should have something like, which debconf/dexconf should do for
you when you reconfigure the xserver-xfree86 package.

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Generic Video Card"
        Driver          "nv"
EndSection

-- 
Brian Nelson <nelson@bignachos.com>
BigNachos@jabber.org
http://bignachos.com