Re: Newbie Nvidia/Woody problem
On Sunday 21 November 2004 06:32 am, Brian Coiley wrote:
> "Andrea Vettorello" <andrea.vettorello@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:32XVe-2Rx-3@gated-at.bofh.it...
>
> > On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 10:30:17 -0000, Brian <bcap@clara.co.uk> wrote:
> > > Hi there,
> > >
> > > Complete Linux newbie here. Successfully partitioned the disk on my
> > > W2K box, and got it dual-booting with Woody (installed from a CD set).
> > > I thought that was pretty cool, and I was going good! Tried startx,
> > > and
>
> got
>
> > > this: (EE) No devices detected.
> > >
> > > Hmmm, no video driver presumably. My video card is a an ASUS V9520
>
> Magic
>
> > > (Nvidia GeForce FX5200 Series). No Linux drivers at Asus, so tried
>
> Nvidia:
> > > lots there! Unfortunately the most recent ones all refused to install
> > > because they don't support kernel versions earlier than 2.4 (despite
> > > the readme saying that 2.2.12 is the minimum). The Woody install seems
> > > to
>
> have
>
> > > given me 2.2.20.
> > >
> > > So, by trial and error, I have finished up with driver version 5328.
> > > However, when I run the Nvidia install, I finish up with the following
> > > error: "Unable to load the kernel module nvidia.o. This is most likely
> > > because the kernel module was built using the wrong kernel header
> > > files. Blah blah blah."
> > >
> > > Now, I've used apt to install kernel-source-2.2.20. I have used the
> > > kernel-include-path switch on the Nvidia installer to point at the
>
> folder
>
> > > containing the kernel.h file, which is what the installer seems to
> > > want. Thus, my command line is this:
> > >
> > > sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5328-pkg1.run --kernel-include-path
> > > /usr/src/kernel-source-2.2.20/include
> > >
> > > But, I still get the error described above.
> > >
> > > Incidentally, before the install fails, I get a warning that "The
>
> compiler
>
> > > used to compile the kernel was gcc 2.7; the current compiler is gcc
>
> 2.95."
>
> > > Thus far I have overriden this warning and gone ahead anyway, but could
> > > someone tell me how to set the CC environment variable, as suggested by
>
> the
>
> > > installer, to get the correct compiler?
> > >
> > > If all this is complete codswallop (or if indeed I am in the wrong
> > > newsgroup!) please don't spare my feelings! As I said, I am a complete
> > > newbie, and all help will be very gratefully received, even if only to
> > > direct me elsewhere! If any technical help is forthcoming, please,
>
> please
>
> > > treat me like an idiot! I need actual commands to type!
> >
> > Surely someone with a nvidia card that read this list will answer
> > helping you, but in the meantime you can search for former answers in
> > the Debian mailing list archive (http://lists.debian.org/search.html)
> > or with google (you can search "debian woody geforce" or "debian woody
> > nvidia").
> >
> > Said that, probably you'll find easier to switch to Sarge, if you have
> > a network connection, that should have better support for your card,
> > as there should be some packages with support for the nvidia binary
> > drivers, but YMMV... =)
> >
> >
> > Andrea
>
> Thank you Andrea for your reply. I have spent hours trawling archives, and
> found lots of threads about Nvidia drivers, but none that I could
> understand! I really need a complete idiot's guide to doing this which, as
> you say, will need to come from someone who's done it.
>
> Regarding Sarge, isn't that unstable? What exactly does that mean? How
> exactly would I switch to it? I deliberately chose to install Woody, from
> a set of CD's, because I felt that for a complete dunce like me it would be
> far easier than downloading and installing bleeding-edge stuff that I don't
> understand.
>
> I do have a network connection, which is working OK.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Brian
Brian,
The problem seems to be with the installation itself. If you included the X
window system (graphical desktop) during the install, you would not have had
to type "startx". You would most likely be presented with a Desktop Manager
like GDM or KDM where you would logon to Gnome or KDE.
Since you just started, I would go back through the install process again,
making sure to include the desktop system. Select "Sarge" instead of "Woody"
as your installation choice. If you do not have a choice of a 2.4 or 2.6
kernel in the installation process, you may want to download newer
installation media, or if you have broadband internet, try the "net install"
CD image. http://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/
As far as the video driver is concerned, a driver called
"nv" (http://www.xfree86.org/current/nv.4.html) will be used and installed by
default for the nvidia card. If you need special features, look into the
"nvidia" driver (http://www.desktop-linux.net/nVidia.htm), but you don't need
it to use the card.
--
Alvin Smith
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