Getting Xorg to use nvidia driver now that "devices" section gone in Sid

["David Bruce" <davidstuartbruce@gmail.com>]

Hello,

I have installed both nvidia-glx and nvidia-kernel-source(using
module-assistant for the latter to build and install the driver).  In
the past, at this point I would just use "dpkg-reconfigure
xserver-xorg" to select "nvidia" instead of "nv".  Now, it appears
that the driver is supposed to be autodetected.  There is no longer a
"devices" section in my Xorg.conf.

How can I be sure the "nvidia" driver is really installed, and how can
I get Xorg to use it?

If I uninstall both xserver-xorg-video-nv and xserver-xorg-video-vesa,
X won't start.


Below is some output from aptitude showing that I have the two
packages installed:

dbruce@PenguinMaster:~$ sudo aptitude show nvidia-glx
Package: nvidia-glx
New: yes
State: installed
Automatically installed: no
Version: 173.14.09-2
Priority: optional
Section: non-free/x11
Maintainer: Debian NVIDIA Maintainers <pkg-nvidia-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Uncompressed Size: 25.8M
Depends: nvidia-kernel-173.14.09, x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0), libc6 (>= 2.7-1),
         libx11-6, libxext6, xlibmesa-gl | libgl1, zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4)
Suggests: nvidia-settings, nvidia-kernel-source (>= 173.14.09)



dbruce@PenguinMaster:~$ sudo aptitude show nvidia-kernel-source
[sudo] password for dbruce:
Package: nvidia-kernel-source
New: yes
State: installed
Automatically installed: yes
Version: 173.14.09-2
Priority: optional
Section: non-free/x11
Maintainer: Debian NVIDIA Maintainers <pkg-nvidia-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Uncompressed Size: 5026k
Depends: debhelper (> 4.0.0), make, sed (> 3.0), dpatch (>= 2.0.0)
Recommends: nvidia-glx (>= 173.14.09), kernel-package (>= 8.082), devscripts

And here is the tail end of the Xorg.0.log with nv and vesa
uninstalled, when X won't start:

(II) Module glx: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
        compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
        Module class: X.Org Server Extension
(II) NVIDIA GLX Module  173.14.09  Thu Jun  5 00:05:57 PDT 2008
(II) Loading extension GLX
(II) LoadModule: "freetype"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//fonts/libfreetype.so
(II) Module freetype: vendor="X.Org Foundation & the After X-TT Project"
        compiled for 1.4.2, module version = 2.1.0
        Module class: X.Org Font Renderer
        ABI class: X.Org Font Renderer, version 0.5
(II) Loading font FreeType
(II) LoadModule: "record"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions//librecord.so
(II) Module record: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.4.2, module version = 1.13.0
        Module class: X.Org Server Extension
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3
(II) Loading extension RECORD
(II) LoadModule: "dri"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions//libdri.so
(II) Module dri: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.4.2, module version = 1.0.0
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3
(II) Loading extension XFree86-DRI
(==) Matched vesa for the autoconfigured driver
(==) Assigned the driver to the xf86ConfigLayout
(II) LoadModule: "vesa"
(WW) Warning, couldn't open module vesa
(II) UnloadModule: "vesa"
(EE) Failed to load module "vesa" (module does not exist, 0)
(II) LoadModule: "mouse"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input//mouse_drv.so
(II) Module mouse: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.4.0.90, module version = 1.3.0
        Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
        ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 2.0
(II) LoadModule: "kbd"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input//kbd_drv.so
(II) Module kbd: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.4.0.90, module version = 1.3.1
        Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
        ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 2.0
(EE) No drivers available.

Fatal server error:
no screens found


Thanks for any suggestions.

David Bruce