On 3/16/2010 9:46 AM, Stephen Powell wrote:
Yes, the proprietary nvidia binary driver is another possibility. It's great when it works, but it breaks often with maintenance to X or the kernel.
It always requires reinstalling with kernel ABI changes, because it requires a kernel module compiled for the running kernel. That also makes it hard to run a different kernel and switch between them. A change to X also usually require a reinstall, and often a new version of the driver, as changes to X often *do* break the driver.
A real problem is that Debian is not compatible with the proprietary driver. Routine system maintenance overwrites files and ruins configurations, requiring reconfiguration. The proprietary driver is not packaged like a regular Debian package, and is not installed "in the Debian Way". This has up to now been mostly harmless, but things could be better.