Installing NVIDIA drivers under RedHat 8.0

[Keldyn]

Installing NVIDIA drivers under RedHat Linux 8.0

Hello. I have noticed a lot of you are having difficulties installing the 3D accelerated drivers from nvidia. Below are the exact steps i used to get them running on my own linux box. I have written this guide to be as simple as possible.

Please note that these instructions have been tested to work under a clean install of RedHat Linux 8.0 ONLY. I cannot guarantee their success on different distributions, or configurations.

Step One:

It is important that you have all the necessary packages installed in your system before going ahead and installing the drivers. Check you have installed the ?Development Toolsb>? anernel Development<t? packages. You can do this by going to ?System Settings? and then ?ptep Two: <tep Two:

Whilst precompiled packages are often convenient it has been my experience that nVIDIA's precompiled packages often cause conflicts or other problems. The easiest way is to compile the drivers and kernel module tep Three:< Three:

Download the following two files. The versions are current as ofVIDIA_GLX-1.0-4191.tar.gz

NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-4191.tar.gz<.tar.gz

Make sure they are for RedHattep Four:<p Four:

Browse to where you have downloaded the files right click thextract here<ract here? and then unzip the files to your present location. Do this for both files and you should now have two directories with names corresponding to both the driver tep Five: <ep Five:

To maximize your chances of a safe install, it is important that you are no longer in X or running any other kind of graphical environment. Logout out ailsafe<failsafetep Six: <>Step Six:

Now you need to cd to the directory containing the GLX driver and the kernel.

For simplicity I re-named the two folders just ?GLX? and ?kernel?.

Start by cod /root/GLX/<

cd /rootake<ext type ?make?

Some text will flow down your screen and with any luck it all will be find /root/kernel<:

cd /rootake<

Again, type ?make?

If all goes well the module wtep Seven: <rrectly.

Step Seven:

At this point you will need to log back in to your chosen window manager.

You will need to have root privileges forusr/X11/< Navigate to XF86Config file. Open this up with your favorite text editor and look for the following.

Section "Module"

Load "dbe"

Load "extmod"

Load &quolx<quot;

Load "glx"

Load "record"

Load "freetype"

Load "type1"

EndSection

It should look something like above. Ensure none of this is lx<out. Particularly ?glx?.

Next go further down and look for...

Section "Device"

Identifier "Vidv<uot;

Driver "nv"

VendorName "Videocard vendor"

BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce 4 (generic)"

EndSection

It should look somethinv<e above. Whervidia<nv? change to ?nvidia?. Save your changes and restart your computer.

If all goes well, you will be greeted with the NVIDIA splash screen prior to booting into your graphical environment. If you see this you will know your installation was successful. If not, and X is unable to load, you can recover by following the onscrf86config< this fails by typing xf86config at the command prompt and rebuilding a workable xf86config file.

I hope you find these instructions useful. To test all is working well load a 3d accelerated game such as Chromium or Tux Racer.

Good Luck!

-Keldyn

[Hatter]

I would recommend installing the 3123 drivers instead of the 4191s. The 4191s have serious 2D problems and slow down things like dragging a window or opening a menu tremendously. The 3123s are way faster. I'm sticking with them until nvidia fixes the 40 series.

-Hatter

[Endoscient]

ok thanx a bunch. ill install redhat again when i get home

also i can never get x runnign at all with out installing drivers (i had succes in Mandrake 9) so couldnt u do this (got form nvidia's site)

$ tar xvzf NVIDIA_kernel.tar.gz

$ tar xvzf NVIDIA_GLX.tar.gz

in command line because i cant get into X