nVidia Driver Installation for Red Hat 7.1

[Michael J. Schweppe]

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Hi All:

After I was able to successfully get my new GeForce2 MX card up and 
running in 3D, I was asked to share what steps I took to get the card 
working.  So with out further adieu and with much gratitude here you are...

First of all let me clearly state that this is what "I" did on "my" 
system  and how "I" got it to work.  I have poured over several HOWTO's, 
user group archived messages, email's and tons of ICQ messages.  One 
thing I found in my journey is that there is more than one way to 
configure your  nVidia card to work with Red Hat 7.1.  

I cannot say for sure that what I have done will work with any other 
version of Red Hat or a differing system configuration other than my 
own.  I cannot be responsible if something goes wrong, your system gets 
smoked, you lose hardware and/or data or if the dog runs away.  

With that said here is what I did.

My current system is a Pentium III 450 Mhz on a Intel 440BX M/B, 196 MB 
of RAM with Red Hat 7.1 [full install with all the goodies, current 
updates and patches].

After removing my previous card, Red Hat easily detected the VisionTek 
GeForce2 MX card.  The Red Hat drivers are good, but they are not 3D 
OpenGL drivers.  These drivers need to be obtained from nVidia.

After you get the card installed make sure your BIOS is enabled for 
"Assign IRQ to VGA".

Get the nVidia drivers here:
http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=linux

Take the first two files,
<cid:part1.03040800.09050206@netscape.com>
"Any RPM-based system with an upgraded / customized / non-default kernel":
NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-1251.i386.rpm
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-1251.src.rpm

To build tarballs and rpm files specific to your kernel you need 
kernel-headers and kernel-source installed.

Do an rpm query to see if they are installed as such:

[mjs@gonzo mjs]$ rpm -q kernel-source
kernel-source-2.4.2-2
[mjs@gonzo mjs]$ rpm -q kernel-headers
kernel-headers-2.4.2-2

As root, do the kernel rpm first like so:
rpm --rebuild NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-1251.src.rpm

Next cd /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386 where you will find the new compiled rpm.
Install with: rpm -ivh <file_name>.rpm

After that, install the GLX driver:
rpm -ivh NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-1251.i386.rpm

Now, you are going to edit the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file.  Before you 
do so MAKE SURE you make a copy of the current file such as 
XF86Config-4.orig

As root use the editor of your choice and edit your 
/etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file.  Comment out these lines if present as such:
#Load dri
#Load GLcore

Make sure this line exists:
Load glx

In the Device section , replace:
Driver "nv"
with
Driver "nvidia"

Save the file  /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.

To check your nVidia driver set up, get this script,
nv_check.sh
from here, http://www.realityx.net/howto.html

Restart X Windows and enjoy.

None of this aforementioned material is originally from me, with the 
exception of the dog running away comment, but was gleaned from many 
resources.  My thanks to the PLUG list participants and especially for 
my online friend [who has the patience of a saint], Paul.

Here are some great resources that offer additional information:

http://www.cyber.com.au/users/ashridah/nvidia_tsg.html
http://www.mcdownloads.com
http://www.evil3d.net/articles.shtml
http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=linux_readme_install
#nvidia on irc.openprojects.net




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