On Tuesday 25 March 2008, Claude Jones wrote:
On Mon March 24 2008, David Kramer wrote:
> Also, I got disgusted with the fights between livna and atrpms a long
> time ago, and now I don't have a single livna package on my system.
>
> > The "solution" is to install the nvidia module manually from the
nvidia
> > site download, which is not really a simple option.
>
> Ugh. And then recompile it with every kernel update, right?
there's a real easy solution to this - I use it on many, many, machines
freshrpms bundles a package called dkms with their version of the nVidia
driver: 'bundles' is not perhaps the correct word, but, dkms is installed as
well when you install the nVidia driver from freshrpms; freshrpms makes no
kernel-modules available at all; dkms is a script written by an active
participant in the Fedora project, who happens to work for Dell; the script,
after installation, runs at boot time and checks your nVidia kernel-module
against the kernel that's being booted - if the active kernel module doesn't
match the kernel that's being booted, it forks into a routine where it
builds a new kernel module on the fly -- once it's done, normal boot
resumes and when your machine comes up, it has the correct kernel-module
built AND loaded for the running kernel -- and that's why freshrpms makes
no kernel-modules available; with this system, you are completely automated
- in several years of using it, there was one hiccup where a new nVidia
driver came out and the script wouldn't run properly, as I recall -- the
result was, the machines reverted to nv driver that comes with Fedora in
all cases - I lost some of the features of the nVidia video drivers, but
the machines kept working, otherwise
using this method, you certainly wouldn't end up with a kernel of one
architecture and a kernel-module of another, which is causing your present
issues, and you can forget about worrying about new kernel-modules after
every kernel update
All very well and no doubt true Claude. But when I installed this dkms thing,
it came with zero docs, and several questions posted here were ignored. Now,
its entirely possible that dkms is smarter than the script I wrote, but
without any setup insructions its just not worth the storage space. So I
wrote my own, called at the end of rc.local:
=================
#!/bin/bash
# this script should install the nvidia module and run a depmod -a `uname -r`
# IF the module is missing.
# NOTICE! The 'NVIDIA' below is maintained as a softlink to the newest package
# which has been installed ONCE by exec'ing the packed .run file, and also
# has been extracted with the -x option, and the link points to the directory
# as extracted.
if [ -f /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko ]; then
echo nvidia driver already installed for this kernel
exit 0
else
echo building nvidia driver for this kernel
cd /usr/src/NVIDIA/usr/src/nv
make install
cd ~
fi
if [ -f /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko ]; then
echo nvidia.ko driver sucessfully installed
else
echo install of nvidia.ko driver failed
fi
sleep 3 #so message can be read before login clears the screen
=============================
And it works fine, for as long as nvidia is compat with the kernel, but so
far it is not buildable on any 2.6.25-* kernel.
The nv driver has bit rot from lack of maintenance and won't run my screen at
anything better than 640x400, whereas the nvidia driver runs it at 1680x1050,
its native lcd resolution. So obviously, until nvidia gets off their
corporate asses, folks like me are stuck at 2.6.24.4.
Its been suggested I try the neauvue(sp?) driver, but if you goto the web
page, the warnings are enough to scare me away.
Has anyone actually made it work at their lcd screens native resolution, AND
good enough to watch tv with tvtime on it?
--
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
I believe that professional wrestling is clean and everything else in
the world is fixed.
-- Frank Deford, sports writer