Nvidia Installer HOWTO for SuSE Linux users ------------------------------------------- This document describes how to use the new nvidia installer for the installation of the latest nvidia driver, which is available for your SuSE Linux system. NOTE: The nvidia installer does not work as long as a Xserver is still running and the nvidia kernel module is still loaded. Therefore please boot into runlevel 3 by specifying "3" as kernel boot option or switch to runlevel 3 ("init 3") and unload the kernel module ("rmmod nvidia") before running the nvidia installer. I. SuSE Linux 9.0 II. SuSE Linux 8.2 SuSE Linux Desktop (SLD) III. SuSE Linux 8.1 United Linux 1.0 (UL1) SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 (SLES8) IV. SuSE Linux 8.0 V. SuSE Linux 7.3 SuSE Linux 7.2 SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7 (SLES7) VI. SuSE Linux 7.1 VII. SuSE Linux 7.0 or earlier VIII. References IX. Feedback I. SuSE Linux 9.0 ----------------- It is recommended to use YOU (YaST Online Update) for (re)installation of the nvidia driver. There are several reasons for this. First, it's simple. Second, and this is the most important one, you won't need to recompile the nvidia kernel module after a kernel update. Inside YOU enable "Installable and Installed Patches" for "Show Patch Category" and select "Download NVIDIA(c) Graphics Driver" from the patches list (usually at the bottom of the list). Note, that you need to mark it as "Update" (right mouse click) if you already installed it before and the driver was uninstalled - for any reason. Proceed as usual now. After YOU has finished restart your Xserver (i.e. logout from your Xsession) and you're fine. People who aren't afraid of recompiling the nvidia kernel module or even reinstalling the nvidia driver each time the kernel has been updated and want or need to use the latest and greatest nvidia driver can use the following steps 1-3. The others should use the instructions above using YOU and skip the steps below. 1) Kernel sources must be installed and configured. Usually this means installing the 'kernel-source' package with YaST2. Update it - if not already done - via YaST2 Online Update (YOU). 2) Use the nvidia installer for 1.0-5336. sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run 3) Configure XFree86 with sax2 -m 0=nvidia (0 is a digit, not a letter!) NOTE: There is no need to try to enable 3D support. It's already enabled, when the nvidia driver is running. Ignore the misleading error message, that 3D support can't be enabled. This problem will be fixed with SuSE > 9.0 and is related to the latest nvidia driver release. II. SuSE Linux 8.2 SuSE Linux Desktop (SLD) ---------------------------- 1) Kernel sources must be installed and configured. Usually this means installing the 'kernel-source' package with YaST2, update it - if not already done - via YaST2 Online Update (YOU) and configure it then with the following commands: cd /usr/src/linux make cloneconfig && make dep 2) Use the nvidia installer for 1.0-5336. sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run 3) Configure XFree86 with sax2 -m 0=nvidia (0 is a digit, not a letter!) NOTE: There is no need to try to enable 3D support. It's already enabled, when the nvidia driver is running. Ignore the misleading error message, that 3D support can't be enabled. This problem will be fixed with SuSE > 9.0 and is related to the latest nvidia driver release. III. SuSE Linux 8.1 United Linux 1.0 (UL1) SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 (SLES8) ------------------------------------------- 1) Download the according 'NVIDIA_GLX' and 'NVIDIA_kernel' RPMs for 1.0-5336 from nvidia ftp server and install these with the following commands: rpm --justdb -Uhv NVIDIA_kernel*.rpm rpm -Uhv NVIDIA_GLX*.rpm Use "ul1" packages for UL1/SLES8. 2) Kernel sources must be installed and configured. Usually this means installing the 'kernel-source' package with YaST2, update it - if not already done - via YaST2 Online Update (YOU) and configure it then with the following commands: cd /usr/src/linux make cloneconfig && make dep 3) Download nvidia installer for 1.0-5336 and extract it with the following command: sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run --extract-only 4) Compile and install the nvidia kernel module with the following commands: cd NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1/usr/src/nv make install depmod -a 5) Enable 3D support with SaX2. IV. SuSE Linux 8.0 ------------------ 1) Download the 'NVIDIA_GLX' and 'NVIDIA_kernel' RPMs for 1.0-5336 for SuSE 8.0 from nvidia ftp server and install these with the following commands: rpm --justdb -Uhv NVIDIA_kernel*.rpm rpm -Uhv NVIDIA_GLX*.rpm 2) Kernel sources must be installed and configured. Usually this means installing the 'kernel-source' package with YaST2, update it - if not already done - via YaST2 Online Update (YOU) and configure it then with the following commands: cd /usr/src/linux make cloneconfig && make dep 3) Download nvidia installer for 1.0-5336 and extract it with the following command: sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run --extract-only 4) Compile and install the nvidia kernel module with the following commands: cd NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1/usr/src/nv make install depmod -a 5) Enable 3D support with SaX2. V. SuSE Linux 7.3 SuSE Linux 7.2 SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7 (SLES7) ----------------------------------------- 1) Download the 'NVIDIA_GLX' and 'NVIDIA_kernel' RPMs for 1.0-4496 for SuSE 7.3 from nvidia ftp server and install these with the following commands: rpm --justdb -Uhv NVIDIA_kernel*.rpm rpm -Uhv NVIDIA_GLX*.rpm 2) Kernel sources must be installed and configured. Usually this means installing the 'kernel-source' package with YaST2, update it - if not already done - via YaST2 Online Update (YOU) and configure it then with the following commands: cd /usr/src/linux make cloneconfig && make dep 3) Download nvidia installer for 1.0-4496 and extract it with the following command: sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run --extract-only 4) Compile and install the nvidia kernel module with the following commands: cd NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2/usr/src/nv make install depmod -a 5) Enable 3D support with SaX2. VI. SuSE Linux 7.1 ------------------ 1) Kernel sources must be installed and configured. Usually this means installing the 'linux' package with YaST2, update it - if not already done - via YaST2 Online Update (YOU) and configure it then with the following commands: cd /usr/src/linux make cloneconfig && make dep 2) Try to use the nvidia installer for 1.0-4496. sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run 3) Enable 3D support with SaX2. VII. SuSE Linux 7.0 or earlier ------------------------------ The nvidia driver does not work on SuSE 7.0 or earlier as the driver needs XFree86 4.0.1 and SuSE 7.0 comes with XFree86 4.0. VIII. References ---------------- * nVidia driver website http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=linux_display_ia32_1.0-5336 http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=linux_display_ia32_1.0-4496 * nvidia installer http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-5336/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-4496/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run * nvidia driver RPMs for SuSE Linux ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-5336 ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-4496 IX. Feedback ------------ Please use "http://www.suse.de/feedback" for any feedback about this document.