Nvidia driver 177.80 release announcement

[dibl]

It's official, as of today:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_amd64_177.80.html

:)

[Nos4ah2]

Have you pulled the trigger on this one yet?

How is it?

[dibl]

Nope -- stuck at work on a Wintel piece of ^&!@#$. Give me a few hours and I'll report back.

[dibl]

Yep, it works.

First, I ran
sudo apt-get update and
sudo apt-get upgrade and
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade but for some reason the new kernel was not installed automatically. So, I upgraded, via Synaptic, to the 2.6.27-6 kernel, and rebooted.


dibl@ibex:~$ uname -a
Linux ibex 2.6.27-6-generic #1 SMP Tue Oct 7 04:15:23 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Then I downloaded the new driver, and installed it in the recommended fashion:

1. Stopped the K Display Manager:


sudo /etc/init.d/kdm stop

2. Made a (temporary) directory just for this task, in /tmp:


dibl@ibex:/tmp$ sudo mkdir nvidia

3. Copied the downloaded installer from my /home directory to the new temporary directory:


dibl@ibex:/tmp/nvidia$ sudo cp /home/dibl/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-177.80-pkg2.run .

4. Ran the installer:


dibl@ibex:/tmp/nvidia$ sudo sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-177.80-pkg2.run

5. Answered "YES" to each question asked by the installer, including the last one, regarding creation of a new /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

6. After it finished, started the X server:


dibl@ibex:/tmp/nvidia$ sudo /etc/init.d/kdm start

7. After logging in (and seeing Compiz start as per previous settings), opened KMenu > System > nvidia-settings:

http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/1363/nvidia177sq8.th.png (http://img353.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nvidia177sq8.png)

8. and verified that glxgears produces a reasonable frame rate (remember Compiz is already running):


dibl@ibex:~$ glxgears
39249 frames in 5.0 seconds = 7849.727 FPS
44197 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8839.373 FPS
36455 frames in 5.0 seconds = 7290.896 FPS
38139 frames in 5.0 seconds = 7627.758 FPS
39003 frames in 5.0 seconds = 7800.514 FPS
43594 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8718.754 FPS
42525 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8504.916 FPS
43387 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8677.363 FPS
43224 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8644.751 FPS

9. and that my previous Coolbits option and 1600x1200 default resolution is still set in xorg.conf:


# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder58) Wed Oct 1 15:12:53 PDT 2008

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder58) Fri Sep 26 11:06:49 PDT 2008

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Samsung SyncMaster"
HorizSync 30.0 - 130.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 160.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 9600 GT"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-0"
Option "metamodes" "1600x1200 +0+0"
Option "Coolbits" "1"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection


10. I therefore conclude that I am a happy camper with 2.6.27-6 and driver 177.80.

8)

[assettt]

Great news. Are we likely to get it installed via Envy.

[dibl]

EnvyNG is in the Intrepid repo now, but I assume it does not yet include the 177.80 driver. You might give it a try. I'm sure 177.80 will be added, if it's not there now. :)


sudo apt-get install envyng-core

:)

[assettt]

EnvyNG is in the Intrepid repo now, but I assume it does not yet include the 177.80 driver. You might give it a try. I'm sure 177.80 will be added, if it's not there now. :)


sudo apt-get install envyng-core

:)


Will wait for awhile. My desktop is still on 8.04 and I will upgrade to 8.10 later in the month.

[kjjjjshab]

177.80 has been in envy for a while now... but it (177.80) unfortunately fixes nothing for my 7600GT (horrible corruption of widgets with non-Qt apps running with blinking caret).

:@

A little weird though... both envy and restricted drivers show it as installed... I kind of thought that if envy had it installed the restricted would show it as not since they are different packages, right?

[lmilano]

Thanks for the news Dibl! I guess this doesn't help us, users of legacy graphics cards, right? (like a GeForce2 MX)

Many thanks for any pointers!

[dibl]

Thanks for the news Dibl! I guess this doesn't help us, users of legacy graphics cards, right? (like a GeForce2 MX)



Sorry. You can read the 8.10 release notes as well as me -- your problem is not the 177.80 driver, it is the new X.org version in *buntu 8.10. So you can only run the "nv" driver in 8.10, and you must live your Linux life in a 2D world. :'(

[lmilano]

Sorry. You can read the 8.10 release notes as well as me -- your problem is not the 177.80 driver, it is the new X.org version in *buntu 8.10. So you can only run the "nv" driver in 8.10, and you must live your Linux life in a 2D world. :'(


Hey, I certainly did read the release notes. Sorry for not asking clearly. What I was wondering was whether this driver covers legacy cards, precisely becuse of the issues with the new xorg that you mentioned.

I just went to the NVIDIA page for drivers, and not, it doesn't. For anyone in the same situation, go here:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Enter your card info, and it will tell you what the latest driver available for you. The one for my card is rather old (from July this year), I hope they release a new version.

Tip: if you don't know you card's name try looking in Kubuntu. For instance, the nvidia-settings application has exactly this info.

Cheers!

[lmilano]

Ok, an update, there are beta NVIDIA drivers for the legacy cards, and I am posting from Kubuntu 8.10 :-)

I followed the instructions here (mostly, get the driver from the proposed updates repo)

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=968405&page=2

Looks like this mess will be in the past soon

Cheers!

[azenz]

The latest driver for EnvyNG for Hardy is unfortunately only 173...