Which is the best video driver to use ? (Nivida)

[ScottyK]

When I run the "Additional Drivers" program, it comes up with four options.

What is the difference between the "post release update" and the "current update"?

Currently I'm running the "current version", which is version 280.13, however Nvidia's website currently offers 290.10

Should I stick with the current version, or go for the latest version?

kernel version is 3.0.0-13-generic (64-bit).

I'm thinking of upgrading, because the external monitor attached to my notebook (specs in sig) is starting to flicker, and turn itself on-off. Wondering if a upgraded driver would fix it.

[img width=400 height=311]http://www.kenneyok.net/nvidia.jpg[/img]

www.kenneyok.net/nvidia.jpg

[SteveRiley]

Re: Which is the best video driver to use ? (Nivida)

I'm using 290.10 on my ThinkPad T410 with

sriley@SRiley-T410:~$ lspci |grep -i vga
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT218 [NVS 3100M] (rev a2)

and it works fine. Recently I've added a second monitor, connected via the DisplayPort. Although I've told the driver (and the BIOS) that the external monitor is primary, some windows -- usually dialogs -- still insist to open on the laptop's LCD.

[DeMus]

Re: Which is the best video driver to use ? (Nivida)

If it ain't broken, then don't fix it. If the 280 driver works well on your system then keep it. Installing a newer one may (or may not) bring you problems.

[oshunluvr]

Re: Which is the best video driver to use ? (Nivida)

If it ain't broken, then don't fix it. If the 280 driver works well on your system then keep it. Installing a newer one may (or may not) bring you problems.

The problem with this advice is it removes the possibility of improved performance that may come with a new driver or a bug fix for a bug that you have yet to encounter - but may still. Since Scotty's post shows he is, in fact having a problem, upgrading the driver is usually the first thing to attempt.

@Scotty, I would definitely upgrade, but it seems possible your problem may be hardware related. Have you fiddled with the cable and connections during the flickering episodes?

@Steve, Are the dialogs following your mouse? Is the behavior random or repeatable - per specific program I mean? I suspect you're not using a xorg.conf file. It that true?

[SteveRiley]

Re: Which is the best video driver to use ? (Nivida)

@Steve, Are the dialogs following your mouse? Is the behavior random or repeatable - per specific program I mean? I suspect you're not using a xorg.conf file. It that true?

It is confined to specific applications...although I can't recall which ones at the moment. I'll have to wait until I'm on my work laptop tomorrow. I know that I've configured the setting to follow the mouse, but sometimes this appears to be ignored.

I do have an xorg.conf file -- since nVidia Settings always wants to create one, I figured it's required. Is that not true?

[oshunluvr]

Re: Which is the best video driver to use ? (Nivida)

Nvidia-settings creates ~/.nvidia-settings-rc by default and is actually intended for video adjustments in user-space rather than system-space which xorg.conf is for. It can be used to create xorg.conf, but that's not it's primary purpose. Xorg.conf is no longer required and, I don't believe, required by nvidia-settings either. nvidia-xconfig is the tool intended to create and support xorg.conf when needed or desired.

All this is just my opinion based on my experience. I always manually create my xorg.conf because I know what settings my video cards need to perform at their best.

I asked because the monitor control seems to work best when configured in xorg.conf IME. There are some poorly coded (IMO) programs that disregard system settings in this area. Mostly I was curious to see if I could repeat your results. My desktop has dual monitors configured in xorg.conf and some of the computers at work have 3 or 4 attached. Always good to expand the knowledge a bit.

[dibl]

Re: Which is the best video driver to use ? (Nivida)

AFAIK when running a recent version of the proprietary Nvidia driver, and assuming a single display, you still need this much, as a minimum, in /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

#
Section "Device"
     Identifier   "Device 0"
     Driver     "nvidia"
EndSection
# This is a trailing line, it is needed so that End Section is not the last line

If you have a second display, then the PCI bus IDs for both displays also need to be in the xorg.conf file, in a "Monitor" stanza.