In our previous post we outlined what
you have to do to install the NVIDIA graphics device driver under
Centos / Redhat Linux 6.5 and similar systems.
In this post we go over each item in boring detail.
I am pretty sure there is a mistake in here somewhere (builds confidence, doesn't it?) because I distinctly recall doing an /sbin/telinit 3 and 5 at some point in the process, but obviously I have edited this out of my longer term memory. But have no fears, if this doesn't work exactly I am sure you will get the general idea and improvise as necessary. You have my greatest faith in your abilities.
Remember, before you begin you are expected to sacrifice a goat at least and say the proper prayers spreading the prayer cloth and so forth.
1. Are you already running the
NVIDIA driver? How can you tell for sure?
The way I do this is by running
"nvidia-settings" from the shell. If a window comes up,
everything is installed and working. If it can't find it or it
doesn't run, you do not have the driver installed and should proceed.
nvidia-settings
2. Install the development tools.
Become su and run the command
yum groupinstall "Development
Tools" --skip-broken
Notice the quotes and capitalization.
Say yes when it asks you if its ok. Then go get coffee and come back
in 15 minutes.
3. Figure out the model of your
graphics card.
As su, use the command
/sbin/lspci -nn | grep VGA
The reported line will have the model
of the card. It will probably begin with the word "Geforce"
or "Quadro".
4. Figure out if your Linux is 32 or
64 bit
Run the command
uname -m
and it will tell you.
5. Download the driver from Nvidia.
With your browser of choice, navigate
to www.nvidia.com and click on "Drivers". You should find
a menu which will ask you which OS you are running (e.g. Mac,
Windows, Linux 32, Linux 64), which series of graphics card (e.g. 9
series, 8 series, 200 series, 600 series, etc) and the specific
model. Fill these in and hit search and it will find your driver. A 9xxx card is the 9 series, but a 4xx card is a 400 series. If you do not find the model of your card then you gave it the wrong
series and you should try again.
Click yes or agree on the license
agreement and save the driver some place you can find it again. Get
another cup of coffee and go play with your dog or something. Come
back in a few minutes.
6. Put that driver someplace easy to
get to, like /tmp and make it executable.
I used to skip this step but it was too
much work. Copy the file you just downloaded to someplace easy to
type, like /tmp. Then make it executable with the command
cp NV* /tmp
chmod 755 NV*
Ok, now we get to the weirder stuff.
7. Change /etc/inittab to bring the
system up at level 3
su
cd /etc
cp inittab inittab.orig
vi inittab
and change the "5" in the
last line to "3".
8. Blacklist Nouveau, Part 1
su
cd /etc/modprobe.d
cp blacklist.conf
blacklist.conf.orig
vi blacklist.conf
and add three lines to the bottom of
the file which say
# get rid of nouveau driver
blacklist nouveau
options nouveau modeset=0
and save the file.
9. Blacklist Nouveau, Part 2
su
cd /boot/grub
cp grub.conf grub.conf.orig
vi grub.conf
and add the word "rdblacklist=nouveau"
to the end of the lines that specify the kernel to boot. These are
the longest lines in the file and begin with the phrase "kernel
/vmlinux-blah-blah-blah".
Dont fuck this up or you wont be able
to reboot the system without some major help.
10. Reboot the system
11. Log in as root
12. Verify the location of the system
kernel libraries
cd /usr/src/kernels
ls
You should see some horrible name that
starts with 2.6. You either want to remember that name, or if you
are like me, you want to save it as a shell variable. I use csh or
tcsh, if you don't then you will have to figure out how your shell does this.
cd 2.6<esc>
set kernelpath=`pwd`
Notice the funny direction of the
quotes on that set command.
13. Install the Nvidia driver
You should still be root. Change
directory to /tmp or where you put the nvidia driver and say
cd /tmp
./NV<esc>
--kernel-source-path=$kernelpath
You will need to use the mouse, agree
to the license agreement, and watch with your breath held while it
jumps through hoops. When it asks you if it can create a new
X11.conf say yes. When it asks you if it can install 32 bit
compatibility say yes.
If it completes without complaining
much we are almost done.
14. Restore the /etc/inittab
runlevel to 5
Still as root say
cd /etc
cp inittab.orig inittab
It will ask you if its ok to overwrite
a file, say yes.
15. Reboot the system
Hopefully the system will come up and
the window system will come up, and you will log in.
16. As su, run "nvidia-xconfig"
su
nvidia-xconfig
17. Run "nvidia-settings"
and save your work.
Say
nvidia-settings
and goof around with the different
options and screens and set things to your liking. Or just say ok
and quit.
That is it.
You are done.
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