====== Configuring a nVidia graphics chip for Linux ======
**Note:** This guide only covers older distributions. See the following for newer distributions.

  * [[CentOS Guides|CentOS 5 and higher]]
  * [[Debian Guides|Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 and higher]]
  * [[Fedora Guides|Fedora 8 and higher]]
  * [[Mandriva Guides|Mandriva 2008 and higher]]
  * [[Red Hat Enterprise Linux Guides|Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and higher]]
  * [[SuSE OpenSuSE Guides|SuSE/OpenSuSE 10.3 and higher]]
  * [[Ubuntu KUbuntu XUbuntu Guides|Ubuntu/KUbuntu 7.10 and higher]]


===== Author(s) =====
Bill Giannikos
===== Introduction =====
This guide will help you configure the proprietary nvidia module for Linux. We will not be covering open source nv module included with Xorg because it's configuration is normally handled automatically by most Linux distributions.
===== Important Notes =====
==== Licensing Issues ====
NVIDIA provide their own license for their driver. You will need to read and accept this license before proceeding. You can read this license [[http://www.nvidia.com/object/nv_swlicense.html|here]].
===== Installing the NVIDIA driver =====
==== CentOS/Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0 ====
The nvidia driver is not included with CentOS/Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0 so we will need to use a 3rd party repository. Here we will be using the [[http://www.atrpms.net|ATrpms]] repository.

If you are not currently using the ATrpms repository then, as root, add the following lines to the bottom of your /etc/yum.conf file:
<code>[atrpms]
name=CentOS $releasever - $basearch - ATrpms
baseurl=http://dl.atrpms.net/el$releasever-$basearch/atrpms/stable
gpgkey=http://ATrpms.net/RPM-GPG-KEY.atrpms
gpgcheck=1</code>
Then execute the following command (this will install the 9755 driver, the version number will change with new releases):
<code>yum install nvidia-graphics9755-kmdl-`uname -r`nvidia-graphics9755</code>
You can now configure Xorg to use the nvidia driver by following the instructions below.
==== Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (Etch) ====
Debian include parts of the nvidia driver in both the 'contrib' and 'non-free' repositories. You will need to enable both of these to install this driver.

Then, as root, execute the following command:
<code>apt-get install build-essential nvidia-glx module-assistant nvidia-kernel-common
m-a update
m-a prepare
m-a a-i nvidia</code>
You can now configure Xorg to use the nvidia driver by following the instructions below.
==== Fedora Core 6 ====
The nvidia driver is not included with Fedora Core 6 so we will need to use a 3rd party repository. Here we will be using the [[http://www.atrpms.net|ATrpms]] repository.

If you are not currently using the ATrpms repository then, as root, add the following lines to the bottom of your /etc/yum.conf file:
<code>[atrpms]
name=Fedora Core $releasever - $basearch - ATrpms
baseurl=http://dl.atrpms.net/fc$releasever-$basearch/atrpms/stable
gpgkey=http://ATrpms.net/RPM-GPG-KEY.atrpms
gpgcheck=1</code>
Then execute the following command (this will install the 9755 driver, the version number will change with new releases):
<code>yum install nvidia-graphics9755-kmdl-`uname -r`nvidia-graphics9755</code>
You can now configure Xorg to use the nvidia driver by following the instructions below.

==== Fedora 7 ====
The nvidia driver is not included with Fedora 7 so we will need to use a 3rd party repository. Here we will be using the [[http://www.atrpms.net|ATrpms]] repository.

If you are not currently using the ATrpms repository then, as root, add the following lines to the bottom of your /etc/yum.conf file:
<code>[atrpms]
name=Fedora $releasever - $basearch - ATrpms
baseurl=http://dl.atrpms.net/f$releasever-$basearch/atrpms/stable
gpgkey=http://ATrpms.net/RPM-GPG-KEY.atrpms
gpgcheck=1</code>
Then execute the following command (this will install the 9755 driver, the version number will change with new releases):
<code>yum install nvidia-graphics9755-kmdl-`uname -r`nvidia-graphics9755</code>
You can now configure Xorg to use the nvidia driver by following the instructions below.