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96 Comments
- AnteChronos, on 10/12/2007, -2/+65Installing proprietary drivers in Linux can be a bit tricky at times. An installation script like this is especially useful for people who aren't comfortable with the command line. Just take a look at the instruction on nVidia's webpage on how to install the driver under Linux:
"Install Type "sh NVIDIA-Linux-ia64-1.0-5336-pkg1.run" to install the driver, then edit your XF86Config or XF86Config-4 file as appropriate."
What's the XF86Config file? How do you configure it "as appropriate"? Many people would just give up at this point. And while I admit that the majority of Linux users are probably the type who are up to the challenge, and *could* eventually know all kinds of obscure commands like the back of their hand, they have to start somewhere, and trying to configure their xorg.conf file just to get a GUI running shouldn't be what discourages them. - Otto, on 10/12/2007, -4/+34You could change a video card on your Mac, but why would you bother? It's not like there's anything the Mac can do with high end video cards anyway.
- verifex, on 10/12/2007, -4/+30Title should say "Finally, an easy way to install your Video Card on *nix systems"
- sishgupta, on 10/12/2007, -1/+23This isn't new. Envy has been out for many months.
However, one of the newer features that makes envy special is that it doesn't just handle nvidia, but ATI.
Previously this was not the case as envy was nvidia only. - MacTheMachine, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18I am a newcomer to Linux and Ubuntu in particular and this application help out greatly. Thank you Alberto!
- Kwonza, on 10/12/2007, -26/+41I personally never thought it was hard to install a video card and drivers.
- sishgupta, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14That's partly what friends are for. To consume time helping them with something. Except it shouldn't be a negative thing.
- gweedo767, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13It should be noted this is an easy way to install Proprietary Drivers for your Video Card in Linux.
This has nothing to do with putting the card into the box. - ponzudigital, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14"That's partly what friends are for. To consume time helping them with something. Except it shouldn't be a negative thing."
There are much cooler things to consume time on than setting up display drivers ;) - jellygraph, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Your full of crap... you need to install new drivers, even on OSX, just like Windows and Linux. You can't just swap an nVidia with an ATI and have it work like that (other than, through some VESA (is it still called that?) standard, which is crap and unaccelerated)
- Frank_the_Tank, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15This doesn't work on my iMac...
- enicholas, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12@mdmadph: What, you're claiming you don't need to install drivers in Windows?
- DoodlesMcPooh, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11For those who do not want to do this here is how you install a Nvidia card in Ubuntu without the command line.
Select system then select Administration.
Click on Synaptic Package Manager.
Enter password press enter.
Click on search then type nvidia in the box and press enter.
Select nvidia-glx from the list and click apply.
wait for installation to complete then press ctrl+alt+backspace
enjoy.
- jexdawg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9"no added benefits"
...someones never used linux. - Toshibi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I've used this script for a while. I am mostly surprised it's just now showing up on Digg....maybe I should have submitted it.
- psylence, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Qualify your statement regarding 'no added benefits', because seriously guy.
- mdmadph, on 10/12/2007, -6/+14yeah, and it works fine in Windows, too. Whaddayouknow.
- Kuipo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Windows update will get some ***** drivers... If you are using windows update to supply your video card drivers, you might as well be running onboard video while you're at it.
Also...
@ Sephiroth965
The sentence: "No you don't NEED to install drivers. The card works in [LINUX] as soon as you plug it in, but installing the drivers will make the card work optimally." is just as valid. Just because windows will boot up with a video card in it, doesn't mean it's the only operating system that does that. They all do that. - xptweakerntn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9no more added benifits? what about viruses and spyware? and setup time? it takes me about 20 minutes to install linux, and then about 20 more to setup my graphics card and sound (mp3 support). anyone remember how long it takes windows to install? about 2 hours, then that "pointless" 20 minute wait time where it does who knows what. and plus you don't have to reinstall linux every few years.
- cawpin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7@Infinite - which is equally as easy...
- bmwboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Automatix has screwed up my configuration many a time, same with easyubuntu. This works flawlessly, finally, a real easy way that WORKS!
- brianez21, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Intel's drivers are now open source and should be enabled by default or pretty easy to configure (depends on your distro).
- Technopundit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5You're a DUPE.
- Kratos76, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Please make a better title people! How about adding "drivers" to then end of your sentence. I'm reading about how to more easily insert your video card in the slot on the motherboard here.
- cawpin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5No schitt...being free is reason enough to at least try it.
- AussieJames, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Finally!
No more time consuming telling friends how to do! - Stonekeeper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4There was me thinking that this might be some funky front load slot mechanism which slides a chipset into housing which in turn is connected up to a standard VGA socket on the back of a machine allowing easy upgrades and installation. Damn it! I should have patented that idea.... OK, I declare as of 10:45GMT 21st Feb 2007 that this idea is released to you, the public, under the GPL. Any patent applications after this time will be void according to the prior art clause. Enjoy.
PS: If you want to make money off it, cool. Just send me a percentage of your profits. Say 10% to me, half of which goes to the EFF. - coredump0x01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I second that. I was just about to write a script that installs the ATI driver in a similar manner for a friend who installed Kubuntu. This just saved me some work.
- sephiroth965, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6No you don't NEED to install drivers. The card works in windows as soon as you plug it in, but installing the drivers will make the card work optimally.
- mirzmaster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@cawpin:
As a Ubutnu Linux user I can comfortably say, no, being free is not necessarily enough. It depends on how much your time is worth. Not everyone is willing, wanting, or has the aptitude to sit at the command line and run a script that will configure their video driver. What if it breaks xorg.conf? What's the backout strategy?
There are still certain steps one is required to go through for complex configuration that take minutes in Windows, yet take hours in Linux (like setting up my Dell 24" monitor to run at 1920x1200 at the correct colour depth). Ubuntu is getting there, but it's not quite there yet. - Zaggynl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yep 'tis a timesaver :)
Thanks Alberto! - mjpatey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The comments above seem to indicate that it does work for the intended versions of Ubuntu. Just a note... it doesn't work in my Feisty testing release.
That said, 'tis Dugg! I love what it says it does, and it seems to be working for others here. I hope this type of utility is what comes in the final Feisty release! - jejones, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It is a bit tricky now for those of us with nVidia 4000/4400 cards... they've become legacy, and hence the very latest nVidia drivers don't work with them... but the nvidia-legacy package supports the really old nVidia cards, not the 4000/4400.
envy got me out of that dilemma with ease. - UNL1M1T3D, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Hmm no added benefits. I kind of like not having to run virus/spyware scans, be locked into DRM, or worrying about dumping $100+ in upgrades just to run the next version of my operating system.
- anjinash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Anyone know if this will work with an ATI Radeon x1600 512MB? I have it working in Edgy right now but without acceleration - thus I can't run Beryl.
I love Ubuntu, but drivers for video cards and other misc things are an issue. Not really the fault of Canonical, or any other distro per se.. but still a real annoyance. :( - psylence, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's called a LiveCD, run it, if it works, it'll work, if it doesn't, it'll still probably work.
- cawpin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3If it takes you 2 hours to install ANY OS you have problems. Windows installs on my P4 3.0 GHz (1GB) in under 25 minutes, total, from disc in to fresh desktop.
Also, if you only reinstall Windows "every few years" you're just asking form trouble anyway. - Leonichol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Think yourself lucky. I'm left out of the GUI environment completely. Granted, I did try to see if it would work with an ancient Radeon 7500 twin VGA which had an xorg.conf already configured for dual screen. Just can't remember how to delete read only files that need root permissions so I can restore the backup.
Oh well. It was worth a shot. Guess I'm going to have to get a 'proper' card one day. - diggkid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2alright, what about Intel video cards?
- nandasunu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2for dual moniters you are going to have to edit the xorg.conf a little...
- enicholas, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@Jellygraph: Ummm... do you even own a Mac? Yes, you sure as hell can just swap the cards, because Mac OS X includes all drivers for every piece of supported hardware. I could take the hard drive out of my system, slap it in a different system with completely different hardware, and it would boot up without even noticing the difference.
I've done that exact scenario, switching from nVidia to ATI -- no driver install necessary. - jexdawg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2When I ran Envy, I had to reformat Ubuntu because my whole XGL was borked. Then, after the format, randomly, i ran xglinfo before making any changes and it said I had 3d rendering on, so I went ahead and installed Beryl. Flawless. Envy was easy to use, it just didn't work, haha.
At least I learned how to use the nano command efficiently to restore xorg.conf to working order. - UNL1M1T3D, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This worked real nice when the updates in Ubuntu crashed my xserver and I had to redownload the latest drivers and reconfigure everything.
- bfdhud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Installing my nvidia drivers was a piece of cake, I followed the nvidia directions. I tried envy, not once but twice both times it completely borked my X server..
While I think this script is awesome for the ppl it works for, I think doing it the nvidia way is just so much easier.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=336412
I suggest doing it that way instead of envy. while the automation is wonderful, not having control over whats happening is not. - uberon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2maybe easy to install, but making it work ..
after installing envy (nvidia GeForce4 MX 440) on kubuntu 6.10 and logging in, I got a Black/blank screen - the computer was stuck and I had to reboot and restore xorg.conf that was backed up by envy script.
maybe someday I'll be able to run beryl on my machine...`( - tipsqueal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's really not that hard, all you have to do is add it to your sources list, then run sudo apt-get upgrade, then sudo apt-get update. I may have gotten those out of order, but seriously, it takes all of 45 seconds to do, if that. A lot of times I find it harder to navigate websites to find the right drivers to install, and it can take upwards of 5 or so minutes to do so. When it comes to Ubuntu I had to do one Google search, clicked on a link within the first page, then just copied what I needed to into my sources list, then type in the two commands needed. That takes all of 3 minutes maybe. That's just from personal experience, it may be easier for other people to do it the Windows way, but that's because they're used to it. I think Linux could be heavily adopted right now, it's just that there are so many myths surrounding it, and people are so used to Windows that they don't want to have to learn a new OS, and I personally believe it's going to stay this way for a long long time.
- brhad56, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Installing nVidia drivers on Xandros required downloading kernel source, backing up custom xorg files, etc, booting up in a "console mode" etc. It took me 3 or 4 attempts to install before it finally took. If Envy works as advertised, it will be very good for the Linux community.
- Scaster513, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6@antechronos
Actually the nvidia driver installer will edit the xorg.conf or XF86Config for you after the install if you wish. It really is as easy as typing sh NVIDIA-Linux-ia64-1.0-5336-pkg1.run. However it does get more complicated if you are missing kernel headers or some other dependency - Jeremy23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well, actually there's a specification in the upcoming Ubuntu 7.04 called 'BulletProofX'. You oughta check it out.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BulletProofX - shlolz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2When I try to run this it just crashes the X server, making no changes.
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