Open Source Software vs. Commercial Software:
Migration from Windows to Linux
An IT Professional's Testimonial

 

Nvidia Video Card 3D Support

This is a somewhat popular subject since nVidia cards are pretty popular among the Linux community. And for good reason. nVidia has the best support in Linux, hands down. ATI cards still have issues, so I play it safe and go with nVidia, and I'm glad I have. The support and performance is outstanding, not to mention everything just seems to work without hassle. To get your nVidia card working with full 3D support though will require a few steps:

Make sure you have the RPM Fusion repository rpms (free and nonfree) installed. I covered this in an earlier section.

Double check that you get the right module below (at the time of this writing, it is divided into 3 for Fedora 10: kmod-nvidia, kmod-nvidia-173, kmod-nvidia-96, where kmod-nvidia covers the most current cards). To see which version of the nVidia driver you need, visit one of these links: http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_18897.html or http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/185.18.14/README/appendix-a.html

Run this command to install the Nvidia driver and its dependencies:

yum install kmod-nvidia

One issue I came across is that yum installed the latest kmod-nvidia package, and upgraded to the latest kernel package as well, but for some reason did not select the kernel package with PAE. Instead, it chose the regular kernel package. I needed the PAE one to get full support of all 6 GB of system memory. So, I had to optionally install the following packages:

After the correct kernel is decided on, check /etc/grub.conf and make sure that the line “default=” is set to boot the correct kernel by default. Default=0 boots the first entry, and so on. You can check to see what kernel you are currently running on by using the command “cat /proc/version”.

Next, while you are logged in as yourself, run the “nvidia-settings” command to open the Nvidia control panel. This can also be found under Applications / System Tools / Nvidia Display Settings. Under “GPU 0”, select the monitor in the list, and on the right set “Aspect Ratio Scaled” under “GPU Scaling Method”. This will keep the widescreen LCD display from stretching lower resolutions to the full width, and place black bars on the edges instead so that the aspect ratio is correct. You may not want this, but I did as it kept the correct aspect ratio on older games. Next, save the settings by selecting "nvidia-settings Configuration" on the left, and by clicking the "Save Current Configuration" button. Accept the default which is to write to the file ".nvidia-settings-rc".

Next, go to: System / Preferences / Personal / Sessions, and add a new application:

Name: nVidia Settings
Command: nvidia-settings --load-config-only

This will force the nvidia-settings command to load your settings each time you log in. The nVidia Settings utility doesn't apply settings when you log in, it simply creates the config file for you or lets you test settings.


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