Trying to get the latest nvidia drivers installed in my diskless MD

[charlie1953]

I have managed to get a diskless MD installed but need to upgrade the video drivers cause the graphics sucks and I can't even read the fonts in KDE. I have motherboard: ASUS M2N SLI NVIDIA nForce560 SLI ATX and Graphics card: ASUS EN8400GS Silent 512MB PCI-E HD-TV DVI-I HDCP

There is lots of advice in the forums and wiki on how to upgrade drivers in a core/hybrid (using envy or "sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-<version>-pkg1.run" as per the "Display Drivers" entry in the wiki. However, the only reference to installing in an MD is "Instructions for installing the latest nVidia driver on your media directors can be found in the upgrading the kernel wiki."

Question 1. Do I have to upgrade the kernel first or can I skip to the instructions titled "Video Drivers"
Question 2. How do I know the correct name of the driver to download with the wget command?
Question 3. Isn't there an easier way to do this?

Thanks for any help you can give - I am recording all my steps, successes and failures in the wiki under user setups which I hope will be useful to someone in the future.

I have discovered that by setting resolution to 800X600 I can get a usable kde session so if I can install the drivers from there it may be the way to go Using envy perhaps - I have seen this mentioned but do not know if it is recommended

[charlie1953]

Thanks Dave for the quick and clear reply - and for the link. I had actually seen that post but also many others with different instructions including the "envy" advice.

It is pretty late here in NZ right now but I will follow all your steps tomorrow and report back.

cheers
Charlie

[Zaerc]

...
There is lots of advice in the forums and wiki on how to upgrade drivers in a core/hybrid (using envy or "sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-<version>-pkg1.run" as per the "Display Drivers" entry in the wiki. However, the only reference to installing in an MD is "Instructions for installing the latest nVidia driver on your media directors can be found in the upgrading the kernel wiki."

Question 1. Do I have to upgrade the kernel first or can I skip to the instructions titled "Video Drivers"
Question 2. How do I know the correct name of the driver to download with the wget command?
Question 3. Isn't there an easier way to do this?
...

It doesn't matter much whether it's a core (hybrid) or MD, the instructions are just about the same.

1. No, and I wouldn't recommend following those instructions at all.
2. Have a look at the download page, there are different drivers for different card models.
3. Get yourself a graphics card that is known to work out of the box.

[charlie1953]

Rodercot's link solved my problem - the only thing that confused me for a moment is that my DVI connection did not work when I issued the "telinit 1" command and X stopped and I had to plug in a vga cable to get the picture back. Fortunately my EN8400GS Graphics card and my Phillips 220WS LCD monitor have both options. I guess if you are connected to a TV with no VGA input you may have to connect up a VGA screen temporarily.
Thanks for the help Guys and thanks to all who are contributing to this great project.