nVidia Display Driver with Fedora Core 5 -- Upgrade Notes

Submitted by sandip on Tue, 04/04/2006 - 14:42

Linux

The upgrade from fedora core 4 to fedora core 5 went fairly well ( using the upgrade method mentioned here... ) except for a hiccup with the X display using the current nVidia driver. Luckily Stanton Finley maintains an upto date FC5 installation notes with which I was able to quickly troubleshoot the nvidia display driver.

Here is a synopsis of what I did to fix it:

Got the system updated via yum to the latest and greatest.
```
# yum -y update
```
This also got me the new kernel ( kernel-2.6.16-1.2080_FC5 ) which is compatible with the nvidia driver.

Created a yum livna repo "/etc/yum.repos.d/livna.repo"

[livna]
name=Livna for Fedora Core $releasever - $basearch - Base
baseurl=http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/$releasever/$basearch/
enabled=0
gpgcheck=1

Imported the livna gpg key via:

# rpm --import http://rpm.livna.org/RPM-LIVNA-GPG-KEY

Then installed the patched driver from the livna repo.
```
# yum -y --enablerepo livna install kmod-nvidia
```
This also installed the dependant "xorg-x11-drv-nvidia" rpm.

NOTE: For a smp kernel use "kmod-nvidia-smp" instead.
If you have SElinux enabled (check "/etc/selinux/config" file) then set the SElinux boolean values as below:
```
# setsebool -P allow_execstack=1
# setsebool -P allow_execmod=1
```
Restarted and got the display working...

TwinView config settings with 1.0-8756 nVidia driver

Submitted by sandip on Thu, 04/27/2006 - 16:04.

The recent update of the kernel (2.6.16-1.2096_FC5) got me in doing an update for the kmod-nvidia and the xorg-x11-drv-nvidia rpms as well.

# yum --enablerepo livna update kmod-nvidia

On reboot, this left me with my TwinView configuration not working and dropped me to the runlevel 3 command mode.

Logged in as root and made a backup of the existing xorg.conf file.

# cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.orig

On running throught the "/var/log/Xorg.0.log". I noticed a couple of Warning and Errors on my modelines. Since frequencies and dpi were automatically detected by reading information from the EDID (Extended Display Identification Data stored in the Display), I commented out the HorizSync and VertRefresh rates as well as the mode lines.

I then went on to generate a new config file with TwinView Settings:

# nvidia-xconfig --twinview -o /tmp/twinview

Started X using the new config:

# startx -- -config /tmp/twinview.conf

Got the monitors working on TwinView. Replaced the existing xorg.conf with the new. Edited the MetaModes for a higher resolution with panning capability for my laptop monitor.

Option      "MetaModes" "CRT-0: 1280x1024, DFP-0: 1280x800@1280x1024"

Below is what my current xorg.conf settings.

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "single head configuration"
        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
        InputDevice    "Synaptics" "CorePointer"
        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
        InputDevice    "USB Mouse" "AlwaysCore"
EndSection

Section "Files"

# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database.  Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db").  There is normally
# no need to change the default.
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
        ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/nvidia"
        ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
        FontPath     "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load  "dbe"
        Load  "extmod"
        Load  "fbdevhw"
        Load  "record"
        Load  "freetype"
        Load  "type1"
        Load  "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
#       Option  "Xleds"         "1 2 3"
# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
#       Option  "XkbDisable"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults).  For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
#       Option  "XkbModel"      "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
#       Option  "XkbModel"      "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
#       Option  "XkbLayout"     "de"
# or:
#       Option  "XkbLayout"     "de"
#       Option  "XkbVariant"    "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
#       Option  "XkbOptions"    "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
#       Option  "XkbOptions"    "ctrl:nocaps"
#
        Identifier  "Keyboard0"
        Driver      "kbd"
        Option      "XkbModel" "pc105"
        Option      "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# If the normal CorePointer mouse is not a USB mouse then
# this input device can be used in AlwaysCore mode to let you
# also use USB mice at the same time.
        Identifier  "USB Mouse"
        Driver      "mouse"
        Option      "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
        # This line is important to set the input device to mouse2
        Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mouse2"
        Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Synaptics"
        Driver      "synaptics"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
        # this line turns off the stick pointer
        Option      "GuestMouseOff" "on"
        Option      "Protocol" "auto-dev"
        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
        Option      "LeftEdge" "120"
        Option      "RightEdge" "830"
        Option      "TopEdge" "120"
        Option      "BottomEdge" "650"
        Option      "FingerLow" "14"
        Option      "FingerHigh" "15"
        Option      "MaxTapMove" "110"
        Option      "VertScrollDelta" "20"
        Option      "HorizScrollDelta" "20"
        Option      "MinSpeed" "0.3"
        Option      "MaxSpeed" "0.75"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "WXGA"
        VendorName   "Dell"
        ModelName    "Dell D800 WXGA Panel"
        ModeLine     "1280x800_60.00" 83.5 1280 1344 1480 1680 800 801 804 828
        ModeLine     "1280x800_70.00" 98.9 1280 1352 1488 1696 800 801 804 833
        ModeLine     "1024x768_70.00" 76.2 1024 1080 1192 1360 768 769 772 800
        Option      "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "GeForce FX5200"
        Driver      "nvidia"
        VendorName  "NVIDIA"
        BoardName   "NVIDIA GeForce FX5200"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "GeForce FX5200"
        Monitor    "WXGA"
        DefaultDepth     24
        Option      "NoLogo" "true"
        Option      "RenderAccel" "off"
        Option      "NvAgp" "2"
        Option      "TwinView" "True"
        Option      "TwinViewOrientation" "LeftOf"
        # See http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-8756/README/appendix-g.html
        Option      "MetaModes" "CRT-0: 1280x1024, DFP-0: 1280x800@1280x1024"
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1280x800_60.00" "1280x800_70.00" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Inside Fedora Core 5

Submitted by sandip on Wed, 04/19/2006 - 13:05.

Here's a quick overview of what's new inside FC5.

nVidia Display Driver with Fedora Core 5 -- Upgrade Notes

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TwinView config settings with 1.0-8756 nVidia driver

Inside Fedora Core 5

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