Help installing Nvidia drivers plz

[-=Punisher=-]

Yo all.

I'm a Linux newbie. Got Redhat 7.0 installed fine, but I can only run it in text mode.

I have the drivers for my GeForce2 MX on my C: drive.

When I try to RPM them I get a message saying no such file or directory.

Do I need to mount my hard drive or something? If so, how do I do it? I really want to learn how to use Linux but at the mo I can't!

PLEASE HELP! I need a hand-held guide, hehe.

Thanks a lot.

Pun.

[wofo]

pun, can you log on as user or just as root? e.g. did you define a user account and passwd at installation? If yes,
a user login should bring you to your home directory (normally /home/<username>).
Is your C-Drive a different drive containing windows?
Do a "df -k ." on the command line (w/o quotes). This should give you a list of all mounted drives. If C is not in the list and it is a windows drive you would have to mount it.
I am not familiar with redhat setups since I use SuSE, but there should be something like a setup tool allowing to define mount points for available hard drives and specify the filesystem type. Finally these settings go into /etc/fstab, the file system table to be mounted at boot time. Mine looks like this:

/dev/hda2 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/hda3 / ext2 defaults 1 1
/dev/hda1 /boot ext2 defaults 1 2
/dev/hdb1 /disk2 ext2 defaults 1 2
/dev/hdc1 /disk3 ext2 defaults 1 2

An additional windows drive would have an entry like this:
/dev/hdd1 /windows dos defaults 0 0

where /dev/hdd1 would be the 4th disk, /windows would be the mount point and dos describes the filesystem type (dos for
16bit, vfat for 32 bit filesystems).

hope this helps to get further :-))

wofo

[-=Punisher=-]

Yeah I can log on as a user or root. My drive is another C: drive with Windows on, yep.

So if I mount C: drive, Linux should just find the file, yeah? If I type in the name, it'll search for it on C: and find it, hopefully?

Also, I need to be logged on as root to install the drivers, so what do I do then?

I'll give that a try, thanks m8.

[-=Punisher=-]

Right I tried doing 'df -k' and got this:

Filesystem 1k blocks Mounted On
/dev/hda5 3067568 /
/dev/hda2 23333 /boot

Someone else told me (off the top of their head) that

$ mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows

might mount the C: drive but I got an error:

mount: mount point /mnt/windows does not exist

Any more ideas?

[wofo]

You need to create the directory /windows; this makes up the mountpoint:
cd /
mkdir windows
(forget /mnt, it just make the path longer. This is easier)

Now you need to figure out the physical device hosting your
windows stuff. Doing a "dmesg |more" gives me something like (near the top of the output, Spacebar for next page):

hda: FUJITSU M1623TAU, 1623MB w/128kB Cache
hdb: WDC WD205AA, 19569MB w/2048kB Cache
hdc: WDC WD450AA-00BAA0, 42934MB w/2048kB Cache
hdd: ATAPI 40X CD-ROM drive, 120kB Cache

since I always use complete disks.
You used two partitions of the first disk: Partition 2 (hda2) for the small boot-partition and partition 5 (hda5) for the system, so you probably will get something like:

hda: <manufacturer>, <capacity and short description>

A little further in the dmesg-output you will find something like:

Partition check:
hda: hda1 hda2 hda3
hdb: hdb1
hdc: hdc1

In my case I used 3 partitions on the first disk. Since you used hda2 and hda5, the remaining partition listed here should be the wanted windows-partition. Give it a try:

mount -t vfat /dev/hdaX /windows

One of those should match :-)

good luck
wofo

[wofo]

I forgot:

to check do a "ls -al /windows" after the mount seemed to succeed. This will show the contents of the mounted filesystem. If you see your windows stuff: voila!

After successful identification and mount you still have to put the mount into /etc/fstab to have it after reboot.

wofo

[-=Punisher=-]

Thanks very much!

Er.... how do I add the stuff to fstab?

Ta again!

I'll try it tomorrow!

[-=Punisher=-]

Woohoo! Thanks a lot m8, I'm now posting this message from Linux!

I need to put the mount command in that fstab thing or whatever it was, but it's working fine.

No sound though - how do I configure my sound card?

Also, how can I get Kingpin, Quake II etc working? Any ideas?

Thanks again!

PS
Any good sites for downloading Linux windows-emulated stuff? Like messenger, and ICQ, winamp etc?

[wofo]

Hi pun,
I wasnt able to connect to the forum til now due to the big thunderstorm on wednesday night here in S.-Germany, sorry.

Good work, though :-)

The fstab-thing is the file controlling the mount of all specified filesystems at boot time. Is located in /etc.
I think I´ve mentionned it in my first post...
Open it in your editor of choice and at the end add a line like this:

/dev/hdaX /windows vfat defaults 0 0

where hdaX is the partition you figured out to be the win-partition.

To test:
- umount /windows; mountall; df <CR>

If it seems ok, you could give it the hard try and reboot

On sound cards I have no experience, sorry. I´ve tried the OSS-Package on a standard soundblaster some 2 years ago and it worked, but since then I never had a soundcard in my servers (no need to). Perhaps the redhat support page is good for that...

Gaming under linux is a bit more tricky. Most people use the linux-boxes successfully as servers for half-life, UT etc., but they game as win-clients connecting to the linux-hosted servers. This is what you see on all LAN-parties (if you arrange our clan would be happy to host a LAN-Party in London. From what I´ve seen in the posts there is not too much going on there. We run deathmatches about once a month here...):-)))))

Anyway: You will find all Linux-related stuff on the respective homepages of the gamemaker, at least as links to the clans

Win-Emulator: I didn´t try any up to now, because I´m happy w/o windows, but VMware seems a good starting point.

(Netscape)-Messenger, ICQ and winamp are directly available as ready-to run linux application. Just go to their homepages and download. Normally you will find a *.tar.gz, which is the packed and zipped archive. Extract this with "tar xvfz *.tar.gz" and usually it will create a new directory with the package name. Look into it. Eventually you will have to study the readme´s on how to proceed, but that should be no problem for a upright walking human ;-)

whoo! It starts getting a manual... be it for now. Enough for a poor unix-admin having user complaints all day log...
We´ll see the outcome of this

fun!
wofo

[-=Punisher=-]

Wow thanks m8 you've been a brilliant help!

I havent been able to access the servers either, must've been a problem.

I've just looked at emulators. There are lots of free ones, but the VMware one is not free :( so I don't think I can get it.

I have downloaded an Linux version of ICQ.

I have had problems though, with RPMs. Some of them have dependency problems - say they need 'Glibc' or 'GCC' or something.

I think I have to download some new versions of these files from redhat.com

Which is better - RPM or tar.gz?

Well, Linux is great! Bit hard to understand and stuff, but I can surf the net (using mozilla), check my mail, listen to music, do wordprocessing etc!

Only thing I don't like is I can't use MSN Messenger (all my friends have it).

But everything else seems pretty good!

Thanks!

[wofo]

too much honour ;-) I really enjoyed it and you did a good job!

1) VMware: from what I see on the page version 2 is free.

2) dependencies: yepp, get at least the new glibc-libraries, otherwise your compiles go nuts..

3) rpm vs. tar.gz: rpm is a ready-to-install, precompiled package for your distribution. Often they also bring required prerequisites like libraries with them. As such its the easier way if you have one for your kernel version.
If you need to have a specific version of a tool and cant find a rpm to download you will usually have to get the tar-version and compile & install (dont panic, the readme's are very good). But of course for a correct compile all required libraries have to be installed, which brings us back to 2)

4) MSN: what others have is not necessarily good. If they have diarrhoe I'll happily leave them alone with it :-)).
My son and his friends gave me a hard time at the beginning when I started to move them away from the Gates of darkness, but after all it was a big success. I'm NOT banning windows; it's a usable platform for many things, but if you need reliable services get away from it. So this missionary effort now goes to you, hehe...

Think the rest can be done via email or ICQ, not bothering the forum anymore.

greets wofo

[-=Punisher=-]

OK well what I've done now is just put a fresh install of Linux on because I had loads of problems earlier.

Could you tell me where to get the glibc and gcc stuff from? I think I can get it off the Redhat site - (well I know I can) but do I just do # rpm -Fvh *filename*.rpm?

Will that work OK? And I noticed even when installing the gcc things (couple of days ago) there were dependency errors, so do I need to do the glibc things first? They seem to be important.

Another thing: what's this 'Qt' thing I keep hearing about? Some sort of GUI interface thing? I need it to run Licq - is that the ICQ program you use? I tried installing Qt (I think it was the right package) but again, dependency errors grr.

So, I'll try upgrading my Glibc, GCC ... anything else that is important to upgrade? The list of upgrades for Redhat 7 is over at http://www.redhat.com/support/errata I think.

Thanks SO MUCH for your help, I can now start my missionary exercise! (I've even offered one of my friends the Linux CDs for free, even though I paid £40 (130DEM?) for them! Hehe.

I'm also getting my friends to get ICQ too. Once I've got used to Linux (and got printer, etc working) I'll definitely use it almost all the time - love my computers, hehe, and Linux offers a lot more to me than Windows. I do a bit of C++ programming as well, just did a course for it. My budding computer career is on its way!

Thanks again.

Thom/Pun

[wofo]

still thinking about your dependency problem... digging into the basics (from time to time a good book helps, eg. o'reilly linux)...

rpm -i <name>.rpm installs
rpm -ivh <name>.rpm verbose install
rpm -U <name>.rpm Update of installed package
rpm -e <name> uninstalls (NO .rpm!)
rpm -q <name> version of installed package
rpm -qa lists all installed package

Now, when you do a rpm -i <name>.rpm, you say you get something like:

failed dependencies:
<another package> is needed by <name>.rpm

Is this correct so far? If yes, you need to install <anotherpackage> first. Did you do that?
Pls. be more specific on the dep.error

btw: mail to you failed :

<tmadhavan@ntworld.com>: host mail.ntworld.com[207.53.165.240] said: 550 5.1.1
<tmadhavan@ntworld.com> is not a valid mailbox

wofo

[wofo]

QT is a cross-platform C++ Graphical User Interface application framework. It works with both Linux and MS Windows computers, but available free only for Linux.
The main website for qt is: http://www.troll.no/qt

Printer: staroffice is using your standard installed printers defined in the "/etc/printcap"-file, so you need to set up a printer under linux. Run the redhat setup program, add the package "apsfilter" from your distribution CD, again run the redhat setup program, select printer configuration and specify your locally attached printer.
If you don't have any fancy printer this should do.
Be aware that not all printers (GDI-Printers esp.) are fully supported this way. Here GODINS recent note drops in, just meaning that one should use one of the more advanced printer configuration tools like CUPS :-)
Take a look at http://www.linuxprinting.org.

wofo

[-=Punisher=-]

Woah thanks again m8!

Yeah that's the problem I get with the dependencies.

I've reinstalled Linux now, so I don't know what the dependency failures are exactly.

I need to install that Qt thing, but I need the newest Glib files, yes? Well I can't get them because the Redhat site seems to be down :(

I can't get any of the files there, and the auto update feature isn't working at all.

So I really don't know what I need to upgrade to be honest - the gcc and glib libraries, at least?

As for the printer, it's a USB printer so I don't know how to set it up.

I'm going to put it in the LTP port and see if it will work then.

And the mail to me failed? Hmm that's strange. I had a mail saying that you'd sent me a mail and it failed?! So I did get some sort of message lol.

tmadhavan@ntlworld.com

try: mail@thomasmadhavan.com

Thanks AGAIN. I'll see if I can get these files I need. And the Qt thing.

[-=Punisher=-]

Oh yeah, one more thing.

Which Qt thing do I get? The embedded thing? Also, can I get the gcc and glib things from a site other than Redhat?

Also, if you get fed up of me asking stuff all the time, just say, lol :E

I know it can be annoying.

[wofo]

no probs ;-)

I would go to http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/libs/qt/
and pick the package fitting my kernel. In your case its probably kernel 2.2.x, so you would load
qt-x11-2.2.1.tar.gz

Then read/print the file INSTALL and follow the instructions there. This one is especially wild, so check it step by step!

Info on the gnu C-Library (glibc) can be found at:
http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/libc.html

and they explicitly point at

http://sources.redhat.com/glibc.

There you should find actual download stuff

mail: the error says ntworld, not ntlworld. check characters,please
I tried the mail@thomasmadhavan.com-thing..

dependencies: pls. give more info about the exact error messages as soon as you have it again

wofo

[-=Punisher=-]

Ahhh!

My email is tmadhavan@ntLworld , not ntworld.

NTL world

Hehe.

OK I'm just downloading version 2 of VMware, just to give it a try. I'll then get the libraries and stuff I need.

I'll leave out the dependency problems for now, as I'm not installing anything at the moment, until I get the latest glib and gcc files

Any ideas about the gcc thing? They're C library files, I thought.

I'm starting to understand how Linux works now - it's a compiler, right? That's why you need the library files? I get it (my programming knowledge coming in useful!) Hehe.

OK so gimme a few hours, I'll download everything I need, and then get back to you if there are any problems.

I have 13 weeks off now! Just finished my exams (I'm 16) and so I'm going to spend the time learning how to use Linux and improving my C++ skills, hehe.

Are you German? If so, your English is amazing! And thanks AGAIN for the help - much better than any Redhat support, hehe!

By the way I've 'converted' two of my friends to ICQ :E

Cya round.

[-=Punisher=-]

OK, I'm downloading glibcc-2.2.3.tar.gz , hopefully it's the right one!

The FAQ and things are really confusing! I'm going to try and find some sort of help files, I have no idea how to install this stuff, lol.

Also, VMware installed, but I don't know where it's gone!

For example, in Windows it might have gone to C:/Program Files/VMWARE but I don't know where it is here on Linux! Lol.

It definitely installed though :)

Also, the glibcc FAQ mentions the gcc (compiler?), apparently I need a new version of this? How do I check which version I have.

I can't find any of this information on normal help sites (I have looked, honestly!).

[-=Punisher=-]

ONE more thing :E

I just read somewhere about KDE using the Qt libraries, but GNOME not using them?

Could that have caused the problem? I tried to install (I think it was licq) on GNOME but it had problems with Qt dependencies. I haven't tried installing it using the KDE - would that be worth a try?

Anyway, thanks VERY MUCH for your help. I still dunno how to install glib stuff :(

Looking for the GCC things now.

[wofo]

Hi Thomas,
usual places are /usr/bin, /usr/sbin or /usr/local/bin.

Do a "cd /; find . -name vmware -print".
This should find it.

Have you already studied
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHEA-2001-016.html

I do not understand everything here, but it seems to be a
comprehensive update of your 7.0-version (only the 5 x386-rpm's seem to be needed):
i386:
ftp://updates.redhat.com/7.0/en/os/i386/rpm-4.0.2-7x.i386.rpm
ftp://updates.redhat.com/7.0/en/os/i386/rpm-devel-4.0.2-7x.i386.rpm
ftp://updates.redhat.com/7.0/en/os/i386/rpm-build-4.0.2-7x.i386.rpm
ftp://updates.redhat.com/7.0/en/os/i386/rpm-python-4.0.2-7x.i386.rpm
ftp://updates.redhat.com/7.0/en/os/i386/popt-1.6.2-7x.i386.rpm
If those 5 rpm's are all in a separate directory you can just cd there and run
rpm -Fvh *.rpm (according to this site)

Was talking with a collegue this morning. He is a redhat-user and said that he is always and only using the rpm-method to install...

sorry, never looked into Gnome yet, but I dont think it will differ under KDE. Those are just GUIs and the underlying stuff is the same :-( I bet that if this dep.-Prob is solved everything is ok as well.

wofo