Wanted to share an interesting experience I had while re-installing my main system the other day. I hope this may be of use to anyone suffering with any Nvidia installation issues.

I have an Nvidia GeForce2 MX/MX 400 with 64mb video memory. With this card I usually suffer incorrect screen resolution issues, when I get Nvidia working.

Side Note: Last week I had the opportunity to install Ubuntu for a friend of mine who finally decided to give it a go. He too has an Nvidia, but a newer model. With this, Nvidia was picked up perfectly and the resolution was correct without any issues whatsoever! It was a dream.

So while doing a fresh install and a number of unsuccessful attempts at getting Nvidia to work on my main machine, I came across Envy - http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html - in the repo's.

I decided to give it a go and was expecting the usual nonsense, but what was I to lose? To my surprise and elation, upon reboot, everything worked without any hiccups at all! In fact, it even got the resolution correct and was just as much a fantastic experience as it was doing that other newer machine described earlier.

From the Envy website:

"Envy" is an application for Ubuntu Linux and Debian written in Python and PyGTK which will:
  1. detect the model of your graphic card (only ATI and Nvidia cards are supported) and install the appropriate driver. However automatic detection can be overridden with the "Manual installation"
  2. install the right driver for your card and all the required dependencies
  3. configure the Xserver for you

Envy features both a GUI (which you can launch only inside a Desktop Environment) and a textual interface which you can use if, for example, you cannot start the Xserver.
I have to say it lived up to it's promises for me and I give it 5 / 5 stars! From now on, this will be the first bit of software I download to get my Nvidia working.

Nicely done!