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:
- 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"
- install the right driver for your card and all the required dependencies
- 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!