Continually reinstalling Nvidia 270.26 driver when updating kernel?

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

I have an Nvidia GeForce 6150SE card running beta driver 270.26 on OpenSUSE 11.4 (KDE and Tumbleweed).

After escaping graphics boot issues with GRUB “nomodeset” and installing this driver I’ve been good.

However each time I update my kernel (or -kmp?) I’m forced to re-do this fix. I’m forced to a lower runlevel when I reboot. I then login and find my Nvidia.run driver and “sh” install it from the command line which apparently rebuilds it into the kernel and after rebooting I’m back to normal.

Is this normal? Will there be an eventual fix for this in a kernel release? Or should I be looking for something else to make my driver settings persistent?

#2

This is normal
If you don’t like it, then Tumbleweed might not be for you.

FYI: You don’t have to update the kernel everytime. Or just wait until you have a few minutes free.

#3

On 04/18/2011 11:16 AM, kahu wrote:
> Is this normal? Will there be an eventual fix for this in a kernel
> release? Or should I be looking for something else to make my driver
> settings persistent?

Because the nVidia drivers are closed source, they can never be part of an
official openSUSE release. As a result, you will always need to update them, and
any other out-of-kernel driver, whenever the kernel changes.

#4

Thanks for the replies. So far I still like Tumbleweed and will just watch for Nvidia driver developments.
So that I can be more informed, should I ever expect this routine to change through a kernel, Nvidia, KDE or nouveax update? I still don’t fully understand the origin of this issue.

#5

I have a bash script file called lnvhw you can find here in message #12:

LNVHW - Load NVIDIA (driver the) Hard Way from runlevel 3

You still must reload the driver, but it does help some in selecting and loading the driver when you keep more than one version around. Give it a try.

Thank You,

#6

Linux handles graphic drivers different than MS-Windows. In Linux graphic drivers are kernel modules and hence the open source graphic drivers tend to be compiled/built with the kernel updates. However the proprietary graphic drivers, because the manufacturers of the associated graphic cards do not like to show their code, can not be compiled/built with the kernel updates. So they must be built separately.

openSUSE being openSUSE has a policy not to provide with the distribution software whose source code is not open and available for users to read, modify, etc … Hence proprietary drivers need to be installed by users separately.

Due to the basic construct of Linux (with graphic drivers as kernel modules) that means if there is a kernel update, there must be a proprietary graphic driver update, and its up to the user to do this because such drivers are inconsistent with the ‘open’ source policy of SuSE-GmbH/Novell.

Its of course a bit more complex than the above, where the above is one persons (mine) perspective on this.

For tumbleweed, I stick with the open source graphic drivers’ due to the large number of kernel updates. For openSUSE-11.4 (not with tumbleweed) I use the proprietary graphic drivers.

#7

For tumbleweed, I stick with the open source graphic drivers’ due to the large number of kernel updates. For openSUSE-11.4 (not with tumbleweed) I use the proprietary graphic drivers.

People who are assisting with Tumbleweed (by using it and reporting experiences in the Tumbleweed Forum or in the factory mailing list) – they should be experienced enough to be able to run the command “sh /path_to/nvidia_driver _script + Tab” and then press Enter or Tab+Enter a couple of times. If not, they should stick with openSUSE 11.3/4 as a distro.

PS I’ll move this thread to the appropriate forum after a pause

#8

BTW my comment was in no way meant for @kahu who rightly put the original query here. My comment was a comment on the ease of reinstalling nvidia proprietary in Linux.

#9

I appreciate all the comments, and the learning process.

So it seems that if I can get nouveau to function instead of the Nvidia proprietary driver I shouldn’t have issues when updating the kernel? I’m OK currently with the manual rebuilding of the driver module, even though it’s a new process for me. My other Linux systems have been ATI based I believe.

I initially had a lot of trouble with kdm crashing after my install until I install the Nvidia driver.

#10

I used to have X instability with older versions of the nouveau driver with my nVidia FX5200 graphic card (ie with older nouveau driver versions that came with openSUSE-11.3 and earlier) but I don’t have this with openSUSE-11.4’s nouveau driver version. But IMHO the nouveau driver is very much a work in progress.

Dependant on why one updates their PC, one may find the nouveau driver or the proprietary nVidia driver of more use. On my Sandbox PC (an ancient 32-bit athlon-1100 w/1GB RAM and a nVidia FX5200 graphic card) I have 3 boot partitions: (1) free dos, (2) openSUSE-11.4, and (3) Tumbleweed-11.4. On openSUSE-11.4 partition I use the proprietary 173xxx nVidia graphic driver. But on Tumbleweed-11.4 I prefer to use the nouveau driver for two reasons: (1) I don’t have to rebuild the driver each time there is a new kernel version, and (2) I want to track the nouveau driver IF it is updated in tumbleweed to see if it will regress on my ancient FX5200 graphic card.

Over the years I have seen many graphic drivers, when updated, fail to work with older hardware, and this is a worry of mine that the nouveau driver could eventually regress with older hardware. Hence my efforts to track it a bit.