Very old nvidia driver - build using kernel 3.X

English Hardware
#1

Hello all.

I’ve a very old laptop here with an nvidia graphics card that was originally using openSuSE 11.something from the SuSE repos.

Under 12.3 and above, this driver is no longer available via the repos so I am looking at the possibility of building it myself.

I have the nvidia package (96.43.23) and on the ole interweb there, I found a chap who gave a script that he claimed would allow the package to run and build.

Sadly it didn’t and seems to consist of adding a couple of new include paths.

I have the kernel sources package installed and I notice, for instance, that there seems to be a different directory structure than in SuSEs past.

Is this a hopeless quest or can someone out there give me some clue about how I might get this driver built?

Cheer - AK

#2

Yes, it is hopeless.

That driver will not work with current kernel and Xorg versions. That’s why it is not available in the repo.
And as it looks, nvidia will never update that driver any more.

Do you have problems with the open source nouveau driver?

#3

Hi Wolfi.

No, I am running the box with the nouveau driver with no apparent problems. It is just very much slower than the old nvidia one.

Thanks for you help.

Cheers - AK

#4

Is it?
I don’t think it should be very much slower. But I don’t really know.

Are you actually using nouveau?
Check f.e. in KInfocenter, /var/log/Xorg.0.log or with glxinfo.

Maybe the old “nv” driver would work better? But that doesn’t have any 3d support at all.

#5

You did not mention the actual card or chip. Maybe the G01 driver would work for you. But that is unknown if we don’t know which chip

#6

Unlikely, I’d say. Only if the 96.43.23 was the wrong one in the first place.

The G01 only supports GeForce 5 (FX) series to GeForce 9 series (and 200), whereas the 96.43.23 supports only GeForce 2 series to GeForce 4 series.
They don’t overlap.

#7

Maybe but that long ago I think I used it on 6800 board which actually today want G02. Maybe not remembering right been a long time but I know I used some 96.xx.xx drivers and I always had the 6800 board until last week when the fan died on it. Since 10.1 when I built the machine

Since he did not say the hardware there is a chance a newer driver may work . :\ Maybe no hurt to ask

#8

Well, yes, the G01 driver should support the 6800, i.e. GeForce 6 (according to the documentation at least), but the 96.43.xx one does not.
See my previous post.

Maybe not remembering right been a long time but I know I used some 96.xx.xx drivers and I always had the 6800 board until last week when the fan died on it.

I doubt that.
The 96.xx drivers never supported anything newer than a GeForce 4 AFAIK. (at least not according to the documentation, I never tried to actually use it on a GeForce 6)

Since he did not say the hardware there is a chance a newer driver may work . :\ Maybe no hurt to ask

Of course.
But as I said, I don’t think that he has hardware that the G01 driver supports.

#9

i have a old computer with a antique Gforce2 mx 400 card
it uses the 96 driver

you WILL have problems

first you need to use the current 2.6 kernel
BUT!!! you ALSO have to use a OLD version of Xorg
xorg 1.12 or 1.11

CentOS 5.10 has all that out of the box
CentOS 6.5 has to have Xorg downgraded to the version in CentOS 6.3 ( 1.12 )

#10

No. IIRC the latest 96.xx still worked in openSUSE 12.2, which had kernel 3.4.xx.

And there is an inofficial patch floating around that makes the kernel module compile/work with even newer kernels.

https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/638107/patch-for-nvidia-96-43-23-and-linux-3-11-needed/

OK I have modified sources manually and it works!
Here is the link for drivers:

NVIDIA-Linux-x86-96.43.23-pkg1-modded.run
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-eorm-ai4lyWTV0RGduQnQ3MWc/edit?usp=sharing

It should work with recent kernels 3.10, 3.11, …

The patches can be found here, f.e.: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/nvidia-96xx/?setlang=en&comments=all

I have no idea whether they would really work though.

BUT!!! you ALSO have to use a OLD version of Xorg
xorg 1.12 or 1.11

That’s true, and that’s the main problem.

The latest driver version’s changelog: (2012.09.17)

  • Added support for X.Org xserver versions 1.11 and 1.12.
  • Improved compatibility with recent Linux kernels.

It doesn’t work at all with XOrg xserver version >= 1.13.
And that’s not possible to patch/fix by people outside NVidia either, as the X driver is closed-source. The kernel module is shipped as source code, so it is possible there.