How to Install the NVIDIA Video Driver in Stretch-Live 64bit
NVIDIA makes a variety of video cards and supporting them in Linux is a challenge. My old NVIDIA machine loads the open-source nouveau driver - it works, but it's "blinky". There are two methods for installing a better driver. You might want to practise on a test setup first.
Thank you to anikin for helping with this.
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Method A:
The Debian repo has driver packages that support many NVIDIA cards.
1. Open a terminal and run:
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apt-get update
apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
apt-get install nvidia-detect
2a. Run the command: nvidia-detect
2b. It will recommend a driver for your card. Install it. For example:
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apt-get install nvidia-legacy-304xx-driver
3a. Reboot.
3b. To check that the driver has installed correctly, run: lspci -nnk | grep nvidia
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Method B:
This method installs the NVIDIA vendor driver from scratch.
IMPORTANT: You should back up your changes folder before proceeding. If something goes wrong, you may not be able to restore the nouveau driver.
1a. Run the command: lspci -nnk
1b. Identify the model name of your NVIDIA adapter and the current driver, probably nouveau.
2a. Go
here. These are combo Linux driver installers.
2b. For each series, look under Supported Products to see if your model is listed. Be aware that some series are incompatible with some kernels. The 340.107 series is a good choice.
2c. Download the .run installer file.
3. As with Puppy, you need a devx and kernel-sources in order to compile the driver. You have two choices:
a. Download and install them directly into your filesystem.
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apt-get update
apt-get install build-essential
apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
b. Use apt2sfs to build a mini-devx squashfs module from the above packages. Activate it from the right-click menu.
4. Download and extract the "mk-nvidia.tar.gz" attached below.
5a. Start with an
empty folder in an ext partition with 1GB free space.
5b. Put the NVIDIA.run file and the mk-nvidia script in this folder.
6. Open a terminal and run the script. Ignore the messages about installing 32bit compatibility libs. Any error messages at the end may or may not be significant.
7. Unload the devx module and reboot.
8.If X does NOT start and quits with a prompt, run
9. If X starts OK, verify with
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lspci -nnk | grep nvidia
nvidia-settings
10.If X still won't start, you may need to reinstall your system.
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Upgrading the driver for a new kernel: When X fails at bootup, type from the console:
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apt-get update
apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
nvidia-detect
apt-get remove nvidia-xxx-driver #use your particular driver package
apt-get install nvidia-xxx-driver
reboot
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