envy installation

envy is 100% unsupported and not reccomended, if you want to install the restricted drivers for your graphics card you can goto system -> administration -> hardware drivers. it will take care of everything for you

i have tried that already there is nothing listed in the hardware drivers box so i don't know what to do next

what is your graphics card model?

its a nvidia 9600GT there is a beta driver on the nvidia website that ii have downloaded its (173.08) but i don't know how to load it

First off, you may want to put the Nvidia installer file in your home directory for ease of access, then, install the driver the following way:-
1) Stop the X-Server with:-
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

2) Run the installer:-
sudo sh name-of-installer

3) Restart the X-Server:-
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

Also, I would not say that Envy is bad, it is good and is effective and has helped many people with their VGA problems, so please don't generalise by saying that Envy is bad or not recommended since it is not either.

i did the first bit which is stoping the x-server the screen went black with some writing on and saying ok but it did nothing i left it for a couple of minutes but nothing so i restarted the computer is it suppost to do something when you stop the x-server and what and also the home directory is this the home folder under Places

once you have restarted the xserver you can press ctrl+alt+F2 to switch to a 'tty', from there you can enter the commands. i recomend you take a look at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/NvidiaManual first though, it runs through the specifics of how to install nvidia drivers manually

how would i now when the x-server is restart i tried the ctrl+alt+f2 i got to tty2 screen then i type in the file name that i download but its saying bad command or can't open folder

That's because the file in question is not in the current directory, can you post the path in which the driver file is located?

after i download the driver it appears on the desktop so i thinks the location is on the desktop where should i put this file·

remeber to type chmod +x <filename> before hand.

what do u mean where should i type this
let me give u an example of what i did

1. i did the ctrl+alt+F1 (this takes me to the tty screen where it ask for my username and password i did that

2. then i type sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop (to stop the x-server) after it stop then prompt me to type then i type

3. sudo sh nvidia-linux-x86-173.08-pkg1.run (then its says bad command E: folder can be found) this is the driver i downloaded from the nvidia website

is this the right way of doing it and where should i type (chmod)
also where should i put this download fil which directory should it be in

1) Move to the folder containing the file with:-
cd ~/Desktop

2) Execute the file with:-
sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-173.08-pkg1.run

See if that works.

what do not understand where is this cd ~/desktop folder where can i find it

It's not a file, it's a command, you're supposed to type it into the terminal.

sorry man that did not work thanks anyway though i'am going back to windows xp it much more easier i just wish installing files and drivers would be more straight forward than this on linux but as i just found out its not why can't i just put the driver cd in and the file just install like on windows, before i install linux i had no idea how hard it was gonna be to install my graphics card i have tried just about anything maybe this ubuntu 8.04 doesn't support my 9600GT but there is people with this linux version with the same graphics card on there system and it works but its not happening on my system so i give up its to much of a hassel
besides i'am a gamer and i can imagine how difficult its gonna be to put games on linux there is not even alot of games that support linux anyway so i think windows is better for games maybe in a couple of months time i will try out this linux again but not right now

Ricardo unfortunately you've given up on Linux for something as simple as installing a driver(an Nvidia driver at that). But you are right, the main reason you have to install the driver manually is because the 9 series has yet to receive support on the built-in nv driver and the Nvidia driver in the repositories, but installing the driver manually is just painfully easy once you get over the nervousness of using the command line interface which in itself will only take about an hour of its use.

But anyway, your choice is your own, come back to Ubuntu whenever you are ready to try again:).