Ubuntu
compiz package

Intrepid 8.10 nVidia video drivers

Asked by Cushie

Release notes say 'Ubuntu 8.10. Users with the nVidia TNT, TNT2, TNT Ultra, GeForce, GeForce2, GeForce3, and GeForce4 chipsets are affected and will be transitioned on upgrade to the free nv driver instead. This driver does not support 3D acceleration'.

I will be sad to loose 3D acceleration but I do not understand 'will be transitioned' what does that mean in english?

After a very large upgrade file was downloaded overnight and overcoming several errors which curtailed a successful upgrade I was left with no option to install any kind of nVidia driver. On checking 'hardware' no option of a driver was given. I then tried a derivative of Envy available in Synaptic without any progress achieved beyond a default Vesa screen at an incorrect resolution.

Am I being a little hasty in expecting a video driver to be part of an 'Upgrade' and should I have waited another couple of days? What is the intended outcome for 'nv' users?

Is there an alternative I could try before reinstating 8.04 with associated 'nv' drivers included?

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Cushie (redhotwal) said : 		#1

I have since tried the Live CD and sure the 'nv' driver is there, so maybe the 'Upgrade fouled up', indeed I made a bootable usb stick, all very easy. I take some time to try out before I do a new install.

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marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#2

To the others and for future reference for the casual reader taked from Ubuntu 8.10 release notes:

nVidia "legacy" video support

The 71 and 96 series of proprietary nVidia drivers, as provided by the nvidia-glx-legacy and nvidia-glx packages in Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, are not compatible with the X.Org included in Ubuntu 8.10. Users with the nVidia TNT, TNT2, TNT Ultra, GeForce, GeForce2, GeForce3, and GeForce4 chipsets are affected and will be transitioned on upgrade to the free nv driver instead. This driver does not support 3D acceleration.

Users of other nVidia chipsets that are supported by the 173 or 177 driver series will be transitioned to the nvidia-glx-173 or nvidia-glx-177 package instead. However, unlike drivers 96 and 71, drivers 173 and 177 are only compatible with CPUs that support SSE (e.g. Intel Pentium III, AMD Athlon XP or higher). Systems with older CPUs will also be transitioned to the nv driver on upgrade.