NVidia GeForce Drivers 304.64

Archives Forums/Linux Discussion/NVidia GeForce Drivers 304.64

Armitage 1982(Posted 2012) [#1]
It's never too late : http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/51452

From 173 (!) to 304.64

Hope this time the dual screen is well supported cause I'm feed-up having to run every games in window mode. In v173 my Fullscreen mode is extended/stretched from the first screen to the second one!

Poor drivers is mainly why I don't use Linux and never get used to it.
Time for a change?
Seeing how everyone dislike Windows 8, maybe...


dawlane(Posted 2012) [#2]
I'll have to have a look. And see what gives.


Armitage 1982(Posted 2012) [#3]
Once again... I blowup my Linux system :)

First I had to do this :
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=92791

Then at boot my system is freezing after line
* Starting deferred execution scheduler    [ OK ]


Second reboot, I get back to "Checking for running unattended-upgrades:" and nothing is happening. Endless loop!


God damn!
What's the problem with Linux?
Each time I try to do something simple like installing a driver or a software I need to write tons of lines in a terminal. I can believe some geek recommend Linux as an OS to everybody specially beginner. Nobody in my whole family would be able to use it correctly, I can't either and thus since 10 years at least...

Now how am I going to get back the ligthdm interface?... pfffff
Linux suxx so much!

I recommend not to look at this shit. EVER


Armitage 1982(Posted 2012) [#4]
Got it back :-)

I manually run aptitude, install and update stuff
did an apt-get update and upgrade
try a bunch of fix commands just in case.

Now I'm running the 304.64 driver, the Mint12 additional drivers don't show it but I got 2 NVidia X Server settings application (...) saying that Mint is using it.

Got several new softwares as well thanks to all theses updates and upgrades, thanks for my disk space...

Hopefully: the dual screen support now working correctly and is only using one screen when going fullscreen (albeit it's the secondary screen, but I guess I can change this somewhere in X Settings).

BUT: now when you exit a fullscreen game, the primary screen turns off and leave you with a single screen configuration...

I repeat myself, Linux is not enjoyable.


dawlane(Posted 2012) [#5]
The chance of screwing up your system is always the problem with operating systems that use the Linux kernel. You can't blame nVidia as they have to target many different distributions. This means that you have to build it your self which can be tricky even for those who are seasoned Linux users as you have to know what you are doing and how to recover the system when things go wrong.

Linux operating systems by there very nature is not true graphical system as they have to rely on the X-server for GUI output.

This is one of the reasons OS's based on the Linux kernel will never be a main contender for the desktop market due to the fact that there is no standard install method and every piece of software relies on a certain version of other software. This in it's self makes updating any version of any software by yourself difficult. It's the reason why there are package managers and software repositories for each version of the OS.

Well these new drivers took me 5 minutes to install after I backed up my data on Mint 13 (64bit) which took longer, better safe than sorry. It all went better than I expected.

Made sure the system was up to date and that the kernel headers were installed.
Exited the X-server from a GUI terminal. "sudo service mdm stop"
Set the run level to 3. "sudo init 3"
Changed directory to the Downloads folder.
Ran the drivers with sudo sh
Answered yes or no to the questions.
Rebooted the system. "sudo shutdown now -r"

I think that you can install the 32bit version without resulting to the above by following this.

Last edited 2012


dawlane(Posted 2012) [#6]
Well I say that was fun. After 2 hours of messing with my xorg.conf file and resetting xorg.conf ( and having to re-learn things). I finally got my system working with the new 304.64 driver as it should with any game built with Bmax and Monkey running on the main monitor.
There was a time or two that I nearly lost it, but I persevered and came home with the big "W".

Here's the my final xorg.conf if any one interested in adapting it for there dual monitor system.
# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 304.64  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-12)  Tue Oct 30 12:04:34 PDT 2012

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 304.64  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-12)  Tue Oct 30 12:04:46 PDT 2012

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	Screen		1  "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    Option         "Xinerama" "1"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "HP w2448h"
    HorizSync       24.0 - 94.0
    VertRefresh     48.0 - 85.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "HP w2448h"
    HorizSync       24.0 - 94.0
    VertRefresh     48.0 - 85.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
	Screen 0
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 295"
    BusID          "PCI:5:0:0"
	Option          "RenderAccel"   "true"
    Option          "UseEdidFreqs"  "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
	Screen 1
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 295"
    BusID          "PCI:5:0:0"
	Option          "RenderAccel"   "true"
    Option          "UseEdidFreqs"  "true"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    #Option         "Stereo" "0"
    #Option         "metamodes" "CRT-1: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Device1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    #Option         "Stereo" "0"
    #Option         "metamodes" "CRT-0: nvidia-auto-select +1920+0" #Note 1920 is the first monitors width
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection


Last edited 2012