Debian NVIDIA Help!

[slash12345]

Hello,
Could anyone tell me how it's possible to install NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver on Debian Sid (actually, Experimental)? Please don't post links to howto's - they don't work for me. Here's what my attempts to install the drivers did:
X.org errors on startup
1. Device I/O errors (tested on 3 different installations) and Screen(s) found but none have a usable configuration
2. Module not found (the most recent error) - modprobe works but X.org somehow couldn't locate the file - where can I get the driver version that installs to the proper directory?
3. Other errors like Rm_InitAdapter (searched a lot on other forums but none of them gives a clue)

While writing this post, I also realized that GLCore is still being loaded but I can't see it in the configuration.
Could anyone help me with this weird problem? I'm quite sure my graphics card is supported, because it works on SuSE 10.1 on other partition.
/* I'm using X.org 7.2 and nvidia from module-assistant marked as version 8something */
Edit: the official NVIDIA installer also breaks my X.org

[jonantice]

The debian nvidia package (I think nvidia-glx or maybe it's the nvidia-modules-*) supplies a command that will automatically setup your xorg.conf (I think it is nvida-setup but I'm not sure since I'm not at my own computer.) That has always worked for me better than Xorg -configure.

[slash12345]

I have tried it (nvidia-xconfig) and really it did nothing - just destroyed my Xorg conf like dpkg-reconfigure did.

[craigevil]

Your using packages from Experimental and your surprised that things aren't working ?

For one thing you have to tell apt/aptitude/Synaptic to use experimental none of them will install from it be default. Just having it in your sources.list isn't enough.

apt-get -t experimental packagename

Once you have the necessary packages using module-assistant is the easiest and probably the best way to install.

[jens]

Why would you need experimental?

As craigevil said, use module-assistant:

#apt-get install module-assistant build-essential linux-headers-*
#m-a prepare
#m-a auto-install nvidia
#apt-get install nvidia-glx

Check if "nv" is replaced by "nvidia" in xorg.conf.

#reboot

[Daan]

I had good results (eventually) with a download from nvidia.com in Etch. Be sure to properly remove the debian packages if you try.

[craigevil]

I had good results (eventually) with a download from nvidia.com in Etch. Be sure to properly remove the debian packages if you try.

Using the Nvidia installer is a great way to hose your system.

[slash12345]

It just seems like I can't have NVIDIA drivers on Debian Experimental. I've tried all the ways mentioned above and really, none of them worked. The only thing it gave to me is an advice:
Never use up-to-date Debian distro with old, proprietary software like NVIDIA drivers. It won't be better until big companies release drivers under GPL.

[jens]

It just seems like I can't have NVIDIA drivers on Debian Experimental. I've tried all the ways mentioned above and really, none of them worked. The only thing it gave to me is an advice:
Never use up-to-date Debian distro with old, proprietary software like NVIDIA drivers. It won't be better until big companies release drivers under GPL.

Please do some research before making such pointless complaints. Sid(unstable) is the most up-to-date Debian version for home users. Experimental is not even supposed to work. New people like you should better start with Etch (testing).
Sarge still does the job as well (but will soon be replaced with Etch as "stable").

Also, post some useful info on what you did and when it went wrong (all errors included). Only use Sid (unstable) if you know what you're doing, never use experimental (it's always under development and not meant to be used by normal users). Experimental is not even a complete distro ...

The problem is not Debian (and neither nVidia), it's you.

[craigevil]

GPL drivers would be nice. But actually knowing how to do things the proper "Debian Way" would work.

Host/Kernel/OS "craigevil" running Linux 2.6.20.1-slh-up-2 i686 [ sidux-20070111-d:5 ]
CPU Info AMD Duron 64 KB cache flags( sse ) clocked at [ 1800.092 MHz ]
Videocard nVidia NV34 [GeForce FX 5500] X.Org 7.2 [ 1280x1024 @75hz ]
Network cards Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet, at port: e400
GLX Renderer GeForce FX 5500/AGP/SSE/3DNOW! | GLX Version 2.1.0 NVIDIA 97.55 | Client Shell | Infobash v2.58

Debian -- Debian Releases
http://www.debian.org/releases/

experimental is the bleeding edge of Debian Development. Packages here have been deemed unfit for release by the maintainer responsible for them. DO NOT INSTALL PACKAGES FROM EXPERIMENTAL WITHOUT KNOWING EXACTLY WHY AND WHAT YOU ARE DOING. For an actual description, see section 4.6.4.3 of the Developer's Reference, or http://packages.debian.org/experimental/

While Etch is frozen a lot of useful packages are sitting in exp, normally that is not the case.