adding non-free repository from runlevel 1 with no access to gui

[kristizz]

I have just installed debian stable (etch)

I would like to install nvidia-glx using apt-get in single user mode (can't run x due to driver issue). This is on the non-free repository, which isn't a default apt source.

I would therefore like to edit my /etc/apt/sources.list to add the non-free repo, but am only experienced in using gedit when in runlevel 5.

Can anyone tell me how I can edit apt's sources list from command line in run levels 1 or 3?

Can't find solution anywhere. If this is a duplicate question, sincere apologies.

[devils casper]

you can use nano or vi to edit sources.list.

nano /etc/apt/sources.list

did you try "vesa" driver? it works fine with all graphics cards.

nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

edit this part

Section "Device"
  Identifier "Video Card"
  Boardname "xxxx"
  Driver "vesa"
EndSection

[mahlerfan]

And here is a way to get the proprietary driver without editing any files do as root--

apt-get install linux-image-'uname-r'
wget http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-9755/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-9755-pkg1.run
chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-9755-pkg1.run
./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-9755-pkg1.run

And then you're good to go.

That's assuming that you want the latest linux x86 driver. You can even just copy that, save that as a shell script that is say foo.sh. Then running sh foo.sh as root will do it. That is assuming that I didn't make any mistakes.