Fedora 18 Proprietary NVIDIA driver install. Usefull for Steam Beta

I had to go through some pain to get the proprietary nvidia driver to install on Fedora 18, and had to repeat the process when the new kernel was installed today. I'm including my "script" to get this done so that hopefully someone else won't have as hard a time. Everything here is from a default install. I did not install rpmfusion, or change any system settings. If you have done so, these instructions may not work, and I can't take responsibility for any problems that may come up. Straying from these directions may lead to a system that doesn't boot. Please don't experiment unless you know what you're doing, or are willing to take that risk. ALWAYS make a backup of important files. PS, Raid is not a backup.

Feel free to critique my process, I don't learn anything if no one points out my flaws.

This process was created on an x86_64 default install (Gnome) on an Nvidia Geforce 250 GTS.

First, go to the NVIDIA website and download the most recent driver for your card, I have tested this on the NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-310.19.run driver for my Geforce GTS 250.

Drivers | GeForce

All instructions below are to be run as root. You can use `sudo -i ` to get a root shell, or preface the commands with sudo if you prefer.

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# do a yum update to make sure you're on newest kernel release, better to not have to do this twice
yum update

# change default runlevel to multi-user (the old init 3)
sudo ln -fs /lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target /etc/systemd/system/default.target

# reboot into the new kernel & runlevel
shutdown -r now

#make sure Open source nouveau driver is blacklisted from starting on next reboot.
egrep -i "blacklist\s*nouveau" /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf || echo "blacklist nouveau" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

# move the nouveau module out of the default path so that we won't have it built into the new initramfs.
mv /usr/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau.ko /usr/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau.ko.blacklist

# move the old initramfs to a backup location. Not strictly necessary, but a good idea to keep backups IMO, feel free to skip this step.
mv /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).nouveau.img

# make the new initramfs.
dracut /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)

# reboot into new initramfs where nouveau won't be loaded.
shutdown -r now

# cd to where you downloaded the NVIDIA driver. In my case, it was in my Downloads directory.
cd ~username/Downloads

# make the file executable, and run it, follow onscreen instructions
chmod 700 NVIDIA-Linux-*.run
./NVIDIA-Linux-*.run

# If you're running any proprietary games (to include steam games) make sure to install the 32 bit compatibility drivers, and update the xorg.conf file when prompted.

# when it is installed, change back to the default runlevel,
ln -fs /lib/systemd/system/graphical.target /etc/systemd/system/default.target

# and reboot
shutdown -r now

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When your system comes back up, you should be at the graphical login screen. Log in, open a teminal, and run

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nvidia-settings

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and setup your stuff how you want. If there are errors at any step, please let me know so that I can modify my instructions.

####################################### RPM Fusion Method ########################
Here is a good link for installing via RPMFusion. They are a great deal easier, but don't have as much flexibility (harder to choose a different video driver than what they have there.)

http://www.if-not-true-then-false.co...-nvidia-guide/

Thanks to Gruven for reminding me to link to this method.

I just used the instructions on the fedora forums for Fedora 17 and it worked perfect. Just get the repos from rpmfusion, and get the nvidia akmod.

Steam runs natively, and plays games, along with wine.

I almost never use the drivers from nvidia proper because well, they tell you to get them from a repo if you can.

Of course, you did almost the exact same thing I did, except you installed the ones from nvidia and I didn't. The difference is that you use the nvidia installer to manage them, and I use yum and akmod. I won't have to manually update the drivers when my kernel updates.

I know about the rpmfusion method, and while it's a great deal easier, I posted these instructions (and used them myself) for a couple reasons.

1, rpmfusion can take a while (a few days at the most, nothing drastic) to update their kmod-nvidia drivers. As you said, you can do the akmod method, but for some reason I haven't had much luck with them.

2, when I looked, rpmfusion only had the 304 driver, where nvidia had the 310. My games (Crusader Kings 2 specifically,) seemed to work better with the 310 than the 304. In the past, rpmfusion has taken quite a bit longer to release the modules for newer drivers.

Don't get me wrong, I've used rpmfusion, and Livna before that, and they're great if they work for you. I posted as an alternate method for people who, as in my case, needed to install using Nvidia's method.

Thanks for the comment though, I should have included a link to the Fedora wiki detailing RPMFusion.

Your reasoning is sound, no need to explain. Yes, I am only running the 304 driver and it works so far for everything I need. I do game, but reboot into windows for it because none of the games I play are ported or play well in linux.

If I were to use the Nvidia proper drivers I would have used your guide, good job.

BTW, is Crusader Kings 2 any good? I have been eyeing it. What game is it most like?

I absolutely love the game. I actually deleted my windows partition when I updated to Fedora 18 (via fresh install) because I didn't see a need for it any more once Netflix and CK2 started working. Plus Paradox (developer) is working on Europa Universalis 4, which they say will work on Linux.

It's most like ... well Europa Universalis. Paradox development (as opposed to Paradox published) games are all very similar in style, so if you've ever played EU, Hearts of Iron, Victoria, or Sengoku (not a very well known game), then you know what it's mostly about. It's a grand strategy game that focuses heavily on the inheritance and Feudal system in the dark ages. If you enjoy any of the Total War games, you may like this one, hard to say really since nothing else outside of Paradox's games are even close. Youtube videos aren't all that in-depth either, so unless you find a good one, only the basis will be explained. If you have windows, I think they have a demo available for that platform.

I might possibly check it out, seems decent. Probably wait on a sale.

On another note, I didn't know netflix worked in linux now, that is awesome! My media pc may be moving over soon because of it, haha.

Oh, and thank you for the how to. I was messing with the frame buffer earlier and fedora decided to start loading the nouveau driver even though it was blacklisted. With your instructions, I was able to move it to not be included in the initrd at all, and it saved my system. Thank you very much.

Wow, great to hear that helped. Steam frequently does seasonal sales, so I wouldn't buy the game and all the DLCs till around spring (when colleges go on break usually.) This game has been on the seasonal sales since summer, and usually all the DLCs will be 50-75% off.

I haven't tried the Netflix yet, I just know it works. I've been catching up on some shows on DVD, so I haven't had the opportunity to set it all up. It's supposed to be really easy on Ubuntu, but I don't care for that distro.

I have been a steam user since 2004 (and accumulated about 500 pc games in the sales), and a pc gamer since 1990 or so.

I keep trying Fedora but have never used it for more than 6 months at a time, so your how to did really help. I usually use Gentoo and it is different. Takes a bit to get back into the RPM and initrd world, haha.

I just looked at Netflix, and it looks like we will have to use wine. I wanted native, so Windows stays on the media pc. Oh well.

But thanks again for the help.

For some reason I can no longer edit my original post ...

A major step that I forgot to put is that you must

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yum -y install kernel-devel kernel-headers gcc

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install the kernel sources, and gcc to enable the compiling of the nvidia module. It's still a binary blob, but it needs it to build the kernel module.

This should be the second step after a

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yum -y update

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I don't know why I can't edit, but hopefully anyone who wants to follow my guide will read up to this point.

I'm closing this thread (marking solved.) I made some mistakes, and I for some reason can not edit the first post. The improved guide can be found

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/red...r-install.html