Are you a 'buntu noob?

130 page doesnt seem "easy" to me.

been playing around with it for the first time ever - straight forward ubuntu, and i was flabbergasted how good it was. Plugged in all sorts of peripherals, wifi USB cards loads of stuff and it all just worked. no faffing or anything.

Then, i wanted to make the appearance nicer, so tried to crank it up a notch, could i figure out how to install the Nvidiadrivers :( oh no, cant just download and double click.

tips? I'll start with the guide tho!

:)
 
Not sure about Nvidia, but just check in Synaptic / the Add/Remove programs bit. I know that ATI have CCC in there, so Nvidia ought to have some sort of restricted drivers aroundn too.
 
You should just be able to go to System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers and have it automagically get and install the right drivers for your graphics hardware.

Does that not work? If not, there are manual ways to do it that are not too terribly complex if you can copy and paste. :p
 
i dont want to deviate this thread from its intended direction, so i'll perhaps start a new thread?

But when i check the above (hardware drivers) it comes up as saying no prpoprietary drivers are in use, it isnt activated and i cant activate.

the OS itself works perfectly fine, i just cant use the improved visualisation options because i get that error.
 
Pug,

It's my thread and I don't mind, after all it is about a guide to helping people get started.

Ubuntu should have done two things after your first install. Check for updates and scan for your graphics card and offer a restricted driver. If you have a red arrow or a green icon (looks like a graphics card) in your top panel, click on them and install away!

If BillytheImpaler's advice should work. If not you may need to use Synaptic to install the nvidia modules by searching for "Hardware Drivers". nvidia-177-kernel-source should be there for you to install. Remember to check that Proprietary drivers is activated under Software sources.

Other than that it is off to the terminal with you! I'm sure we can get it working for you. :)
 
cheers :)

All of that happened - as i say i was blown away by it - really easy to do.

Its totally updated, i've checked. I'm obviously missing something stupidly obvious...

Everything works brilliantly, except when i go to prefernces -> appearance -> visual effects (tab) and try to select high/highest. If i do this it tries to get better drivers or something then says "could not be enabled"

At this point it searches for drivers, and pops up a window saying about the driver needing to be proprietary, with a grey "button/light" and a button at the bottom saying activate - but when i click it nothing happens, well it says checking for drivers etc and then nothing happens.

It doesnt really matter as it works so well out of the box, but its niggling.

Looked in synaptic (searched for nvidia) everything is enabled.
 
First off I recommend you use the Hardware Drivers tool mentioned above and "Decativate" if it shows as active. You don't want to have more than one set of kernel drivers or whatever fighting for control of the card.

Then try this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia

What hardware have you got? When you run
lspci
in a terminal window what does it say about nvidia?

Might your hardware be on the unsupported list nVidia put out?
 
tbh i'm starting to think perhaps the card just isnt up to the task?

Its a Ideq 200V with a 3000+ XP, 1GB RAM and a Geforce FX 5200.

If only i could activate the proprietary driver!

I've googled the above link, and i'm gonna try it when my heads a bit clearer 9too late for LINUX now!)


the hardware drivers tool just runs a check and pops up this "activate" window i talked about.

I'll go get a screen grab

EDIT: It appears the FX 5200 is ok accorrding to that list?

EDIT 2: This bit from the linky above is intruiging:

If the restricted driver remains unactivated after attempting to activate it in the Hardware Drivers dialog, you may not have the appropriate linux headers installed to compile the driver. Ensure that the linux-headers-XXX and linux-restricted-modules-XXX packages are installed, where XXX matches the version of the kernel you are using (linux-image-XXX).
Click to expand...

mine is 2.6.27, Ubuntu is version 8.10
 
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When i click on Hardware Drivers it takes me directly to this, clicking on Activate brings up a progress bar for downloading/installing but it appears for ~2 seconds - and nothing changes.

piccylq8.png

Scrolled down a bit
screenshothardwaredrivejc8.png
 
Oxy said:
Billy your more linux learned than me. maybe PUG should try envy now?????
Click to expand...
Not an entirely bad idea. I think it's worth a shot.

With all the repos enabled (Software Sources -> Check all boxes except CD-ROM) open a terminal window and paste
sudo apt-get install envyng-gtk

Then you can run it from the GUI menu. IIRC it shows up in either System -> Administration or Applications -> System Tools.

EDIT: Nighty-night, Oxy. :D
 
Night Oxy, cheers :)

BillytheImpaler said:
open a terminal window and paste
sudo apt-get install envyng-gtk
Click to expand...

Thanks Billy - did this, it downloaded, installed all seemed great!

Be damned if i can find a GUI menu though, or any reference of EnvyNGThe website says it should be in Applications/system tools - but dont have it as an option anywhere
 
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yay!

total success - cheers fella! (hasnt really improved anything, but it doesnt annoy me now - so much appreciated! Cant believe the olds may actually end up using LINUX )And they wont even know!)

Thanks again!
 
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