What package(s) are needed to install nvidia support ?

[Fabio Massimo Di Nitto]

On Tue, 14 Sep 2004, Matt Zimmerman wrote:

> On Tue, Sep 14, 2004 at 08:57:42AM +0100, Mark Shuttleworth wrote:
>
> > This python script sounds neat, could you put an item on your "when the
> > preview is out and the dust settled" list (for Hoary I think) to
> > integrate this, or something similar, so that people get the nvidia
> > binary kernel module, and X reconfigured, with OpenGL drivers rocking,
> > with a single apt-get? And ATI too?
>
> Another, simpler option would be to install the drivers by default.  Then,
> when xfree86 is autoconfigured, it would select the binary drivers in
> preference to the open source ones if they are present.

As i already mention, there is no fall back here of any kind. If we select
one driver that is present on the system, either it will work or not.
There is no turning back. Also, this requires X to know about each
free/commercial driver relation in a specific schema that needs to be kept
update. discover is not designed to provide alternatives.
If a new driver comes out it will become more complex to handle than it is
now.

> Simple, effective, and flexible.

Dangerous imho. We should always start with free drivers that are known to
work and that are well tested. Sometimes more than commercial drivers.

> Users who choose to make CDs without the drivers on them
> would get the open source drivers automatically.  Users can easily switch
> between the drivers once they have installed, by selecting from the list of
> available drivers in dpkg-reconfigure.

dpkg-reconfigure is always there. Also now it is possible to select for
example nv or nvidia. Not at install time.. but at any time after.

> If we are going to include these drivers on the CD and distribute them
> anyway, and they provide better support for the hardware, then we should use
> them by default, no apt-get necessary.

As above, it's much safer to use the free drivers as default choise. We
have the possibility to debug them.

Fabio

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