Re: Nvidia help pls ...

RodMcKay wrote:
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First off, may I beg the group's indulgence. I just know that one or
more will be tempted to say, "how stupid are you ... ?", which is not
just a Linux geek-to-"stupid"-Linux-newbie problem, it happens
everywhere when someone isn't technically strong (yeah, I get this re
Window$, too). ---- I'm 47. I sat down at my first computer when I
was 25, back in DOS days. Going back, by the early- to mid-70s when I
was in junior high, I'd been a Star Trek fan since I was 6 and I'd
read most if not all of Asimov's, etc., books by then. No big shakes
for most of you, I'm sure. The thing is, though, that I'm not a guy.
I sure was interested in computers but I had trouble with relating to
the punch cards I saw the guys carrying around and talking excitedly
about. The cards perplexed me and I couldn't bridge that to what the
visual re computers was. Also, though we weren't discouraged from
entering the sciences, there wasn't any active encouragement to do so
either (unlike today). So, though I wish I could say otherwise, I'm
still very weak in things like hardware and technical issues re
computers. So you don't have to say it! I know it!! <g> Linux is
making me change that even more, which I'm very happy about, but
there are many nebulous areas still to chart! <g>.

Linux users come from all walks of life, and are at various levels of computer expertise when they start. No need to apologize. And shrug off that gender bias of yours. Your computer has no idea what your gender is, nor does it care. BTW, I don't care, either. I had assumed you were a guy based on your posted pseudonym. I should have known better than to make such assumptions. I was right about you're being a youngster, though. I'm 60.
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So, even after reading a ton of stuff re the Ubuntu-Nvidia driver
issue, I'm stumped. I'd like to test out 3 distros, Ubuntu and 2
based on it, just to get a feel for it. I can't install at this point
for a number of reasons but I can look at different LiveCDs.
Challenge is the resolution in all of them due to lack of Nvidia
drivers. I can't see the screen properly, everything is way too big!
I'm driven out in 2 minutes or less because I can't even get to a lot
of the buttons on any given screen as some of the dialogue boxes
extend way beyond what my monitor can display!!! You don't get very
far if you can't even press the "GO" buttons <g>.

I ran Belarc and Everest, two Window$ diagnostic freewares, so have
some info on my Nvidia card. And there's this page here:
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-install-nvidia-drivers-in-ubuntu-feisty-or-later-versions.html
plus I found a page this morning (which I've since lost and can't find
again) that listed a ton of different Ubuntu Nvidia items to dl. But
I'm hoping that following the above install page is all I need.

Challenge is that I'd like to keep the files dl. The only way I seem
to be relating to repositories may not be the right way - they seem
similar to an Window$ phenomenon called web install -- not in
concept, but in action!! Web install is something I _always_ avoid in
Window$ like the plague since they install apps directly from the net
to your computer with DLLs and tons of other stuff going to various
places including the registry without your control. Now I know that
Linux can't be like that at all, but instead of scattered stuff all
over the place, with repository dl, do you end up with an executable
file of some sort or a grouping of files, or code? Or does it vary?
I don't know as I haven't had luck dl from repositories even using
code particular to what I'm using, i.e., Fedora code when in Fedora.
I since have been told that I have to use the repository that I have
access to already - which I have to figure out how to do. But I'd
like to know hopefully before going much further what to expect.

I don't want to have to dl the Nvidia drivers each time I switch
between Ubuntu-based LiveCDs (how awful is that! Don't want to use up
the bandwidth for either side this way AT ALL!!) and one friend just
doesn't have internet access because she can't afford it. It would be
nice to have the file on my hdd which I can then carry with me to
where I need to go and install.

Thanks. Much appreciated. I'm in rather shaky waters here. Cheers.
:oD


I suggest you give the following website a good, thorough going-over, if you haven't already: https://help.ubuntu.com/ It's the official documentation for Ubuntu, as well as a link to the community-based documentation. Be sure to look at both. Linux is a community-supported OS, and many times community-based docs are more informative than the official ones. They should explain to you how the repositories are supposed to work, as well as answer many other questions you may have. There is a whole section in each that goes into dealing with video cards. There are other sections that deal with switching from Windows.

Similar sites exist for other distributions. However, I can't emphasize strongly enough that you need to settle on one distro and stick with that until you understand what's going on. Trying to use more than one at the same time will only confuse you to the point where you never get straightened out again.

TJ
.

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