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OpenSUSE 10.2 & NVIDIA
Well after trying to use Windows, I gave up, it's just not going to happen. I don't like Windows, I don't want to use it. Last week I installed OpenSUSE on my Mac Pro at work. I did it under Parallels just because I didn't want to get screamed at for using an alternative...The last time I had installed SUSE Linux I had a bit of trouble getting the directory structure correct for the installation packages. I use the minimal install CD and then I just point it to an HTTP/FTP server to get the rest of the packages/software it needs. I usually do this for any distribution of Linux, saves me some time from having to download large disc images. Since Parallels doesn't (but hopefully will in 3.0) support 3D graphics I couldn't try out the nifty XGL/Beryl/Compiz stuff. Anyways...

I finally decided to install it on my main computer as my main and pretty much only operating system. Having figured out the addresses in my Parallels install this time it was a breeze! A couple hours later and I had the main system and all the software (well almost) installed. It's very very easy. Some people think Linux is command line only and very hard to use, it's not, just have a peek at OpenSUSE and Ubuntu. Great for newbies!

Anyways, after it was all installed I had some video/display issues. My resolution was stuck at 1280x1024. That's not a fun resolution to be at when you're on a 23" wide-screen display. After digging around on Google and looking on the OpenSUSE wiki I eventually found a decent thread and had collected enough information to attempt to install my own NVIDIA drivers. Apparently the drivers do not come bundled in with the OpenSUSE install for some licensing reason. Fortunately they make it pretty easy to install them on you own (even if this is Linux)!

So after downloading and installing 3-4 driver packages I finally got it right. As of writing the package you want to download is this one here. You will need to make sure you have GCC, make and kernel-sources installed. All three very easy to install in OpenSUSE. Just open a terminal and change to root and run the commands:


init 3
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-9755-pkg1.run -e
init 5


You obviously have to do that from terminal as root and be in the same directory where the driver package is that you downloaded. The 'init3' command will change you into a command line mode. You'll then want to login to run the next command. The 'init5' command will bring back into the GUI mode. If you're confused leave a comment. Once installed it should all be working. If the XGL/Desktop Effects still aren't working I've found that typing in:

gnome-xgl-switch --enable-xgl

You must type that command in as root also. This should 'force' it into the XGL mode and it should work (at least it did for me). If it doesn't take immediate effect then restart X (Ctrl+Alt+Backspace) and it should work!

I have a NVIDIA/BFG 7950 256MB video card and this all works fine now for the most, it just seems a little ghetto that I had to kickstart the XGL service...oh well!

The next project for this box is getting World of Warcraft to work. I think Crossover should help with that though! :)