nvidia using livna and an old kernel

[s3raphim]

I'm using kernel 2.6.24.3-12 on my HP Laptop with GeForce 6150. I didn't install any of the proprietary stuff because I didn't think I needed it - well, it turns out I do to talk to an external monitor. However, when I go to install kmod-nvidia and xorg-x11-drv-nvidia, both the graphical Add Software program and yum want me to upgrade my kernel to 2.6.24.4. I don't want to - it gives me aperture errors.

How do I install the drivers for the old kernel? Better yet is there a way to tell yum NEVER to force me to upgrade the kernel, or to provide me with packages that don't require the upgrade? I really like my current kernel, it works and makes me happy. The new one doesn't, that's why I removed it.

[JohnVV]

i think that your best bet would be to remove the livna k-mod and build the nvidia driver from nvidia's *.run package . I do that for my very old gforce mx 400 card every time i get a new kernel or xorg update , it takes about 2 min to install .This would require you to install the kernel-devel and xorg-devel packages from yum first .When you find the driver on nvidia's site be sure to read the README for the manual settings

[Hlingler]

Rather than use the nvidia binaries, which cause problems later on (see: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/forum/showpost.php?p=990571&postcount=22), you could install the dkms-based nvidia drivers from FreshRPMs, which never need kmod updates. There are drawbacks to this, too (see: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/forum/showpost.php?p=992083&postcount=5).

The solution to the question: "is there a way to tell yum NEVER to force me to upgrade the kernel" is: add the kernel* as a global exclude to updates in /etc/yum.conf:
exclude=kernel*

V

[s3raphim]

Well, freshrpms opened a new can of worms. dkms requires kernel-source and kernel-devel. I can't seem to find it for my kernel. yum grabbed it for 2.6.25, and the whole thing yelled at me on boot. The X Server failed to start because the module could not be built. Furthermore, once I was in a text mode, there was not internet even though the services seemed to start properly. I changed the Driver line in xorg.conf to "nv" to fix things, and then uninstalled the dkms mess.

Is there a way to get the livna nvidia driver 169.12 (or whatever) installed without it calling the new kernel as a dependency?

[leadgolem]

Without the kernel-devel to compile it against not really.

Your only real options are to upgrade your kernel or build your own kernel.
EDIT: You can't build the one from nvidia without the header files in kernel-devel and kernel-headers either.

That is unless you get exceptionally lucky and find the correct kernel-devel and kernel-headers package somewhere.

[Hlingler]

Well, freshrpms opened a new can of worms. dkms requires kernel-source and kernel-devel. I can't seem to find it for my kernel. yum grabbed it for 2.6.25, and the whole thing yelled at me on boot. The X Server failed to start because the module could not be built. Furthermore, once I was in a text mode, there was not internet even though the services seemed to start properly. I changed the Driver line in xorg.conf to "nv" to fix things, and then uninstalled the dkms mess.

Is there a way to get the livna nvidia driver 169.12 (or whatever) installed without it calling the new kernel as a dependency?You can find all the various kernel packages here: http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/packageinfo?packageID=8
Select your desired kernel version (or page ahead for older ones), click on the link to get all available flavors (kernel.i386, kernel.x86_64, -devel, -headers, etc. etc. etc.) for that version.

V

[s3raphim]

HAHA! I got it to work: :D

I went directly to the livna website and manually downloaded:
kmod-nvidia-2.6.24.3-12.fc8
kmod-nvidia-169.12-2....
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-169.12-1...
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs-169.12-1... don't remember the WHOLE thing

I then did:
cd Desktop
sudo rpm -ivh all four of them

TA DA! I got to keep my kernel and didn't have to deal with dkms. I wish in general I could make yum use rpm -ivh unstead of -Uvh for stuff like this, when I don't want to change the kernel, but for now I'm just happy dual monitor support will work for my presentation tomorrow.

Thanks for the help guys! :)

[leadgolem]

You can find all the various kernel packages here: http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/packageinfo?packageID=8
Select your desired kernel version (or page ahead for older ones), click on the link to get all available flavors (kernel.i386, kernel.x86_64, -devel, -headers, etc. etc. etc.) for that version.I had no idea, neat.:)

I'm glad you got it working s3raphim.

[A.Serbinski]

HP Laptop with GeForce 6150
You sure thats a 6150 and not a GO6150? I suspect the latter.
Note that there is a SERIOUS BUG in all the nvidia drivers versions 169+, including the latest 171.06 beta, that affects ALL GO6100/6150 that will cause black (or white) screen, possibly with horizontal banding, whenever you leave X or whenever DPMS activates. Nvidia has repeatedly failed to acknowledge this bug and it is uncertain whether or not it will ever be corrected. The latest driver version that works with the GO6100/6150 is 100.14.23, which you can still find on their website: ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/