How to install the NVIDIA 3D drivers, the Debian way.
Methods
There are four different methods for installing the kernel module.
Use module-assistant
This method is easy, and should work with most stock or custom kernels. For a custom kernel, you need to have its Linux headers installed.
It needs module-assistant and nvidia-kernel-common. To install them with apt-get:
# apt-get install module-assistant nvidia-kernel-common
Run the following command:
# m-a auto-install nvidia-kernel${VERSION}-source
And that's it. If all went well, your nvidia kernel module is now built and installed; you may proceed to step 3. If not, read the rest of this section.
You must use the same version of gcc to build your nvidia kernel module as was used to build your kernel. This might be a problem if you are running a stock kernel. If module-assistant fails, read its log output and look for messages suggesting that you need, for example, gcc-4.0 instead of gcc-4.1. Then install the corresponding package and retry auto-install.
You also might have problems if a previous (failed) attempt at building the nvidia kernel module has left stuff at /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel/
If this happens, you can try removing the old files:
# rm -r /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel/
and running "auto-install" again.
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This issue should be confirmed. If this solution helped you, please tell the maintainer. 2009-07-04
The auto-install step is the biggest step of the procedure, and is the most likely to fail. auto-install can be divided in smaller module-assistant steps, which can help debugging:
*
get
*
build
*
install
If # m-a get nvidia; fails, try installing the nvidia-kernel-source package. If APT fails to install nvidia-kernel-source, you should go back to step 0 and make sure you didn't miss something.
If you are unable to install the module using module-assistant, try installing a pre-built module if you use a stock kernel or try to build manually, with a custom kernel.
http://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers#Usemodule-assistant
