How to Install Video Drivers on Fedora Core 6

The ATi and nVIDIA driver RPMs provided by livna.org are especially designed for Fedora. If you are using yum and already have it configured with the Livna repository for your Fedora version, you can skip this section. If not, add the Livna repository by executing the following command as root:

# rpm -Uhv http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-6.rpm

Next, import the Livna GPG Key:

# rpm --import http://rpm.livna.org/RPM-LIVNA-GPG-KEY

To test it, try to get info about a release currently provided by Livna repository:

# yum info kmod-nvidia

If you got the file information correctly, it's safe to go on to the next step.

Unfortunately, Fedora Core 6 installs the i586 architecture kernel by default. Even worse, if you choose to have virtualization support during Fedora installation, you will end up with a kernel-xen which you need to get rid of as soon as possible. For video drivers to get installed correctly, you will need to have kernel for i686. In order to make this process a little bit easier, you need to install Yum Extender:

# yum install yumex

Fire it up from the Kmenu / System / Yum Extender (or type yumex in a terminal), check if Livna repository is in the repository list, go to Remove, select your current kernel and kernel-devel (only if its arch is i586 or has xen in its name), press add to queue, then go to Install, search for Kernel, select the kernel and kernel-devel for i686 arch, press add to queue, go to Queue, press Process Queue, wait until it's done and reboot your computer. Only then will it be safe to go to the next step.


How to install nVIDIA drivers

Assuming Yum has been correctly installed, you can obtain the latest Nvidia drivers by typing:

# yum install kmod-nvidia

This command will install the nVIDIA driver and kernel module. To verify the installation completed successfully, log out of your current session and log back in. Before the X server restarts, you should see the nVIDIA logo briefly. Open up a terminal and type:

# glxinfo | grep direct

If the output to this command is direct rendering: Yes, you are good to go. Also, a reboot might be required for the full effect of the kernel module to be realized on some machines.


How to install ATi drivers

Again, your Yum must be configured with the Livna repository, as it's one of the few repositories that provide video driver RPMs especially designed for Fedora Core. To install the ATi drivers’ package, type this command as root:

# yum install xorg-x11-drv-fglrx kmod-fglrx glx-utils

This installs the ATi driver and kernel module. To test the installation, log off your current session, log back in and type this command:

# glxinfo | grep direct

If the output is direct rendering: Yes, you have installed your drivers correctly.

However, if you have an AMD64 processor, you will need to add iommu=off to the kernel line in your /etc/grub.conf file, like this:

kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet iommu=off

Moreover, if you have an Intel motherboard, you will need to add the following line to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, right below Driver "fglrx":

Option "UseInternalAGPGART" "no"

Good luck!

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