Index: nvidia-guide.xml
===================================================================
RCS file: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/nvidia-guide.xml,v
retrieving revision 1.35
diff -u -b -B -r1.35 nvidia-guide.xml
--- nvidia-guide.xml 29 Nov 2006 15:57:52 -0000 1.35
+++ nvidia-guide.xml 7 Feb 2007 17:58:14 -0000
@@ -37,10 +37,18 @@
-nVidia release their own Linux drivers which provide good performance and full
-3D acceleration. There are two drivers in Portage. nvidia-drivers is for
-newer nVidia graphics cards, while nvidia-legacy-drivers supports older
-cards.
+The nVidia drivers in the tree are released by nVidia and are built against the
+Linux kernel. They contain a binary blob that does the heavy lifting for talking
+to the card. The drivers consist of two parts, a kernel module, and an X11
+driver. Both parts are included in a single package. Due to the way nVidia has
+been packaging their drivers, you will need to make some choices before you
+install the drivers. Currently, there are two driver packages in the tree. The
+first, nvidia-drivers, is the latest drivers from nVidia and includes
+support for the latest cards. The second, nvidia-legacy-drivers, supports
+older cards, from the original TNT through the GeForce 6800. However, this
+driver does not support the latest features of the newer cards. You should only
+use nvidia-legacy-driver if your cards is not supported in the
+nvidia-drivers package.
@@ -57,6 +65,44 @@
+Driver compatibility
+
+nvidia-legacy-drivers
+
+
+
+The nvidia-legacy-driver branch supports older nVidia cards which are no
+longer supported in the latest driver releases. This branch is based on an older
+code base of the nVidia drivers, and supports the latest kernels and X.Org
+versions. You should use this driver if you have a TNT, TNT2, GeForce, or
+GeForce 2 series card. The driver compatibility information can be found in
+Appendix A of
+http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-7184/README/readme.txt.
+
+
+
+
+
+nvidia-drivers
+
+
+
+The nvidia-drivers branch supports the features in newer nVidia cards.
+The latest version of these drivers has dropped support for the NV2x based
+cards. If you have a GeForce 3 or GeForce 4 series card, you should mask
+>=x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-1.0.9700 in your
+/etc/portage/package.mask file. This will prevent newer versions of
+the driver which are incompatible with your card from being installed. You can
+check for driver compatibility for your card at to determine if it is supported
+on the newer drivers at
+http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-9746/README/appendix-a.html.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Configuring your Card
Kernel Configuration
@@ -65,8 +111,8 @@
As mentioned above, the nVidia kernel driver installs and runs against your
current kernel. It builds as a module, so it makes sense that your kernel must
-support the loading of kernel modules. If you used genkernel to
-configure the kernel for you then you're all set. If not, double check your
+support the loading of kernel modules. If you used genkernel all to
+configure the kernel for you, then you're all set. If not, double check your
kernel configuration so that this support is enabled:
@@ -99,6 +145,10 @@
<*> /dev/agpgart (AGP Support)
+
+On amd64, the IOMMU controls the agpgart setting.
+
+
@@ -157,7 +207,7 @@
automatically discover your kernel version based on the
/usr/src/linux symlink. Please ensure that you have this symlink
pointing to the correct sources and that your kernel is correctly configured.
-Please refer to the Configuring the Kernel section of the Installation Handbook for details on configuring
your kernel.
@@ -201,9 +251,9 @@
Unfortunately, certain legacy video cards are not supported by the newer
-versions of nvidia-drivers. nVidia provides a list of supported
-cards. Please check the list before installing the drivers.
+versions of nvidia-drivers.
+nVidia provides a list
+of supported cards. Please check the list before installing the drivers.
@@ -211,6 +261,7 @@
+TNT
TNT2
TNT2 Pro
TNT2 Ultra