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<h2 class="title"><a name="editxconfig" id=
"editxconfig"></a>Chapter 6. Configuring X for the NVIDIA
Driver</h2>
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<p><b>Table of Contents</b></p>
<dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href=
"editxconfig.html#UsingNvidiaxcon2beec">Using nvidia-xconfig to
configure the X server</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href=
"editxconfig.html#ManuallyEditing1ae61">Manually Editing the
Configuration File</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href=
"editxconfig.html#RestoringTheXCof7145">Restoring the X
Configuration after Uninstalling the Driver</a></span></dt>
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<p>The X configuration file provides a means to configure the X
server. This section describes the settings necessary to enable the
NVIDIA driver. A comprehensive list of parameters is provided in
<a href="xconfigoptions.html" title=
"Appendix B. X Config Options">Appendix B, <i>X
Config Options</i></a>.</p>
<p>The NVIDIA Driver includes a utility called nvidia-xconfig,
which is designed to make editing the X configuration file easy.
You can also edit it by hand.</p>
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<h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name=
"UsingNvidiaxcon2beec" id="UsingNvidiaxcon2beec"></a>Using
nvidia-xconfig to configure the X server</h2>
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<p>nvidia-xconfig will find the X configuration file and modify it
to use the NVIDIA X driver. In most cases, you can simply answer
"Yes" when the installer asks if it should run it. If you need to
reconfigure your X server later, you can run nvidia-xconfig again
from a terminal. nvidia-xconfig will make a backup copy of your
configuration file before modifying it.</p>
<p>Note that the X server must be restarted for any changes to its
configuration file to take effect.</p>
<p>More information about nvidia-xconfig can be found in the
nvidia-xconfig manual page by running.</p>
<pre class="screen">
% man nvidia-xconfig
</pre>
<p></p>
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<h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name=
"ManuallyEditing1ae61" id="ManuallyEditing1ae61"></a>Manually
Editing the Configuration File</h2>
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<p>If you do not have a working X config file, there are a few
different ways to obtain one. A sample config file is included both
with the X.Org distribution and with the NVIDIA driver package (at
<code class="filename">/usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/</code>). The
<span><strong class="command">nvidia-xconfig</strong></span>
utility, provided with the NVIDIA driver package, can generate a
new X configuration file. Additional information on the X config
syntax can be found in the xorg.conf manual page (<strong class=
"userinput"><code>man xorg.conf</code></strong>).</p>
<p>If you have a working X config file for a different driver (such
as the “<span class="quote">vesa</span>” or
“<span class="quote">fbdev</span>” driver), then simply
edit the file as follows.</p>
<p>Remove the line:</p>
<pre class="screen">
Driver "vesa"
(or Driver "fbdev")
</pre>
<p>and replace it with the line:</p>
<pre class="screen">
Driver "nvidia"
</pre>
<p>Remove the following lines:</p>
<pre class="screen">
Load "dri"
Load "GLCore"
</pre>
<p>In the <code class="computeroutput">Module</code> section of the
file, add the line (if it does not already exist):</p>
<pre class="screen">
Load "glx"
</pre>
<p>If the X config file does not have a <code class=
"computeroutput">Module</code> section, you can safely skip the
last step.</p>
<p>There are numerous options that may be added to the X config
file to tune the NVIDIA X driver. See <a href="xconfigoptions.html"
title="Appendix B. X Config Options">Appendix B,
<i>X Config Options</i></a> for a complete list of these
options.</p>
<p>Once you have completed these edits to the X config file, you
may restart X and begin using the accelerated OpenGL libraries.
After restarting X, any OpenGL application should automatically use
the new NVIDIA libraries. (NOTE: If you encounter any problems, see
<a href="commonproblems.html" title=
"Chapter 8. Common Problems">Chapter 8, <i>Common
Problems</i></a> for common problem diagnoses.)</p>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name=
"RestoringTheXCof7145" id="RestoringTheXCof7145"></a>Restoring the
X Configuration after Uninstalling the Driver</h2>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>If X is explicitly configured to use the NVIDIA driver, then the
X config file should be edited to use a different X driver after
uninstalling the NVIDIA driver. Otherwise, X may fail to start,
since the driver it was configured to use will no longer be present
on the system after uninstallation.</p>
<p>If you edited the file manually, revert any edits you made. If
you used the <span><strong class=
"command">nvidia-xconfig</strong></span> utility, either by
answering "Yes" when prompted to configure the X server by the
installer, or by running it manually later on, then you may restore
the backed-up X config file, if it exists and reflects the X config
state that existed before the NVIDIA driver was installed.</p>
<p>If you do not recall any manual changes that you made to the
file, or do not have a backed-up X config file that uses a
non-NVIDIA X driver, you may want to try simply renaming the X
configuration file, to see if your X server loads a sensible
default.</p>
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