Craig Mayhew’s Blog

Installing the drivers for the GeForce GTX 260 on Ubuntu 8.04 64 Bit is not exactly intuitive. The drivers aren’t found under “System > Administration > Hardware Drivers”. The drivers instead need to be downloaded directly from the nvidia site. The furthest I managed to get before finding this guide was getting the drivers to work fine until the computer was restarted, at which point it reverted back to “safe graphics mode”. However a person going by the alias of “starcannon” has been kind enough to post this guide on the Ubuntu forum. The original version is available at http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=5086971.

Print out this guide, you will be in pure CLI for part of the install.
1)  Download the driver for your Nvidia Card from http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

1.a) Make sure its in your home directory, this will make it so we don't have to change directories later when were in terminal.
2) Open a terminal: Applications--> Accessories--> Terminal
3) sudo apt-get install build-essential
4) gksudo gedit /etc/modules

4.a) Add "nvidia" without quotes to the list.

4.b) Save and Exit
5) gksudo gedit /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

5.a) Add "nv" without quotes to the restricted list. It should look exactly like this: DISABLED_MODULES="nv"
5.b) Save and Exit
6) sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf ./xorg.conf.backup
7) sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf

7.a) Were just deleting your old xorg.conf file, we backed it up in step 6 just in case we ever need it back again.

7.b) Getting rid of old drivers, use one or more of the sections that apply to you:

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If you used Envy to attempt a previous nvidia install please run this command now before you go on:
sudo envy --uninstall-all

sudo dpkg -P envy
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If you have some old Ubuntu repository/restricted driver manager attempts installed please run this command before you go on:
sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia*

sudo rm /lib/restricted-modules/.nvidia*
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If you have a failed NVIDIA*.run (drivers from the nvidia.com site) run this command before you go on:
sudo nvidia-installer --uninstall
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## Alright Now Assuming That You are starting with a clean slate lets move forward##

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8) CTRL-ALT-F1

8.a) Okay were in Command Line only now, we have a little left to do in here.

8.b)login:

8.c)Password:
9) sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

9.a) This step shuts down the x-server and gnome desktop manager
10) sudo chmod a+x ./NVIDIA*.run

10.a) We made the nvidia installer executable.
11) sudo ./NVIDIA*.run

11.a) Answer to the affirmative for all questions.

11.b) Be sure to specifically say you DO WANT it to write a new xorg.conf

11.c) If you somehow answered incorrectly on the last question in the installer then:

c.I) sudo nvidia-xconfig #this will write a new or attempt repair of

an xorg.conf file for you.
12) sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

12.a) You should see an Nvidia Logo, and then be put at your login screen,

you should also be able to enable desktop effects.
Optional But recommended:

13) To get the driver to update itself when a new kernel is installed from the update

manager be sure to follow the guide in this link:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=5227704&postcount=1
Here's a click link for the guide mention in step 13
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...04&postcount=1
I will continue to update this guide as I find new things, but I am not really following this thread any longer as the OP seems to have moved on.
If I refer you to this guide from another thread, then please continue posting in the thread we met on. GL and hope this guide helps you.
~Starcannon