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After the debacle I wrote about in the Dependability, Reliability and Stability? Not with micro$oft! article, I have now installed Linux on my Dell Precision T3400.

The Dell Precision tower I have is running the Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E8400. It features a 6MB Cache, 3.00 GHz processor cores, 1333 MHz FSB (front side bus) and a 64-bit instruction set. This means I’m able to run the amd64 variant of Debian GNU/Linux. This also means I’m going to need 64-bit drivers, starting with my video card.

My NVIDIA Quadro FX 570 video card also happens to have a 64-bit driver available. The LINUX X64 (AMD64/EM64T) DISPLAY DRIVER, Version 260.19.12 is a 64-bit Linux, certified driver. This driver is exactly what I need for my Video Card and my newly installed 64-bit Debian GNU/Linux OS.

In doing some research, I couldn’t find a very good instructions on installation. I know I’ll need the NVIDIA Linux x64 Display Driver installation instructions for more than just one machine. So, I decided to write up a set of my own.

nvidia logo

nvidia logo

NVIDIA made a fantastic effort to provide clear an concise information in their NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Graphics Driver README and Installation Guide, made available for this specific driver.

However, I like something more… cut to the chase and this is my effort to do so.


Lets start by going to NVIDIA’s web site and downloading the installation package we need.

Point your browser to: http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-display-amd64-260.19.12-driver.html and download the installation package.

I created a directory called “downloads” within my “home” directory. I downloaded the “NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-260.19.12.run” to that specific directory. You will want to pay attention to where you download this file, as you will need to access it later.

NOTE: this is the Display Driver for my NVIDIA Video Card. It may not be the same one needed for the video card in your own machine. You will need to verify this.

Now, please reboot your system (or just log out), to proceed to the next set of steps.


  1. (NVIDIA’s instructions eventually get around to telling you to be in the shell/console, and not have any X Window System running. My instructions, start at the Debian GNU/Linux w/ KDE Welcom Screen. If you follow these instructions, you will not have to worry about shutting down or closing any X Window System.) At the Debian GNU/Linux w/ KDE Welcome Screen, chose the “Menu” option in the lower left part of the screen.
  2. In the Menu chose the “Console Login” option. (You Can also simply click ALT+N from the Debian GNU/Linux w/ KDE Welcome Screen, in place of the first two steps in this section. This is a shortcut to the Console or “CONSOLE MODE”.)
  3. At the Login prompt type: “root” and hit the [enter] key.
  4. Type in the Password of the “root” user and hit the [enter] key. You would have set this password up during installation. See our Installing Debian 4.0 (etch) on a PC guide.
  5. Then you will type the following code:
    test:~# apt-get update
    then press the [enter] key. This will download the latest, most up to date installation packages. Do not try to continue until it has completed the package header downloads.
  6. Once all the package headers have been downloaded, we can proceed with the rest of the process.

NVIDIA’s instructions tell us you need to meet the following Minimum Software Requirements:

  1. Linux kernel v. 2.4.7 or higher. To check your version, type:
    test:~# cat /proc/version
    then press the [enter] key.
  2. XFree86/X.Org v. 4.0.1/6.7 or higher. To check your version, type:
    test:~# XFree86 -version/Xorg -version
    then press the [enter] key.
  3. Kernel modutils v. 2.1.121 or higher. To check your version, type:
    test:~# insmod --version
    then press the [enter] key. To install the latest version, type:
    test:~# apt-get install module-init-tools
    then press the [enter] key.

Or, if you need to build the NVIDIA kernel module:

  1. binutils v. 2.9.5 or higher. To check your version, type:
    test:~# size --version
    then press the [enter] key. To install the latest version, type:
    test:~# apt-get install binutils
    then press the [enter] key.
  2. GNU make v. 3.77 or higher. To check your version, type:
    test:~# make --version
    then press the [enter] key. To install the latest version, type:
    test:~# apt-get install make
    then press the [enter] key.
  3. gcc v. 2.91.66 or higher. To check your version, type:
    test:~# gcc --version
    then press the [enter] key. To install the latest version, type:
    test:~# apt-get install gcc
    then press the [enter] key.
  4. glibc v. 2.0 or higher. To check your version, type:
    test:~# ls /lib/libc.so.*
    then press the [enter] key.

Remember, these are minimum requirements. If you don’t have the minimum requirements, you need to update them.


Next, the source code for your kernel has to be installed for compilation to work. On our Debian systems, this means you will need to locate and install the correct kernel-source, kernel-headers, or kernel-devel package. First, you have to know which kernel you have installed on your system.

In my How do I tell which Version of Linux is Running article I talked about how to do this. You’ll want to review the article if you haven’t already.

  1. Install the Linux Source Code. To locate the source for your kernel, type:
    test:~# apt-cache search linux-source
    then press the [enter] key. At the time of this article my system was using linux kernel 2.6.26-2-amd64. To install this version, type:
    test:~# apt-get install linux-source-2.6.26
    then press the [enter] key.
  2. Install the Linux Headers. To locate the headers for your kernel, type:
    test:~# apt-cache search linux-headers
    then press the [enter] key. At the time of this article my system was using linux kernel 2.6.26-2-amd64. However, I chose to install all the header files. To install all the header files, type:
    test:~# apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.26-2-all
    then press the [enter] key.

With all of this done, I was finally ready to install the NVIDIA Linux x64 Display Driver


  1. Remembering what I told you earlier about downloading the installation file from NVIDIA, you may need to change directories to access this file. To do so, type:
    test:~# cd /home/{username}/downloads
    then press the [enter] key. NOTE: This is the path to where I downloaded the file. You may not have the same path. You may have used /home/{username}/desktop or something similar.
  2. Now, you’re ready to run the installation package. To do so, type:
    test:~# sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-260.19.12.run
    then press the [enter] key.
  3. Follow the on-screen prompts, provided by NVIDIA.
  4. One of the last installation steps will offer to update your X configuration file. Either accept that offer, edit your X configuration file manually so that the NVIDIA X driver will be used, or run nvidia-xconfig
  5. Defer to the NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Graphics Driver README and Installation Guide if you have any other issues beyond what I discussed here.
  6. After the installation has completed, I suggest you reboot your system. To do so, type:
    test:~# shutdown now -r
    then press the [enter] key.
  7. If everything worked correctly, you should see the NVIDIA splash screen before the KDE log in screen, after your system reboots. If you do not see this splash screen, you can open Konsole from within the KDE GUI and type:
    test:~# pico /etc/X11/xorg.conf
    then press the [enter] key. You will be looking for a section similar to:
    Section "Device"
    Identifier "Device0"
    Driver "nvidia"
    VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
    EndSection

    This means the NVIDIA Display Driver has been installed.

I wish this process was a little shorter & easier, but I’ll take what I can get. After all,

Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more

…or maybe it should read:

Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not using windoz any more