This is the proprietary binary video driver from NVidia for the X.Org
X-server. This package does not include the kernel-module - it is a
part of the nvidia-kernel package at SlackBuilds.org.
Since this nvidia-driver conflicts with some files of xorg, it's a bit
complex to install/uninstall the driver. However, installation of the
nvidia-driver package itself backs up the conflicting files and puts the
nvidia-specific files into place.
Heinz Wiesinger, the author of the build script, has written a script called
nvidia-switch, which is used to switch between the stock xorg driver and
the nvidia driver, but it will not edit xorg.conf for you; you have to do
that manually. The nvidia-switch script is installed to /usr/sbin.
Usage of nvidia-switch:
nvidia-switch --xorg <--> switch to the stock xorg files
nvidia-switch --nvidia <--> switch to the proprietary nvidia files
nvidia-switch --cleanup <--> switch to the stock xorg file and remove all
symlinks created by nvidia-switch
You do NOT have to run nvidia-switch after installing or upgrading the
package. ONLY if you want to explicitely switch to the xorg files,
afterwards switching back to nvidia files or before uninstalling the
package.
No special steps are necessary when updating nvidia-driver from a previous
package. If you update to a newer xorg, you do not have to reinstall
nvidia-driver either. Just run "nvidia-switch --nvidia" in that case.
Before uninstalling this package, it is important that you execute
'nvidia-switch --cleanup', which will switch back to the stock xorg files
and remove all links created by nvidia-switch before.
If you forget to do this, you'll have to do the switch manually, or xorg
won't work on next startup. Here are the affected files:
/usr/lib/libGL.so.1.2
/usr/include/GL/{gl.h glx.h glxext.h glext.h}
/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/{libglx.so libglx.la}
This also requires the nvidia-kernel and libvdpau package from SlackBuilds.org.
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