PC Help: Install Nvidia drivers on Mandriva Linux

The next step is to shutdown the X window server (the fancy graphics bit). The simplest way to do this is to press Ctrl+Alt+F2 to switch to a console. This in itself does not shut down X so type the following command

su

and enter the root password. Next type

init 3

This will shutdown X. Navigate to the location of the file. As you are logged in as root type cd .. until you are at the top of the file system. Then type cd / home and then cd / name, where name is the user who downloaded the file. Type ls to check the file is there and to find out the exact name. The name changes with new versions of the driver.

Type sh filename, where filename is the full name of the driver file including the .run eg sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-9746-pkg1.run

Follow the instructions onscreen to install the driver.

When it has finished type init 5 to restart the X Server.

Enter your username and password but before pressing Enter click on Session Type and select Drak3d. Select the option to use graphics effects and click on OK. Enter your username and password again and select your preferred windows manager (probably GNOME or KDE) in the Session Type menu. Press Enter and you will be logged in with 3D effects

The next step had me really puzzled. I selected drak3d as my sesssion in the log in and saw a setup window. I entered the settings and clicked ok to be told to restart X with Ctrl+Alt+Backspace. I did this and selected drak3d again to get exactly the same window. Eventually I discovered that the drak3d setting is only for setting up the 3d desktop. Once these settings have been changed, log in using Gnome or KDE as normal.