nVidia video driver install wants the source for my kernel.. (I didn't download them)

[BigToque]

It says there are no preconfigured kernel something or other and it's asking me for the directory of my source code.

I downloaded the testing net install of Debian. I don't know where the source code would be either on my computer or from debian's website.

Any ideas?

[bosox79]

what is the exact error you are getting and you are getting this when you attempt to install the Nvidia driver? you may find this helpful http://www.togaware.com/linux/survivor/Compiling_Driver.shtml
or you may want to try a Debian based distro that makes installing the driver a little eaiser http://www.libranet.com/trial_download.html

your kernel source should be in /usr/src/linux if it is installed, you may need to download and install your kernel source

This Thread may shed some light on your problem
http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=126664&highlight=compile+a+kernel+Debian

HTH

[BigToque]

This is the error:

Using: nvidia-installer ncurses user interface
-> License accepted.
-> No precompiled kernel interface was found to match your kernel; would you like the installer to attempt to download a kernel interface for your kernel from the NVIDIA ftp site (ftp://download.nvidia.com)? (Answer: Yes)
-> No matching precompiled kernel interface was found on the NVIDIA ftp site; this means that the installer will need to compile a kernel interface for your kernel.
ERROR: Unable to find the kernel source tree for the currently running kernel. Please make sure you have installed the kernel source files for your kernel; on Red Hat Linux systems, for example, be sure you have the 'kernel-source' rpm installed. If you know the correct kernel source files are installed, you may specify the kernel source path with the '--kernel-source-path' commandline option.
ERROR: Installation has failed. Please see the file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for details. You may find suggestionson fixing installation problems in the README available on the Linux driver download page at www.nvidia.com.

[bosox79]

see my edited previous post I got side tracked sorry :)

[BigToque]

Alright, I downloaded and extracted the source and I get this error:

-> Using the kernel source path '/usr/src/kernel-source-2.4.25' as specified by the '--kernel-source-path' commandline option.
-> Kernel source path: '/usr/src/kernel-source-2.4.25'
-> Performing cc_version_check with CC="cc".
ERROR:
If you are using a Linux 2.4 kernel, please make sure you either have configured kernel sources matching your kernel or the correct set of kernel headers installed on your system.
If you are using a Linux 2.6 kernel, please make sure you have configured kernel sources matching your kernel installed on your system.

huh?

I downloaded the right source code (I know cause I used that uname -a command)

[bosox79]

did you install the kernel Headers and Devlopment tools

this may help http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13830&highlight=Debain+kernel

along with this http://myrddin.org/howto/debian-nvidia.php