Dual Monitors

[Mike Lewis]

I am trying to install the nVidia drivers, and the installation instructions say I have to do this:

Before beginning the driver installation, you should exit the X server.
In addition you should set your default run level so you will boot to a
vga console and not boot directly into X (please consult the documentation
that came with your Linux distribution if you are unsure how to do this;
this is normally done by modifying your /etc/inittab file). This will
make it easier to recover if there is a problem during the installation.
After installing the driver you must edit your X config file before
the newly installed driver will be used. See the section below entitled
EDITING YOUR X CONFIG FILE.


How do I exit the X server and set the default run level to boot to VGA console?

Thank you,
Mike

[timothykaine]

What distro are you using? Using xorg or xfree86? Please include this info in the future.

What you can actually do is:

CTRL+ALT+F2: this will give you a terminal screen outside of X

su root: log in as root

init 3: this will give you console-only

----- Only if init 3 does not kill X entirely ------
ps -A: this will list all running processes

kill pid: where pid is the process ID number. Kill X, Xfree86, kdm, gdm, xdm
----------------------------------------------------

Now youre outside of X and can do what you need to do without rebooting.

Install the drivers as per the directions, edit your X config with vim from console (vi filename, CTRL+X to save and exit), then su back to user.

startx: will bring X back up again with the nvidia driver running, and you should see the Nvidia branded splash screen

done and done. all without rebooting. :)

[Mike Lewis]

Thank you for your help. Now I'm running into an error that cc is not in my path. This is part of the GCC compiler. How can I add that to the path?

Too new... too many questions.

I'm running Red Hat Enterprise Edition 3 on an x86 system.


Thanks again,

Mike

[timothykaine]

First of all, make sure you have gcc installed.

If you do, then know that you must use the same version that the kernel was compiled with.

Just before running the installer:

export CC=gcc32 (I believe is the proper version)

[Mike Lewis]

Thank you for all your help. I finally got both monitors to work! Now just need to play with the system a bit to get the results I'm looking for.


Thank you,

Mike