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Linux newbie Nvidia drivers & related questions


art3mis

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Hi

About to install Centos on a new 1TB SSD.

First question, which version should I download and do I need to install the ISO on some type of boot media?

https://www.centos.org/download/

Decided I will go with 3 partitions

1 root ext4 15GB

2 swap disk of 8GB (I have 64GB RAM)

3 home /home partition to fill remaining space

 

For my Nvidia drivers am going to follow these convoluted steps

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/centos-7-nvidia.html

 

Any Linux experts care to provide any feedback on the above?

In particular, is there any shortcut for installing graphics drivers?

BTW, I HAVE purchased the Linux course from cmivfx and am going thru it.

 

Edited by art3mis
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Hi Jim! I usually go with the DVD ISO and just mount that to a USB and boot via that. I found that Rawrite32 is the most stable for making the boot USB. You can try Rufus, but I have had inconsistent results with that. 

As for the NVIDIA installation, I've followed that guide, but I usually get an issue saying that the Nouveau drivers are still running, even though I blacklisted them. I've fixed this with the “initramfs” file, the commands can be found here http://www.tecmint.com/install-nvidia-drivers-in-linux/. You'll know the blacklist worked when you reboot and your resolution as at it's lowest.

I'm not sure of any shortcut, if any experts want to chip it, I'd like to hear it too. 

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Ok. The NVIDIA-Nouveau mess!

I don't know why there are so many tutorials out there that just plumb don't work. But the one that does is here:

https://linuxconfig.org/nvidia-geforce-driver-installation-on-fedora-linux-64-bit

Follow these instructions and I can almost say it will work .. almost. But they have been the most reliable for me, and I can tell you that the "convoluted" method you have there *will not work*.

Edited by shawn_kearney
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For the NVIDIA drivers on Centos , I always use https://elrepo.org/tiki/kmod-nvidia Kmod-Nvidia,

Add the "elrepo" repository and install it, thus far it has never broken with a kernel update - super happy with this , and easy.

Also 15 GB for root sounds a tad small, most applications install there by default.

 

Edited by Hamp
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1 hour ago, Hamp said:

For the NVIDIA drivers on Centos , I always use https://elrepo.org/tiki/kmod-nvidia Kmod-Nvidia,

Add the "elrepo" repository and install it, thus far it has never broken with a kernel update - super happy with this , and easy.

Also 15 GB for root sounds a tad small, most applications install there by default.

 

I tried the KMOD but could not resolve a dependency.

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I'm the author of the Linux thing on cmiVFX. Feel free to ask questions if you have any. I strongly encourage you to install the Nvidia drivers from a repository that uses DKMS so the drivers don't break every time there's a kernel update (which is pretty often). If you're getting dependency problems try updating everything else before install the drivers.

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6 hours ago, art3mis said:

So Centos minimal + Mate or...?

Try them all if you like. I personally like the default interface in CentOS 7 which is GNOME 3. After using GNOME 3 for a while I can't imagine switching back to anything else. It's that good, but it's very different from other desktop interfaces.

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Another noob question but hitting a roadblock on my first Linux install

My goal is to install Centos (+ Mate) on a 1TB Samsung SSD

Currently running windows 10.

I've used usb universal installer with a minimal Centos ISO for my USB boot installer.

I've attempted some basic partitioning of the SSD using Windows 10 Disk Management.

When I boot to the installer it runs then always stalls at the attached screen message

The key line is I assume" /dev/root does not exist"

So I'm assuming this is  a result of either my not using the installer properly(ie how to you choose the actual disk you want to install on? This doesn't seem to be an option)

and or

not provisioning the disk properly beforehand. Windows 10 disk management doesn't allow creation of /root or swap disks AFAIK.

Appreciate any help and your patience to help with the above!

 

IMG_20161201_223027(1).jpg

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18 minutes ago, art3mis said:

Another noob question but hitting a roadblock on my first Linux install

My goal is to install Centos (+ Mate) on a 1TB Samsung SSD

Currently running windows 10.

I've used usb universal installer with a minimal Centos ISO for my USB boot installer.

I've attempted some basic partitioning of the SSD using Windows 10 Disk Management.

When I boot to the installer it runs then always stalls at the attached screen message

The key line is I assume" /dev/root does not exist"

So I'm assuming this is  a result of either my not using the installer properly(ie how to you choose the actual disk you want to install on? This doesn't seem to be an option)

and or

not provisioning the disk properly beforehand. Windows 10 disk management doesn't allow creation of /root or swap disks AFAIK.

Appreciate any help and your patience to help with the above!

 

I think that's definitely something to do with the way you created your boot installer. From the Centos wiki, it says that Universal USB Installer is not supported. 

I'd recommend using Rawrite32 to make your USB disk, has worked for me multiple times without any problems in the past. 

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I wouldn't create linux partitions inside windows. Linux should provide several partitioning tools to split the disk or the installer should have step where you setup the partitions. First try with clean install without messing with the partitions beforehand.

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Finally, progress!

Thanks

The wiki should be updated so others don't waste their time with Universal USB or unetbootin with Centos 7.

https://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
https://www.centos.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=56578

The one remaining issue is I had failed to add a bios boot partition(attached)

Any nix or hardware experts know if optimizing your SSD for Linux is a waste of time?

https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/ssd

https://www.certdepot.net/rhel7-extend-life-ssd/

 

I also assume it doesn't matter if I install my Nvidia drivers before or after my desktop.

Going to go with RPM fusion for my drivers.

Let the fun begin!

 

bootloader_install_failed.jpg

Edited by art3mis
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During that first window where you setup things like where to install, time zones, and such there's an option for where to install the boot loader. What was it set to? Depending on the hardware sometimes the USB drive with the installer on it shows up as the first drive so it'll try to install the boot loader there (which doesn't work). If you're not sure which drive it should be you can use Alt + F# to go to another terminal and run fdisk -l to get a lay of the land of the disks. Typically it'll be /dev/sda for the boot loader but you might have to change it to something else like /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc, again depends on the hardware.

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Update...several hours later:(

For a variety of reasons couldn't get the rpm fusion option working to install my Nvidia drivers.

https://rpmfusion.org/FAQ#What_Fedora_versions_do_you_support.3F

 

After much googling tried this method which seemed to work for a while at least

https://linuxconfig.org/nvidia-geforce-driver-installation-on-centos-7-linux-64-bit

Not sure if that was the cause but soon after my system hung on boot

https://www.centos.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=56033

Lost half a weekend trying to resolve! Thought it was a corrupt boot loader.

 

So I think the resolution is

-use el repo repository with yum install kmod-nvidia

 

Maybe Luke can chime in and confirm.

Hope this saves someone some hair pulling!

 

 

Edited by art3mis
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On 12/2/2016 at 10:59 AM, art3mis said:

Not sure if that was the cause but soon after my system hung on boot

https://www.centos.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=56033

 

 

This thread suggests that you installed the NVIDIA proprietary drivers and then updated the kernel. This will cause a hang on startup, and is why people recommend the kmod. To address this, I keep a copy of the NVIDIA installer handy and enter runlevel 3 after updates and reinstall the drivers.

When you get to your GRUB list, select the new kernel and press 'e' to edit. Directly after where it says 'UTF-3' add a space followed by the number 3. From here you may either get kmod running or reinstall the proprietary drivers from nvidia. You will not need to disable nouveau, you should just be able to uninstall the old and reinstall the using the installer from NVIDIA.

https://www.if-not-true-then-false.com/2012/howto-change-runlevel-on-grub2/

Edited by shawn_kearney
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