Issues I had to install my graphic card in ubuntu -Nvidia Rivia TNT2-

I can tell you installing the "right" driver for your graphic will boost your ubuntu speed and also its appearance and it really becomes faster !

not installing my graphic card driver I had some problems ,
I used to see Firefox uses a lot of CPU while opening Digg.com or Blogger.com (other people also had the same problem )
I fixed that problem by installing the right driver for my TNT2 graphic card , and now Firefox and my other programs like Ktorrent or Tomboy load so much faster !

it may be a reall headache to install the "right" driver for your card, but it worth it and I tell you Ubuntu without right graphic card driver, is not Ubuntu ! it is Half of Ubuntu .

First of all I make a back up of my Xorg.conf like a good boy !

So here is how I installed my Nvidia TNT2 graphic card :
I first backed up my Xorg.conf using this command (you should really do that before installing any graphic driver program )

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup

then I installed the drive using the menu , system--> adminstrator --> restricted driver manager ,then it automaticly installed my graphic card.

(I made sure I had not installed the driver using other programs like "automatix2" or "envy" , in that case I uninstalled the driver installed by them first )

How to make sure if the Graphic driver is installed and enabled ?

try this

sudo nvidia-glx-config enable

and also this :

glxgears

this should show a 3D animation and also some numbers in the terminal like

909 frames in 5.0 seconds = 181.725 FPS
1060 frames in 5.0 seconds = 211.880 FPS
1115 frames in 5.0 seconds = 222.946 FPS
998 frames in 5.0 seconds = 199.475 FPS

if those numbers which I marked in red, are less than 1000 (like 150 , 300...) then you have not enabled / installed it right !

Ah , Low Screen Reolution Problem !

but after installing I found out my screen resolution is 800*600 and it doesn't let me change it . some others also have the same problem , and a bug is listed in luanch pad for this !

the problem is the Ubuntu fails to detect the monitor Horizontal and Vertical Refresh Rate numbers, (on ubuntu site they have explained this fix in detail) .
to fix this problem I do this (I have made backup of the xorg.conf ! okay?)

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

(if you are in not graphic mode , you should use nano instead of gedit)

now find the Section "Monitor"
and add these lines just before EndSection :

HorizSync 30-96
VertRefresh 50-160

mind that those numbers (30-96 and 50-160) are default numbers which should work with most monitors ,but your monitor may be different , so google for it to find the right numbers.
for your own monitor .

now save the file and then restart your Ubuntu !



I was also told on the forums to add this to my Section "Screen" in Xorg.conf for better performance (this is just for my card -TNT2-)

Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "1"

Now I have installed the driver and I am enjoying it !

+For Nividia and ATI cards there is an Automatic tool to install drivers called Envy , many people used it and they liked it ,so you may give it a try !

If you messed up your graphic in Ubuntu...

You no longer see any graphic but a black page with terminal (command prompt) ?
Don't get scared (terminal is not gonna bite you) , it is easy to recover , fix everything using commands .

cd /etc/X11/

Then

dir

this shows list of files in that folder

mv xorg.conf.backup xorg.conf

If your backup file name is diffrent change xorg.conf.backup , for exmple

mv xorg.conf.backup20070404 xorg.conf

To find out the name of the back up file just look at the list of files which "dir" command gave you.