Language support is incomplete, additional packages are required

[Jean-Pierre]

What additional packages are required when Kubuntu 14.04 says:
http://i57.tinypic.com/5wm0wn.png

System Notification Helper
Language support is incomplete, additional packages are required.

I've already run the basic update commands a million times:
$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade && sudo apt-get -f install

Yet, Kubuntu constantly tells me I'm missing required language support.
Why doesn't Kubuntu just tell me WHAT I'm missing so I can fix it?
Or, why doesn't Kubuntu tell me HOW to figure out what I'm missing?

Do you know what is missing?
What command do I run to add the *required* missing support packages?
And, what happens if I don't add the *required* missing support packages?

[J.O. Aho]

On 06/01/15 19:40, Jean-Pierre wrote:

First of all, I don't use Kubuntu myself, but if I would use an ubuntu,
then it would have been Kubuntu.

> What additional packages are required when Kubuntu 14.04 says:
> http://i57.tinypic.com/5wm0wn.png
>
> System Notification Helper
> Language support is incomplete, additional packages are required.
>
> I've already run the basic update commands a million times:
> $ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade && sudo apt-get -f install

I think you may be missing kde-i18n-* (where the star is the two/four
letter language code).

sudo apt-get install kde-i18n-fr

> And, what happens if I don't add the *required* missing support packages?

In most cases you will get things in just English.


--

//Aho

[Paul]

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kubuntu-notification-helper/+bug/557217

https://launchpadlibrarian.net/43341086/incomplete-language-support-qt.note

Command: kdesudo -- /usr/bin/qt-language-selector --mode install

Description:

The language support files for your selected language seem to be incomplete.
You can install the missing components by clicking on "Run this action now"
and follow the instructions. An active internet connection is required.

If you would like to do this at a later time, please use "System Settings ->
Regional & Language" instead.

Now, I don't see anything on the Kubuntu reference pictures, to suggest
it'll add packages on its own.

The feature for Ubuntu seems a bit more logical, in terms
of resolving the problem.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/17528/change-the-user-interface-language-in-ubuntu/

Paul

[Jean-Pierre]

On Tue, 06 Jan 2015 21:10:08 +0100, J.O. Aho wrote:

> I think you may be missing kde-i18n-* (where the star is the two/four
> letter language code).
>
> sudo apt-get install kde-i18n-fr

For some reason, that doesn't seem to exist.

$ sudo apt-get install kde-i18n-en
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package kde-i18n-en
$ sudo apt-cache search kde-i18n-en
finds nothing

$ sudo updatedb && locate kde-i18n-en
Also finds nothing.

$ locate kde-i18n
Finds nothing.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Tue, 06 Jan 2015 15:15:51 -0500, Paul wrote:

> If you would like to do this at a later time, please use
> "System Settings -> Regional & Language" instead.

That selection doesn't exist in System Settings, but, in
"Common Appearance and Behavior" is "Locale" which has
a "Country/Region & Language" section.

Here is a screenshot of the "Languages" tab of that GUI.
http://i57.tinypic.com/98qz5z.png

What more can I set at that tab?

[Paul]

It used to look like this.

http://i61.tinypic.com/28vvgvq.gif

This information is six years old, but maybe it would
still work.

http://plug-and-pray.blogspot.ca/2008/02/dpkg-reconfigure-locales.html

(Debian way...)

sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales

(Kubuntu way...)

Move lines from /usr/share/i18n/SUPPORTED
to /var/lib/locales/supported.d/local

then sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales

HTH,
Paul

[Jean-Pierre]

On Tue, 06 Jan 2015 21:25:03 -0500, Paul wrote:

> It used to look like this.
>
> http://i61.tinypic.com/28vvgvq.gif

I see. That GUI is no longer there, apparently.
It's similar. But doesn't have those "install" buttons.

[J.O. Aho]

On 07/01/15 01:18, Jean-Pierre wrote:
> On Tue, 06 Jan 2015 21:10:08 +0100, J.O. Aho wrote:
>
>> I think you may be missing kde-i18n-* (where the star is the two/four
>> letter language code).
>>
>> sudo apt-get install kde-i18n-fr
>
> For some reason, that doesn't seem to exist.
>
> $ sudo apt-get install kde-i18n-en
> Reading package lists... Done
> Building dependency tree
> Reading state information... Done
> E: Unable to locate package kde-i18n-en
> $ sudo apt-cache search kde-i18n-en
> finds nothing

English do not have a package, it's default.

> $ sudo updatedb && locate kde-i18n-en
> Also finds nothing.

You can't find packages with locate, only files.
Use "sudo apt-cache search kde-i18n"

But still English do not have a package, it's default in KDE.

--

//Aho

[Jean-Pierre]

On Wed, 07 Jan 2015 06:44:55 +0100, J.O. Aho wrote:

> But still English do not have a package, it's default in KDE.

I believe you that English is the default.

What I don't understand is WHY Kubuntu tells me every single day
that my language support is incomplete and that additional packages
are required. http://i57.tinypic.com/5wm0wn.png

What additional package does KDE require?

[Paul]

Actually, it does.

In this picture, I selected "French" on the left hand side,
used the arrow button, and moved "French" to the right hand
column. When I click "Apply", downloads begin in the background,
and they take a while. That is the automatic addition of
French localization to my Kubuntu 14.04 virtual machine.

I could change the ordering of the languages in the list, using
the up-down buttons. I presume that would change the primary,
if I were to move French up in the list.

The "install progress" bar appears below the columns,
while the download is progressing. When the download
is finished, the progress bar disappears again.

http://i57.tinypic.com/rbwnig.jpg

The colors of my picture are off a bit, because
my screen is switched to 16 bit color. The S3 graphics
emulation in the virtual machine, will not accept 24 bit
color at a decent screen resolution. So just ignore my
screwed up colors...

Paul

[J.O. Aho]

Could be your locale is set to French and have no French i18n package
installed.

open a shell of some sort and run: locale

You should get something like this (with your locale of choice)

LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE=POSIX
LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=


Just reminding you, I'm not using Kubuntu, I do use KDE and never had
your issue and think this is Kubuntu specific.

--

//Aho

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

Naaah... it happens with other ubu spinoffs too. ubu studio for one.

If you are connected, just LET IT get it. At least mine offered such
anyway.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Wed, 07 Jan 2015 07:45:59 +0100, J.O. Aho wrote:

> open a shell of some sort and run: locale

It's all English. I'm in the USA.

$ locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US:en

LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"

LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"

[Jean-Pierre]

On Wed, 07 Jan 2015 08:02:30 +0000, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wrote:

> If you are connected, just LET IT get it. At least mine offered such
> anyway.

I'm always connected 24/7.
It can get whatever it wants to get.
If only it would get it or tell me what to get.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Wed, 07 Jan 2015 01:19:12 -0500, Paul wrote:

> In this picture, I selected "French" on the left hand side,
> used the arrow button, and moved "French" to the right hand
> column. When I click "Apply", downloads begin in the background,
> and they take a while. That is the automatic addition of
> French localization to my Kubuntu 14.04 virtual machine.

I see what you mean.
Mine is set to English.

I'm in the USA.

I'm not sure what the suggestion is, to get rid of this daily
notification (whenever I reboot).

Do you suggest I add all possible languages?

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

Mine has a button, IIRC that pulls and installs the missing fonts.

I only remember the session where I was not connected and it was unable
to get them.

It even has that little 'details' dialog box that looks like a wgwt
wrapper or such.

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

It has to do with Firefox, and the fonts grabbed are some chinese font,
and I do not know why.

Does firefox have an embedded 'virus'?

Anyway, that is what I guessed it was. It brings up the message at
first login, so must just be the system.

[J.O. Aho]

did some digging on this, it could be that you are missing
language-selector-common package.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pkgsel/+bug/1028910

this seems to be more of an *ubuntu (maybe even debian) issue.

--

//Aho

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

I think it is an install script error or something that gets left out of
the spinoff ubu versions due to other entire package families not being
installed.

[Paul]

Make enough changes so that you can click the Apply
button. To trigger a check that the files are present.
When I changed something on the American English entry,
there was a brief flurry of activity resulting in no
downloads, but it did appear the software was checking
that the right packages were installed.

Paul

[Jean-Pierre]

On Wed, 07 Jan 2015 18:46:07 +0100, J.O. Aho wrote:

> did some digging on this, it could be that you are missing
> language-selector-common package.

It's already there.
$ sudo apt-get install language-selector-common

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done

language-selector-common is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 6 not upgraded.

I don't mind Ubuntu/Kubuntu telling me I need to install
additional packages for language support, but, if it's going
to tell me that, it should at least tell me WHAT to install
since my machine is default to start with.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Wed, 07 Jan 2015 19:15:22 +0000, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wrote:

>
> I think it is an install script error or something that gets left out of
> the spinoff ubu versions due to other entire package families not being
> installed.

I think I'll just reinstall the Kubuntu 14.04 from scratch.
Problem there is that I have to back up all my data, which is the hard
part.

[Marek Novotny]

Is all your data in the home drive? You could just backup your home
folder to an external hard drive. Be sure to preserve your permissions.


--
Marek Novotny
A member of the Linux Foundation
http://www.linuxfoundation.org
git with the program

[Cybe R. Wizard]

Have you yet tried a GUI package manager? I suggest synaptic. It
should at least let you know what you are missing.

Cybe R. Wizard
--
Nice computers don't go down.
Larry Niven, Steven Barnes
"The Barsoom Project"

[Jean-Pierre]

On Wed, 07 Jan 2015 15:48:41 -0600, Cybe R. Wizard wrote:

> Have you yet tried a GUI package manager? I suggest synaptic. It
> should at least let you know what you are missing.

Nope. I don't even know how to use it.
I just use the command line (sudo apt-get install more-stuff).

I just ran the synaptic package manager gui /usr/sbin/synaptic
and then hit "mark all upgrades" and then "apply" and it's
working.

I'll tell you if it works.

[Cybe R. Wizard]

Great! Good luck. I hope it does work for you.

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

Just perform

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

[Jean-Pierre]

On Thu, 08 Jan 2015 03:30:49 +0000, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wrote:

> sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Will that re-image the existing 14.04 operating system without
destroying my data?

[Jonathan N. Little]

No it just installs kernel related upgrades, e.g., 14.04 to 14.04.1.

You are thinking of do-release-upgrade a 14.04 to 14.10 such upgrade.
Even that does not destroy your data even when / and /home are on the
same partition.

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

[Cybe R. Wizard]

On Wed, 07 Jan 2015 16:28:45 -0600
Jean-Pierre <Jean-...@notmyrealemailaddress.org> wrote:

> I just ran the synaptic package manager gui /usr/sbin/synaptic
> and then hit "mark all upgrades" and then "apply" and it's
> working.
>
> I'll tell you if it works.

???? News?

[Jean-Pierre]

On Thu, 08 Jan 2015 19:07:18 -0600, Cybe R. Wizard wrote:

> ???? News?

Miserable. Absolutely miserable.
I followed all the advice, both to add an arbitraty language
change and to update the operating system, so now I'm "upgraded"
to 14.04.1, but something (I don't know what) murdered the
NVIDIA display driver so, my screen resolution is all fouled up.

$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
$ lsb_release -d
Description: Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS

I've re-installed the NVIDIA driver at least ten times, but it
fails to do anything to the resolution.

I have the Quadro FX 880M Notebook driver (1920x1080 screen):
$ lspci | grep -i nvidia
... NVIDIA Corporation GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]

I download the latest Nvidia 64-bit driver:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
Product Type = Quadro
Product Series = Quadro FX Series (Notebooks)
Product = Quadro FX 880M
Operating System = Linux 64-bit
Download Type = Linux Long Lived Driver
Language = English (US)

I run the driver after killing the X display:
Ctrl+Alt+F1
$ sudo service lightdm stop

I install the Nvidia driver time and time again:
$ sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.65.run

But my display is still stuck at a horrid max of VGA
or something that is miserable.
http://i60.tinypic.com/35mo9ki.png

I have been spending days trying to get my display
resolution back to the 1920x1080 it's supposed to be.

And, worse yet, it STILl complains about missing language
stuff, but, at this point, that's the least of my problems.

The display is the real problem now.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Wed, 07 Jan 2015 15:19:12 -0500, Paul wrote:

> Make enough changes so that you can click the Apply
> button.

I don't know if it was those changes, or something else
that I was trying, but now my display is permanently
stuck in the wrong resolution (worse than VGA it seems).

Is there a way to fix the display resolution?

[Cybe R. Wizard]

On Thu, 08 Jan 2015 19:25:33 -0600
Jean-Pierre <Jean-...@notmyrealemailaddress.org> wrote:

> On Thu, 08 Jan 2015 19:07:18 -0600, Cybe R. Wizard wrote:
>
> > ???? News?
>
> Miserable. Absolutely miserable.
> I followed all the advice, both to add an arbitraty language
> change and to update the operating system, so now I'm "upgraded"

> to 14.04.1...

Yet my advice was to use the GUI package, synaptic which you said you
were doing. That is what I asked about, too, but it seems that you
snipped that part and either didn't do so or went ahead and upgraded the
OS version instead of chasing the real problem

That's OK.

OTOH, jumping when you should take baby steps isn't going to get you a
lot of willing ears later on.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Thu, 08 Jan 2015 19:41:14 -0600, Cybe R. Wizard wrote:

> Yet my advice was to use the GUI package, synaptic which you said you
> were doing.

I did that also, by bringing up Synaptic and pressing the
requisite buttons. I had snapped a picture of that, but the
subsequent reboot deleted it (since I put it in /tmp).

It might have been the Synaptic GUI that destroyed my
display driver settings, or, something else. The display
driver was wiped out well before I updated the operating
system though, so, it was something in the command line or
GUI attempts at Synaptic that destroyed it.

Right now, that's all I'm concerned with, as it's miserable
at the moment. I am reading all I can to figure out how to
set the display driver correctly, but, Synaptic is a dangerous
tool if it does this without warning.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Thu, 08 Jan 2015 22:21:36 -0600, Jean-Pierre wrote:

> Right now, that's all I'm concerned with, as it's miserable
> at the moment.

I don't really know WHICH command or action wiped out the
display drivers. It might have been the Synaptic GUI or
it could have been when I ran:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade && sudo apt-get -f install

But, no matter what, I wish I had never tried to resolve
the problem, because I'm in much worse shape now than
when I had started out on this quest.

I don't know why the NVIDIA driver won't load.
Partly it's because I don't know what I am doing, but
I followed the directions here for Kubuntu 14.04 but the
display still is in horrid VGA-like mode.

http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2014/04/install-nvidia-driver-331-67-ubuntu1404/

[Jean-Pierre]

On Thu, 08 Jan 2015 23:01:04 -0600, Jean-Pierre wrote:

> I don't know why the NVIDIA driver won't load.

Well, I went from too little resolution, to way too much resolution,
with the text being teeeny tiny now, by trying this out, which I had
found on the net.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/754930/linux-kubuntu-14-04-geforce-750-ti-driver-nvidia-linux-x86_64-337-25/

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

I wish I knew what I was doing, as all I want now is for the video
display to be 1920x1080 like it was before.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Thu, 08 Jan 2015 23:22:19 -0600, Jean-Pierre wrote:

> I wish I knew what I was doing, as all I want now is for the video
> display to be 1920x1080 like it was before.

Debugging further, this is what I used to have:

$ inxi -F
Graphics:
Card: NVIDIA GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]
X.Org: 1.14.6 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau) Resolution: 1920...@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: Quadro FX 880M/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 319.60

This is what I have now:

Graphics:
Card: NVIDIA GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]
X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: nvidia,nouveau (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1920...@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: N/A GLX Version: N/A

[Paul]

In /var/log you should find some Xorg* files. Have
a look at them for helpful hints.

The GUI will usually have a control panel for the display.

A program like "xrandr" or its GUI equivalent, can list
all the valid resolution choices. Generally, these choices
are determined by some Xorg server logic. It doesn't always
give the impression of being derived from monitor capabilities.
The X server (with evidence you can see in the log), seems
to evaluate the choices, and reject a fairly large number
of choices.

Chances are, it's decided some driver cannot be loaded
properly, and has switched drivers. Maybe it's using VESA
and some 4:3 aspect ratio choices, and that's why it looks
strange. If you damaged an NVidia optional driver, perhaps
it tried to use that, failed, and used the fallback
option.

You would need to find an article on reversing such an
NVidia installation. One reason I don't install such
drivers on long-term installations, is if a kernel update
comes in, I'm not sure it handles the presence of that
package properly. So if I want to play with an NVidia or
ATI tainted driver, it's usually on an installation that
is a throw-away effort. I've never tried to reverse such
an installation (except with the help of the tool
in some distro, that was explicitly included to make
switching back and forth easy). For longer term installs,
I use the default (in-box) driver, whatever choice that
happens to be. And that's because a kernel update will go
smoothly with something like that. I just don't want to
waste the time fighting with it :-)

Paul

[Paul]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/NvidiaManual

"Uninstalling the Driver

Sometimes it is necessary to uninstall the driver, like before a *version upgrade* of Ubuntu
or if the installation fails or is no longer needed.
"

Paul

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 01:09:59 -0500, Paul wrote:

> Sometimes it is necessary to uninstall the driver, like before a *version upgrade* of Ubuntu
> or if the installation fails or is no longer needed.

I uninstalled and reinstalled the Nvidia drivers.
I am currently trying to figure out what GLX is, because it seems to be missing.

$ inxi -F
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 00:34:46 -0500, Paul wrote:

> A program like "xrandr" or its GUI equivalent, can list
> all the valid resolution choices.

$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS-1 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 193mm
1920x1080 60.0*+ 60.0 50.0
1680x1050 60.0
1400x1050 60.0
1280x1024 59.9
1280x960 59.9
1152x864 60.0
1024x768 59.9
800x600 59.9
640x480 59.4
720x400 59.6
640x400 60.0
640x350 59.8
VGA-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

[Cybe R. Wizard]

On Thu, 08 Jan 2015 23:01:04 -0600
Jean-Pierre <Jean-...@notmyrealemailaddress.org> wrote:

> I don't really know WHICH command or action wiped out the
> display drivers. It might have been the Synaptic GUI or
> it could have been when I ran:
> sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade && sudo apt-get -f
> install
>
> But, no matter what, I wish I had never tried to resolve
> the problem, because I'm in much worse shape now than
> when I had started out on this quest.
>
> I don't know why the NVIDIA driver won't load.

> Partly it's because I don't know what I am doing...

I'd say it's more because you are doing things willy-nilly without any
understanding of /why/. Good luck. I'm out with the statement that
the nouveau driver must be deactivated before the installation of
nVidia drivers.

Have fun!

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

apt-get update updates the repo library lists for the repos in your
sources list

apt-get upgrade upgrades your system of any files available for updating
within that list, which you have installed on your system.

apt-get dist-upgrade upgrades your entire system to the next distribution
level, if available. and then that may have available updates after
installation.

No, it should not destroy any existing data., but faulty distribution
upgrades due to users adding applications with dependencies which fight
with your original install can cause problems. But they have even worked
most of those out of late.

So, if all you have is a vanilla installation in which you haven't added
a lot of additional apps, it should be smooth.

The alternative is to DL the DVD for the next release yourself, and when
you insert it, sometimes the system is smart enough to ask you if you want
to upgrade your system with it (usually).

[Richard Kettlewell]

DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno <DL...@DecadentLinuxUser.org> writes:
> apt-get update updates the repo library lists for the repos in your
> sources list
>
> apt-get upgrade upgrades your system of any files available for updating
> within that list, which you have installed on your system.
>
> apt-get dist-upgrade upgrades your entire system to the next distribution
> level, if available. and then that may have available updates after
> installation.

That’s not the distinction.

‘upgrade’ will upgrade installed packages, but only where it can do so
without adding or removing any packages.

‘dist-upgrade’ will upgrade installed packages, and will add or remove
packages if necessary to satisfy the dependencies (etc) of the upgraded
packages.

--
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/

[mrr]

aptitude now recognizes:

*safe-upgrade* which is kind of like *upgrade* but (taken from the manual) :
Upgrades installed packages to their most recent version. Installed
packages will not be removed unless they are unused (see the section
“Managing Automatically Installed Packages” in the aptitude reference
manual). Packages which are not currently installed may be installed to
resolve dependencies unless the --no-new-installs command-line option is
supplied

*full-upgrade* which is a synonym of *dist-upgrade* and as said before
is more voluntary (but will of course ask for your consent if
adding/removing packages).


There is kind of a gradation in the number of affected packages 'upgrade
< safe-upgrade < dist-upgrade' and I would think it is good practice to
execute those 3 actions one after another, in the case of an upgrade (of
importance).

*aptitude*, at the inverse of *apt-get*, will try to solve dependencies
(don't always accept the first solution!) even if that means leaving
some ones unresolved so as to always give you a solution (if at all
possible).
I think that is the principal difference with *apt-get* and as such
*aptitude* is to be preferred although that usually doesn't make any
difference.
(I'm not opening a new thread but please let me know if I'm wrong!)

Regards

--
mrr

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

No... This is great. I was complacent, and unaware of the new
additions to apt-get and or aptitude.

Thanks, guys.

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

Yeah, I should have used the term update in a couple spots there, and did
not really explain it as well as it looked like I might have wanted to at
first.

Thanks.

[Paul]

Look at that information again.

X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: nvidia,nouveau <--- *two* drivers are loaded
GLX Renderer: N/A GLX Version: N/A <--- OpenGL cannot be determined

So what happens when two graphics drivers are loaded ?
I don't know.

Presumably when the drivers are properly installed, something
is done so only the correct one shows up there.

In the old way of doing Xorg, the xorg.conf would
have a line in it specifying the expected driver.
Substitute NVidia for s3 etc.

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "s3"
VendorName "The Company That Made S3 Graphics Chips"
EndSection

On modern systems, the OS doesn't keep an xorg.conf, but
instead at system startup the system figures this out
for itself. You can override the system determination
with your own xorg.conf. I don't know enough about
this mechanism, to understand where this

nvidia,nouveau

information is stored. Why did the automatic determination
think it needed to load two of them ? I don't know the
answer to that. It's possible the upgrade added default
Nouveau, to the left-over NVidia placed there
in the previous OS version. I just don't understand why
it doesn't pick one of the two and use it. Somehow,
it knows there is a problem with the NVidia one.

*******

The bottom of this page, shows someone tracking down
the symptoms of two drivers. For some reason, one
of the drivers is "blacklisted". That might be done
when you install NVidia in the first place, it blacklists
Nouveau. But then your system upgrade removed that or
something. This is why you would ideally remove NVidia,
before doing the system upgrade, then use Additional
Drivers to re-install NVidia afterwards.

https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/487214-nvidia-driver-update-issue

I don't know what the answer is. You can try to fix it
at the package manager level, or try to fix the mechanics
at a lower level. It's a mess either way.

Paul

[Paul]

You can also use xrandr to set the resolution. If you
didn't like the 1920x1080 it is using right now.

The LVDS suggests this is a laptop (LVDS typically is used
to drive an LCD panel directly).

To use xrandr, you have to tell it which output to use.
You can't just give it the resolution and leave the rest
to the imagination. It needs to know which output ("LVDS-1")
and what resolution ("640x480").

On my Ubuntu 14.10 virtual machine, this works for me.

xrandr --output default --mode 1024x768

as in the virtual machine, the only output is called "default"
and not "VGA-1" or "LVDS-1". The graphics thing is virtual and
doesn't have an output crossbar, which is why it doesn't have
conventional names.

If you use the Display control panel, a resolution setting there
can be reverted if you don't accept it after a 15 second wait.
That allows automatic reversion, if the hardware doesn't like
your choice. If you do this from the command line, the
screen could be so screwed up you cannot read it.

xrandr --output LVDS-1 --mode 1024x768

I've gotten myself in a hell of a mess with this stuff. I had
a virtual machine once, where the screen resolution became
really really tiny, and it was next to impossible to escape.
In such cases, you can use control-alt-F6 to select a text
console for input, and control-alt-F7 to go back to the Xorg
session. It's possible there are up to six virtual text
consoles (control-alt-F1 to control-alt-F6), while
control-alt-F7 returns you to the GUI. That's if you run
out of other things to try. At one time, the OS accepted
control-alt-backspace to restart the Xserver, but that
is blocked on more modern setups.

HTH,
Paul

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 07:16:57 -0500, Paul wrote:

> X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: nvidia,nouveau <--- *two* drivers are loaded
> GLX Renderer: N/A GLX Version: N/A <--- OpenGL cannot be determined
>
> So what happens when two graphics drivers are loaded ?

Interesting observation!
I had no idea, nor do I know what's *supposed* to be there.
Certainly I have Nvidia equipment so I need Nvidia.
But why nouveau?
I don't know.

Meanwhile, I followed a half dozen recommendations on the web, and
I'm now at the opposite point that I was before.

Originally: fonts were just right
Then, by accident: Resolution went to lousy VGA-like
Now: Fonts are too small!

Here's my current result, after deleting and reinstalling
any way I could, the graphics drivers:
http://i62.tinypic.com/2j0nwjc.png

$ inxi -F
Graphics:
Card: NVIDIA GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]
X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: nvidia,nouveau (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1920...@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: N/A GLX Version: N/A

Is there a better command to tell you waht driver I am running?
At the moment, the only problem is the fonts are too teeny tiny.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 04:02:31 -0600, Cybe R. Wizard wrote:

> the nouveau driver must be deactivated before the installation of
> nVidia drivers.

I need to look up how to deactivate nouveau.

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

Those are the integrated drivers.

So that one you installed "ten times" never took.

To make it do so... (which one is it?)

This one?: http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/80647/en-us

You start the machine without x and then logged on as root, you install
the driver, and then may have to manually disable the other, but it should
already get done. Probably what you been trying to do, just you did it
from the wrong 'environment'. As root, with no X up, it will install.

OR, you might want or need a better kernel for this type of integration,
and that might carry through better in the future.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 07:47:37 -0500, Paul wrote:

> You can also use xrandr to set the resolution. If you
> didn't like the 1920x1080 it is using right now.

Now that I deleted and reinstalled the drivers a few times
(using various methods), I think this was the best so far:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates

$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

> The LVDS suggests this is a laptop (LVDS typically is used
> to drive an LCD panel directly).

You are correct. It is a Lenovo W510 laptop.
When I first set it up, long ago, I had set up the Nvidia
drivers just right. But I had forgotten how I had done that.

> To use xrandr, you have to tell it which output to use.

> xrandr --output default --mode 1024x768

I don't know what the resolution "should" be, but, I'm actually
OK with the current 1920x1080 except that the menu fonts of
all my apps (and terminal window fonts) are extremely tiny.

> If you use the Display control panel, a resolution setting there
> can be reverted if you don't accept it after a 15 second wait.

Here's what I had when the System Settiongs resolution was vga'ish:
http://i60.tinypic.com/35mo9ki.png

Here is what I have now in System Settings with fonts too small:
http://i62.tinypic.com/2j0nwjc.png

So, at this point, the main problem is that every single menu
and text font is small. Many apps allow me to change the font
size of the data, but not necessarily of the menus.

> It's possible there are up to six virtual text
> consoles (control-alt-F1 to control-alt-F6), while
> control-alt-F7 returns you to the GUI.

Thank you for explaining that, as I kept hitting control-alt-F1
and then had to reboot to get back to the GUI, which meant I lost
all the files I had saved in /tmp.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 10:41:19 +0000, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wrote:

> So, if all you have is a vanilla installation in which you haven't added
> a lot of additional apps, it should be smooth.

Thanks for explaining the commands.

I think my only problem now, is that I don't know why the fonts
are so small in the program manus, as shown in this screenshot
(the fonts I am typing, I changed to 20 point, but the menus
remain really teeny tiny).

http://i61.tinypic.com/i6f2ip.png

[Aragorn]

On Friday 09 January 2015 13:16, Paul conveyed the following to
alt.os.linux...

> Look at that information again.
>
> X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: nvidia,nouveau <--- *two* drivers are loaded
> GLX Renderer: N/A GLX Version: N/A <--- OpenGL cannot be
> determined
>
> So what happens when two graphics drivers are loaded ?
> I don't know.

Commonly, the first driver loaded gets the hardware, and the other one
sits idle in kernelspace.

> Presumably when the drivers are properly installed, something
> is done so only the correct one shows up there.

The problem is that nouveau is a GPL'd in-kernel driver which uses
kernel mode setting, and is therefore already loaded into the kernel by
the initramfs.

The nvidia driver is the proprietary driver, and while you can load it
in memory, it cannot access the hardware because the nouveau driver has
already claimed that.

Therefore, the correct method to proceed is to boot up with "nomodeset"
added to the kernel boot line as a parameter, then blacklist the nouveau
driver, and only *then* install the proprietary nVidia driver, and then
reboot, so that the kernel can load that proprietary driver and give it
access to the hardware.

--
= Aragorn =

http://www.linuxcounter.net - registrant #223157

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 10:45:58 +0000, Richard Kettlewell wrote:

> ‘upgrade’ will upgrade installed packages, but only where it can do so
> without adding or removing any packages.
>
> ‘dist-upgrade’ will upgrade installed packages, and will add or remove
> packages if necessary to satisfy the dependencies (etc) of the upgraded
> packages.

Is this a correct summary reasonable?

?update? updates repo library lists for the repos in your sources list
?upgrade? upgrades installed packages without adding or removing any packages
?dist-upgrade? upgrades installed packages, adding or removing packages
to satisfy dependencies of the upgraded packages.
?-f install? fixes partially installed packages
?autoremove? removes outdated packages

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 14:12:14 +0000, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wrote:

> So that one you installed "ten times" never took.
> To make it do so... (which one is it?)

I had not realized that the driver that I want to install,
never took, but I did see warnings and errors in the Nvidia
results, so, I wasn't sure, especially since I had to reboot
after going into Control Alt F1 to install the Nvidia driver
(I didn't know about F7 getting me back to the X-Windows GUI
until just now).

Here is the (apparently failed) procedure I followed:
--------
I determined what Nvidia graphics card I have in my Lenovo W510 laptop:
$ lspci | grep -i nvidia
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M] (rev a2)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)

I followed Nvidia driver directions here:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

The selection I used was the following:
Product Type = Quadro
Product Series = Quadro FX Series (Notebooks) <=== Is a laptop a notebook or not?
Product = Quadro FX 880M
Operating System = Linux 64-bit
Download Type = Linux Long Lived Driver
Language = English (US)

That downloaded the driver:
Linux x64 (AMD64/EM64T) Display Driver
Version: 340.65
Release Date: 2014.12.8
Operating System: Linux 64-bit
Language: English (US)
File Size: 69.00 MB

The file downloaded was:
$ ls -l
-rw------- 69903305 Jan 8 16:25 NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.65.run

I copied that downloaded file to /tmp and made it executable:
$ chmod +x /tmp/NVIDIA-Linux-*.run

To temporarily stop my X-server, I pressed Ctrl+Alt+F1
1. Ctrl+Alt+F1 bounced me out of the x display
2. I logged into the screen-wide console
3. Following Nvidia directions, I tried killing X but it fails:
$ sudo service lightdm stop ## For the default LightDM
This also bounces you out of the X display if you do it within X.
$ sudo service gdm stop ## For the Gnome GDM (this failed for me)
$ sudo service mdm stop ## For the Linux Mint default MDM

Then I tried executing the program and following the prompts:
4. $ sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.65.run

Since I ran into a display problem, I uninstalled and tried again:
$ sudo sh /NVIDIA-Linux-*-340.65.run --uninstall
$ sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.65.run

Nothing changed.

I ran some debugging commands:

$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS-1 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 193mm
1920x1080 60.0*+ 60.0 50.0
1680x1050 60.0
1400x1050 60.0
1280x1024 59.9
1280x960 59.9
1152x864 60.0
1024x768 59.9
800x600 59.9
640x480 59.4
720x400 59.6
640x400 60.0
640x350 59.8
VGA-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

$ inxi -F
System: Host: jp Kernel: 3.11.0-14-generic x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: KDE 4.13.3 Distro: Ubuntu 14.04 trusty
Machine: System: LENOVO product: 4318CTO version: ThinkPad W510

[Jonathan N. Little]

Personally I have found the nouveau drivers suck and I use the
proprietary driver on many systems with nVidia cards. Many like my
wife's GT240 card requires adding the "nomodeset" in GRUB. Secondly if
you enable the restricted repositories then install the proprietary from
"Additional Drivers" in the settings then it will deactivate nouveau
drivers for you. With the newer versions of Ubuntu this method has
worked very smoothy without needing to download and manually do it from
nVidia's site. You will not get the full functionality of your nVidia
card unless you use nVidia's driver.

At the library we had 3 old OptPlexes with crappy onboard ATI video that
ATI has dropped support and will not run Unity with the opensource
driver. I bought a lot of Quadro FX 570 @ $12 apiece and I am using the
nvidia_331 driver which I think you should be using.

~$ modprobe -R nvidia
nvidia_331

The additional drivers app is found
Ubuntu: Click BFB type "Additional Drivers"

Xubuntu: "All Settings > Additional Drivers"

Kubuntu: "System Settings > System Administration > Driver Manager"

Use the Version 311.## (proprietary tested) driver.

With the Quadro FX 570 I did not have to adjust grub, you most likely
will not either, but if you do all is needed is edit your
/etc/default/grub file

in terminal:

~$ sudo nano /etc/default/grub

find default line

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

and change to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"

CTRL+X to exit and save and run

~$ sudo update-grub

to set your changes.

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

[Johnny]

I can't tell which newsreader you are using, but if it's Thunderbird,
you can change the menu font size in System Settings under Applications
and Apperance. Click on GTK and change the font size in GTK Themes.

If GTK is not shown in Applications and Appearance, then you will have
to install it.

Use Synaptic and search for kde-config-gtk-style and install it.

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 08:57:12 -0600, Jean-Pierre wrote:

> GLX Renderer: N/A GLX Version: N/A

I know you noticed this being the only difference between your old and new
system.

It would seem that the upgrade has placed a different kernel into your
system, and it is not the same as the type kernel you installed the driver
over successfully before.

And this is on your laptop and all over a font and or language package
missing or claimed to be?

I'd buy a cheap 8 or 16GB microSD chip and back up your home directory,
and then fresh install an upcoming daily for vervet.

I install Ubuntu Studio myself as that installs the low latency kernel
by default, and I can build nvidia drivers modules for those usually.
(when you DL and run an nvidia sh file, it compiles and installs the
module for you, right there, on the fly.

If you have something not getting installed, it means you tried to
install with something else already in place *and* still running.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 09:11:15 -0600, Johnny wrote:

> I can't tell which newsreader you are using

Pan 0.139.
I can easily change the body fonts, but not the menu
fonts. But, then I have to change Firefox fonts,
terminal window fonts, thunderbird fonts, etc.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 10:09:44 -0500, Jonathan N. Little wrote:

> ~$ modprobe -R nvidia
> nvidia_331

I think I'm not using the Nvidia drivers, despite my attempts
to do so.

$ modprobe -R nvidia
modprobe: FATAL: Module nvidia not found.

[Johnny]

I'm using Claws Mail, and I can change my menu fonts in GTK Themes, and
it should work with Pan, Firefox and Thunderbird.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 15:24:18 +0000, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wrote:

> If you have something not getting installed, it means you tried to
> install with something else already in place *and* still running.

This is almost certainly the case, especially since the Nvidia
log had (cryptic to me) messages about something already being
in the kernel.

Right now, the /var/log/nvidia-installer.log file says that
the Nvidia driver isn't installed, so I will try again, but
that generally necessitates a reboot (to get out of Control
Alt F1 - but maybe I can use the F7 this time).

Here's what that log file says before I try again.

$ cat /var/log/nvidia-installer.log

nvidia-installer log file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log'
creation time: Thu Jan 8 21:06:34 2015
installer version: 331.67

PATH: /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin

nvidia-installer command line:
./nvidia-installer
--uninstall

Using: nvidia-installer ncurses user interface
-> There is no NVIDIA driver currently installed.

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 10:09:44 -0500, Jonathan N. Little wrote:

> Personally I have found the nouveau drivers suck and I use the
> proprietary driver on many systems with nVidia cards. Many like my
> wife's GT240 card requires adding the "nomodeset" in GRUB. Secondly if
> you enable the restricted repositories then install the proprietary from
> "Additional Drivers" in the settings then it will deactivate nouveau
> drivers for you. With the newer versions of Ubuntu this method has
> worked very smoothy without needing to download and manually do it from
> nVidia's site. You will not get the full functionality of your nVidia
> card unless you use nVidia's driver.

I am going to try this as well.

On my mem stik installs, would having the hard installed driver of this
type affect booting on other machines that lack nvidia hardware?

As it stands, my mem stik installs are quite 'portable', for lack of a
better term. There is no better term, actually, but using it in this
realm makes the pedantic dopes pop their heads up from their asses to
chime in about how that is not what "portable" means.

I run nethack on several platforms as well as mame... I think I know
what the term portable means in the computer realm.

What would be extremely cool would be if my original release PS3 NOT
upgraded, still able to boot Linux would, in fact boot from a microSD or
my memstiks on the USB port. Now that would be cool.

But right now, the coolest thing I have going is my cubox-i4 Pro ARM
based computer. I used to have to hunt up, find, DL and then burn to a
microSD chip, an image which had many of the cubox hardware features
disabled, etc. etc. A real pain in the butt to toy with. So, I let it
sit idle for the last 8 months or so and now, there are all kinds of fully
functional Android, Geexbox, KODI, OpenELEC, Xbian, etc. I can put on it.
The really cool part is the new "Ignition" image that is only 37MB, but
allows you to PICK from a list of distros to install, and the DLs them,
and then even overwrites the stik with the install image and reboots for
you (prompts).

So, now I am back to 5 machines running here...

My main box here, my i7 screamer doing BD rips and downres'd transcodes,
my laptop helping me put together these boot anywhere LinStiks, my TV PC
running an ACER Aspire HTPC or my cubox-i, depending on which HDMI port I
switch to.

The cool part is that cubox "Ignition" install chip. What used to be
quite a laborious process is now a breeze. And the kernel on the OpenELEC
KODI build is from the 26th of Dec. Quite recent. Cool!

[Jonathan N. Little]

Yes that confirms that you are using the nouveau driver. Now just do as
I listed and make you life easier.

I haven't used KDE since Mandrake (that dates me) so I am not sure where
it is in Kubuntu, it's in "Software and Updates" in Unity, and enable
the repository for Proprietary Drivers (restricted) and update your index.

Then select the nVidia 331 driver, in Kubuntu is in

"System Settings > System Administration > Driver Manager"

Use the Version 311.## (proprietary tested) driver. Trust me it WILL
work with your card. IIRC 311 is the highest you can go. Use the GUI,
reboot, then check with

modprobe -R nvidia

nvidia_331 should be the results. Then we can help you if you need to
reconfigure your nVidia settings if you previous fiddling has them buggered.

[Jonathan N. Little]

DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wrote:
> On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 10:09:44 -0500, Jonathan N. Little wrote:
>
>> Personally I have found the nouveau drivers suck and I use the
>> proprietary driver on many systems with nVidia cards. Many like my
>> wife's GT240 card requires adding the "nomodeset" in GRUB. Secondly if
>> you enable the restricted repositories then install the proprietary from
>> "Additional Drivers" in the settings then it will deactivate nouveau
>> drivers for you. With the newer versions of Ubuntu this method has
>> worked very smoothy without needing to download and manually do it from
>> nVidia's site. You will not get the full functionality of your nVidia
>> card unless you use nVidia's driver.
>
> I am going to try this as well.
>

Prior to 12.04 the GUI route was a bit hit or miss. Usually involved
using a PPA or manually compiling and fiddling to remove nouveau
components.

[David W. Hodgins]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 08:52:14 -0500, Jean-Pierre <Jean-...@notmyrealemailaddress.org> wrote:

> Is there a better command to tell you waht driver I am running?
> At the moment, the only problem is the fonts are too teeny tiny.

Try xdriinfo

Regards, Dave Hodgins

--
Change nomail.afraid.org to ody.ca to reply by email.
(nomail.afraid.org has been set up specifically for
use in usenet. Feel free to use it yourself.)

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 09:09:40 -0500, David W. Hodgins wrote:

> Try xdriinfo

Drat!

$ xdriinfo
Screen 0: nouveau

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 11:24:38 -0500, Jonathan N. Little wrote:

> Yes that confirms that you are using the nouveau driver.

Here's another confirmation that I'm (unwillingly) using
the nouveau driver...

$ view /var/log/nvidia-installer.log

nvidia-installer log file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log'
creation time: Fri Jan 9 11:15:48 2015
installer version: 340.65

PATH: /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin

nvidia-installer command line:
./nvidia-installer

Using: nvidia-installer ncurses user interface

-> License accepted.
-> Installing NVIDIA driver version 340.65.
-> Running distribution scripts
executing: '/usr/lib/nvidia/pre-install'...
-> done.
-> The distribution-provided pre-install script failed! Are you sure you want to continue? (Answer: Continue installation)
ERROR: The Nouveau kernel driver is currently in use by your system. This driver is incompatible with the NVIDIA driver, and must be disabled before proceeding. Please consult the NVIDIA driver README and your Linux distribution's documentation for details on how to correctly disable the Nouveau kernel driver.
-> For some distributions, Nouveau can be disabled by adding a file in the modprobe configuration directory. Would you like nvidia-installer to attempt to create this modprobe file for you? (Answer: Yes)
-> One or more modprobe configuration files to disable Nouveau have been written. For some distributions, this may be sufficient to disable Nouveau; other distributions may require modification of the initial ramdisk. Please reboot your system and attempt NVIDIA driver installation again. Note if you later wish to reenable Nouveau, you will need to delete these files: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-installer-disable-nouveau.conf
ERROR: Installation has failed. Please see the file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for details. You may find suggestions on fixing installation problems in the README available on the Linux driver download page at www.nvidia.com.

[Melzzzzz]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 09:09:40 -0500
"David W. Hodgins" <dwho...@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:

> On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 08:52:14 -0500, Jean-Pierre
> <Jean-...@notmyrealemailaddress.org> wrote:
>
> > Is there a better command to tell you waht driver I am running?
> > At the moment, the only problem is the fonts are too teeny tiny.
>
> Try xdriinfo
>
> Regards, Dave Hodgins
>

glxinfo is better, I have dri disabled in kernel.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 11:24:38 -0500, Jonathan N. Little wrote:

> I haven't used KDE since Mandrake (that dates me) so I am not sure where
> it is in Kubuntu, it's in "Software and Updates" in Unity, and enable
> the repository for Proprietary Drivers (restricted) and update your index.
>
> Then select the nVidia 331 driver, in Kubuntu is in
> "System Settings > System Administration > Driver Manager"

I didn't have the option for the version 331 driver, but, this is
what I had ...

(KDE) > System Settings > System Administration > Driver Manager >
Collecting information about your system
http://i62.tinypic.com/mlc1x.png

Driver manager software

NVIDIA Corporation GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]

( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-304
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-304-updates
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-331
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-331-updates
( )Using NVIDIA binary driver - version 340.65 from nvidia-340 (Recommended Driver)
(o)Using X-Org X-server -- Nouveau display driver from xserver-xorg-video-nouveau

Change that above to the following:
(o)Using NVIDIA binary driver - version 340.65 from nvidia-340 (Recommended Driver)
And press "Apply" and wait a few minutes for the apply to finish:
http://i61.tinypic.com/1zx5hc7.png

I'm waiting a few minutes as we speak, for this apply to take shape
but I'll send this out just in case it fails and wipes it all out.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 11:24:38 -0500, Jonathan N. Little wrote:

> modprobe -R nvidia
>
> nvidia_331 should be the results. Then we can help you if you need to
> reconfigure your nVidia settings if you previous fiddling has them buggered.

Following your advice, I went to:
(KDE) > System Settings > System Administration > Driver Manager >

This said "Collecting information about your system"
http://i62.tinypic.com/mlc1x.png

Then it popped up the following list:

Driver manager software
NVIDIA Corporation GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-304
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-304-updates
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-331
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-331-updates
( )Using NVIDIA binary driver - version 340.65 from nvidia-340 (Recommended Driver)
(o)Using X-Org X-server -- Nouveau display driver from xserver-xorg-video-nouveau

I changed above to the following:

(o)Using NVIDIA binary driver - version 340.65 from nvidia-340 (Recommended Driver)

And I pressed "Apply" and waited a few minutes for the apply to finish:
http://i61.tinypic.com/1zx5hc7.png

When done, it looked like this:
http://i60.tinypic.com/28j8wft.png

$ modprobe -R nvidia
nvidia_340

$ xdriinfo
libGL is too old.

$ inxi -F

Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]
X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: nvidia,nouveau (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1920...@60.0hz

GLX Renderer: N/A GLX Version: N/A

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 10:09:44 -0500, Jonathan N. Little wrote:

> ~$ sudo nano /etc/default/grub
> find default line
> GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
> and change to
> GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"
> CTRL+X to exit and save and run
> ~$ sudo update-grub
> to set your changes.

Here is what my grub says:

$ cat /etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

So, I changed it to add "nomodeset" and updated grub:
$ sudo vi /etc/default/grub

$ sudo update-grub
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-14-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.11.0-14-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.elf
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Windows 7 (loader) on /dev/sda1
done

Dunno if that did anything yet though, until I reboot.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 20:31:36 +0100, Melzzzzz wrote:

> glxinfo is better, I have dri disabled in kernel.

After running more commands...

(KDE) > System Settings > System Administration > Driver Manager >

Collecting information about your system
http://i62.tinypic.com/mlc1x.png

Driver manager software
NVIDIA Corporation GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-304
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-304-updates
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-331
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-331-updates

(o)Using NVIDIA binary driver - version 340.65 from nvidia-340 (Recommended Driver)

( )Using X-Org X-server -- Nouveau display driver from xserver-xorg-video-nouveau

Here are the results of the suggested debug commands:

$ modprobe -R nvidia
nvidia_340

$ xdriinfo
libGL is too old.

$ glxinfo
name of display: :0
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Error: couldn't find RGB GLX visual or fbconfig
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Error: couldn't find RGB GLX visual or fbconfig

Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".

$ inxi -F
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]
X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: nvidia,nouveau (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1920...@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: N/A GLX Version: N/A

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 14:01:23 -0600, Jean-Pierre wrote:

> So, I changed it to add "nomodeset" and updated grub:
> $ sudo vi /etc/default/grub

BTW, why did I do that?

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 14:15:24 -0600, Jean-Pierre wrote:

> Here are the results of the suggested debug commands:

I fixed, for the most part, the font problem, simply
by changing from the default and doubling the sizes.

(KDE) > System Settings > Common Appearance and Behavior >
Application Appearance > Fonts >
General: Ubuntu 9
Fixed width: Monospace 9
Small: Ubuntu 8
Toolbar: Ubuntu 8
Menu: Ubuntu 9
Window title: Ubuntu 9
Taskbar: Ubuntu 9
Desktop: Ubuntu 9

I changed that to:
General: Ubuntu 18
Fixed width: Monospace 18
Small: Ubuntu 16
Toolbar: Ubuntu 16
Menu: Ubuntu 18
Window title: Ubuntu 18
Taskbar: Ubuntu 18
Desktop: Ubuntu 18

[Paul]

http://askubuntu.com/questions/207175/what-does-nomodeset-do

"Adding the nomodeset parameter instructs the kernel to
not load video drivers and use BIOS modes instead until
X is loaded."

It delays driver testing until X is loaded.

Paul

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 17:09:20 -0500, Paul wrote:

> It delays driver testing until X is loaded.

Thanks Paul.

Here's what I think was the final thing that worked to
get the Kubuntu 14.04 Nvidia drivers to load, and to get the
system fonts back to a reasonable size for a 1920x1080 display.

Best method, in the end, is to load the Kubuntu Nvidia drivers:

(KDE) > System Settings > System Administration > Driver Manager >
Collecting information about your system
http://i62.tinypic.com/mlc1x.png

Driver manager software
NVIDIA Corporation GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-304
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-304-updates
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-331
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-331-updates

( )Using NVIDIA binary driver - version 340.65 from nvidia-340 (Recommended Driver)
(o)Using X-Org X-server -- Nouveau display driver from xserver-xorg-video-nouveau

Change that above to the following:

(o)Using NVIDIA binary driver - version 340.65 from nvidia-340 (Recommended Driver)

And press "Apply" and wait a few minutes for the apply to finish:
http://i61.tinypic.com/1zx5hc7.png
When done, it looks like this:
http://i60.tinypic.com/28j8wft.png

Change grub to load x drivers later:
$ sudo vi /etc/default/grub
Change the one line...
FROM:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
TO:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"

"Adding the nomodeset parameter instructs the kernel to not load video
drivers and use BIOS modes instead until X is loaded."

And then update grub:

$ sudo update-grub
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-14-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.11.0-14-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.elf
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Windows 7 (loader) on /dev/sda1
done

Then double all the default font sizes:

(KDE) > System Settings > Common Appearance and Behavior >
Application Appearance > Fonts >

General: Ubuntu 9 (change to 18)
Fixed width: Monospace 9 (change to 18)
Small: Ubuntu 8 (change to 16)
Toolbar: Ubuntu 8 (change to 16)
Menu: Ubuntu 9 (change to 18)
Window title: Ubuntu 9 (change to 18)
Taskbar: Ubuntu 9 (change to 18)
Desktop: Ubuntu 9 (change to 18)

[Jean-Pierre]

On Tue, 06 Jan 2015 12:40:44 -0600, Jean-Pierre wrote:

> What additional packages are required when Kubuntu 14.04 says:
> http://i57.tinypic.com/5wm0wn.png
>
> System Notification Helper
> Language support is incomplete, additional packages are required.

After all that happened, I think I'll just live with the errant
notifications of language support being incomplete!

:)

Thanks for all your advice.

I learned a LOT about how hard it is to properly install an Nvidia
driver when the "nouveau" driver is tenaciously stuck in the kernel.

Even now, I'm not sure if there is supposed to be a "GLX Renderer"
or not (I think "GLX" is for 3D graphics).

[Jean-Pierre]

On Tue, 06 Jan 2015 12:40:44 -0600, Jean-Pierre wrote:

For the record, this approach below failed miserably, so I list
it and the results I got, so that others can improve upon it,
since it's the method recommended by Nvidia (but it failed).

I determined what Nvidia graphics card I have in my Lenovo W510 laptop:
$ lspci | grep -i nvidia

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M] (rev a2)

I followed Nvidia driver directions here (which failed miserably):

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

The selection I used was the following:
Product Type = Quadro
Product Series = Quadro FX Series (Notebooks) <=== Is a laptop a notebook or not?
Product = Quadro FX 880M
Operating System = Linux 64-bit
Download Type = Linux Long Lived Driver
Language = English (US)

That downloaded the driver:
Linux x64 (AMD64/EM64T) Display Driver
Version: 340.65
Release Date: 2014.12.8
Operating System: Linux 64-bit
Language: English (US)
File Size: 69.00 MB

The file downloaded was:
$ ls -l
-rw------- 69903305 Jan 8 16:25 NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.65.run

I copied that downloaded file to /tmp and made it executable:
$ chmod +x /tmp/NVIDIA-Linux-*.run

I pressed Ctrl+Alt+F1, which bounced me out of the X display.

I logged into the screen-wide console as a user.

I killed the X server using the following command:

$ sudo service lightdm stop ## For the default LightDM

Here is the log file if you skip the killing the x server step above:

$ cat /var/log/nvidia-installer.log

nvidia-installer log file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log'
nvidia-installer log file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log'

creation time: Fri Jan 9 11:09:08 2015

installer version: 340.65
PATH: /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
nvidia-installer command line:
./nvidia-installer
Using: nvidia-installer ncurses user interface

-> The file '/tmp/.X0-lock' exists and appears to contain the process ID '1153' of a runnning X server.
ERROR: You appear to be running an X server; please exit X before installing.
For further details, please see the section INSTALLING THE NVIDIA DRIVER in the

README available on the Linux driver download page at www.nvidia.com.
ERROR: Installation has failed. Please see the file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for details.
You may find suggestions on fixing installation problems in the README available
on the Linux driver download page at www.nvidia.com.

This is the process the log file above was complaining about:
$ ps -elfww|grep 1153
4 S root 1153 1142 3 80 0 - 50728 poll_s Jan08 tty7 00:25:02 /usr/bin/X -core :0 -seat seat0 -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -nolisten tcp vt7 -novtswitch

So, I stopped the X server as insructed at the Nvidia site:

$ sudo service lightdm stop

lightdm stop/waiting

I tested that the X server was stopped by issuing that command again:

$ sudo service lightdm stop

Stop: Unknown instance:

Then I tried executing the program and following the prompts:

$ sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.65.run

It failed.

I looked at the log file:
$ view /var/log/nvidia-installer.log

$ xdriinfo
Screen 0: nouveau

$ modprobe -R nvidia
modprobe: FATAL: Module nvidia not found.

$ inxi -F
System: Host: jp Kernel: 3.11.0-14-generic x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: KDE 4.13.3 Distro: Ubuntu 14.04 trusty
Machine: System: LENOVO product: 4318CTO version: ThinkPad W510

Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]
X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: nvidia,nouveau (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1920...@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: N/A GLX Version: N/A

Apparently, the first driver loaded gets the hardware, and the other one
sits idle in kernelspace.

I ran some debugging commands:

$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS-1 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 193mm
1920x1080 60.0*+ 60.0 50.0
1680x1050 60.0
1400x1050 60.0
1280x1024 59.9
1280x960 59.9
1152x864 60.0
1024x768 59.9
800x600 59.9
640x480 59.4
720x400 59.6
640x400 60.0
640x350 59.8
VGA-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

> Presumably when the drivers are properly installed, something
> is done so only the correct one shows up there.

The problem is that nouveau is a GPL'd in-kernel driver which uses
kernel mode setting, and is therefore already loaded into the kernel by
the initramfs.

The nvidia driver is the proprietary driver, and while you can load it
in memory, it cannot access the hardware because the nouveau driver has
already claimed that.

Therefore, the correct method to proceed is to boot up with "nomodeset"
added to the kernel boot line as a parameter, then blacklist the nouveau
driver, and only *then* install the proprietary nVidia driver, and then
reboot, so that the kernel can load that proprietary driver and give it
access to the hardware.

[Paul]

Starting at post #9 here, is a discussion of the various
interactions. "nomodeset" is one option. Blacklisting Nouveau
is another.

https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/487214-nvidia-driver-update-issue

Paul

[Cybe R. Wizard]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 18:25:21 -0600
Jean-Pierre <Jean-...@notmyrealemailaddress.org> wrote:

> I followed Nvidia driver directions here (which failed miserably):
> http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Why on Earth would you go outside the Ubuntu repositories which are
tested and /KNOWN/ to work? It seems that throughout this exercise in
futility you have second-guessed everyone and pressed forward with some
unknown agenda of your own when you have been repeatedly told how/why
to do it successfully.

What is your TRUE purpose here?

Cybe R. Wizard
--
Nice computers don't go down.
Larry Niven, Steven Barnes
"The Barsoom Project"

[Jonathan N. Little]

Jean-Pierre wrote:
> On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 17:09:20 -0500, Paul wrote:
>
>> It delays driver testing until X is loaded.
>
> Thanks Paul.
>
> Here's what I think was the final thing that worked to
> get the Kubuntu 14.04 Nvidia drivers to load, and to get the
> system fonts back to a reasonable size for a 1920x1080 display.
>
> Best method, in the end, is to load the Kubuntu Nvidia drivers:
> (KDE) > System Settings > System Administration > Driver Manager >
> Collecting information about your system
> http://i62.tinypic.com/mlc1x.png

That is what I said. Use the driver gui and the nouveau drivers are
disabled for you. Use nVidia's site installer and you have to manual futz.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 21:42:58 -0500, Jonathan N. Little wrote:

> That is what I said. Use the driver gui and the nouveau drivers are
> disabled for you. Use nVidia's site installer and you have to manual futz.

Thanks.
It took me a while, and, well, I never did fully understand what
was going on.

I guess, the nouveau driver was "in the kernel" (whatever that means),
and, because of that, nothing I did would work to put the nvidia driver
in the kernel.

I'm so confused that I'm not sure if it was the changes to grub or
the fact that I used the Kubuntu driver gui, or what, but, now, finally,
the nvidia driver is in place.

Whew! There's a very specific secret decoder ring to this dilemma
hidden somewhere in the specific devilish details of this thread.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 20:14:41 -0500, Paul wrote:

> Starting at post #9 here, is a discussion of the various
> interactions. "nomodeset" is one option. Blacklisting Nouveau
> is another.

This is tremendously complicated stuff!

[Jean-Pierre]

On Fri, 09 Jan 2015 20:30:04 -0600, Cybe R. Wizard wrote:

> Why on Earth would you go outside the Ubuntu repositories

I was shooting wildly, because nothing was working.

I'm still not sure exactly which of the many things I tried
was what made it work.

[mechanic]

Classic.

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

The classic part is that it is classic that someone with enough skill
still manages to half ass a task. WHILE he was "trying" "different
things" BACK when he succeeded, THAT is when he should have taken note as
to what he did, and THAT is why you only perform one change at a time when
doing this type of diagnostic.

So, he was a classic half ass for the way he did what he was able to do,
and you are a classic ass for very likely thinking that the thing that was
classic was "how Linux does this to folks". Linux didn't do a damned
thing. And Jean-Pierre FAILED to do a few things he should have.

Classic displacement of culpability.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Sat, 10 Jan 2015 13:29:52 +0000, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wrote:

> The classic part is that it is classic that someone with enough skill
> still manages to half ass a task. WHILE he was "trying" "different
> things" BACK when he succeeded, THAT is when he should have taken note as
> to what he did, and THAT is why you only perform one change at a time when
> doing this type of diagnostic.

Being new with Linux, what I learned from the effort, which, you probably
had already known, was to keep a *log* of my changes to the system, even
those that failed (and, probably the failures are even more important
than the successes).

To be clear, I was *always* following directions, bearing in mind that
the directions didn't always work (as witnesses by the directions found
on the Nvidia web site that I followed to a letter, and failed).

Also, let's bear in mind, that there are NO DIRECTIONS whatsoever for
solving the original problem, which is that Kubuntu constantly notifies
the user that "additional packages are required", yet, Kubuntu never
gives the user any hints how to solve the "Language support is incomplete"
notification.

Absolutely none of the suggestions provided, while all well meant, worked
for *that* problem. Luckily, the provided suggestions worked for the
introduced problem (which was the unexpected loss of the Nvidia drivers,
most likely due to the command below:
$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade && sudo apt-get -f install

I fault no one but myself, and, Kubuntu itself, for the original problem.

[Jean-Pierre]

On Sat, 10 Jan 2015 12:32:33 +0000, mechanic wrote:

> Classic.

While it may seem intuitive to you to use the (KDE)

System Settings > System Administration > Driver Manager

to "install" the driver, bear in mind that it's still
"magic" to me how that software *obtained" the latest
version of the Nvidia software, version 340.65.

How did the KDE Driver Manager Software get that file in the
first place (which is the latest file available from the Nvidia
web site)?

Driver manager software

NVIDIA Corporation GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]

( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-304
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-304-updates
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-331
( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-331-updates

(o)Using NVIDIA binary driver - version 340.65 from nvidia-340 (Recommended Driver)

( )Using X-Org X-server -- Nouveau display driver from xserver-xorg-video-nouveau

Where did that Nvidia version 340.65 *file* come from?

[Dirk T. Verbeek]

Op 10-01-15 om 21:27 schreef Jean-Pierre:

> On Sat, 10 Jan 2015 12:32:33 +0000, mechanic wrote:
>
>> Classic.
>
> While it may seem intuitive to you to use the (KDE)
> System Settings > System Administration > Driver Manager
> to "install" the driver, bear in mind that it's still
> "magic" to me how that software *obtained" the latest
> version of the Nvidia software, version 340.65.

I might have missed a post but the driver manager pulls the software it
installs from the available repositories.
Like on my 14.10 system it is kernel 331.65.

>
> How did the KDE Driver Manager Software get that file in the
> first place (which is the latest file available from the Nvidia
> web site)?

No 340 is not at all the latest.

>
> Driver manager software
> NVIDIA Corporation GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]
> ( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-304
> ( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-304-updates
> ( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-331
> ( )Using NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125 from nvidia-331-updates
> (o)Using NVIDIA binary driver - version 340.65 from nvidia-340 (Recommended Driver)
> ( )Using X-Org X-server -- Nouveau display driver from xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
>
> Where did that Nvidia version 340.65 *file* come from?
>

Yes it is possible to add other repositories like edgers with more
cutting edge kernels but it seems you didn't.

Just open up the Muon *Package* manager and type in nvidia-340, it'll
show you the driver software.

[Dirk T. Verbeek]

Op 10-01-15 om 21:45 schreef Dirk T. Verbeek:

> might have missed a post but the driver manager pulls the software it
> installs from the available repositories.
> Like on my 14.10 system it is kernel 331.65.

Oops, not kernel but nvidia-331.65 :)

[Jean-Pierre]

On Sat, 10 Jan 2015 21:45:27 +0100, Dirk T. Verbeek wrote:

> No 340 is not at all the latest.

When I go to the Nvidia web site, that's the latest *they* have.
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
It was released just last month.

How did my laptop get *that* driver?

> Just open up the Muon *Package* manager and type in nvidia-340, it'll
> show you the driver software.

By "Muon", I presume you mean "Synaptic", so, I typed:
$ synaptic &

And then searched for "nvidia-340", which gave me six entries, but,
unless you have the secret decoder ring handy, I can't figure out
where they came from from the information in Synaptic's GUI:

Do you have the same latest version in your Synaptic GUI?
http://i57.tinypic.com/2i6a0y.png

[Jean-Pierre]

On Sat, 10 Jan 2015 22:20:44 +0100, Dirk T. Verbeek wrote:

> Oops, not kernel but nvidia-331.65

I should have the same kernel, but my Synaptic magically has
the later version of nvidia-340.

http://i57.tinypic.com/2i6a0y.png

$ uname -r -m
3.11.0-14-generic x86_64

$ lsb_release -d
Description: Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS

[Eef Hartman]

In alt.os.linux Dirk T. Verbeek <dver...@xs4all.nl> wrote:
> No 340 is not at all the latest.

340.65 is the latest _stable_ version, though (from nvidia's
"latest.txt" file):
ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/latest.txt
cq
ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/latest.txt
but 346.22 is the highest version currently released. It officially
does count as a public beta, though (and only needed for the very
newest adaptors).
Those two releases are from the same date (8 Dec 2014).
I _believe_ the next stable release will be called 350.<something>

[Jean-Pierre]

On Sat, 10 Jan 2015 21:31:06 +0000, Eef Hartman wrote:

> 340.65 is the latest _stable_ version, though (from nvidia's
> "latest.txt" file):

So, why does my laptop have the latest stable release, while,
for example, Dirk's laptop is a few releases behind?

If we're both using Synaptic, why would it differentiate between
the two of us?

[Eef Hartman]

In alt.os.linux Jean-Pierre <Jean-...@notmyrealemailaddress.org> wrote:
> If we're both using Synaptic, why would it differentiate between
> the two of us?

It depends on your screen adaptor (cq chipset) too.

E.g. my Quadro FX 1500 will point you to version 304.88, later versions
don't seem to support that card anymore.
In openSUSE there are several generations of drivers available (NVidia
does maintain RPM repo's for (open)SUSE, RHEL/CentOS, etc.).
Probably NVidia also maintains ppa's for the various ubuntu releases
(I don' run ubuntu myself, so cannot check that).

[Jonathan N. Little]

Not all cards are supported by the latest. The GT 240 here can use the
340, but the GeForce Go7300 on my old laptop maxes out on 304.

[mechanic]

On Sat, 10 Jan 2015 14:27:41 -0600, Jean-Pierre wrote:

> On Sat, 10 Jan 2015 12:32:33 +0000, mechanic wrote:
>
>> Classic.
>
> While it may seem intuitive to you to use the (KDE) System
> Settings > System Administration > Driver Manager to "install"
> the driver, bear in mind that it's still "magic" to me how that
> software *obtained" the latest version of the Nvidia software,
> version 340.65.

Believe me mate, I'm sympathetic. It's the Linux story by example.
(Try, fail, search, try...)