Nvidia GeForce driver versions explained

[Zbigniew Luszpinski]

Dear all,

as you may see there was some NVIDIA* modules changes recently.
I decided to make DETAILS file more informative so now you can check (lvu what 
NVIDIA) if NVIDIA* module you would like to lin will be the right one.

You can check which kind of GeForce you have by typing in console: 
lspci -nn -d 10de:* | grep VGA

The result will look similar to this example:
00:05.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation C51PV [GeForce 
6150] [10de:0240] (rev a2)

The 0240 number can be compared to the list of PCI ids on Nvidia site.
Just add 0x before number, e.g. 0240 will be 0x0240 on Nvidia web page.
Please always start looking at most new branch and move to the lower one if 
your PCI id is not found.

For example: the PCI id 0x0240 is identified on Nvidia web page as GeForce 
6150. The drivers supporting this hardware are: 100.14.03; 1.0-9755; 1.0-9631
I chosen 100.14.03 as this is the most new one and works OK.

At present there are 4 branches of Nvidia GeForce binary driver (and lunar 
modules accordingly):

module name: NVIDIA-beta  (32/64bit Lunar module)
version: 100.14.03
Hardware supported: GeForce FX/Quadro FX and later (6/7/8)
PCI id list of supported hardware:
http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/100.14.03/README/appendix-a.html

module name: NVIDIA  (32/64bit Lunar module)
version: 1.0-9755
Hardware supported: GeForce FX/Quadro FX and later (6/7/8)
PCI id list of supported hardware: 
http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-9755/README/appendix-a.html
at the end of page there is short list of PCI ids and information about legacy 
driver.
The 1.0-96xx driver means NVIDIA-legacy module in Lunar.
The 1.0-71xx driver means NVIDIA-old module in Lunar.

module name: NVIDIA-legacy  (32/64bit Lunar module)
version: 1.0-9631
Hardware supported: GeForce2 MX, GeForce 3, GeForce4
PCI id list of supported hardware: 
http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-9631/README/appendix-a.html
at the end of page there is short list of PCI ids and information about legacy 
driver. This legacy driver is NVIDIA-old module in Lunar.

module name: NVIDIA-old  (32/64bit Lunar module)
version: 1.0-7185
Hardware supported: GeForce1/GeForce2 (not MX)/Quadro1,2
PCI id list of supported hardware: 
http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-7185/README/readme.txt

This should help you find the right driver.
Feel free to ask :-)

have a nice day,
Zbigniew 'zbiggy' Luszpinski