After some more futzing around, I was able to make my new installation of Fedora 9 GNU/Linux use my closed source nvidia video driver to drive my computer monitor correctly. It's still a problem, because it doesn't start automatically. Whenever I start the computer, I wait through the full bootup, and about 30 seconds of flashing, then log in to the console screen and instruct the operating system to startx -- -ignoreABI and then everything loads OK. I don't have 3D acceleration-- that's what the ignore command does-- because the xserver still doesn't work well with the nvidia driver (or vice-versa-- it's very complicated). So even though I could use "wobbly windows" in Fedora 8, it's not quite ready in Fedora 9, because of other improvements to the underlying software. And notice the command-- there's the usual startx command, which is used when you want a graphical user interface and you're in console mode. But then there's a parameter you want the command to see-- ignore the ABI extensions, I guess. To do that you type two hyphens (so far, that's fairly standard console behavior), but then you type the actual parameter text, which is a space and a hyphen, followed by the text ignoreABI. That's atrocious! Or maybe it's just weird. I wish I could find the startup script (I know I can if I invest an hour or two at it), so I could just embed the command and the parameter into that and the computer would start automatically.
Overall, Fedora 9 is very good, and an improvement over version 8. I like the new add/remove software program front end. I like Firefox 3. I like the newer version of Gnome. I love that it feels responsive and all the programs look great! Tasteful colors, sounds, artwork, and beautiful fonts. I like how the programs are organized in the menus (much easier and more intuitive than Ubuntu's version of the same thing). Fedora's fantastic. Now, if only I didn't have tto start the GUI by hand every time I start the computer. Oh well, I'll fix it over the weekend.
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