MX Linux Forum

It's done! I now have the legacy 304xx nvidia driver installed on antiX-19.3. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be thanks to tony37. I read up on it first and then I just followed Tony's instructions.

I read up on the apt preferences. The packages in that file are set to use the versions in Stretch instead of the Buster repos. apt takes care of removing what needs to be removed and then replaced with the downgraded versions from Stretch. Once the Stretch versions are in place the install of the legacy 304xx drivers works. I rebooted after the install to make sure the nouveau driver was blacklisted.

Most of the other instructions were more complicated. So trust me, if you want to try using the legacy 304xx drivers on antiX-19 just follow Tony's instructions above.

Thanks again Tony. That was very helpful.
seaken64

@tony37 , before I attempt my usual update and full-upgrade do I need to do anything beyond modifying the apt preferences file? If I leave the Stretch repo enabled it won't get used anyway since Buster will take priority for everything not replace by the Stretch versions from this preferences file?

If I want to try to install Kodi 18.9 should I disable the Stretch repo? I think it is in the Buster test repo. [Edit: it was in the deb-multimedia repo] I'm not sure what Kodi is in the Stretch repos. I think it's 17.6? [Both 17.6 and 17.1 showed from the Stretch repos]

seaken64

I don't think any harm can come from leaving the stretch repo enabled, as these are logically older than the buster versions. But it's also superfluous to keep downloading these package lists.

To install Kodi 18, you can temporarily enable the default mx repo (not the test repo). To get the keyring for mx, install mx19-archive-keyring

Repology is your friend to find out what's in the Debian, antiX, and various MX main and test repos. They don't have AHS yet...

https://repology.org/project/kodi/versions

Thank you. I ended up doing it the hard way. I enabled the Debian test and the deb-multimedia repo and test. Then I updated and ran
that showed four versions of Kodi and one was 18.9 from the deb-multimedia repo.

I went back to the sources and disabled Debian test and Deb-Multimedia test and updated again. Then I looked at apt policy kodi again. The candidate was Kodi 18.9. So I ran
Kodi installed. Then I crossed my fingers and launched it from the terminal. No crash! It worked!

I tried the ESPN3 app and it installed but I got errors. So I removed it and changed the interface to Confluence, which is what I prefer, then re-installed ESPN3. I authenticated again and this time it worked. I'm watching the NCAA women's tournament now on Kodi 18.9. Perfect!

Thank you again for the help getting Kodi 18 working on antiX-19.

seaken64

tony37 wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 6:35 pm I don't think any harm can come from leaving the stretch repo enabled, as these are logically older than the buster versions. But it's also superfluous to keep downloading these package lists.

To install Kodi 18, you can temporarily enable the default mx repo (not the test repo). To get the keyring for mx, install mx19-archive-keyring

I'm going to go ahead and disable the Strech repo in the source list and then run an update and full-upgrade. It just makes me feel better since I don't really know what I am doing. You're probably right and I should just trust it but I'm a little hesitant until I learn more about what is happening with the full-upgrade.

Thanks,
seaken64

tony37 wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 3:01 pm Out of curiosity, I tried this out in Virtualbox, and the way to do this is to add the Debian stretch repo:

Code: Select all

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free

(antix stretch repo wasn't needed)

Then make a preferences file (you can simply create /etc/apt/preferences), with following content:

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Package: xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-video* xorgxrdp glx-alternative-nvidia glx-alternative-mesa glx-diversions update-glx
Pin: release n=stretch
Pin-Priority: 1000

And then install:

Code: Select all

sudo apt update && sudo apt install nvidia-legacy-304xx-driver

The only package I couldn't prevent from getting removed in the process is virtualbox-guest-x11, I don't think that's a big problem.
If you want to disable the stretch repo after that (maybe not necessary), then you can just pin the packages in the preferences file by changing 'release n=stretch' to 'release a=now'

edit: I added 'xorgxrdp' to the list, mostly for completeness' sake, in case someone would have this installed

@tony37 do you need to remove the Stretch repo after installing the Nvidia 304 driver to avoid getting a FrankenMX?

For the Debian Stretch repo, it's not strictly needed to remove it (nothing will be 'upgraded' from buster to stretch), but I suggest people do it anyway because it's just not useful to keep downloading these package lists (chances of there coming any updates for these stretch packages are minimal). But then you have to make sure some packages are pinned, for example by changing 'release n=stretch' to 'release a=now' in the preferences file (as already mentioned).
(but the MX stretch repo, needed if you want to install the 304 driver on 4.19 kernel, can give problems when enabled on buster, I took that into account in my guide at viewtopic.php?p=638080#p638080)