HOW TO: Install Nvidia Graphics Card Driver on Ubuntu Intrepid

I’ve seen many methods on how to install the driver for Nvidia graphics card.
Here’s a method that is almost foolproof, involves no conf file editing, and can be done purely using apt-get package manager.

In case you are wondering, this method installs the “177″ driver (the one that is supposed to be “recommended”).

So here goes:

1. “sudo apt-get install nvidia-177-kernel-source nvidia-glx-177 nvidia-kernel-common nvidia-settings xserver-xorg-video-nv”
2. Open System > Administration > Hardware Drivers
3. Select the driver that says “Nvidia accelerated graphics driver 177 [recommended]“
4. Click the Activate button (at the bottom of the window).
5. You’re done!

After it completes successfully, you will need to restart your computer. And viola! Your graphics card is ready to use!

HOW TO: Guest OS Networking in VirtualBox

I am an ubuntu user and I am a web developer. So what do I do when I need to test web applications on IE6 or IE7? I don’t go to some other computer running windows. I run windows in a virtual machine using Virtualbox.

The only hurdle is: how to reach the host OS network from the guest OS network? I scoured the internet for solutions, and I found one that did it in the first go: so here it is.

Now my life is easier. I don’t trouble my friends by asking them to lend me some of their time. I don’t need to interrupt their counter strike or WoW game. I do it on Virtualbox!

BTW, there is this project called ies4linux – a software to install ie 5, 6 and 7 on linux using wine. I tried it, but it somehow didn’t hit the sweet spot. For those of you who want to try, find it here.