Kernel You need at least version 2.6.34 of sys-kernel/gentoo-sources. Enable Nouveau support in the Staging drivers sub menu. Do NOT enable any framebuffer devices. Linux Kernel Configuration: DRM kernel config Device Drivers ---> Graphics support ---> <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 4.1.0 and higher DRI support) [*] Staging drivers ---> Nouveau (nVidia) cards (Re)build and (re)install. If you have installed the x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers in parallel, make sure that the nvidia kernel module does not load by blacklisting it: File: /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf ... blacklist nvidia before booting the nouveau-enabled kernel. [edit] Userspace Add nouveau to your VIDEO_CARDS in /etc/make.conf: File: /etc/make.conf VIDEO_CARDS="nouveau" Reemerge x11-base/xorg-drivers to pull in x11-drivers/xf86-video-nouveau. If you have x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers installed as well make sure to select the xorg-x11 OpenGL profile with eselect: eselect opengl set xorg-x11 [edit] Install Nouveau NOTE: If you ever plan to go back to your previous driver, especially if it is the nvidia proprietary driver (the blob), read the Uninstall chapter before actually doing anything. Now, if you want to try out nouveau, please follow these steps carefully : Install xorg-server version 1.8 or later (appears in Xorg 7.6) - Versions prior to this won't work due to difference in some internal structures. Read the Xorg Modular Developer's Guide for help with building from source. Install the Nouveau kernel modules by following InstallDRM guide. Download the drm git tree Use git clone git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/mesa/drm/ to obtain the current sources. If you already have downloaded the repository update it via git fetch ; git rebase origin. You can use this sequence to update all git repositories. Now compile libdrm via : ./autogen.sh ; ./configure --enable-nouveau-experimental-api --prefix=/usr/; make ; make install The make install would by default install to /usr/local/ which may create problems when compiling xf86-video-nouveau, therefore we added --prefix=/usr/. This will overwrite the libdrm installed by your distribution. Note that libdrm might also be installed in /lib/ (Ubuntu 10.04) or some place else in your distribution. In that case you have to use --libdir=/lib (or where your libdrm is installed) with the configure command. Make sure, that neither DRM nor nvidia (binary version) kernel drivers are loaded. Use lsmod and rmmod nvidia should you still have it loaded. Now insert the kernel modules. If you installed the modules, modprobe nouveau should be enough. If not, do insmod /path/to/drm.ko insmod /path/to/ttm.ko insmod /path/to/nouveau.ko Using insmod drm.ko debug=1 would spam your syslog with some more messages, which could be useful for us. Now edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf to use the nouveau driver: Change in Section "Device" the Driver line to Driver "nouveau" The minimal xorg.conf file, which you should try, if you encounter any problems, is: Section "Device" Identifier "n" Driver "nouveau" EndSection leave directory drm and get the Xorg nouveau driver: git clone git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/nouveau/xf86-video-nouveau/ Switch into xf86-video-nouveau and compile: ./autogen.sh ; make and copy the nouveau_drv.so to the drivers directory of Xorg: cp src/.libs/nouveau_drv.so /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers Now start Xorg and run for cover. If you used the the nvidia blob before, the X server may possibly not start because NVIDIA overwrites the X server's libglx.so with a proprietary libglx.so. If that happens, install the X server package from your distribution again to restore the original libglx.so and make a backup copy of it in case you install the blob again. Troubleshooting See TroubleShooting. Currently we can help you only with 2D and related problems, not with 3D. If you chose to install the Gallium driver you are on your own! Uninstall Nouveau / Reinstall previous driver The nouveau installation process involves updating the drm kernel module, adding a new kernel module (nouveau.ko) and a new X module (nouveau_drv.so). The drm kernel module is needed to get new features still not merged in upstream kernels and it shouldn't be a problem when using the previous drivers you had installed, as neither nv nor nvidia use it. Do disable Nouveau KMS, if you used it. The new nouveau.ko and nouveau_drv.so files don't overwrite any previous existing files, so you just need to rmmod the nouveau driver and restore your previous xorg.conf. Libdrm installation will overwrite existing files. Libdrm Makefile should offer an uninstall command: make uninstall, after which you can reinstall the distribution packaged libdrm. If you were previously using the free nv driver Change your xorg.conf to use 'nv' as driver again and restart X. If you were previously using the binary driver by nvidia To get the binary driver back you edit xorg.conf and either copy NVIDIA's proprietary libglx.so back or run the installer again. Ebuilds: Previously, the nouveau ebuilds where in the nouveau overlay, which is now unmaintained. Use the x11 overlay instead, which is also availiable via layman Recommended ebuilds: x11-base/nouveau-drm (from git) x11-drivers/xf86-video-nouveau (from git) x11-drivers/nouveau-firmware (latest snapshot) x11-libs/libdrm (from git) The x11 overlay also has a mesa git ebuild, which contains the gallium based nouveau 3d driver, but it is still in a very early stage and using it is discouraged and unsupported Unmaintained ebuilds: Additionally, the now unmaintained nouveau overlay still contains the renouveau and mmio-trace utilities, which you will need if you want to help the development x11-misc/renouveau dev-util/mmio-trace These ebuilds do not have any keyword, as it is usual with cvs/svn/git releases. To be able to install them, you have to mark them with ** in package.keywords. These are the steps which are necessary in order to get the nouveau driver working on gentoo: Disable the nvidia proprietary kernel module. eselect opengl set xorg-x11 Make sure you have USE="dri" and VIDEO_CARDS="nouveau" emerge -va nouveau-drm libdrm xorg-server xf86-video-nouveau Make sure you use the overlay ebuilds. You may have to unmask them. xorg-server recompilation is sometimes necessary after DRM changes, but not always. If you are not sure, re-emerge it Update xorg.conf to use driver "nouveau". modprobe drm modprobe nouveau startx No, you will not have accelerated 3D support.