New NVIDIA gaphics driver beta corrects Linux sleep problems

Linux users rejoice! Nvidia has answered the pleading of millions of Linux users and finally addressed the power management problems inherent in the Linux-based Nvidia driver driver package since version 177.x. Specially, the new Nvidia driver package, version 180.27, released on to Beta on Jan 28, 2009, has a number of notable new features:

* Corrects Sleep & Hibernate related issues such that all graphics driver power management now works properly on newer PCIE_x16 motherboards.
* Adds support for OpenGL 3.0 for GeForce 8 series and newer GPUs.

For those of you confused by all the different Nvidia driver packages, here is a summary of the most notable changes in each release:

* 173.x - Most stable Nvidia graphics driver release in years. Many users still stick with this driver because newer packages are still unacceptable
* 177.80 - Improved graphics performance, corrects some Compiz issues, but introduces other serious problems, such as Compiz damage and Metacity titlebar tearing.
* 180.22 - Supports new GPUs, corrected a few glyph cache issues, corrected other bugs and issues with newer kernels. Still, has serious problems with power management such that machines waking from sleep will hang while re-initializing the graphics driver.
* 180.27 - Beta release noted in this article. Corrects the power management issues and improves OpenGL 3.0 support.

So What is the Catch?
The prospect of power management and sleep working at last sound great, but what is the catch?  Well, the catch to this new release is that it is only a Beta version.  This means that thare are most likely still a few bugs rolling around in the code.  This means that you must weight your options and decide if the beta risk is woth it.  Personally, being a laptop user, I cannot live without sleep functionality operating properly.  Thus, I really have no choice but to run this new Beta driver.  If you are a desktop user, then maybe this bleeding edge release is not enough of a benefit to justify the trade-offs.

The second "catch" is that this Nvidia drive release is not available directly from your Linux distribution.  You must download the binary installer directly from Nvidia and manually install it yourself.  Fear not though, we have an existing tutorial that will walk you through this installation process:

Link to walk-through of installing Nvidia binary drivers in Linux

[Edited to add: Nvidia has released stable driver version, 180.29, to replease the beta driver outlined in this post.  Sleep and other power management features have been tested and confirmed to still work properly.]