Install Nvidia Driver 304.60 In Ubuntu 12.10/12.04/Linux Mint 13

The Nvidia driver 304.60 has been released recently in the Nvidia website. In this tutorial we will help you install it in Ubuntu/Linux Mint. For Ubuntu 12.10  (Quantal Quetzal), the PPA given below doesn't support it so far, but you can install the driver manually as shown below.

 Here are the changes and bug fixes in this latest release:

    Fixed a bug that caused the X server to crash if a display was put into DPMS off mode and subsequently reenabled while screen transformations are in use.

    Fixed a bug that caused the X Resize and Rotate extension to be enabled when Xinerama is enabled. These two X extensions are incompatible and having them both enabled can confuse window managers such as KDE's kwin. RandR is now correctly disabled when Xinerama is enabled.

    Fixed a bug causing OpenGL stereo applications to not work properly when using passive stereo modes 5 through 9 on Quadro Fermi and newer GPUs.

    Updated nvidia-settings to report Dedicated GPU Memory (i.e., the memory dedicated exclusively to the GPU) and Total GPU Memory (i.e., Dedicated GPU Memory plus any TurboCache(TM)-accessible system memory) separately on the GPU information page.

    Added reporting of the current utilization of Dedicated GPU Memory to the GPU information page of nvidia-settings.

    Added support for the "Backlight" RandR output property for configuring the brightness of some notebook internal panels.

    Fixed a bug that prevented the Ubuntu Unity launcher panel from unhiding: https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/1057000

    Fixed a bug that caused nvidia-installer to sometimes attempt to write a log file in a nonexistent directory.

    Fixed a bug that caused incorrect input transformation after resizing an NVIDIA X screen with xserver ABI 12 (xorg-server 1.12) or newer.

    Fixed a bug that caused GLX to leak memory when Xinerama is enabled.

Driver Installation (Latest Long Lived Branch version: 304.60)

To install from x-swat PPA for Ubuntu 12.04/Linux Mint 13 or older, run these commands:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-current nvidia-settings

Or install manually with these instructions for Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal):

1. Open the terminal and download this file with these commands:

cd && wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/47950494/upubuntu.com/nvidia-304-60

chmod +x nvidia-304-60

2. Press CTRL+ALT+F3 to enable CLI mode, log in using your username and password, then kill the Xserver with this command:

 sudo service lightdm stop

3. Start the installation of the Nvidia driver 304.60 with this command:

cd && sudo sh nvidia-304-60

4. When the installation is complete, run this command to reboot your system:

sudo reboot

Note: You may also use these instructions to install the driver in GUI mode without the need to kill the Xserver.

You can also check this tutorial which explains how to install the Nvidia driver in Recovery Mode.