nVidia Linux driver and kernel version 2.6.28

I built and installed the latest kernel (2.6.28 as of this writing) and attempted to install the proprietary nvidia driver with this kernel. The nvidia installer (version 177.82) did not detect the kernel headers that were in fact installed.

What I had to do was to extract the installation files from the nvidia installer (you do this with the -x flag). Then I had to apply a patch that I found here.

To apply this patch I cd'd into the nvidia installation directory created by running the installer with the -x flag. I downloaded the NVIDIA_kernel-177.82.diff.txt from the link posted above. The patch syntax was:
patch -p0 < /path/to/NVIDIA_kernel-177.82.diff.txt

From there I ran the nvidia-installer which then worked as expected. I now have the nvidia driver working as expected (poorly, but what do you expect with a company like and nVidia... I do look forward to the next laptop with an Intel video adaptor).