Mastodawn

Is it so hard to get Nvidia GPUs working with Linux?

https://lemmy.world/post/37009671

Is it so hard to get Nvidia GPUs working with Linux? - Lemmy.World

I want to make the move to Mint at the end of Win10 in a week or so, but I’ve heard some horror stories about how tough it can be to get Nvidia GPUs working with them. As it is I have a 4060TI and no money for an AMD GPU. If I can’t get my GPU working with Linux I’m probably gonna end up having to stick with Windows untim I can afford an AMD GPU, the thought of which doesn’t exactly excite me.

I’ve used Nvidia GPUs with Linux with not many problems. These “horror stories” typically come from people who try to install a driver exactly the same way they would on Windows (by going to the Nvidia website and downloading something) whereas on most Linux distros it’s actually much easier.

On Mint, you basically just have to open the “driver manager” and click on the recommended Nvidia driver. Then reboot. :)

There is also a guide available on It’s FOSS.

Install Nvidia Drivers on Linux Mint [Beginner's Guide]

Struggling with Nvidia and Linux Mint? Here's a detailed beginner's guide that explains plenty of things around installing Nvidia drivers on Linux Mint.

It's FOSS

Not true. Ubuntu’s official nvidia driver installation broke twice for my husband’s PC, one other time they removed a version completely from their list (while we had installed it), and then it had orphaned packages and apt was constantly complaining, while every time we put nvidia as the main card (instead of the integrated intel), the PC does not wake up from sleep under Wayland (while it does under X11, so we know it’s not a BIOS issue).

Also, the Mint forum is full of problems with nvidia drivers, despite running under X11, which is the “easier” environment for its drivers.

Overall, it’s a nightmare, and that’s why we now use the integrated intel as the main gpu, and the nvidia for compute only (for blender and resolve).

Maybe it’s better implemented under Arch-land and Fedora-land, but under Ubuntu/Mint/Debian-land, it’s still a nightmare.

SmokeInFog Oct 7

Idk, I’ve run mint for a decade or more. Until the last couple of years all of my machines have had nvidia gpus. I never had an issue with drivers.

So, yes, you are more likely to run into issues if you have an nvidia gpu but it’s still pretty unlikely

Mint runs X11 so it’s quite easier. Under wayland all hell breaks lose on our PC. And that’s with the latest version available by ubuntu too, not some old version.

Is it possible that the driver that was installed was at some point so old that it was removed from the repos?

I can’t speak about the exact implementation on Ubuntu, but on Fedora (which I am using) the driver usually gets updated to the latest version automatically. If that’s not the case on Ubuntu or Mint, it may be worth going to the device drivers menu every few months, checking if there’s a new one available and selecting the new one if there is one.

no, it was the 565 or 575 i can’t remember, there were older options there too. But regardless, even if removed, it shouldn’t have left apt in a state of panic.

HaraldvonBlauzahn Oct 10

I have been dual-booting Arch and Debian with an NVidua Gforce-759 Ti since say, 2015 and had several problems, in spite of having an otherwise totally vanilla PC system:

in Arch, automatic compile of kernel module on update not working
updates breaking grub because of missing kernel modules
Arch no longer booting after an Debian upgrade
Wayland in Debian not working properly.
Provlems with running Arch in VMs.
Guix System not supported.

Yes, all that was solvable with some effort, and with experience from 25 years of using Linux.

So, in sum it was perhaps costing one full week, or ten days time.

But I decided that all that hassle and breakage was simply not worth my time, and swapped the card for an AMD Radeon.

No problems since.

The morale is: If you want to use Linux, make sure you use fully supported hardware, with open source drivers from the main kernel. Including laptops.

Everything else is probably not worth the time.

.

LeFantome Oct 12

Not sure why you would have so much trouble with a DKMS module in Arch. But having to manage out-of-tree modules is an issue. Thankfully NVIDIA does not have that issue anymore as they now use in-tree modules (as of driver release 580). Arch is shipping those drivers now so others will not experience your pain.

Debian ships really old drivers. So NVDiA problems should still be expected on Debian, especially on Wayland.

problems with running Arch in VMs

I do not see what that has to do with NVIDIA. Sounds like you may have just had issues with Arch.

Lodespawn Oct 7

My Rtx3060 works perfectly, one small error with waking from sleep, which was easily resolved, performance is better than windows, had no trouble getting games running

Jack_Burton Oct 7

I’m new to Linux and have the same card. Running Ubuntu Studio the new 580 driver freezes my application menu. What driver are you using? I tried 570 and it worked for everything except it wouldn’t show video on Davinci Resolve so no go for me. I went back to 550 which works for everything except my taskbar freezes multiple times per day and I have to restart plasma each time.

I have issues with Ubuntu based distros and my Nvidia card, Arch based seems to work great though. Don’t ask me why lol, I’m just getting back into Linux and still learning but that was my experience.

HumanPenguin Oct 7

The complaints are more about lack of support for OS drivers. If using proprietary drivers is not a worry. Then they are fine. Often the OS stuff works if your set up is simple.

My advice. Do not upgrade to quickly. They tend to have errors in their new proprietary drivers. Watch and see how others have done. Before upgrading essential machines.

The other issue. For non rendering. Their latest models performance to £$ etc is getting very bad. But blender still has major speed advantages on Nvidia. But that is looking more and more short term as blender grows.

It will work. Under Linux mint for example you can use the firmware installer to install the correct Nvidia driver.

Too bad nvidia drivers are proprietary, so it's not part the default kernel drivers. That is why I like AMD so much more, it has open sourcer drivers. Fk nvidia 😁

Then playing games you will of course need wine or Proton in case of windows games.

For native Linux games it's the best thing. Ideally have a game that supports vulkan for the best performance. Or opengl.

cyberwolfie Oct 7

No. I have a RTX 3050 Ti Laptop which I have not had many issues with. The biggest issue I have experienced was that a game completely froze at the same point every time. This was due to a regression in their drivers. They spent their sweet time fixing it to, and following the issue thread highlights one of the main issues with their drivers being non-free: extremely competent users providing logs and effort to troubleshoot, but unable to work on the fix themselves. And what seemed to be summer interns replying once in a while and nothing happening for a long while.

But that said, I find the hate overblown. You could get tge impression that running Linux on a machine with an Nvidia-GPU will instantly burn down your house or spawn a portal to hell. It will not. I will get an AMD card at the next crossroads, but I am not ditching my card now just because it is Nvidia. It works fine enough.

I had a 1060 for a good few years that I used primarily with Arch and never really had an issue. At the time it didn’t play nicely with Wayland, so I was still using Xorg instead, but I think that’s a solved issue by now. Nvidia just doesn’t support newer features as readily as AMD does it seems. It really should have no bearing on your ability to play games.

Ramen 🍜(she/her)Oct 7

It’s easy to install nVidia drivers nowadays. The real issues will be using them. Maybe I just got a bad card, but maybe nVidia is actual garbage. I don’t know.

You can try a distro that includes the driver on installation to avoid a some of the headache. I have a 4060ti and I’m using Cachyos with zero issues.

🧟‍♂️ Cadaver Oct 8

No it just works as long as you install the drivers…

I see what you did there… Or I see a blinking cursor 😄

golden_zealot Oct 8

It wasn’t for me on Debian 12/13. I just had to add the repo for the drivers and run 1 or 2 lines of bash and I’ve been good ever since with my 3090.

LeFantome Oct 12

Most distros do not require the extra repos. For Debian though, you do. The ones shipped with the distro, even Debian 13, are too old and have problems.