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Much confusion and conflicting information in installing Nvidia drivers in Ubuntu. In my case Ubuntu-mate.

All I 've learned so far is
-don't use Nouveau!
and
- most problems I've encountered are due to improperly installed Nvidia drivers!

My goal is to use my Linux workstation exclusively for GPU rendering, so installing Nvidia drivers properly is of utmost importance!

The problem with most installation guides is they act as recipes, without actually telling you WHY this is a better approach or WHY you might try an alternative. Ok Rant over :)

A quick google search turns up the following 5 recent (within the past year) installation guides for Nvidia drivers on Ubuntu

A very simple breakdown seems to be between what I would call 'fully manual' methods using the command line (link #3 below) vs some combination of PPA + using the Software & Updates menu.

Question #1 Why PPA, and in what way might this be 'better' than a fully manual install? Link #5 below suggests PPA is untested ( so does that mean beta and possibly avoid?)

Question #2 If using a fully manual install (link #3) should I simply choose the most recent driver version? The reason i ask is in link#1 (official guide?) it says that the actual version

"depends on the version of Ubuntu one is using, and what graphics card one has installed."

Question #3 Is it one way or the other? ie If you install your driver manually should you avoid using the Software & Updates > Other Drivers window to avoid conflicts?

Question #4 If unsure what driver version you have currently installed, how do you properly remove ALL installed graphics drivers to start from scratch?

1 https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia (using Software & Updates - additional drivers method only)

2 https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/how-to-install-graphics-card-drivers-in-ubuntu/3228 (both auto using Software & Updates and manual, but no explanation as to why manual)

3 https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-the-latest-nvidia-drivers-on-ubuntu-16-04-xenial-xerus (manual using sudo apt-get install)

4 http://www.ubuntugeek.com/install-nvidia-367-27-drivers-in-ubuntu-16-0415-10.html (manual using ppa +sudo apt-get install)

5 http://www.webupd8.org/2016/06/how-to-install-latest-nvidia-drivers-in.html (using PPA + Software & Updates window, suggests PPA is untested)

Bachalo
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1 Answers1

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If possible you would use the drivers in the standard ubuntu repositories as they are considered more stable and tested and better supported.

Use the highest version of the nvidia driver available unless you have a specific reason not to do so.

See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia

Install them with additional drivers.

Support is available, but somewhat limited as the nvidia driver is a propriety closed source driver, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia#Filing_bug_reports

If for some very good reason you need a beta driver or are testing the beta driver , use a ppa. This would be less stable and unsupported if you have a problem and, depending on the ppa, may include other experimental graphical drivers.

As advertised in the ppa - https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa

The driver from the ppa is intended for testing by experienced users and is unsupported.

WARNINGS:

This PPA is currently in testing, you should be experienced with packaging before you dive in here:

and

You can update your system with unsupported packages from this untrusted PPA

untrusted means might break ubuntu and unsupported means you are on your own if you have problems.

The advantage of using the ubuntu repositories and ppa are ease of installation and removal.

If for some reason the ppa does not work or if you so desire to install the driver manually download and install the driver from nvidia. You will have to maintain the driver with each kernel update and there will be no support. Doing this can break ubuntu and you are on your own.

You are confused in part as you are looking to multiple sources of information. Always start with the official documentation first https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia#Filing_bug_reports and use 3rd party sources if and only if you have a problem with the official methods.

Panther
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