Linux Lite Forums

Hardware - Support => Video Cards => Topic started by: Mike Iwantprivacy on October 11, 2022, 09:29:11 AM

Title: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: Mike Iwantprivacy on October 11, 2022, 09:29:11 AM
Ok, I will try reporting this again in a different way since I don't think my previous post was understood.

This is a software issue. Not hardware.

After installing LL 6.2 I am unable to use the "settings"  - "Install driver" application to install the proprietary drivers for my system.
In LL 5.8 this worked.

Running "install drivers" would list both the "Nouveau" open source nvidia driver, and the proprietary nvidia driver version 340.108.

However In LL 6.2 I get the result  "No proprietary drivers found."

The Install 6.2 uses the Nouveau drivers by default.

Unfortunately along with poor performance in some tasks, I have found the Nouveau drivers are not very stable and cause video corruption in some simple applications like the system monitor.

Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: The Repairman on October 11, 2022, 12:30:17 PM
5.4.0 series kernel was the last kernel to support  the proprietary nvidia driver version 340.108.

I have a several nvidia graphics cards that work with the nouveau opensource driver however really need the  the proprietary nvidia driver version 340.108.

There is a PPA that can be downloaded however I don't know how well it is maintained and I don't know if Linux Lite forum policy / rules allow postings of such PPAs.
Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: firenice03 on October 11, 2022, 12:43:47 PM
With 6.2 being RC... I'd be curious if the issue you're seeing is replicated in LL6.0?

If not perhaps it something within the RC... If its the same in 6.0 maybe something more upstream (Ubuntu)..??

Perhaps, using Lite Tweaks to install and try the Kernel version that 5.8 used.. 5.4..
Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: Mike Iwantprivacy on October 11, 2022, 10:36:07 PM
OK, I don't know what a PPA is?

This also fails in linux lite 6.0.  but works in 5.8,

Does this mean there is no way to install the older driver and i will just have to stick with LL 5.8?
Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: The Repairman on October 12, 2022, 07:11:05 AM
OK, I don't know what a PPA is?

This is is also in the linux lite 6.0.

Does this mean there is no way to install the older driver and i will just have to stick with LL 5.8?

https://itsfoss.com/ppa-guide/

I've read good and bad about the nivdia prime "Butterfly" PPA so use at your own risk.

As for installing the nvidia proprietary driver five and a half one way six another.

I've tried the so called ways and methods for the nvidia graphics cards I have and none of them have worked.
Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: Şerban S. on October 12, 2022, 09:14:00 AM
[...]
This also fails in linux lite 6.0.  but works in 5.8,
Does this mean there is no way to install the older driver and i will just have to stick with LL 5.8?

Want an EXPERT opinion on NVidia? Here it is! The best expert opinion în Linux world available:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2lhwb_OckQ

Best regards!
Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: Mike Iwantprivacy on October 12, 2022, 10:59:25 AM
Sure I understand That there are problems with nvidia as a company. Especially because they do keep things closed.
But that does not help in this case of trying to work with older hardware that was supported  on LL 5.8.

I will see if i can get the PPA thing to work ..
Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: Mike Iwantprivacy on October 12, 2022, 02:13:58 PM
ok, no luck as of yet.

I currently have 2 SSDs for this laptop - one running LL 5.8 and one running 6.2.
This is all under 6.2 as 5.8 does not have the issue.

I have tried following the instructions from this page -
https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-the-nvidia-drivers-on-ubuntu-20-04-focal-fossa-linux

Installing the PPA goes ok. However even after apt - Update I still don't see the drivers in the list.
Apt - list does not show them either.. though I would think they should be there?

I also tried "ubuntu-drivers devices" but that gives nothing back.
I did lshw -numeric -C display

It shows -
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
  *-display                 
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: G84M [GeForce 8600M GT] [10DE:407]
       vendor: NVIDIA Corporation [10DE]
ect..

I did find the statement they wont support past kernel 5.4 but uname -r shows "5.15.0-50-generic"

next i will attempt a manual install...


The goal here is trying to keep a older laptop useful but it looks like LL 5.8. will be the end of the line
Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: firenice03 on October 12, 2022, 02:37:01 PM


I did find the statement they wont support past kernel 5.4 but uname -r shows "5.15.0-50-generic"

next i will attempt a manual install...


The goal here is trying to keep a older laptop useful but it looks like LL 5.8. will be the end of the line



As I mention in my previous reply... Try Lite Tweaks Kernel Install - install kernel version 5.4 and confirm if this helps alleviate; you will need to ensure you boot into 5.4 kernel (confirm w/ uname) and test...


It might be worth a shot ;)   == Good Luck
Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: Şerban S. on October 12, 2022, 03:31:38 PM
[...]I did find the statement they wont support past kernel 5.4 but uname -r shows "5.15.0-50-generic"

There you have your answer: You want to install a driver that requires an older kernel!

I thought you knew the LL 5.x series, is based on 5.4.x LTS kernel. That is why it works under any 5.x release.

[...]next i will attempt a manual install...

You will waste your time. The driver is incompatible with the 5.15.x kernel and if NVidia retrieved the support for this hardware, then it's gone. Time to move on, or accept what is possible now.


[...]The goal here is trying to keep a older laptop useful but it looks like LL 5.8. will be the end of the line

Obviously, the goal is to keep working what is still working. But given the context, you have to accept that a new kernel is designed for new hardware, even if it works with old hardware. This also means some costs. In this case, "missing NVidia proprietary driver". Can you blame NVidia for abandoning such an old hardware?

Regards,
Șerban.

Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: Mike Iwantprivacy on October 12, 2022, 07:06:08 PM
firenice03

I may try that later. I'm kind of done for now.

****************

Șerban
It looks like I didn't realize about the kernel issue. Its a shame. Maybe someday nouveau will be better. but now It is just not stable enough and does not perform where I would need it.

Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: Şerban S. on October 13, 2022, 08:45:21 AM
[...]Maybe someday nouveau will be better. [...]
It sure will.
I have a NVidia GK107 (GeForce GT630 OEM) with 2 GB of RAM DDR3. I could install the NVidia driver, but... Nothing really improved compared to Nouveau driver. Even worse: video rendering, lost about 3 - 5 FPS with the proprietary driver. Maybe it is a video-software related issue, up to some point. Anyway, with Nouveau, I could use the video card without side-effects: screen-tearing, screen-flickering or the like.
I tested that with LL 5.2 up to LL 6.0. Now I gave it up. I use the Intel integrated video chipset.

...On a second thought!
An idea came to my mind: I use for years video editing software and because of that, I'm used to install all kind of codecs.
Try this:
Open Lite Software, then check the "Restricted Extras" option. It will install some exotic media formats codecs.
Maybe this will work.

Best regards! :)
Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: Mike Iwantprivacy on October 13, 2022, 09:22:06 AM
I appreciate it. I may try later.

Right now there's something not right with the Nouveau driver.
on a clean install I can go to system manager -> GPU and I get instant video corruption.
It also looks like the video acceleration may not be working - perhaps because it looks like it needs a firmware file from the proprietary driver. There is some comment somewhere saying it "Might" be able to Install it itself but looking at the performance I don't think so.

One of the goals is to run [older] games on this box with steam but unfortunately that's just not possible with 6.2.
Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: The Repairman on October 13, 2022, 04:02:58 PM
What it boils down to is that the Linux developers have to reverse engineer the Nouveau driver from the git-go.

Nvidia has not shown any interest in helping Linux with development of the Nouveau driver and I doubt Nvidia ever will.

The other problem is us users feel our old outdated hardware should be supported forever and that would be nice if that could and would become a reality however it ain't gonna happen.

All good computers and computer hardware eventually loses out to old man time and becomes outdated and no longer supported I believe it's called progress.

Most if not all of my Linux computers are curb finds discarded by other users which I upgrade to the maximum using parts I have on hand from other curb finds and discarded computers.

Rule of thumb for me is to stick with a sure thing and what has always worked for me is ATI / AMD graphics and Intel graphics regardless of which type discrete / integrated / processor graphics.
Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: Şerban S. on October 13, 2022, 06:01:32 PM
[...]Rule of thumb for me is to stick with a sure thing and what has always worked for me is ATI / AMD graphics and Intel graphics regardless of which type discrete / integrated / processor graphics.
I stick to the same rule. When I bought the desktop I'm on now (Dell, see the left panel data) I also bought a NVidia, just to grab an idea on what it might do on a Linux machine. I was disappointed, although I could use it without major problems. On the performance side though, the Intel GPU, is way better.
In early 2022, I bought a laptop for my wife, an ASUS M415U (6 cores, 12 threads). It works great. I had little time to test and tweak. However, in the few tests I could perform, I got some 75 - 85 FPS (topping at some 105 - 110 FPS) at rendering a video project I initially made on Dell. I just copied it on ASUS, for the exact purpose of testing the performance. While on the Intel GPU I usually get some 55 -65 FPS on a desktop, getting 75 -85 on a laptop, tells me something! The GPU is a Radeon. I forgot the details...
So, I subscribe to this philosophy: Better avoid NVidia, when possible.
On a recycled machine though, if it's a laptop, it's far more difficult, unless you work in a computer service.

Best regards! :)
Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: Mike Iwantprivacy on October 16, 2022, 07:04:23 PM
Ok I'm posting this in case it helps someone in the future.
Pokeing around a bit more with the Nouveau driver.
Here is what I suspect the problem with the [semi] open source.
One some [but not all] cards the Nouveau driver needs a firmware blob from the proprietary driver to work properly.
- from the Nouveau page :

Firmware
VPE1/2 do not require any firmware to run. However, VP1/2/3/4/5 all require firmware to operate that is presently extracted from the NVIDIA binary driver. We cannot redistribute the firmware directly in linux-firmware because NVIDIA's license forbids redistribution of parts of their driver.

An effort is underway to fully reverse the underlying engines and create open-source firmware to provide out-of-the-box video decoding, please join us in #nouveau on www.oftc.net if you're interested in helping.

If you are lucky, your distribution may already have a package for installing the firmwares. Here is a list of the supported distribution:

Archlinux
Gentoo: sys-firmware/nvidia-firmware
More to come


Unfortunetly It looks like Ubuntu is not [yet] one of those disro's.
They have a method of downloading and extracting the blob, but I get some "magic" errors when I try using the extract_firmware.py application. Not sure whats up there.
I will reach out to them and see If I can clear that hurdle.


Title: Re: unable to use" Install driver" app to install drivers.
Post by: LambD on March 08, 2023, 02:10:29 AM
encountered this earlier lol, thread came in quite handy.