[PLASMA 5] Proprietary Nvida driver issues on Kubuntu 20.04.

[SuperSapien64]

I've experiencing issues with the proprietary/closed source Nvida drivers since Kubuntu 18.04.
Whenever I install them I can't reboot the normal way I get error messages I mean at least Kubuntu 18.04 I was able to logout and reboot from the login screen.
But in 20.04 I can't even logout of my account. Now when I installed Nvida drivers I always did it from a non-admin account, but anymore next I have some proprietary/closed source Nvida driver updates I'm going to install them from an admin account. And if I have any issues trying to restart my system I'll run the sudo reboot from the terminal.

Have of you had any issues with proprietary/closed source Nvida drivers on Kubuntu 18.04 or higher?
If so please share on the ways you fixed it.

[claydoh]

................what specific error messages? It is hard to know without that info.
And how are you installing the drivers?


Only the first user created during install, or one created afterwards and set up specifically as Administrator can install or uninstall software (except for snaps and flatpaks). This has been the case forever.


I fixed my Nvidia problems by moving to AMD at some point after 18.04 lol, which uses open source drivers. But I never had issues with installing Nvidia drivers, definitely nothing like what you see. Only with trying to fix all the small graphical issues I was having, and then seemingly having to find different tweaks with every other minor driver update.

Problem is, the Nvidia drivers are closed source, and are a pain in the butt for some people, and this can't always be easily fixed. It was not all that long ago that the only safe way to install Nvidia was to do so after logging off the desktop, in a tty
Ok, maybe that was a long time ago

[SuperSapien64]

I don't remember because they go by so fast.
Anyway do the open source AMD GPU drivers work well with Steam games? Because that's reason I'm using the closed source ones with Nvida card, cause the open source driver doesn't work well with Steam games I cant even get past the loading screen on Cites Skylines if use the open source Nvida drivers.

[claydoh]

I play all sorts of games using my aging AMD RX 480
Including recent 'heavy' games like Metro Exodus ans Shadow of the Tomb Raider, at decently high settings and decent FPS @ 1080p

AMD actively supports the open source driver, and actually recommends it for normal use and gaming.

They do offer a closed driver, but this is for professional workstation use, and is actually based on the open drivers.


The downside is that very new cards may not have trouble free support out of the box, and may need tweaks as well, though they seem easier to find.

Unlike finding graphics cards that aren't jacked up to cost as much as a car, if you can actually find one in stock, even used.

In this market, it probably means learning to deal with tweaking nvidia settings and xorg.conf, and a bit of patience. If rebooting from a terminal window is the only issue with Nvidia, I'd live with that, considering you only install once.

[Beerislife]

In KDE Neon it was as simple as running

sudo software-properties-qt

from a Terminal and letting the system search for the correct driver.

[claydoh]

In KDE Neon it was as simple as running

sudo software-properties-qt

from a Terminal and letting the system search for the correct driver.

That does not come included with KDE Neon, and is actually Kubuntu/Lubuntu's utility, though one can of course can install it on Neon, but the OP will already have this in any case.

[Beerislife]

One did install it as a matter of course, and it works :-)

Wasn't it previously called software-properties-kde?

[claydoh]

Sort of. That was/is the name for the repo management tool. The driver manager used to be separate and called Kubuntu-driver-manager before it was redone as a tab in software-properties. Now it can be used in Lxqt (lubuntu) instead of a Kubuntu specific system settings module.

Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk

[daniewicz]

Running Kubuntu 20.04 here newly installed. The kernel update today 5.8.0-50 brought in a nvidia driver update. After, I was unable to restart. Had to use the power switch to force a reboot. All seems well after this.

[Beerislife]

Ahh, I remember getting an update yesterday too to the nVidia driver!

My only gripe is having to set Powermizer to maximum performance after every boot (for X-Plane 11)

[daniewicz]

Run this at startup:

#!/bin/bash#
# This is a bash shell script to be run at startup
# 
# Set performance mode of GPU to 'maximum'

nvidia-settings -a "[gpu:0]/GpuPowerMizerMode=1"

[SuperSapien64]

Sorry for the late reply. But I guess claydoh I'll be getting a AMD GPU when I get a new desktop, I was on the fence about AMD VS Nvida but since AMD's open source drivers work so well with Steam games and also I shouldn't have any issues updating AMD open source drivers from a non-admin account at least I hope so.

[claydoh]

Just investigate any specific model you want to get, even if it is the on-board graphics for a Ryzen CPU or something. Some new or very recently released cards may need tweaks, no matter what the brand. For AMD, usually a more up to date kernel (and its more up to date xorg/driver stack) is often the cure, so something like 20.04 may not work as well.