Having trouble stopping the X server so I can install a binary driver

[Blammar]

Here's the system info

Kubuntu 15.10
Installed as sole OS
About KDE had no visible version info
GRUB Legacy version
Desktop
CPU Intel i5-6600K
GPU is GTX 970, though lspci shows it as a VGA compatible controller
(system settings/driver manager shows I am using binary driver 352.79, which got installed when I installed CUDA 7.5)
16GB RAM
NVME 512GB, SSD 1TB
no optical drives

I put together this desktop a couple of days ago for the purpose of working on machine learning. Only Kubuntu is on it (it's not a dual boot system.) I'm a long-time windows user, but it looks like all of my future desktops are going to be linux (I can't stand Windows 10.)

I'm now trying to install the latest linux driver from Nvidia (361.42.)

The issue I am having is trying to stop the X server.

I've tried the ctrl-alt-F1 method to get tty1, then doing a "sudo service sddm stop". At that point, my tty screen disappears and I have a blank screen. ctrl-alt-del will reboot the system. nothing else seems to do anything (though I have not tried all possible key combinations...)

I also tried killing the X process itself, but the same thing happens. I suppose the tty1 terminal is still running under X...

Is there something obvious I am missing? I've RTFM'd for the past few hours looking for a solution, with no luck.

[Blammar]

OK. The new drivers are supplied as a *.run file, which is a shell script. Since I've just downloaded the script, it's not listed as an option in the system settings/driver manager. I didn't see anything obvious in the driver manager that would enable me to run the shell script.

I have been trying to install it via Konsole via sudo sh ./NVIDIA*.run. The install will stop saying that the X server is active and needs to be shut down. The instructions on the Nvidia website for doing this appear to be outdated and/or don't work on Kubuntu.

Why would I use Muon to install a driver which isn't a package? I checked in Muon anyway, and didn't find Nvidia drivers.

There are people running Ubuntu or Kubuntu and who have Caffe and cuDNN and CUDA installed successfully, so I know there's a way. I just haven't been able to find the documentation on how to do it. I'd appreciate some help.

[claydoh]

To have the safest install of any updated nvidia drivers, this ppa is the way to go
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-driv...ive/ubuntu/ppa.
This provides the 361 driver as well as the just-released 364 version.


manually installing the run file has always been problematic, and add in the fact that you need to rebuild it every time there is a kernel update/security fix, and removing/downgrading is tricky as well.
With this repo added, you will see additional driver choices in the Driver Manager, and also have the option to easily switch to different versions if one is not working so well. Or you use your package manageer (apt or Muon Package manager or the command-line) to install the specific version you want.

If you still really want to use the run file, you have to log out from the gui, \then hit ctrl-alt-f2 and log in to a vt there. if it still gripes about the x server you have to stop sddm

systemctl stop sddm

Somewhat outdated :
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/NvidiaManual
gives you an idea on what other things may be involved in doing a manual install, and the steps you need to do before you start in preparation.

[vinnywright]

open a konsole do

apt search nvidia-3

,,,,,,,what ver. do you see in the list ?

I do not think the 361 is in the 15.10 repo ,,,,,it is in 16.04

nvidia-361/xenial,now 361.42-0ubuntu1 amd64 [installed]
  NVIDIA binary driver - version 361.42

nvidia-361-dev/xenial 361.42-0ubuntu1 amd64
  NVIDIA binary Xorg driver development files

nvidia-361-updates/xenial 361.42-0ubuntu1 amd64
  NVIDIA binary driver - version 361.42

nvidia-361-updates-dev/xenial 361.42-0ubuntu1 amd64
  NVIDIA binary Xorg driver development files

link me to the install instructions on the nvidia site ,,,I'll take a look and see whats different and you need to do differently

VINNY

EDIT: never mind ,,,,,,@claydoh's suggestion is miles better than mine

[Blammar]

Wow, thanks @claydoh -- the ppa method works perfectly, and 20x faster than it took me to load the *.run file last night!

[jlittle]

It appears to me (and I might be way off the mark) that what you did followed a typical use pattern of recent Windows users:
"Need drivers? Download latest from the manufacturer's website. Need xyz software? Download latest from xyz.com."
On most Linux distros, it's far simpler, safer, and easier to get whatever from the repositories, especially on Debian derived distros, and very especially on Ubuntu derived ones; their breadth, and how up-to-date they are is Ubuntu's main advantage IMO. If the repositories don't have what you want, the next step is often a ppa, which keeps a lot of the advantages of APT (automatic updates, dependency management to name two).

Even Windows is moving to this model (called some kind of "store") , but you have to trust the store owner...

Regards, John Little

[Blammar]

@jlittle: indeed, that has been my methodology in keeping my windows system up to date. I did look in Muon Discover list for new drivers, but didn't know about the ppa's.

I've finally managed to install Caffe and get it working; I only had to revert from cuDNN 5 to cuDNN 4; everything else is the latest version.