Can't Update Package - :( (New To Linux)

[rickpress]

Hi Guys / Girls, I am new to Linux and Kubuntu and apologise if I am not too technical with computers. I have managed to get Kubuntu running on an HP laptop and like it so far. However I seem to have this problem with graphics card drivers in the latest update from the Discover Software Centre:

Error while installing package: trying to overwrite '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i915_dri.so', which is also in package libgl1-amber-dri

The system I am running is the following:

Operating System: Kubuntu 22.04 KDE Plasma Version: 5.24.6 KDE Frameworks Version: 5.92.0 Qt Version: 5.15.3 Kernel Version: 5.15.0-48-generic (64-bit) Graphics Platform: X11 Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz Memory: 15.5 GiB of RAM Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® UHD Graphics 620

If anyone could help me or point me with some advice it would be really appreciated. I am wanting to switch over but finding Kubuntu / Linux in general a bit of a tough transition from Windows.

Cheers

Rick

[claydoh]

More details. please!
What exact extra software repositories (PPAs, etc) have you added, if any?
We could use more info on the error from the terminal:

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade

At the end, where you see your error, you should see more messaging, so if you could copy the dozen or so lines above this that are relevant it should be helpful as well.

This sort of error is basically a packaging bookkeeping error, usually from third party sources not having files in the same packages as the original Ubuntu ones, though it can happen with official stuff on rare occasion.
We could force the system to overwrite things, but only if we know it is likely a safe thing to do.
If this is from a PPA, its owner will eventuall have heard about the issue as *everyone* will be seeing the same issue as you, so it should be rectified soon, so waiting a day or more may be in the cards.

Assuming you have added a PPA for 'updated drivers and Mesa' I will suggest that on your particular system there is zero to be gained from doing so, at least right now. Intel graphics are the best supported out of the box with the built in kernel drivers, and 22.04's Mesa is current enough for your not quite cutting-edge hardware. You won't see any gains from upgrading your driver stack, ot at least it would be extremely unlikely.

If you stick to the LTS track, it is possible that there could be Mesa improvements down the road and a PPA might be useful, but even still, Intel users won't see anything major.

[rickpress]

Thanks for the advice - all I did was install the Nvidia 515 driver for the Nvidia GPU to use it with steam. I'm not sure what's happened but I've ended up going for a clean reinstallation. Sounds silly I know but just decided to do that. Thanks for the advice anyways and for all of the help.

Rick

[rickpress]

You were right it was from installing an Nvidia driver but why would I want to use Intel HD when I have an Nvidia GPU? I don't understand that part.

[claydoh]

Going by your provided system specs, you didn't mention Nvidia . So you have a dual-graphics laptop, which is switchable, but not quite as seamless and easy as in Windows, Takes extra work and/or software and config.

Adding the Nvidia drivers during the install also adds the Nvidia configuration tool, where you can switch GPUs, but does require at least rebooting iirc ( it has been a dogs ages since I personally have had this kind of hardware)
But using Nvida graphics 100% of the time will drain your battery much quicker than the on-board Intel graphics.

There are things such as Prime that can allow you to run specific applications using the dedicated GPU, but this will involve some research and hands-on manual configuration, and probably at least some frustration. I think this is a rule somewhere

There may be some graphical tools that help, but how well they work, and finding/installing them may not be straightforward, and they won't be distro-specific. I really don't have any useful knowledge on the topic.

Hopefully people with relevant hardware can chime in. Fiddling and twiddling with Nvidia graphics irked and ticked me off long ago, so I have been sort of team red for a while, on the Desktop.


But if you do still see this same error without adding any extra software sources, do post the terminal output, so we can see what a good route to take on getting around it might be.
If updating doesn't show errors, then try sudo ubuntu-drivers install. You might need to use sudo ubuntu-drivers devices to see what is available, then sudo apt install something-nvidia-something-515, copied from the last command.

[GreyGeek]

What's the model # of your Nvidia GPU?
I had a mixed GPU on my old Acer computer. The primary GPU was the Intel HD3000 and the secondary GPU was the Nvida GT 650M, which could NOT be selected as the primary in the BIOS.

As root I ran "ubuntu-drivers" and it gave me a list of possible drivers, with the recommended driver ticked with an asterisk. Later, I went to the Nvidia website and downloaded the latest binary for my specific GPU and installed it, which worked the best for me. Nvidia's GPU support is listed under the driver #'s. If you click on the "Latest production branch", 515, link and then search the "products supported" tab you'll find that 515 doesn't support my old GT 650M GPU. I had to drop down to the 390.154 driver to find the most recent driver to work with it. An earlier release of the 390 driver made my GT 650M the "default" driver and my desktop and all my apps ran under the Nvidia GPU. Worked great. I usually kept my laptop plugged in so battery life wasn't a concern, but my old Acer V3-771G with a 17" display usually gave me 2.5 hours.

Generally, I never had a problem installing the Nvidia binary driver, but I didn't have to do it very often. And, since I installed the binary version, and it worked well, I didn't have to worry about the driver being updated by a repository update which could break it.

[kc1di]

Nvidia cards have been a problem for a long time in Linux. That maybe changing though. see Here: https://developer.nvidia.com/blog/nv...ernel-modules/

That being said it will be some time before we see a change in open-source drivers /Kernel modules for Nvidia. On the other hand Intel Graphics cards have been well supported in Linux for a long time. Good Luck on finding the Nvidia drive that best fits your card. For everyday work I would try to use the intel card.

[rickpress]

Hi thanks for all of the help and assistance. I should have mentioned about the Nvidia card. I have a 940mx. It's not a new laptop by any means a 2018 HP bought in Hong Kong. As for the problems I think it seems the problem I had was installing the Nvidia drivers from the web (nvidias main site) rather than from the software store option in Kubuntu. Strange thing is using Kubuntu 22.04 I had problems installing the Nvidia 515 driver initially from discover software store under additional drivers and it said it had installed but it hadn't. Instead I ended up trying Vanilla Ubuntu 22.10 beta and it's worked fine from there. Only problem is I prefer Kubuntu. But other than that I have a working system now.

I am guessing with a Linux system you need to be careful where you install software from? I was just assuming that if I installed drivers direct from Nvidias site it wouldn't matter but that seems to be where the conflict arose.

Either way thankis again for the answers and taking the time out to answer this.

[claydoh]

I am guessing with a Linux system you need to be careful where you install software from? I was just assuming that if I installed drivers direct from Nvidias site it wouldn't matter but that seems to be where the conflict arose.

Mostly, because there each of the major distro types are not at all identical, software, or more specifically system level things such as drivers, will be best/easiest installed from sources provided by that distro since they have done the work making sure they have been properly compiled against the specific kernel used there.
Application Software is another, evolving story. Traditionally, unless you wanted to compile the code yourself, you installed software from your distro's software repositories. This is no longer the case all the time.

On a dual video laptop, just installing the Nvidia driver won't necessarily automatically switch over to that card on the next boot, so one still might need to enable it in Nvidia Settings and manually switch from the Intel iGPU, that may be what you were experiencing perhaps?

If you had tried the beta of Kubuntu 21.10 your experience with the drivers sould be the same as you had with the Ubuntu beta - the OS and kerne is identical, and the software sources/driver tool is the same code.

[GreyGeek]

Hi thanks for all of the help and assistance. I should have mentioned about the Nvidia card. I have a 940mx. It's not a new laptop by any means a 2018 HP bought in Hong Kong. As for the problems I think it seems the problem I had was installing the Nvidia drivers from the web (nvidias main site) rather than from the software store option in Kubuntu. Strange thing is using Kubuntu 22.04 I had problems installing the Nvidia 515 driver initially from discover software store under additional drivers and it said it had installed but it hadn't. Instead I ended up trying Vanilla Ubuntu 22.10 beta and it's worked fine from there. Only problem is I prefer Kubuntu. But other than that I have a working system now.

I am guessing with a Linux system you need to be careful where you install software from? I was just assuming that if I installed drivers direct from Nvidias site it wouldn't matter but that seems to be where the conflict arose.

Either way thankis again for the answers and taking the time out to answer this.

The GeForce 940MX is most recently supported by the 470.141.03 driver.

[rickpress]

Thanks but why is it listed as 515 as well then?

Linux x64 (AMD64/EM64T) Display Driver | 515.76 | Linux 64-bit | NVIDIA

Running ubuntu-drivers devices tells me to install the 515.

[rickpress]

LINUX X64 (AMD64/EM64T) DISPLAY DRIVER

Version:	515.76
Release Date:	2022.9.20
Operating System:	Linux 64-bit
Language:	English (US)
File Size:	347.96 MB

GeForce 900M Series (Notebooks):
GeForce GTX 980, GeForce GTX 980M, GeForce GTX 970M, GeForce GTX 965M, GeForce GTX 960M, GeForce GTX 950M, GeForce 945M, GeForce 940MX, GeForce 930MX, GeForce 920MX, GeForce 940M, GeForce 930M

Take from: - Linux x64 (AMD64/EM64T) Display Driver | 515.76 | Linux 64-bit | NVIDIA

In reference to your post. I appreciate the information but this is listed as 940mx as well.

[rickpress]

Also released one month later than the driver you mentioned.