MATE Wayland Desktop

NVIDIA graphics

Install NVIDIA's own driver after the system is installed. It takes two commands and a restart.

Before you start

The ISO starts every machine on the open drivers that come with the Linux kernel. For an NVIDIA card that is nouveau. It shows a picture, but it cannot do GPU computing (CUDA, OpenCL), and it is slower. NVIDIA's own driver is installed afterwards with a tool that is already on the system. You need an internet connection.

Install the driver

  1. See which card you have and which driver is recommended

    sudo apt update
ubuntu-drivers devices

    Look for the line ending in recommended, for example nvidia-driver-595-open - distro non-free recommended. The word "open" is about the kernel part of the driver only; CUDA and OpenCL are the same in both kinds.

  2. Install it

    sudo ubuntu-drivers install

    That installs the recommended driver and takes a few minutes. To choose one yourself, name it: sudo ubuntu-drivers install nvidia:595-open. On a laptop with two graphics cards it selects the "on-demand" mode: the built-in card draws the desktop, and the NVIDIA card is used by programs that ask for it and by monitors plugged into its ports.

  3. Restart the computer

    The new driver is used from the next start.

  4. Check that it works

    nvidia-smi

    It should show your card and the driver version.

GPU computing, for example hashcat

sudo apt install hashcat
hashcat -I        # lists the card
hashcat -b -m 0   # a short benchmark

hashcat says "CUDA SDK Toolkit not installed" and continues with OpenCL, which works.

If the desktop does not start after the restart

Press Ctrl+Alt+F3, log in with your user name and password, and remove the driver:

sudo apt purge '*nvidia*'
sudo reboot

The system is then back on nouveau.

Version 26.04 is available. Download