How does one install Nvidia drivers on Ubuntu?

[Shurikeeen]

How do I install a proprietary driver? Im using Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 and Ubuntu 14.04. I don't understand any of the tutorials I have found.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Shurikeeen

[Newt]

I have never used Ubuntu, but it probably is going to be in the package repositories. If you open a terminal, try typing

$apt search nvidia

or perhaps

$apt search nvidia driver

.

This should get you a large list of avaliable drivers, as for deciding which one you need, you need to consider both the card you have and the version of Ubuntu you have. When you find the correct one, type

$sudo apt-get install [driver package name]

and it will install.

This page may be of help, if you have not already found it. The means I gave was a generic means for most Debian derived systems, not Ubuntu specifically.

The '$' signs are, of course, part of the terminal and you do not need to enter them.

---

If you say what version of Ubuntu you are running, and what card you want to get working, we should be able to determine which driver specifically is needed.

Edited April 19, 2015 by Newt
added last bit

[Nuke]

last time i use ubuntu there was an driver manager that would instal proprietary drivers automatically. i cant remember what it was called or where to get to it but its in there. i have since switched to mint on my linux boxen.

[pincushionman]

This should help?

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia

I havent't had to mess with it for some time, but I think when I did it was

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current

[EDIT]Why is this under "spaceflight?"

Edited April 20, 2015 by pincushionman

[Shurikeeen]

I have never used Ubuntu, but it probably is going to be in the package repositories. If you open a terminal, try typing

$apt search nvidia

or perhaps

$apt search nvidia driver

.

This should get you a large list of avaliable drivers, as for deciding which one you need, you need to consider both the card you have and the version of Ubuntu you have. When you find the correct one, type

$sudo apt-get install [driver package name]

and it will install.

This page may be of help, if you have not already found it. The means I gave was a generic means for most Debian derived systems, not Ubuntu specifically.

The '$' signs are, of course, part of the terminal and you do not need to enter them.

---

If you say what version of Ubuntu you are running, and what card you want to get working, we should be able to determine which driver specifically is needed.

Im using Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 and Ubuntu 14.04, as I said in the post

- - - Updated - - -

I installed some driver with "sudo apt-get install nvidia-346". It showed up as "Nvidia binary driver version 346.59 (Open Source)". Is that the best driver I can get?

Edited April 20, 2015 by Shurikeeen

[robopilot99]

last time i use ubuntu there was an driver manager that would instal proprietary drivers automatically. i cant remember what it was called or where to get to it but its in there. i have since switched to mint on my linux boxen.

There is. It's in settings under software settings if I recall correctly. You should just be able to search for it.

[Shurikeeen]

There is. It's in settings under software settings if I recall correctly. You should just be able to search for it.

There is no up to date proprietary drivers there for all of my knowing

[hotmailcompany52]

Hmm, are you running a 64bit or 32bit os?

Here is a link for the linux drivers for your GPU for 64 bit: http://www.nvidia.co.uk/download/driverResults.aspx/83716/en-uk

Here is a link for the linux drivers for your GPU for 32 bit: http://www.nvidia.co.uk/download/driverResults.aspx/83698/en-uk

Download them and try running them like a program and post here if you run into issues. I currently don't have a linux os I can test on sorry.

[Shurikeeen]

Hmm, are you running a 64bit or 32bit os?

Here is a link for the linux drivers for your GPU for 64 bit: http://www.nvidia.co.uk/download/driverResults.aspx/83716/en-uk

Here is a link for the linux drivers for your GPU for 32 bit: http://www.nvidia.co.uk/download/driverResults.aspx/83698/en-uk

Download them and try running them like a program and post here if you run into issues. I currently don't have a linux os I can test on sorry.

On Linux you cannot run programs like you can on Windows

[Newt]

Regarding my initial question, I must be blind! Sorry.

Anyway, I found this page which may have what you are asking for. It is a rather longer and more complicated than most of what we have been suggesting, so I shall not try to translate the process here. It appears that it will enable you to ge more up to date drivers using PPA. It also, however, appears to have some potential problems affecting the entire computer's usablilty, so probably you should take that into consideration if you try to follow it.