Which Nvidia Driver Should I Use?

[cscs]

@mizumi

video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-bumblebee

bumblebee is considered ‘legacy’ these days …
for optimus or dual-gfx setups PRIME is usually preferred.
(ex - video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-450xx-prime)

[pobrn]

@cscs

video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-450xx-prime

+1 vote

[mizumi]

video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-450xx-prime            2019.10.25               false            PCI
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-440xx-prime            2019.10.25               false            PCI
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-435xx-prime            2019.10.25               false            PCI
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-430xx-bumblebee            2019.10.25               false            PCI
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-418xx-bumblebee            2019.10.25               false            PCI
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-390xx-bumblebee            2019.10.25               false            PCI
    video-nvidia-450xx            2019.10.25               false            PCI
    video-nvidia-440xx            2019.10.25               false            PCI
    video-nvidia-435xx            2019.10.25               false            PCI
    video-nvidia-430xx            2019.10.25               false            PCI
    video-nvidia-418xx            2019.10.25               false            PCI
    video-nvidia-390xx            2019.10.25               false            PCI
           video-linux            2018.05.04                true            PCI
     video-modesetting            2020.01.13                true            PCI
            video-vesa            2017.03.12                true            PCI

for optimus or dual-gfx setups PRIME is usually preferred.

This is what the mhwd -l outputs for me. They all seem pretty out dated, but I’ll try prime later today, will get back to you if it works.

[cscs]

Those dates probably dont mean what you think they mean.

nvidia-450 was only released recently for example.

Those are mhwd profiles, not packages.

[kurdy]

I had also an issue after reboot on some devices. To solve it I just switch off for few minutes and then restart. It seems in my case the reboot doesn’t fully reset the hardware

[mizumi]

Would you recommend just using this?

sudo mhwd -a pci nonfree 0300

P.S: Sorry for the late response, had a busy week.

[cscs]

Possibly. But I rarely trust automation.
If it is working correctly then it should be the same as

sudo mhwd -i pci video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-450xx-prime

(and who knows … maybe you dont want 450 or whatever it serves automatically)

[mizumi]

Thanks! Will try that and let you know if it went well. The only issue I don’t want to run into is a black screen when I reboot. #fingers_crossed

[cscs]

Please double-check some similar threads about malforming of lightdm or whatever then
(specifically the 450 driver had some hiccups I believe)

Also … might as well leave this here…

How to work with an unbootable Manjaro (black screen, login failed, cant boot, etc)

When we have problems gaining access to our systems it is difficult to gather information, let alone fix any problems. Here we will cover common causes and solutions to ‘manjaro wont boot’. TTY If your desktop does not load properly then you might still be able to use most, if not all, functionality by dropping to a non-graphical TTY. By default your system will have multiple TTYs, with each corresponding to an Fx key. Your desktop is assigned to one as well - most often F1. You can change…

[mizumi]

So I just, installed video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-440xx-prime (just to be safe), and the reboot was successful, however I just opened nvidia-settings from my terminal, and it shows:

(nvidia-settings:2005): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 01:41:15.055: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

ERROR: nvidia-settings could not find the registry key file. This file should
       have been installed along with this driver at
       /usr/share/nvidia/nvidia-application-profiles-key-documentation. The
       application profiles will continue to work, but values cannot be
       prepopulated or validated, and will not be listed in the help text.
       Please see the README for possible values and descriptions.

Is this something that should not happen?

[cscs]

Dual/hybrid GPU setup (optimus)
Using PRIME
Intel runs by default
Nvidia is invoked with prime-run
nvidia tools need the nvidia card
ex:

glxinfo | grep renderer
prime-run glxinfo | grep renderer

In the case of nvidia-settings … its the same thing

prime-run nvidia-settings

And because nvidia is such … a … ‘nice guy’ … it breaks a number of rules … and, for example, if you want that nvidia-settings to do anything … you need to use sudo (even though you shouldnt use sudo with GUI apps ever … nvidia … is osum)
ex:

sudo prime-run nvidia-settings

(I think … cant check as I avoid those things)

https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php?title=Configure_Graphics_Cards

[mizumi]

Wait a minute… so how would I use the nvidia card then?

~ >>> glxinfo | grep OpenGL                                                    
OpenGL vendor string: Intel
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.6 (Core Profile) Mesa 20.1.7
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.60
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL core profile extensions:
OpenGL version string: 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 20.1.7
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.60
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL profile mask: compatibility profile
OpenGL extensions:
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 Mesa 20.1.7
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20
OpenGL ES profile extensions:

[cscs]

I showed you above … please enter the second command.
(and the first, apparently )

[mizumi]

Running sudo prime-run nvidia-settings shows the same error on the console, can I ignore it?

[cscs]

The same error? or just some random nvidia errors?

The main point I think is if it launches.
Honestly … the more holistic approach is to not use sudo, save somewhere local, then use sudo to apply it.
But in any case… do this first so we can be sure:

@cscs

glxinfo | grep renderer
prime-run glxinfo | grep renderer

[mizumi]

The application launches, but I see the same error:

(nvidia-settings:3932): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 01:59:09.797: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

ERROR: nvidia-settings could not find the registry key file. This file should
...  Please see the README for possible values and descriptions.

Here’s the log,

~ >>> glxinfo | grep renderer                                             [130]
    GLX_MESA_multithread_makecurrent, GLX_MESA_query_renderer, 
    GLX_MESA_query_renderer, GLX_MESA_swap_control, GLX_OML_swap_method, 
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)

~ >>> prime-run glxinfo | grep renderer                                   [130]
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce GTX 1050/PCIe/SSE2

[cscs]

Seems your PRIME is working fine.

All that nvidia-settings does is create an xorg conf file.
You could save it anywhere … but to save it to the system you need root privileges.

What I would do … is do that nvidia-settings stuff, save it to Documents (or wherever) and use it as a template … then combine those contents into my own file, or simply copy it to somewhere like /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-nvidia.conf

If you dont want to do that … you need to use sudo with that program … and tell it to save to the proper place.
(this goes against all my senses … but its how it ‘works’ I guess)

For a more general overview of what/how/why I suggest looking at the wiki(s)

https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php?title=Configure_Graphics_Cards
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PRIME
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA

[mizumi]

Cool! Thanks a lot for bearing with my noob questions, I will read them thoroughly and get back to you as soon as I can, hopefully by tomorrow.

I’m just glad that I didn’t encounter a blank screen, even appended acpi_osi=! acpi_osi='Windows 2009'" to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT.

Thanks for your patience again

[cscs]

No worries friend (though happy respectful cordial interaction is always a plus)

I think we have rather exhausted the thread topic.

So if you need help configuring things … it would be helpful to you, as well as other users, to create a new topic for any queries about that.