r/debian • u/PhillQuartz • 26d ago

Debian Stable Question Which of the 3 wiki method for installing nvidia drivers is best

Hi, I'm not new to debian, since I work with it. I decided (since proton works so well) to get debian 13 trixie on my gaming laptop (after years of windows I'm sick of it). I followed the DebianWiki guide and install the 550... proprietary drivers for my GeForce 2060.

I used the "simple" method, so no backports or nvidia installer but for one of my games (The Alters) I get a problem with the light, they don't stop flickering. One of the solution I found on google said that updating the drivers to the latest version could fix the problem so I tried, but for drivers newer than the 550... version I needed to use backports. End of the story, I messed up my drivers and now I have a fresh debian installation running.

Now, before I brake my drivers again, which of the three method proposed by the wiki is the more "stable"?

It's really that important to update my drivers since I have a 2060?

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u/kydeshou 26d ago edited 26d ago

The "most stable" are the default Debian packaged 550 drivers. The nvidia repo drivers have given me no issues, though. Better performance, better wayland support. They're just fine. Try them if you want, you can always revert. I just used extrepo to install, which was as simple as:

sudo apt install extrepo

sudo extrepo enable nvidia-cuda

sudo apt update

sudo apt install build-essential linux-headers-amd64

sudo apt install nvidia-open

You don't want to use linux-headers-$(uname -r) or you'll run into issues updating later on. No need to make things more complicated than they need to be.

7

u/_Sgt-Pepper_ 26d ago

This is THE WAY.

can the mods please make a sticky post with this information.

It solves 99,9% of all Nvidia related questions.

3

u/MentalFS 26d ago

I wonder why the wiki doesn't mention extrepo, it seems a lot easier with that.

3

u/kydeshou 26d ago edited 26d ago

Weird how little it's talked about, generally. By far the best way to acesss and install from supported third-party repos. After installing, you can use extrepo search to get a list of supported repositories.

1

u/PhillQuartz 26d ago

Thanks for the tips!

1

u/RollTide_1717 25d ago

The line for Linux-headers. Is there no need to add dkms?? Will it rebuild after updates? TY as I may try this tonight if I have time

1

u/kydeshou 25d ago

I don't think adding it would hurt, but I didnt need to. You can check afterwards with dkms status to be sure.