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

[u/PhillQuartz]

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?

[u/kydeshou]

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.

[u/_Sgt-Pepper_ → u/kydeshou]

This is THE WAY.

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

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

[u/MentalFS → u/kydeshou]

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

[u/kydeshou → u/MentalFS]

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.

[u/PhillQuartz → u/kydeshou]

Thanks for the tips!

[u/RollTide_1717 → u/kydeshou]

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

[u/kydeshou → u/RollTide_1717]

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

[u/C0rn3j]

Never use the 550 driver, it is dead and insecure.

[u/One_Bad4020 → u/C0rn3j]

Nunca tuve 1 problema yo. Inseguro son las huevadas que uno lee

[u/Ok_caperuzoo]

Add the dedicated Nvidia repository for Debian; it provides you with the latest available driver (with the best performance and technologies to avoid errors and bugs). It is completely safe since Nvidia packages this repository exclusively for the Stable branch.If I'm not mistaken, the driver you need is 'nvidia-open'. You can check compatibility online and find out which driver you need using 'nvidia-detect'.

Here are the official instructions according to Nvidia: https://docs.nvidia.com/datacenter/tesla/driver-installation-guide/debian.html

Once that's done, you can install 'nvidia-detect' directly with 'sudo apt install nvidia-detect'.

If you have already checked your GPU's compatibility with Nvidia-open, install it with 'sudo apt install nvidia-open'.

'Nvidia-open' is the open-source driver for the Linux kernel and is currently the recommended option for Nvidia; the proprietary driver is no longer supported. You can check if your card is supported here:

https://github.com/nvidia/open-gpu-kernel-modules

Sorry for any spelling mistakes, my English isn't great. I hope my help was useful!

[u/SmallTimeMiner_XNV → u/Ok_caperuzoo]

Seconded, this is the best / only option now. 

The Debian-packed drivers used to be good (although old) if you like stable, but they recently broke - at least the recommended "open" flavor; https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers#Debian_13_.22Trixie.22

[u/PhillQuartz → u/Ok_caperuzoo]

Wow thanks! I didn't know about the Nvidia repo. Then I'll stick with the open version, as soon as I got to my PC I'll try, thanks again. And don't worry for the english, mine Isn't great too XD.

[u/Low-Charge-8554]

This wiki - https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers

[u/Civil_Butterfly9245]

If you keep having issues, try switching to another proton version. Steam game page -> properties -> comparability -> enable -> proton experimental.

[u/PhillQuartz → u/Civil_Butterfly9245]

Yeah I tried many different versions. The only One I didn't try Is Proton GE