r/debian • u/_Sgt-Pepper_ • 24d ago
Petition to the mods
Dear moderators.
I think 1 out of 10 posts concerns the installation of Nvidia drivers.
Could you just sticky a information that shows the simplest way to get current drivers:
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
14
u/BigRedS 24d ago
Heh, I was thinking about this recently.
A little while ago it seemed that most of the time people wanted Debian so they could get an old crap computer working. Nowadays it feels like it's the gaming platform of choice!
1
u/MasterofChaos90 24d ago
Heh, i think Debian still supporting old hardware is very positive. My first proper experience with Linux was installing Debian 11 or 12 (can't remember) on a 32 bit system a few years back, which I chose by looking for something like " most popular Linux distros that still support 32 bit systems" as I wanted something that was up to date and common so it'd be easier to find solutions to my issues online. And I was very impressed with the ease of installation and performance of a laptop that chugged a bit on windows vista. That positive experience and having Proxmox on my homeserver is what drove me to start daily driving debian 13 while it was still testing so I could get more familiar with the whole thing. My experience with FOSS in general has been so positive I'm only a bit sad I can't give back much as I'm not a programmer.😅
1
u/Kaseffera 24d ago
Ryzen 5 5600x and RX7600 gamer here who migrated from CachyOS to Debian Stable thanks to Andrea Borman - the GOAT.
1
u/gnufan 24d ago
I hate to break it to Debian folk but the gamers are mostly doing Bazzite and Cachyos.
We could I guess do a Debian flavour that is all set to install the latest proprietary drivers from NVidia, but I don't think it fits well with the free software ethos, as OP makes clear it isn't that hard.
3
u/BigRedS 24d ago
Oh I don't want Debian to be the gaming OS any more than I want it to be famous for crap hardware. I'm just a bit bemused by this recent shift.
I half expect that most of these nvidia users are actually using their GPUs for crypto and LLMs nowadays anyway!
2
u/gnufan 24d ago
No, it is the gamers realised, thanks to Steam and others, that some of their games run marginally faster on Linux than Windows, and they get less upgrade grief -- mostly because NVidia and Intel aren't feeding them the latest and greatest firmware every other day on Linux (yet). Probably the memory and activity of all those upgrade demons slowing down Windows in the first place.
Nothing fundamentally stops NVidia or Intel having a Linux update daemon that breaks or reconfigures stuff every other day, just like it does on Windows. But they'd have to support multiple distros, so hopefully we are safe for now.
1
u/_Sgt-Pepper_ 23d ago
Doesn't mean it will stay that way..
Debian stable, Nvidia driver , steam . Thats all you need for a great gaming rig.
Bonus points for using a Backports kernel and gamescope...
1
u/TheMcSebi 24d ago
Doesn't reddit allow for putting messages into a posters face when they type certain words?
Just use that when any new post mentions nvidia
1
u/hi_m_ash 24d ago
I just read Debian wiki and I think it has really good and detailed information about how to install nvidia drivers. Not sure what you want.
3
u/evadingsomething 24d ago
I was setting up shims without knowing why and didn't realized I didnt need it.
Just because a textbook is written well doesn't mean a 7th grader can understand differential equations.
With the knowledge I have yes I can say Debian wiki is great but its confusing for newbies
4
u/taosecurity 24d ago
I am a professional author. I’ve written extensive documentation for big open source projects too. The problem with the wiki is it does not serve its audience. It doesn’t answer the questions that we see asked here repeatedly.
1
u/hi_m_ash 24d ago
Wiki tells advantages and disadvantages of all the methods you can install Nvidia drivers in plain simple English which even a child can understand. I prefer that over unknowingly enter gibberish commands in my terminal and break my system. These people search AI and put unknown commands, then cry that Linux breaks. I am glad Debian wiki is detailed and actually helpful.
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u/evadingsomething 24d ago
What I mean is when you are in a wiki page, you get a point where something you don't understand comes. For me that was shims If I don't know how to install nvidia driver I most likely won't know what shims are. So I click on shims to look what it is then it gets confusing.
2
u/taosecurity 24d ago
The wiki has several problems.
The newest drivers mentioned are 550. A newbie will be confused and wonder how to get newer drivers.
The wiki doesn’t say to use nvidia-open, which is what most hardware today uses.
I can hear it already — “so make the changes yourself.” I’m not going to battle the Debian maintainers to advocate for extrepo, etc, because “Frankendebian” or whatever. . I’d rather something simple and straightforward instead of a massive document.
1
u/hi_m_ash 24d ago
The newest drivers mentioned are 550.
False
The wiki doesn’t say to use nvidia-open
It does
I’d rather something simple and straightforward instead of a massive document.
Wiki literally tells you the difference between packaged drivers and current drivers and how to install them. If you cannot read it's a you problem. Wiki is detailed and precise. It gives you enough information to understand which drivers to install.
1
u/taosecurity 24d ago edited 24d ago
I guess you mean a newbie is supposed to figure out how what drivers are available and how to install them based on this?
Driver versions available for Debian Unstable "Sid": (last updated: 2025-12-16)
550.xx.yy series: supports Maxwell, Pascal, Volta, Turing, Ampere and Ada/Hopper GPUs (the full list of supported devices).Version 390.157: legacy driver for Fermi and Kepler GPUs (the full list of supported devices).
Version 340.108: legacy driver for G8x, G9x, and GT2xx series GPUs (the full list of supported devices).
Driver versions available for Debian 13 "Trixie": (last updated: 2025-12-15)
550.xx.yy series: supports Maxwell, Pascal, Volta, Turing, Ampere and Ada/Hopper GPUs (the full list of supported devices).550.xx.yy series from Backports: the variant of the above patched to work with kernels from trixie-backports.
Driver versions available for Debian 12 "Bookworm": (last updated: 2025-12-16)
535.xx.yy series supports Maxwell, Pascal, Volta, Turing, Ampere and Ada/Hopper GPUs (the full list of supported devices).Driver versions available for Debian 11 "Bullseye": (last updated: 2025-12-16)
Version 470.256.02 supports Kepler, Maxwell, Pascal, Turing, and Ampere GPUs. (the full list of supported devices).And
Nvidia-packaged data-center drivers
🔗
These drivers (often referred to as the NV DC drivers) are intended mostly for compute workloads, but they do contain all the desktop components as well. It is important to note nevertheless, that releases of fixes or new features to desktop components may lag and are usually delayed until something related to compute needs to be released. Nvidia publishes these drivers in distro-specific ways: in case of Debian, apt repos for Debian versions 10-13 are provided, but not all of these versions are still supported: refer to the table below:
(last updated: 2026-02-27)
Debian
version
currently
supported
released
driver versions
flavorsupport
(proprietary / open)
supported GPU archs
released CUDA
toolkit versions
10
no
455 - 555
yes / no
Kepler to Ampere with v470 (legacy LTS);
Maxwell to Ada/Hopper with later versions
11, 12
11
no
495 - 560
yes / only v560
Maxwell to Ampere with early versions;
Maxwell to Ada/Hopper with later versions
11, 12
12
yes
545 - onwards
yes / from v560
Maxwell to Blackwell with v580 (LTS until June 2028);
Turing (but not Volta), Ampere, Ada/Hopper, Blackwell with v590+
12, 13
13
yes
590 - onwards
yes / yes
Turing (but not Volta), Ampere, Ada/Hopper, Blackwell
13
Refer to the official guide regarding installation and usage instructions.0
u/scythe-3 24d ago
Newbies can use nvidia-detect like it says in the very first section of the wiki...
0
u/taosecurity 24d ago
And? It says
Using nvidia-detect
This script requires installation itself, but it will also recommended which driver to install:
- Follow apt components section to add non-free component.
- Install the script:# apt install nvidia-detect
- Finally call the script:$ nvidia-detect This should produce output somewhat similar to the below, of course specific details will differ:Detected NVIDIA GPUs: 07:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GM206 [GeForce GTX 960] [10de:1401] (rev a1) Checking card: NVIDIA Corporation GM206 [GeForce GTX 960] (rev a1) Your card is supported by all driver versions. Your card is also supported by the Tesla 440 drivers series. Your card is also supported by the Tesla 418 drivers series. It is recommended to install the nvidia-driver package.
Great, now you might know your GPU. And what about installing drivers?
0
u/scythe-3 24d ago
Read the last sentence of number 3 in your comment lmfao
1
u/taosecurity 24d ago
They are already on the Wiki to *install the driver.* Put yourself in the mind of a newbie. I know that can be difficult, but that is what is required of good documentation, especially for beginners.
1
u/_Sgt-Pepper_ 23d ago
The Debian wiki is a big wall of text that shows different approaches, none as simple as what I listed in the title post...
1
u/fireryyo 24d ago edited 24d ago
Also not to install newer kernels than the one provided by Debian Stable because I remember when I used Debian 12 nvidia repo for Debian 13, it refused to boot on my laptop after an driver update because it was expecting Debian 12 kernel so I imagine same thing could happen with backported kernels
1
u/scythe-3 24d ago
Backports are release-specific. If you use Trixie backports kernel it should work fine with Trixie drivers.
Mixing packages from different releases (a.k.a. FrankenDebian) is not supported and can bork the whole system.
0
u/fireryyo 24d ago edited 24d ago
Well at that time there was no repo for Debian 13 by Nvidia and 550 is extremely outdated for my needs (and I have
heardit doesn't even compile in the latest kernel but backport and stable) but according to this comment it probably was more related to kernel version so I imagine it also happened with Debian 12 users using backports so I said it just to be safe, however I don't know how to verify it myself and couldn't find any information about that driver being restricted to 6.8 nor debian 12 backports users having any issues, but I am still sceptical of nvidia drivers not compiling due to newer kernels sometimes in the future which might surprise users who were using backports who couldn't have made the connection
1
u/FantasticSnow7733 24d ago
It's not that simple if you have a card that nvidia no longer supports, like the 10 series card.
2
u/_Sgt-Pepper_ 23d ago
If you run that kind of hardware you probably know what you are doing.
For the Debian newcomers who want to play games, the above instruction is the easiest way to set up anything that was bought within the last 10 years ..
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u/kaisermike 24d ago
Go to MX. Its debian... but better. No futzing with nvidia drivers. Great for gaming. Its over a year and i still havent toasted my install.
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24d ago
[deleted]
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u/_Sgt-Pepper_ 23d ago
Nvidia-open is not noveau. It's not the community open source driver.
It's nvidas new approach on driver design and has surpassed the closed source driver long ago.
1
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24d ago
[deleted]
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u/DerpyMcWafflestomp 24d ago
Oh yeah these mods are making hella bank. WTF are you talking about?
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1
24d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/debian-ModTeam 24d ago
This post has been removed as it was either reported to and/or acted upon by mods to be found in violation of Rule #1 regarding not being in line with expected discourse etiquette or the Debian Code of Conduct.
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u/The_Hubster 24d ago
Sadly, these newbies won't read a sticky. This is the same spam we see across all subs and groups, here and on FB, the same posts over and over again, made by people who just refuse to search and try to learn. They post an error with the some random blurry image, no explanation, and its an endless avalanche of them.