Good news everyone! Canonical will now be offering NVIDIA users up to date graphics drivers without the need to resort to a PPA or anything else.
Since this will be for the Ubuntu LTS releases, this means other Linux distributions based on Ubuntu like Linux Mint, elementary OS, Zorin OS and probably many others will also get these updated NVIDIA drivers too—hooray!
This is really great, as PPAs are not exactly user friendly and sometimes they don't get the testing they truly need when serving so many people. Having the Ubuntu team push out NVIDIA driver updates via an SRU (Stable Release Update), which is the same procedure they use to get you newer Firefox version, is a good way to do it.
Announced on Twitter from the official Ubuntu account, it links to this great video from The Linux Experiment (hi Nick!) to talk about it:
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Direct Link
Direct Link
You can see the official bug report about it here on Canonical's Launchpad, showing it has been accepted.
Since Ubuntu is widely seen as the beginner Linux distribution, no longer having to tell people to "go add this PPA" and getting a confused face back will be very nice indeed. It's especially good for gaming, since often new games (and new Steam Play versions) need a newer driver than what Ubuntu was providing.
Good stuff.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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That really is a good thing. Basic things like GPU drivers shouldn't require any user input (though still allow it of course).
Ubuntu GPU drivers are usually VERY outdated, though, I'm not sure if that will resolve this issue.
I was very happy to see that - when I tested Manjaro - it just automatically installed the very latest NVIDIA driver for me, which is months ahead of the one I had under Ubuntu...
Ubuntu GPU drivers are usually VERY outdated, though, I'm not sure if that will resolve this issue.
I was very happy to see that - when I tested Manjaro - it just automatically installed the very latest NVIDIA driver for me, which is months ahead of the one I had under Ubuntu...
3 Likes, Who?
Schattenspiegel Jul 12, 2019
Good move
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Good job
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Ubuntu GPU drivers are usually VERY outdated, though, I'm not sure if that will resolve this issue.Isn't that what this news is all about?
7 Likes, Who?
Yes.Ubuntu GPU drivers are usually VERY outdated, though, I'm not sure if that will resolve this issue.Isn't that what this news is all about?
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Arehandoro Jul 12, 2019
Great move. I hope Debian does a similar thing adding upstream or more up to date Mesa/Kernels too.
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Luke_Nukem Jul 12, 2019
Yes.Ubuntu GPU drivers are usually VERY outdated, though, I'm not sure if that will resolve this issue.Isn't that what this news is all about?
Don't listen to him. He's lying!
1 Likes, Who?
I don't really see it from the article text, to be honest. "Up-to-date" by Canonical standards can really mean quite a range of time ;) Currently, in the "usual" PPA, 4.18.XX is the up-to-date one...Yes.Ubuntu GPU drivers are usually VERY outdated, though, I'm not sure if that will resolve this issue.Isn't that what this news is all about?
Don't listen to him. He's lying!
Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 12 July 2019 at 10:52 am UTC
1 Likes, Who?
You must be looking at the wrong PPA then. This should be the right one, and 430.26 is available for all LTS releases since 14.04. Probably not the latest one, but recent enough.I don't really see it from the article text, to be honest. "Up-to-date" by Canonical standards can really mean quite a range of time ;) Currently, in the "usual" PPA, 4.18.XX is the up-to-date one...Yes.Ubuntu GPU drivers are usually VERY outdated, though, I'm not sure if that will resolve this issue.Isn't that what this news is all about?
Don't listen to him. He's lying!
2 Likes, Who?
Nice, then I might need an upgrade of my NVidia hardware too on my laptop. Oh wait...
But are they seriously going to support 3 or 4 revisions of NVidia drivers on LTS? (Mostly depends on which generation NVidia decided to stop supporting your hardware).
Or is this only for the latest generation?
But are they seriously going to support 3 or 4 revisions of NVidia drivers on LTS? (Mostly depends on which generation NVidia decided to stop supporting your hardware).
Or is this only for the latest generation?
1 Likes, Who?
It would be nice to have something similar for AMD users that we can opt in for. Maybe keep the standard packages but also offer a -latest set of packages that always keep you current.
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Nice, then I might need an upgrade of my NVidia hardware too on my laptop. Oh wait...I don't see how this would change anything. New major Nvidia driver versions do not replace older ones in the repositories, as they're released as new packages instead of new versions of old packages. At least everything upwards of the GeForce 8 series from 2006 have officially supported drivers available in 18.04. Older than that, you might be better off relying on Mesa, unless you want to be stuck with older kernels etc.
But are they seriously going to support 3 or 4 revisions of NVidia drivers on LTS? (Mostly depends on which generation NVidia decided to stop supporting your hardware).
Or is this only for the latest generation?
1 Likes, Who?
Call me cynical, and paint me jade, but coming so close on the heels of their recent 32 bit lib faux pas, this feels a lot like a bone being tossed to gamers---a welcome, meaty bone, yes, but a bone nonetheless.
3 Likes, Who?
After so many years of adding foreign repositories for decent GPU support we really get NVIDIA to a huge distro? I almost shed a tear 
Fedora next? :D
Fedora next? :D
1 Likes, Who?
Hope they do the same with Mesa. They normally get one or two stable versions behind (the same goes for llvm)
A bone or a learned lesson. Hope it's the latter...
Last edited by x_wing on 12 July 2019 at 12:16 pm UTC
Call me cynical, and paint me jade, but coming so close on the heels of their recent 32 bit lib faux pas, this feels a lot like a bone being tossed to gamers---a welcome, meaty bone, yes, but a bone nonetheless.
A bone or a learned lesson. Hope it's the latter...
Last edited by x_wing on 12 July 2019 at 12:16 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
Call me cynical, and paint me jade, but coming so close on the heels of their recent 32 bit lib faux pas, this feels a lot like a bone being tossed to gamers---a welcome, meaty bone, yes, but a bone nonetheless.This has been in the works for a while, from what I understand. Some of the people from Canonical mentioned a few times on Twitter in the past, a long time before any of this 32bit stuff happened that they did plan something like this
3 Likes, Who?
gradyvuckovic Jul 12, 2019
This is fantastic, having to add via a terminal a PPA just to install some bloody drivers was a fugly thing, and not clearly explained anywhere. It's just one of those things that you have to learn by talking to other Linux users. That's a terrible first impression for a new Ubuntu user finally giving Linux a go after spending years trying to convince them "You don't need to use the terminal or do anything weird or technical to use Linux" and "Ubuntu is a super user friendly Linux distro for beginners!".
Excellent, anything that makes Linux more user friendly for beginners is always good to see. Smoothing off any sharp corners of a new Linux user's first experience with Linux is really important for growing the size of our ranks.
Excellent, anything that makes Linux more user friendly for beginners is always good to see. Smoothing off any sharp corners of a new Linux user's first experience with Linux is really important for growing the size of our ranks.
2 Likes, Who?
Great move. I hope Debian does a similar thing adding upstream or more up to date Mesa/Kernels too.Not Debian Stable, surely? Debian aims for stability. Not every distro aims for the same goals.
I'm really happy to see Ubuntu and Nvidia making this change. It will be fantastic for those that don't want a rolling release distro but also want decent gaming without unnecessary hassle.
2 Likes, Who?
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