Ubuntu LTS releases (and so derivatives too) to get updated NVIDIA drivers without PPAs

This is awesome, but Pop!_OS has had this for a while and I've found that it's a better desktop distro than Ubuntu (it's also faster than Ubuntu and backports performance improvements to GNOME from the upstream GNOME project).

One implication of this is particularly happy for me: Presumably, Mint will piggyback on this so there may be newer drivers on Mint too.
Oh, except I just got a new computer and decided to go AMD, and my laptop has Intel. So, I guess it doesn't actually matter to me at all. But in general, not just Ubuntu but also Ubuntu derivatives may well be improved by this, so that's a Good Thing.

Quoting: NanobangCall 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.

You're cynical. And probably jaded. (You asked me to call you that, I do try to oblige)
Neither of those things necessarily makes you wrong, however.

Quoting: Purple Library GuyOne implication of this is particularly happy for me: Presumably, Mint will piggyback on this so there may be newer drivers on Mint too.

Mint, just like many other derivatives, make use of the Ubuntu core repositories directly and add their own on top, so I'd assume these drivers will be available.

Quoting: Purple Library GuyOh, except I just got a new computer and decided to go AMD, and my laptop has Intel. So, I guess it doesn't actually matter to me at all. But in general, not just Ubuntu but also Ubuntu derivatives may well be improved by this, so that's a Good Thing.

For your new AMD gaming box I'd suggest using the Padoka Stable PPA for reasonably recent GPU drivers.

Quoting: ArdjeNice, 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?

They already done that for years, the latest driver that made it into the release and some of the legacy drivers for older cards.
I do not think all legacy drivers, but at least one. The new thing is that you get the newest without needing a PPA, but some of the legacy drivers will be there too still. My guess is that they keep 340 and 390 in 18.04 when 430 lands. And then when a newer version comes that it will replace 430, but 340 and 390 will stay for users with really old cards.

Quoting: 14

Quoting: ArehandoroGreat 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.

Yes, of course, it would have to be Testing or sid.

Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: TheSHEEEP

Quoting: Luke_Nukem

Quoting: liamdawe

Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: TheSHEEEPUbuntu 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?

Yes.

Don't listen to him. He's lying!

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...

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.

Interesting, I always assumed that a round of apt update apt upgrade would also update my GPU drivers. It never did. Installed 4.18 at some point and that was what it was when I last saw it.
Thinking about it now, the packages for the different versions are probably not "updates" in the PPA sense, just different packages.

Oh, well, either way, a positive change.


Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 12 July 2019 at 6:15 pm UTC

Finally!
by the way, the latest driver, the 430.26, via PPA doesn't work on my 16.04LTS

Quoting: bekoFedora next?

Nope, they will not include proprietary bits by default. It's well supported via RPMFusion though.

My only gripe with Linux Mint was that I always had to go fuck around with PPAs whenever it was time to install my graphics drivers. So happy that era will be over soon!