NVIDIA continue pushing their drivers forwards with two new Linux driver updates available. Let's take a quick look.
First, the stable 440.44 driver release as part of their long-lived branch. This adds support for the Quadro T2000 with Max-Q Design, you can now use the "__GL_SYNC_DISPLAY_DEVICE" environment variable for Vulkan applications and it fixes a few bugs like tearing with a G-SYNC or G-SYNC Compatible monitor when you've got something running directly on a display (like VR).
What does "long-lived" mean? Here's what NVIDIA themselves said about it (source):
Any given release branch is either long-lived or short-lived. The difference is in how long the branch is maintained and how many releases made from each branch. A short-lived branch typically has only one or two (non-beta) releases, while long-lived branches will have several.
So it's a question of release cycle, not how stable they are.
On top of that there's a new Vulkan Beta Driver 440.43.01, which has now been re-based to the 440 release branch with all the recent changes and improvements since the 435 re-base in August. On top of that it also fixes rendering to 3D depth/stencil image slices, various resource leaks and improves the Vulkan driver startup time.
As a reminder, NVIDIA have a possibly very interesting talk next year which may contain some open source announcements and future plans. It's going to be exciting to find out more!
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
About the author - Liam Dawe
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
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Eike 12 Dec 2019
My new GTX 1660 "Super" is on its way, along with a Ryzen and all stuff around. <3
7 Likes
trawzified 12 Dec 2019
So G-Sync can now work with Vulkan on Linux? That's great, gonna test it later today!
0 Likes
Ehvis 12 Dec 2019
So G-Sync can now work with Vulkan on Linux? That's great, gonna test it later today!
G-SYNC has worked with Vulkan for years. This is about the issue with VR headsets not v-syncing properly when your main display had G-SYNC. Which was a big nuisance and I'm happy it's finally fixed!
2 Likes
Eike 12 Dec 2019
Damn. I have to survive with my old i7 with AMD radeon 580 card.I'm jealous a bit but I wish that you will get a good gaming experience with your new rig:)
Thanks!
MoBo and CPU (i3570K) and GPU were from 2013 (case even older), so it was about time. :)
Last edited by Eike on 12 Dec 2019 at 12:37 pm UTC
0 Likes
My new GTX 1660 "Super" is on its way, along with a Ryzen and all stuff around. <3Enjoy!
That feeling when you unpack new hardware, put it to work and see your games running so much better :)
1 Likes
BrazilianGamer 12 Dec 2019
Yeah. With more and more games adopting Vulkan, Nvidia has to work more than ever to cope with it. Cof... Cof... Rdr2
0 Likes
TheRiddick 13 Dec 2019
The Linux VRR thing never worked very well for me, always ended up causing flickering and blank screens on my freesync monitor, despite working perfectly under windows10....
0 Likes
Hi everyone!
Yesterday I just installed the latest update from Nvidia drivers on my Kubunto 19.10.
As soon as I restarted my PC it all get a black screen and Xorg didnt start at all.
Well... ...I managed to start it manually and purged the drivers, followed by a reinstall.
Take care with the latest drivers, is all a say. Hope noone pass through my experience.
Yesterday I just installed the latest update from Nvidia drivers on my Kubunto 19.10.
As soon as I restarted my PC it all get a black screen and Xorg didnt start at all.
Well... ...I managed to start it manually and purged the drivers, followed by a reinstall.
Take care with the latest drivers, is all a say. Hope noone pass through my experience.
0 Likes
Corben 16 Dec 2019
After the upgrade to 440.44 I experienced a slightly but noticeable delay in VR. Which makes it very uncomfortable to play.
I downgraded to 440.36 again, and the issue is gone. Seems like this "fix" is causing issues (at least for me):
To get the old driver back on Ubuntu, I downloaded them from [here](https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+packages?field.name_filter=nvidia-graphics-drivers&field.status_filter=superseded&field.series_filter=bionic):
Put these links into a text file, download them at once via wget -i, and install them all via dpkg -i.
Kudos to kisak who helped me with the downgrade procedure.
I downgraded to 440.36 again, and the issue is gone. Seems like this "fix" is causing issues (at least for me):
Fixed a bug that caused applications running directly on a display (such as VR HMDs) to tear when a G-SYNC or G-SYNC Compatible monitor is plugged in the system.I am playing (and streaming) VR from my gaming notebook, which does have the internal display attached via G-Sync.
To get the old driver back on Ubuntu, I downloaded them from [here](https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+packages?field.name_filter=nvidia-graphics-drivers&field.status_filter=superseded&field.series_filter=bionic):
Spoiler, click me
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/libnvidia-cfg1-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/libnvidia-common-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_all.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/libnvidia-compute-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/libnvidia-compute-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_i386.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/libnvidia-decode-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/libnvidia-decode-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_i386.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/libnvidia-encode-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/libnvidia-encode-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_i386.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/libnvidia-fbc1-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/libnvidia-fbc1-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_i386.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/libnvidia-gl-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/libnvidia-gl-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_i386.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/libnvidia-ifr1-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/libnvidia-ifr1-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_i386.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/nvidia-compute-utils-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/nvidia-dkms-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/nvidia-driver-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/nvidia-headless-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/nvidia-headless-no-dkms-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/nvidia-kernel-common-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/nvidia-kernel-source-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/nvidia-utils-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.deb
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+files/xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-440_440.36-0ubuntu0~0.18.04.1_amd64.debPut these links into a text file, download them at once via wget -i, and install them all via dpkg -i.
Kudos to kisak who helped me with the downgrade procedure.
0 Likes
Ehvis 19 Dec 2019
After the upgrade to 440.44 I experienced a slightly but noticeable delay in VR. Which makes it very uncomfortable to play.
This is indeed a strange one. It's hard to detect it as a delay, but somehow motion feels very strange. I should test if this changes with the reprojection settings. Do you know of a report that can be tracked?
0 Likes
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