Installing the latest nvidia Linux drivers in Ubuntu 11.10

In Ubuntu 11.10 the version of nvidia drivers which are installed by default are 280.13.

However, if you want to get the most from your nvidia graphics card then you probably want to use the latest Linux drivers from nvidia which are published on nvidia’s website.

Before you try to upgrade, make sure that the graphics card you are using is supported by the latest driver. To do this, click on the Supported Products tab on the nvidia driver page.

Downloading Linux drives from a manufacturers website is not particularly easy as you have to compile the driver for your kernel. However, thanks to HeticGeeks’s blog, there is an easier way by adding the Ubuntu-X team’s PPA to your install.

Below is a summary of what you need to do:

To add the PPA enter from Terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates

you should see something similar to the following

now update your distribution by entering

sudo apt-get update

followed by

sudo apt-get upgrade

You should see nvidia-curernt listed as one of the packages which will be upgraded, press Enter to perform the upgrade

Note:

In my case on one computer the nvidia-settings package was held back, so performing a

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

installed this outstanding package.

Finally, you will need to restart your PC to reload Xorg.

Once rebooted, run nvidia-settings to confirm your drivers have been upgraded to the latest version.

 

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