Ubuntu
software-properties package

Nvidia driver options are not easy to understand

Asked by mark johnson

I have just upgraded to Ubuntu 18.04.3LTS, and the options I have for my nvidia driver are shown in the screenshot.

I dont understand why I have the option for an older, untested version of the driver as well as the latest version. Also, the wording of these options is highly technical and not very meaningful to someone who just wants the latest driver.

I would be better to have just 2 options, with labels more meaningful to the end user like:
* Latest official Nvidia driver (proprietary)
* Latest Nouveau driver (open source)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: software-properties-gtk 0.96.24.32.9
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-55.60-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-55-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.7
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Sun Aug 11 13:32:43 2019
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-11-11 (1002 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 16.04.1 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160719)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: software-properties
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2018-08-24 (351 days ago)

Question information

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Ubuntu software-properties Edit question
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Solved by:
mark johnson
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Revision history for this message
lotuspsychje (lotuspsychje) said : 		#1

Converted to a question, as the provided screenshot seems like an expected additional driver situation

Revision history for this message
Bashing-om (bashing-om) said : 		#2

Hello Mark,

In response to the "latest" . Many times the latest driver is not compatible with the graphic card. Where bleeding edge drivers are required - we do Have a trusted PPA for that purpose.

Post back the results:
 lspci -k | grep -EA2 'VGA|3D'
so we know what we are working with.

Then we can verify what version driver is appropriate.

-we can do that-

Revision history for this message
mark johnson (mark.johnson) said : 		#3

Thanks for the response bashing-om,
After this was converted to a question, a response was added to the original bug explaining the current terminology and the upcoming changes to imporve the interface. I don't think I need anymore information here.