Understanding UEFI and BIOS in Relation to Linux Nvidia Driver Installation

[mrcrossroads]

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) and Basic Input Output System (BIOS) are firmware interfaces responsible for starting your computer by initiating the hardware during the booting process. These technologies are crucial for the functioning of operating systems and their associated hardware, such as graphics cards. As the successors to BIOS, UEFI systems have introduced numerous advantages for Linux users and have altered the landscape for installing drivers, including those for Nvidia cards on Ubuntu/Debian. This article will explore these changes, offering a comparison of the pros and cons when installing Nvidia card drivers under UEFI and BIOS.

https://linuxconfig.org/understanding-uefi-and-bios-in-relation-to-linux-nvidia-driver-installation

 

[MikeWalsh]

We install Nvidia drivers directly in Puppy, using the manual method outlined in this link from the one mentioned above. In other words, using the official Nvidia-supplied .run file.

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(Anybody with any sense will back Puppy up before the following process, so you have a known 'working' Puppy to come back to if necessary.)

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One of our Japanese members, Shinobar, made it easy for Puppians several years ago with his GUI GetNvidia utility. Things are further simplified by the way Puppy handles development tools for compiling/building; both the DevX and kernel-sources packages are built for each Puppy when that Puppy is put together. The kernel-sources package is a by-product of the Woof-CE kernel-kit for building your own kernel (most of you will know this as "kernel headers".....same thing).

Both of these are packaged in SFS format, so are simply loaded/unloaded "on-the-fly" as & when needed. You "load" the DevX & kernel-source packages, move the Nvidia .run file to your Puppy's 'root' location, then run the GetNvidia utility. It checks everything, then instructs you to re-boot. Having done so, your Puppy fires-up with 'nouveau' disabled, so your display temporarily looks a bit weird; GetNvidia pops-up again, double-checks everything once more, then tells you to drop-out to the console and input

getnvidia

.....followed by 'Enter'. The rest is automatic; on the rare occasions it fails, it will tell you the reasons why. A quick backup later, off you go again.

Usually, it runs through without a hitch, after which you get the option to build either .pet or SFS packages for either future personal use or for sharing with the community. (Both of these include a post-install script, which automatically disables 'nouveau' prior to re-booting again). Then you re-boot.....and you're up & running with the official driver. It sounds a wee bit complicated, I know, but trust me.....once you've done it a couple of times, it becomes second nature.

It really is as simple as it can be, and works very well for us.

Personally, I don't have issues with getting the 'wrong' driver. Nvidia have already dropped support for my GT 710, so I keep copies of the .run files for the final supported 32- AND 64-bit drivers. These get called-up and used as & when required.

This all works exactly the same, regardless of whether BIOS or UEFI is in use.


Mike.