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Mint 15 and/or Nvidia update

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by booman, Nov 4, 2013.

  1. booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    I'm using Mint 14 32-bit for several months now. Its very stable and I'm very happy with it.
    I happen to check my Nvidia drivers and I'm still at 310, again they are very stable and no problems.

    My "heart" tells me to just keep everything how it is because its working fine.
    But, I wonder if I should try updating drivers or maybe even go for Mint 15...

    Who else is using Nivdia's 319 drivers or higher?
    Any problems?

    Also has anyone tried using Bumblebee for your video drivers?
    Bumblebee
  2. Kladiator

    Kladiator Member

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    I use the 319 drivers on 2 computers (core i7 and an old dual core) but I really didn't see any significant difference compared to the older drivers.
    Bumblebee? Do you game on a laptop? What about performance and heat related issues?
  3. Daerandin

    Daerandin Well-Known Member

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    I have used nvidia 319, and currently use 325. I have not experienced any problems with either drivers. In fact, I noticed a big increase in performance from 313 to 319, and no issues. I don't remember if there was a big improvement to 325, but for comparison, on 313 I had to have most settings on medium in The Witcher 2. With 319 I could run with settings on high and most special effects on with great performance. At the moment I can run it with the preset ultra setting, only without antialiasing, cinematic depth of field and ubersambling.

    There was a problem for many laptop models when using the proprietary nvidia driver with the 3.10 linux kernel. Me, and many other arch users had to avoid updating the kernel through the whole 3.10 time. Nvidia have yet to nail down exactly what caused the problem. However, after the 3.11.1 kernel, I've had no issues.

    I went ahead and googled, and Mint 15 use the 3.8 kernel. It was very stable for me the time I used it. Mint 15 has also been out for quite some time so I would assume they've eliminated most bugs with the release.

    I can't comment on Bumblebee. My laptop do not have optimus tech. From what I understood of it, you need to use bumblebee on those laptops to make use of the nvidia card. Otherwise the laptop only used the integrated gpu.
  4. Daerandin

    Daerandin Well-Known Member

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    There are actually many laptops built for gaming, and cooling is not so bad in most newer models. I do use a laptop cooler, just for a little extra help with cooling, and I have not have any heat issues. I also leave it on pretty much all the time.

    Personally, I just prefer the smaller space it takes. I know it may seem weird for a computer geek to have such a fondness for laptops, but I suppose I'm just weird that way.
  5. Kladiator

    Kladiator Member

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    I don't think it's weird at all, mine was only a technical question.:)
    Apparently Bumblee now works very well, according to many posts I read on various Linux forums.
  6. booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    I didn't realize Bumblebee was meant for laptops.
    I have a Chromebook, but it has an Intel HD chip.
    Someone in the Mint forums recommended Bumblebee.
    I don't mind installing updates the same way I usually for Nvidia.
    I'll give 319 a try!
    Thanks guys
  7. booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    I tried updating my Nvidia driver, but apparently only 304 is available for Precise
    So how do I updated to the newest Nvidia driver now?
  8. Daerandin

    Daerandin Well-Known Member

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    Mint 14 is based in 12.10 Ubuntu, which is Quantal. And according to the lists on that PPA, they have the newest 331.20 driver. I assume you can simply add that PPA, and install the: nvidia-graphics-driver-331 to get the newest driver.
  9. booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    Oops, thanks, I'll try it right now!
  10. booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    I must be adding the wrong ppa because I keep getting this:
  11. booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    looks like it was nvidia-331
  12. booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    Maybe not
    310 is still installed after a reboot
    nvidia310.png
  13. Daerandin

    Daerandin Well-Known Member

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    Just as a sanity check, you did run "sudo apt-get update" after adding the ppa?

    Apart from that I am afraid I don't know too much about PPA's and apt. On the page for the PPA, among the Head packages, nvidia-graphics-drivers-331 is listed, so I simply assumed that's what you would type to install it. Hopefully someone else that's using either Ubuntu or Mint can help out here.
  14. Daerandin

    Daerandin Well-Known Member

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    On the more informative site for this PPA at launchpad it states that this PPA should be used as a whole. I am going to assume that you should update your whole system after adding this PPA. Then reboot and see what nvidia driver you have.
  15. booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    Absolutely.
    When I do the install, does it just overwrite the old Nvidia drivers or am I supposed to remove those first?
  16. Daerandin

    Daerandin Well-Known Member

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    Actually I am now sure how it works. You may try doing a full system update, if I remember correctly that would be:

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get upgrade

    I do think the information provided is a bit lacking. I remember Ubuntu having driver selection somewhere in system settings. Maybe adding this PPA will let you select the drivers provided by the PPA, assuming Mint have the same driver selection option.
  17. booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    The PPA worked because it downloaded, but the installation was rather transparent.
    Won't the "upgrade" install Mint 16?

    I'll do some more research. You would think Mint 14 could still install newer video drivers?
  18. Daerandin

    Daerandin Well-Known Member

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    I did some checking, just to be sure. First of all, the "update" command simply updates the locally stored package index, it does not actually update any software on your system. "upgrade" compares installed versions with versions in your package index, and updates what is required. However, some googling revealed that "dist-upgrade" also resolves any changed dependencies. Meaning it may remove dependencies that are no longer needed, and it also installs dependencies that the a new version of some software may require.

    Did a bit of googling and this sees helpful.

    So in short, add the PPA, then run the commands

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

    Then after a reboot you should be set, if the information I found is correct. And if it does not work, I suppose I should stop trying to offer help for a distro I don't use myself :p
  19. booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    Awesome!
    I will definitely try it!

    Thanks for doing my job for me! ;)

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