Nvidia drivers

While Redcore Linux defaults to the open source x11-drivers/nouveau, it does provide support for two versions of the proprietary graphics driver for NVIDIA graphic cards : x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers && x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-legacy. Depending on the age of your card, you can install one or the other, as they cannot coexist on the same system.

x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers

The x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers package supports the most recent cards, and it should be your first choice if you have such a card. A list with the supported cards can be found at https://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/driverResults.aspx/175958/en-uk.

Installation

Using sisyphus (cli) - recommended:

root # sisyphus install --ebuild nvidia-drivers

These are the binary packages that would be merged, in order:

x11-libs/gdk-pixbuf-xlib-2.40.2

Total: 1 binary package(s)

These are the source packages that would be merged, in order:

acct-group/video-0-r1  sys-kernel/nvidia-drivers-dkms-460.67  x11-misc/nvidia-settings-460.67  x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-460.67

Total: 4 source package(s)

Would you like to proceed? [y/N]

Using portage:

root # emerge -av nvidia-drivers

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies             ... done!   
[ebuild  N     ] acct-group/video-0-r1::gentoo  0 KiB
[ebuild  N     ] sys-kernel/nvidia-drivers-dkms-460.67::redcore  173,528 KiB
[ebuild  N     ] x11-libs/gdk-pixbuf-xlib-2.40.2::gentoo  USE="-gtk-doc" ABI_X86="32 (64) (-x32)" 53 KiB
[ebuild  N     ] x11-misc/nvidia-settings-460.67::redcore  1,205 KiB
[ebuild  N     ] x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-460.67::redcore  USE="X acpi dkms (libglvnd) multilib tools wayland -compat" ABI_X86="32 (64) (-x32)" 0 KiB

Total: 5 packages (5 new), Size of downloads: 174,784 KiB

Would you like to merge these packages? [Yes/No]

The installation process takes care of everything, so no further action is required, except rebooting the system so it uses the new drivers.

x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-legacy

The x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-legacy package supports older cards, and you should use it if you have such a card. A list with the supported cards can be found at https://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/driverResults.aspx/173291/en-uk

Installation

Using sisyphus (cli) - recommended:

root # sisyphus install --ebuild nvidia-drivers-legacy

These are the binary packages that would be merged, in order:

x11-libs/gdk-pixbuf-xlib-2.40.2

Total: 1 binary package(s)

These are the source packages that would be merged, in order:

sys-kernel/nvidia-drivers-legacy-dkms-390.141-r1  x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-legacy-390.141-r1  x11-misc/nvidia-settings-legacy-390.141

Total: 3 source package(s)

Would you like to proceed? [y/N]

Using portage:

root # emerge -av nvidia-drivers-legacy

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies                 ... done!
[ebuild  N     ] sys-kernel/nvidia-drivers-legacy-dkms-390.141-r1::redcore  83,331 KiB
[ebuild  N     ] x11-libs/gdk-pixbuf-xlib-2.40.2::gentoo  USE="-gtk-doc" ABI_X86="32 (64) (-x32)" 53 KiB
[ebuild  N     ] x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-legacy-390.141-r1::redcore  USE="X acpi dkms (libglvnd) multilib tools wayland -compat" ABI_X86="32 (64) (-x32)" 0 KiB
[ebuild  N     ] x11-misc/nvidia-settings-legacy-390.141::redcore  1,267 KiB

Total: 4 packages (4 new), Size of downloads: 84,651 KiB

Would you like to merge these packages? [Yes/No]

The installation process takes care of everything, so no further action is required, except rebooting the system so it uses the new drivers.

x11-misc/nvidia-prime

PRIME is a technology used to manage hybrid graphics found on recent desktops and laptops (Optimus for NVIDIA, AMD Dynamic Switchable Graphics for Radeon). PRIME GPU offloading is an attempt to support muxless hybrid graphics in the Linux kernel. Redcore Linux supports PRIME for NVIDIA Optimus through x11-misc/nvidia-prime package, using proprietary x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers driver package. At the time off this article, AMD Dynamic Switchable Graphics is not easily supported, due to lack of hardware to implement and test.

Installation

PRIME doesn't work with x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-legacy driver package, so if you have a NVIDIA card only supported by that driver, you're out of luck.

Using sisyphus (cli) - recommended:

root # sisyphus install nvidia-prime

These are the binary packages that would be merged, in order:

x11-misc/nvidia-prime-314

Total: 1 binary package(s)

Would you like to proceed? [y/N]

Using portage:

root # emerge -av nvidia-prime

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies                                   ... done!  
[ebuild  N     ] x11-misc/nvidia-prime-314::redcore  0 KiB

Total: 1 package (1 new), Size of downloads: 0 KiB

Would you like to merge these packages? [Yes/No]

Once installed, you can launch applications on the more powerfull NVIDIA card using:

prime-run <application_name>

Examples:

prime-run steam

Final thoughts

NVIDIA driver support is different in Redcore Linux compared to its parent Gentoo Linux. Our packages, although based on Gentoo's packages, are slightly different. Gentoo Linux provides a great documentation at https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/NVIDIA/nvidia-drivers if you want to read more. Though, keep in mind, all those steps are not needed in Redcore Linux.