Nvidia drivers

While Redcore Linux Hardened defaults to the open source x11-drivers/nouveau, it does provide three versions of the proprietary graphics driver for NVIDIA graphic cards : x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers:515, x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers:470 and x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers:390 in its git repositories. Depending on the age of your card, you can install either of them, but only one at a time, as they cannot coexist on the same system. Some cards are supported by multiple drivers, so it is up to you if you want latest and greatest, or tried and tested.

Driver support

The x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers:525 package supports the most recent 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/198295/en-uk

The x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers:515 package supports recent cards and some older, and you should use it if you have such a card. A list with the supported cards can be found at : https://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/191975/en-uk

The x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers:470 package supports recent cards and some 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/195429/en-uk.

The x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers:390 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:

shakuras ~ # sisyphus install --ebuild nvidia-drivers:525

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-user/nvpd-0  sys-kernel/nvidia-drivers-dkms-525.78.01  gui-libs/egl-gbm-1.1.0  gui-libs/egl-wayland-1.1.11-r1  x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-525.78.01  x11-misc/nvidia-settings-525.78.01

Total: 6 source package(s)

Would you like to proceed? [y/N]

shakuras ~ # sisyphus install --ebuild nvidia-drivers:515

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-user/nvpd-0  sys-kernel/nvidia-drivers-dkms-515.65.01  gui-libs/egl-gbm-1.1.0  gui-libs/egl-wayland-1.1.11-r1  x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-515.65.01  x11-misc/nvidia-settings-515.65.01

Total: 6 source package(s)

Would you like to proceed? [y/N] 

shakuras ~ # sisyphus install --ebuild nvidia-drivers:470

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:

gui-libs/eglexternalplatform-1.1  acct-user/nvpd-0  sys-kernel/nvidia-drivers-dkms-470.141.03-r2  gui-libs/egl-wayland-1.1.7-r1  x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-470.141.03  x11-misc/nvidia-settings-470.141.03-r2

Total: 4 source package(s)

Would you like to proceed? [y/N]

shakuras ~ # sisyphus install --ebuild nvidia-drivers:390

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-user/nvpd-0  sys-kernel/nvidia-drivers-dkms-390.154  x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-390.154  x11-misc/nvidia-settings-390.154

Total: 4 source package(s)

Would you like to proceed? [y/N] 

As you can see, different versions of the driver can be installed by specifying the package SLOT. The installation process takes care of everything, so no further action is required, except rebooting the system so it uses the new drivers.

Uninstallation

If for some reason you decide the proprietary drivers are not for you, the uninstallation process is very simple.

Using sisyphus (cli) - recommended:

shakuras ~ # sisyphus uninstall nvidia-drivers

shakuras ~ # sisyphus autoremove

NOTE: Since multiple drivers cannot coexist on the same system, the package SLOT doesn't need to be specified during removal. The removal process takes care of everything, so no further action is required, except rebooting the system so it goes back to using the open-source nouveau drivers.

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:470, x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers:515 and x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers:525 driver packages. At the time off this article, AMD Dynamic Switchable Graphics is not supported, due to lack of hardware to implement and test.

Installation

PRIME doesn't work with x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers:390 driver package, so if you have a NVIDIA card only supported by that driver, you're out of luck. First, install x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers:470, x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers:515 or x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers:525 as shown above. Then install x11-misc/nvidia-prime:

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]

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 slightly different in Redcore Linux compared to its parent Gentoo Linux. 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.