lnx-arch/nvidia.md

# nvidia driver installation guide

this guide is based upon:  
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA  
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA/Tips_and_tricks  
https://github.com/korvahannu/arch-nvidia-drivers-installation-guide  


## tuxwarrior nvidia setup

### information gathering

```
$ lspci -k | grep -A 2 -E "(VGA|3D)"
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation TU104BM [GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER Mobile / Max-Q] (rev a1)
```

Lookup card at <https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/CodeNames.html> to find codename:  
`NV164 (TU104)`

Card is not found on the legacy driver list at <https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/unix/legacy-gpu/>.

The wiki says:  
> For the Turing (NV160/TUXXX) series or newer, NVIDIA recommends the open source kernel driver.
> install the nvidia-open package (for use with the linux kernel) or the nvidia-open-dkms package (for all other kernels). (If these packages do not work, usually due to new hardware releases, nvidia-open-beta (AUR) may have a newer driver version that offers support.)
> The `nvidia-utils` package contains a file which blacklists the nouveau module once you reboot

### add nvidia software to packages.txt for given host

added to `dots/archinstall/tuxwarrior/packages.txt`:

```
nvidia-open
nvidia-utils
nvidia-settings
```

### set kernel parameter (systemd-boot)

edit the appropriate `.conf` file for the boot entry:

- `sudo nano /boot/loader/entries/<filename>.conf`
- append `nvidia-drm.modeset=1 nvidia_drm.fbdev=1` to the `options` line
- save (`ctrl+s`) and close (`ctrl+x`)

### set early loading

- `sudo nano /etc/mkinitcpio.conf`
- find the line that says `MODULES=(…)`
- add nvidia modules: `MODULES=(… nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm)`
- find the line that says `HOOKS=()`
- on the `HOOKS=()` line, find the word `kms` inside the parenthesis and remove it
- save (`ctrl+s`) and close (`ctrl+x`)
- regenerate the initramfs with `sudo mkinitcpio -P`

### add pacman hook

- `sudo mkdir -p /etc/pacman.d/hooks/ && sudo mv /home/poq/syncDir/gitRepos/gt.op.fo/lnx-arch/dots/nvidia/nvidia.hook /etc/pacman.d/hooks/`