[PLUG] NVidia video on a Dell Optiplex 790

[King Beowulf]

On 8/17/21 00:45, Russell Senior wrote:
> lspci says:
>
>    01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GT218 [GeForce
> 210] (rev a2)
>
> After an ubuntu 20.04 update, video disappears. It was using the
> nvidia-340 driver. It appears the build against a new kernel failed.
> I've encountered this previously, although it was long enough ago that
> I don't remember exactly what I did. The internet tells me that nvidia
> EOL'd support for "legacy" video cards. So, I guess I am looking for a
> replacement. It is just a plain jane desktop box, no fancy 3d video
> acceleration required afaik.
>
> It's a small form factor box I got at FreeGeek a number of years ago.
>
> Any suggestions for a replacement?
>

As kernels improve, nvidia does't go back and update EOL legacy drivers.
nvida-340.108 hasn't been updated since 2019.

Did you try the open source nouveau driver that comes built into most
linux distros?  Geforce 200 series (NV50 Tesla) are well supported for
most 2D/3D functions short of CUDA/OpenCL and newer video games.  remove
all traces of nvidia-proprietary bin blob and X.org with nouveau works
OOTB.  If Wayland, you are on your own....

https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/FeatureMatrix.html
https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/CodeNames.html

Geforce 400 series (nvidia-390.144), or 600 and newer (470.63.01) are
still supported.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/unix/

-Ed