[SOLVED] Nvidia driver - xorg.conf

ct7567 · 08-06-2021, 04:26 PM

Hello. I am going to explain exactly what I've done and what is the problem.
so i used Ubuntu for some years and the reason was that drivers are easy to install in Ubuntu and you don't have to get involved especially for graphics cause i have a dual graphic lap top (Intel UHD & NVIDIA mx150).
so after some years i learned some things in Linux and decided to install Debian instead. My brother had Debian before and i loved it. the stability of it is remarkable.
Anyway i have installed a Debian 11 about 2 days ago and i configured my NVIDIA driver from https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers. It is the official page for this and i did every thing right and I was able to use the driver. Here i want to mention that if

Code:

lspci -nn | egrep -i "3d|display|vga"

command returns more than one line of output, you have an Optimus (hybrid) graphics chipset. After you install the necessary driver package, you'll still need to choose one of the methods on the NVIDIA Optimus page https://wiki.debian.org/NVIDIA%20Optimus in order to activate and make use of your NVIDIA card.

now here are some of my questions:
1- how can i run my NVIDIA driver with safe-boot on. cause it doesn't work with an On UEFI-safeboot. on the boot logs it sais failed to loan nvidia-persistenced.service. Im 100% sure its becuase of safe-boot cuase i turned it off and it worked.
2-I deleted /etc/X11/xorg.conf file cause i thought the problem in question 1 was because of that file. But now i want to load it again with previous configs. I tried to make the file again with nvidia-xconfig program. It made me the file but the file stoped my sddm and i left off with just a terminal. i deleted the file again and sddm came up again. should i load it again? it seems it doesn't do anything but breaking my system!
here is xorg.conf inside

Code:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 460.32.03

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

mrmazda · 08-06-2021, 10:34 PM

That xorg.conf file is the smallest created by NVidia installation that I have encountered. I've often wondered why it creates input device sections. What yours contains is generic stuff that mirrors more or less what automagic generates, and so is unnecessary. A video driver should have no reason to care which drivers are used for keyboard or mouse.

One situation where an xorg.conf can be useful is when multiple displays are used simultaneously, and the default arrangement of them is not as desired. However, there are GUI tools for managing this that do not require an xorg.conf file, e.g. arandr.

I have no direct experience with use of Optimus. I suppose an xorg.conf file might be more useful than expected in such configurations, but I suspect it would not be ideal given how advanced automagic and GUI configuration tools have become.

Most users of FOSS drivers have no need of an xorg.conf file. That proprietary NVidia driver installation normally creates one is a bit of an anachronism. If yours can operate without one, be happy about it. Without is what the vast majority of Linux users do.

computersavvy · 08-07-2021, 12:34 PM

Installing the nvidia drivers does not put the conf file in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d

There is an nvidia.conf file at /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/nvidia.conf that can be used if needed, but I don't use it on my desktop machine which only has an nvidia GPU.

On my laptop I placed it as /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/nvidia.conf and edited the file to add

Option "Primary" "Yes"

to both parts of the file so the nvidia driver is always the one used. Without that option the IGP is used by default and the nvidia only when specifically told to do so when launching a program from the menu. Using the IGP saves a little bit of power but I don't travel a lot so I am not concerned with battery life. Even with the discrete nvidia card in use I still get ~3 hours battery life in normal usage.

ct7567 · 08-09-2021, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

That xorg.conf file is the smallest created by NVidia installation that I have encountered. I've often wondered why it creates input device sections. What yours contains is generic stuff that mirrors more or less what automagic generates, and so is unnecessary. A video driver should have no reason to care which drivers are used for keyboard or mouse.

One situation where an xorg.conf can be useful is when multiple displays are used simultaneously, and the default arrangement of them is not as desired. However, there are GUI tools for managing this that do not require an xorg.conf file, e.g. arandr.

I have no direct experience with use of Optimus. I suppose an xorg.conf file might be more useful than expected in such configurations, but I suspect it would not be ideal given how advanced automagic and GUI configuration tools have become.

Most users of FOSS drivers have no need of an xorg.conf file. That proprietary NVidia driver installation normally creates one is a bit of an anachronism. If yours can operate without one, be happy about it. Without is what the vast majority of Linux users do.

Actually i reinstalled my Debian & NVIDIA driver and it looks like nvidia doesn't make a xorg.conf in /etc/X11 and doesn't need such a thing.So first one solved but i still have the problem with UEFI secure boot.

computersavvy · 08-09-2021, 11:48 AM

I do not think you can use secure boot with the nvidia drivers since the kernel is considered 'tainted' by adding an unsigned module (nvidia). Without the nvidia drivers secure boot works.

Brains · 08-11-2021, 11:52 PM

You can sign your nvidia module(s) to use in secure boot mode. Follow section 5 Debian Secure Boot wiki article.
Not sure which module(s) as there are 4 in my Debian Testing @ /lib/modules/5.10.0-8-amd64/updates/dkms/