Newer nVidia Cards Recommendations

Installing Zorin OS
1

I have an RTX 5060 GPU and I struggled to get Zorin 18 installed. After a day of trial and error I think I have a working solution for anyone with a newer nVidia GPU.

Note (I'm going from memory so verbiage may not be exact.)

When installing Zorin 18 use Install Zorin (Safe Graphics). Do your install and reboot. Once you're to the login screen click your username and then in the bottom right corner is a gear where you can change between Weyland (Zorin Desktop) and X11 (Zorin X11) and select the X11 version.

Once in Zorin do a Software Update either via the GUI (Software Updater) or the terminal using sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade.

Reboot. (I don't know if this is necessary, but there's a firmware update so it doesn't hurt.)

Once back in Zorin go to Software & Updates and click the Additional Drivers tab. Choose Using NVIDIA driver (open kernel) metapackage from nvidia-driver-580-open (proprietary, test). Let it install and then click the Restart button.

Once you're at the login screen click your name, and then click the gear at the bottom right again. It has probably changed to the Weyland version. Select the other one (I think it was Zorin Desktop this time) which will give you the X11 version.

That seems to be the proper way to get modern nVidia cards working.

I strongly advise trying to update the Linux Kernel using the Mainline app. I tried versions 6.15, 6.16, and 6.17 and all caused issues with the nVidia driver. It wouldn't let me install them, even if I rolled back to kernel version 6.14. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but I don't think so. Something wasn't playing nice with the newer kernels.

Hope this helps other frustrated nVidia users.

2

Do you have tried with disabled secure boot?

3

Yes I did.

4

My recommendation is to avoid Nvidia with Linux. Other than the phantom printer issue, the only other problems we've had have been related to the presence of an Nvidia card.
We tried Zorin 17 but had issues. We tried it on another PC and had issues.
I then installed Zorin 18 on a new PC to replace the first PC. No Nvidia, no issues. It has integrated Intel graphics. Some (not all) of the Steam games that didn't work before now work fine. I'm going to see if I can update the Intel drivers. If they are up to date I'll eventually install an AMD card.
Next week I will install Zorin 18 on the first PC we tried 17 with, but I removed the Nvidia card and will use the integrated AMD graphics (it will only be an office PC).

Intel and AMD graphics work out of the box because most of the internet runs on those chips running Linux. Nvidia decided their :poop: don't stink and are being precious about their drivers.

1 Like
5

Aye, if people are going to get a new GPU go for Radeon. For office work go for intel.

6

From what I know the install software uses the unofficial and poorly implemented "open source driver" and no official NVidia driver is used nor can it be used due to licensing for some reason. The latest NVidia driver is updated for the new models. So the process to install lets you use a generic product then move to the NVidia functioning driver to recognize your new card.

7

I've had issues with Radeon too (an RT 9060 XT). Games played, but video encoding using Handbrake was just a black screen with audio. Just saying Linux doesn't always play nice with either card.