Oh well, the reason for updating the drivers was to get PLEX media server to recognise the hardware and use it for transcoding, as Win10 does already. seamlessly.
This was my last chance thing to try and fix that failure.
So now I'm wondering if Linux is really a good swap for me, in this case.
cheers CD
Hm, I have no experience with this. Here is a guide:
https://linuxcapable.com/install-plex-media-server-on-ubuntu-linux/
You do not need to jump through hoops with the .run file.
In terminal, run these two commands to install the Nvidia 580 driver:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:canonical-kernel-team/nvidia-graphics
sudo apt update && sudo apt install nvidia-driver-580 nvidia-dkms-580
Hi there, thanks for your responces.
I did manage to get the greyed out options available to use, it was to do with selecting a different server for the update process. And it turned out that the driver 580 was the latest version, Zorin had already installed it, even though I had not done a specific update, but I had ticked the option to "install the latest drivers" etc, during Zorin installation.
So there was no need for me to go searching for a newer driver after all. (ver. 850 was set in my mind, but wrongly).
Anyway, through help/suggestions from the Plex Media Server forums, I came to realise that the fact that playing a 4K movie in the BROWSER on my Zorin desktop, was not indicative of how Plex would appear on another media player. In my case an AppleTV or remotely through the Plex app on IOS.
They did help me to manage to get Plex to make use of the Nvidia gfx card for HW transcoding, (by installing the .deb package for PMS instead of the default Zorin option - different level of hardware access) but again I was trying to solve a problem that only existed because the 'Browser' (brave) I was using in Zorin could not perform the way it did in Win10.
In windows, I could play back two separate browsers (again Brave) locally of the same 4K movie @38Mbps at the same time and at the same time 'stream' to the plex.tv.web app remotely over 4G in 720p, and the CPU would not even break into a sweat, because the GPU was taking over.
I was assuming wrongly, that the same Brave browser in Zorin would be able to do the same amount of work. Which it can't do, but this is not important to me because, I don't watch these movies on my desktop. Very rarely, just for checking the file is working.
So it's been fun, but I am getting down to weeding out the things that will affect my decision to switch to Zorin for good.
You'll find a new post from me today in another thread, concerning the smb NAS that have just refused to mount, only today. Everything was going so well too.
Thanks again everyone. Cheers CD
@doobre Is it still about the HP Z210 workstation as in your other thread? Which nvidia card do you use?
Note that you'll have to update the plex media server manually when you have installed it by downloading the .deb file. When you add the repo as described in the linked guide you'll get updates automatically when updating the system.
Technically, it can.
In Windows OS, the Hardware acceleration that allows Brave to pass off to the GPU is enabled by default. On Zorin OS, it is disabled by default.
So, it may be worthwhile to test enabling it.
Ensure you have all the needed packages:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install vainfo libva2 libva-drm2 libva-x11-2
Then in Brave Browser, go to the flags
brave://flags/
In search, try each and enable each:
Launch brave with this command to test (If it works, this can be included in the brave.deskop exec= line)
--enable-features=VaapiVideoDecoder --use-gl=desktop --ignore-gpu-blocklist
I have split this into its own thread, due to it actually not related to the Tutorials & Guides instructions.
Maybe the other posts from #6 on can also be put here for the sake of completeness.
I had separated them due to them being on-topic; but your point is valid, too. With a dynamic and fluid thing; it can be hard to cut a line.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think Hardware Acceleration in Brave is on Zorin enabled, too.
You are not wrong, but I was not very clear.
Hardware Acceleration includes video decode acceleration. Windows OS is standardized and Brave uses DXVA2/NVDEC on it.
But on GnuLinux, it uses VA-API, and this is not standardized, so is disabled by default, requiring flags to enable it and the libraries and packages to be installed on the Distro in question. So even if Hardware Acceleration is enabled, it only enables the portions that are standardized - Video Decode not being one of them. And video decode acceleration is what offloads to the GPU.
Ah, okay. Thanks for the Explanation.
Thanks for the reminder
The gfx card is gtx1050Ti
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