How to install Nvidia drivers on backbox linux


Well compared to Kali, installing Nvidia drivers here is a breeze. As this distro is based on ubuntu rather than debian we have a fairly simple way to install the driver.

I could not find any backbox specific post anywhere hence this quick tutorial. Also, this applies to Ubuntu distro as well. Just follow these simple steps rather than long elaborative tutorials you find anywhere else.

Installation

Backbox/Ubuntu (for 14.04 and newer):

add the graphics-drivers ppa
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
install the recommended driver
sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall
restart your system
sudo reboot

To select a different driver, or if the above doesn’t work:

add the graphics-drivers ppa
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
purge any existing nvidia related packages you have installed
sudo apt-get purge nvidia*
check which drivers are available for your system
ubuntu-drivers devices
install the recommended driver
sudo apt-get install nvidia-361
restart your system
sudo reboot

 

Verify the installation

The last thing to do is verify that the nvidia drivers are loaded and working. Run the lspci command again and this time the kernel driver should show nvidia

$ lspci -vnn | grep -i VGA -A 12
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GT218 [GeForce 210] [10de:0a65] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:8416]
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 46
        Memory at e2000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
        Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
        I/O ports at 2000 [size=128]
        [virtual] Expansion ROM at e3080000 [disabled] [size=512K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: nvidia

Check the last line which says “kernel driver in use: nvidia”. This shows that nvidia drivers are now in action. Also check hardware acceleration with the glxinfo command

$ glxinfo | grep OpenGL | grep renderer
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce 210/PCIe/SSE2

The OpenGL renderer string should be anything other than “MESA”. Then it indicates that the hardware drivers are being used for hardware acceleration.

You can just also run the following command on the terminal to see if its working:

nvidia-settings

 

I hope this works out for you too!