Question How to install drivers in Linux

[PaulDesmond]

Hi. I am new to this. I have had to use 2 PCs one windows and one now with Linux Debian Cinnamon, I have 2 partitions C: and D: Linux is on the C: I copied NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.17.run to the D: so I asume the path to it would be D:\NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.17.run

I have tried chmod +x D:\NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.17.run

I get unable to locate file.

chmod: cannot access 'D:NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.17.run'

 

[PaulDesmond]

I will get a Linux book. It also means that I can't use my printer as I don't have the DVD for that now either.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

I will get a Linux book. It also means that I can't use my printer as I don't have the DVD for that now either.

Stop thinking in Windows terms. You don't need and can't use any of the disks that may have come with your devices. Forget they exist.

If your printer was online at the time of installation the installer detected it and set up support. Assuming of course that your specific make/model is actually supported in Linux. Did you investigate this?

 

[PaulDesmond]

No i didn't because under windows it would be easy to download and install drivers as needed. The printer was not switched on when I did the install as it wasn't needed.

I thought the DVD that came with it and had a linux section was as you call it the package manager.

Online I get
A package manager is a system or set of tools used to automate installing, upgrading, configuring and using software.

That would be what is happening on the DVD?

 

[dmroeder]

No i didn't because under windows it would be easy to download and install drivers as needed. The printer was not switched on when I did the install as it wasn't needed.

I thought the DVD that came with it and had a linux section was as you call it the package manager.

Online I get
A package manager is a system or set of tools used to automate installing, upgrading, configuring and using software.

That would be what is happening on the DVD?

Think of a package manager as a Linux equivalent to an app store. It's a source to install software, which have more or less been validated to work on your particular flavor of Linux.

I spun up a Mint Cinnamon VM, if you go into the Cinnamon menu (like windows start menu), in the search box at the top type "driver manager". This is a utility that will find the latest proprietary drivers (like your NVIDIA card) and install them for you.

I don't use this flavor of Linux, or I would have sent you there earlier.

 

[PaulDesmond]

Well this is working, I was told to get debian-11.6.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso which didn't work. I am happy with this if I can get my printer to work using "driver manager " Thanks for your help.

 

[dmroeder]

Well this is working, I was told to get debian-11.6.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso which didn't work. I am happy with this if I can get my printer to work using "driver manager " Thanks for your help.

While Debian is the foundation for many other Linux distributions, I prefer not to use it personally. I usually recommend Ubuntu for new users, mainly because when you start googling things like "how do I do X in Linux", the vast majority of the results you will get will be for Ubuntu, so everything will look and be named the same.

 

[Grobe]

Explain to me why you beleive that I have windows installed on one partition and Debian on the other. Are you crazy?

Probably because you wrote this:

I have 2 partitions C: and D: Linux is on the C:

I also interpret that as you having Windows on same computer. Nobody's crazy - just trying to help.

No i didn't because under windows it would be easy to download and install drivers as needed.

That isn't Linux fault. If it was the other way around, you'd use to use Linux every day from young age - and now suddenly was trying to use Windows for the very first time - I bet you'd put the wording at least as hostile to that Windows OS that seemingly cannot behave the way you expect 🔫

 

[Deleted member 14196]

You should just use windows 11 with Linux Subsystem

it allows you to install Linux under windows, and that way you could easily set it up and play with it and learn how to use it before going native

 

[DSzymborski]

I'm sorry, but I'll repeat what I said in the past thread: Linux is not suitable for you at this time. You switched to Linux on a whim with little actual knowledge of how Linux works based solely on a philosophical grudge against Windows 10.

Wipe the drive and reinstall Windows 10. If you still wish to use Linux, then read about in depth before you use it in your PC. Starting a new thread every time there's a basic thing you're not grasping and then being short with people trying to help you is not going to be a thing here. The water is over your head in this particular area, something which happens to all of us once in a while.

 

[Grobe]

You should just use windows 11 with Linux Subsystem

Do you have gain experience from this solution and able to tell how you think it compare to a VM such as VirtualBox? I'm just wondering.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Do you have gain experience from this solution and able to tell how you think it compare to a VM such as VirtualBox? I'm just wondering.

It’s just really easy to install a distro, but a virtual machine is just as good probably even better

 

[Grobe]

It’s just really easy to install a distro, but a virtual machine is just as good probably even better

Ok, I was actually wonder if there some practical cons or pros using windows 11 with Linux Subsystem vs. VM .