I recently installed slackware 15 and am having difficulties creating the package using the SBo script from slackbuilds.org. The driver script creates a package successfully but the kernel script bombs complaining about a missing stdarg.h file. this is a rather new install if slackware so I'm not sure why this file would be missing. any suggestions would be appreciated

This link provided by cwizardone will permit you to download the most recent updated run installer from NVidia:
you can then execute the script as 'root' with the "sh" command like this:
Simply follow the prompts.
If you are using Nouveau, you will get a notification and
the script will disable Nouveau for you,
after which you will need to reboot and run the script again,
following the prompts and allowing the script to update your X configuration.

You must run the script again after each kernel update if
you are on -current and are frequently updating.

This in the method I use routinely for installing and maintaining the NVidia driver.
The run script does have options and help info is available

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I download the nvidia driver from either of these two links:
https://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/unix/

The downloaded NVIDIA.run file is an sh (/bin/sh -> bash) script, so it can be run like above.

What I do is:

chown root:root NVIDIA.run
chmod 744 NVIDIA.run
./NVIDIA.run -k 5.15.30

In case you do not understand the chmod command, 7=111b is the octal=binary number for r(1)w(1)x(1) access for the user that owns the file (root), 4=100b is for group (root) r(1)-(0)-(0) access, and 4=100b is for the other users access.

I run it with the -k option to tell it the kernel version to install for, otherwise it sometimes fails to build correctly. I don't bother with SBo slackbuilds for the nvidia driver.

After upgrading kernel, before rebooting, I uninstall it:
./NVIDIA.run --uninstall

Then, install it after rebooting on new kernel.
./NVIDIA.run -k 5.15.31

At the installation prompts, I do not let it change my config files - I have a custom /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

That is what I do. Hope it helps some.

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The full article can be found here, https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pa...-NVIDIA-Encode

is the recommended way to install the nvidia drivers to do it direct and not with the SBo scripts? any reason why?

There is no official recommendation. Some people use the SBo nvidia SlackBuild. Some people use the nvidia installer (.run file).

Do you want everything installed on your system to be tracked by pkgtools? -> use SlackBuild.
Do you always want to run the latest nvidia driver and not wait for SBo to be updated (and not want to check yourself the latest version added/removed files that the existing SlackBuild doesn't handle with a simple version bump)? -> use nvidia's installer.
Like tossing coins? -> toss a coin.

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thanks! I looked at both cards and it seems to be out of my price range since I need to upgrade Motherboards as well as processors to use it. My current setups are 10+ yrs old, one is running Devuan 4.0, the other Debian 7. Guess I will just run Slackware15 on a thumb drive for now before I upgrade computers.

The full story can be found here, https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pa...L-NVIDIA-Blobs

Heya garpu. I'm still running a GTX 1070 Ti but I'm "jonesing" for a newer GPU. However I think that 3050 is a bad joke with the single possible exception being if you think Ray-Tracing matters a lot. I don't. I'm much more impressed by Deep Learning Super Sampling.

The best thing about Covid, Supply Chain fiascos, etc is I'm saving up until prices get sane again any maybe the 4000 series drops 3000 series to really affordable levels. It may work out that I'll spend as much as $1K this time from saving and the realization that I'm still using a GT 640, now well over 12 years old, that I bought new for $37 USD. Even my GTX 1070 Ti, bought in 2016, now 6 years old, for around $600, at $100/year, or a few dimes a day, was more than just worth the time and sacrifice to save, considering I use it for many hours every day.

TLDR - If a brand name 3080 ever hits <$1000, it's mine! Admittedly I am influenced pretty heavily by discovering my rig is 99% GPU bound with a simple 10th Gen i5 CPU. I'm confidant I'll get a good 10-15 years use out of a 3080 given my history. It may outlast me. 8 ^ P

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What are you going to do with it? If it is just web browsing and watching videos I'd choose XX50, XX60, or a X650 (preferably they would be Ti) if they are under $200. I don't recommend the XX10 or XX30 because these are the bottom of the barrel for NVIDIA. If you wanted something just to boot your computer with and they were way under $100 I guess they'd serve a purpose.

If the crypto scammers weren't running up graphics card prices I'd recommend the XX60 and the X660 instead. For new triple AAA games I'd recommend 3070 or higher. We have a new generation of gaming consoles and they are pushing performance requirements so I'm not sure if the perfect graphics card series for this console generation is out yet. I have a 1070 and I'll probably upgrade in 2-3 years.

I recommend looking at the supported products because those that are closer to the top of the supported list should have longer driver support: https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driv...x/187162/en-us

Check Tom's Hardware: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...gpus,4380.html

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Out of curiosity, what makes you want to stick with Nvidia? My AMD RX570 has been a champ with the stock drivers in 15.0 (although, this particular card has shot up in price with the GPU pricing issues -- I bought it for $160 back in 2019 and it's going for several hundred now). AMD has amazing kernel support and cards are extremely well supported with the open-source amdgpu driver.

AMD cards are literally plug-n-play as long as they aren't newer than the kernel, mesa, and Xorg versions you're running.

Yeah, I hear you on the 3050. If I have my choice between a 3050 with a jacked-up price and a 3060, I'll wait until I get a 3060. I think the only way I'd entertain a 3050 is if my current card (a 1050ti) craps the bed, and I can't wait until newegg or somewhere can ship a 3060. I don't particularly need ray tracing, but the DLSS would be super-nice for No Man's Sky. But, honestly, I don't feel the urge to upgrade anytime soon. I'm not playing any dx12-heavy games, and while I hear good things about Elden Ring, I'll wait until it's on a tremendously good sale. (Or wait until my partner buys it for the PS5, and play it there.)

I still can't believe how lucky I was to get a 3060ti for retail when they launched ($409 + tax). I have been trying to get a 3080 for retail since December 2020, but eventually just gave up and accepted it is not going to happen. I am lucky in that I was able to live monitor bestbuy.com while I was at work to try and get a FE 3080 for $699, but every single time that stock went live they were gone in a matter of seconds.

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Be careful what you wish for - There is no doubt that AMD has really upped their game in both CPU and GPU but there are a few applications in graphics where Nvidia, at the very least, is a front runner. Some of this is influence to optimize for a specific option set but that's just reality. Rather than focus on brand, these days, I think it is far more important to research with your use case in mind. Look up specs and reviews as their are lots of surprises. Some cards excel at 2D and suck at 3D and vice versa. Some cards have bigger number model names but under-perform... sometimes by a LOT and also vice versa, some just rock! for no apparent reason.

Example: Around a decade ago I bought a very cheap (like $35, iirc) MSI GT 640, a tiny little one slot, one fan card for my Son "just to get by". It turned out he could play then AAA titles at middle quality settings at impressive frame rates. It was so impressive I bought one for one of my own secondary machines. I still use it, but I thought I should probably upgrade it at least a little bit. So I bought a like-new, repected brand name GT 740 for around $90. It looked great but it wouldn't take as new a driver as the GT 640, wouldn't perform even as well as the 640 in any application and I was so shocked I entered VBIOS to see if it was counterfeit. It was apparently legit, so I returned it. Later I looked at some reviews and found out it was a known "dud" basically all cosmetic "upgrades". The price was 3 times higher (even slightly used!) than the GT 640 was new just because 2022.

TLDR - Don't buy blind. Don't buy brand. Buy for your use case after you verify it performs at that workload. Maybe consider support longevity and maybe, if the card doesn't just depend on built-in-kernel drivers, try different drivers. This GT 640 performs great on a newer driver than what Nvidia's search shows as appropriate. It performs better and has more features than the recommended driver. My GTX 1070 Ti OTOH performs better on older 470x drivers.

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Personally, I buy because of drivers. I buy AMD because they have quality open source drivers that needs little to no extra configuration by me. I choose to not buy Nvidia because I don't want to deal with proprietary drivers, especially when I'm doing kernel upgrades.

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