I’m still on 15.6, which was recently marked EOL. I’m using 580.126.X of NVIDIA drivers. Usually, I don’t make the attempt to upgrade til most of the NVIDIA packages agree, version-wise. I’ve noticed that the NVIDIA packages have most recent versions varying from 580.159 to 595.71, without any one version being available for all the packages, like with 580.126. Of course, I’ve attempted to install, and ended up booting to non-graphical.
Are the individual NVIDIA packages maintained by the same group of people? Why is there such a varied number of versions, with some missing in-between versions?
By using the meta packages, it is to 99% guaranteed, that a matching set of package versions get installed. It is possible to handpick the packages, but not recommended for beginners.
As Leap 15.6 is EOL, there are not much efforts anymore to keep a proper set of packages.
Supported distribution versions have a matching set of driver versions.
Since you are using the open driver, you have the last version available ( nvidia-open-driver-G06-signed-kmp-default 580.126.09 (580.126.18)) and no upgrade is going to happen after EOL, like you are not going to see further updates to the kernel.
You should still be able to upgrade to the 580.159.03 packages using the proprietary driver, just ensure that the following meta packages are installed in that version:
i+ | nvidia-driver-G06-kmp-meta | Meta package to select proprietary nvidia driver | package
i+ | nvidia-userspace-meta-G06 | Meta package to autoselect NVIDIA userspace packages | package
Anyway I would not use Leap 15.6 after EOL on a production system.
Many of the 595.71.05 packages do have 580.159.03 matching packages, except for libnvidia-gpucomp, which only goes up to 580.142. I don’t think I tried just to 580.159 with 580.142 for just that package yet.
I would like to go to 16, but that will require more research time to understand any issues that may arise, to be prepared for them. I have an old netbook, from 2009, that I usually do major upgrades with, but I already ran the CPU test and it isn’t 16 capable.
But the OPEN driver is only for cards with Turing architecture or newer (not before 2018). His netbook is from 2009. So, in his case, only the proprietary driver or nouveau will work.
The OPEN nvidia driver is ONLY for graphics cards with TURING or newer architecture, produced NOT before the year 2018. In your terminal, enter “nvidia-smi” or “lspci | grep VGA” or “lspci | grep NVIDIA” to find the graphics card model. Then go to the nvidia website and find the appropriate driver for that model. It’s definitely not (G07) 595…, but (G06) 580… at the most, maybe even G05.
If you know the right driver, you can “protect” it against driver updates of which you know that they would not work, e.g., from 580 to 595.
From my experience, a “zypper dup” from 15.6 to 16.0 is the simplest and safest way to succeed with the upgrade. But if old hardware is not capable of running Leap 16.0, it makes no sense anyway.
I use the 2009 netbook to install major openSUSE upgrades, as a test, before my main system. The netbook won’t handle 16, so I can’t test. I’m not worried about NVIDIA drivers with the netbook. It only has Intel graphics.
I usually do the zypper method, but the migration tool has been recommended. I would have done the netbook first, but not possible anymore. My goal is to do some more reading before committing to a method.
Ah, so! I am currently trying to upgrade Leap 15.5 to 16.0 (via 15.6) on a laptop with T1200, where I will go for the open G07-595 driver. But most of my computers are from around 2010 and can only boot from (“legacy”) MBR, not EFI. What irks me most, therefore, is Release Note 3.6.9, which states that “support for legacy BIOS will be discontinued in the future” and recommends “switching to UEFI at the nearest opportunity”.
That is regrettably not the only current (open)SUSE policy reminding me of Microsoft Windows 11 “improvements” (like the current x86-64-v2 CPU requirement and the new “Agama” installer). I may then have to look for a different distro, maybe Debian, at least for these oldtimers, which still work well enough for the office and which I know “in and out”, because I built them myself from standard components. Such truly “personal” computers and “works of art” one does not throw away lightly. And most of these “legacy” (MBR) booters do support x86-64-v2.
Yes, “in the future” could be many years away, esp. since several important points in the “release” notes for Leap 16.0 look more like a plan for the future than a description of what has actually been put in practice. But “at the nearest opportunity” sounds more unsettling. I hope they will spare us. Otherwise, I will change the distro rather than buy yet another new computer that I do not really need.
It is always good to remind us (and certain “progressive” developers) that we users of “legacy” or “vintage” computers are far from alone. Enabling the continued reasonable use of such hardware is an important “political” advantage over MS Windows (esp. 11), which we all know is undeservedly still much too dominant in the client sphere. Not everybody is a gamer, and not everybody is looking forward to a future in the cloud, administered by somebody else.
Also, thank you for relating your experience that it is possible to directly upgrade to 16.0 from 15.5, which can save quite some time. I see we also share a preference for the command line (also far from uncommon among Linux users), and I will be happy to again make do without “help” (or rather: hindrance) from that “Agama” monster.