A minimalist guide to a few frameworks—on Ubuntu and Vector computing—for the person who was born yesterday
Written by a novice for the novice
The following instructions are for a fresh install of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 64-bit on a Lenovo P52 (i7-8850H/Quadro P2000)
Everything after a $
is entered on a terminal; everything after >>>
is passed to a Python interpreter
Download Ubuntu 18.04 LTS's 64-bit ISO image
$ wget https://releases.ubuntu.com/18.04/ubuntu-18.04.4-desktop-amd64.iso
And create a bootable USB stick—e.g., on Ubuntu, using Startup Disk Creator
Important: at boot time, enter the Lenovo P52's BIOS pressing Enter
, then F1
NOTE 1: These instructions were tested on a machine with UEFI BIOS Version 1.37, if you have an older BIOS, update it (link) before changing any of the settings: black screen problems have been fixed up to version 1.18 (changelog)
- Under the
Config
menu, enter theDisplay
submenu
- Set
Graphic Device
toDiscrete Graphics
(and notHybrid Graphics
)—this will prevent crashes during the installation
- Under the
Security
menu, enter theSecure Boot
submenu
- Set
Secure Boot
toDisabled
—this will let you install NVIDIA graphic drivers
Install Ubuntu 18 (if possible, use Wi-Fi to "download updates and install 3rd party software" during the process)
[2021 Update] NOTE 2: If you are installing Ubuntu 20.04 instead, ignore the next 2 lines and skip to "Software & Updates" -> "Additional Drivers" to install the newest proprietary driver
At the time of the first login, click the gear icon besides "Sign in"; choose "Ubuntu on Wayland"
The graphical interface will be very slow—this is expected, the system is not using the GPU nor the CPU integrated graphics
If prompted, install updates from "Software Updater"
Open the "Software & Updates" application: NVIDIA's proprietary driver nvidia-driver-440
should be available
Select it, click apply, and reboot: this time around, the graphical interface will be running smoothly
Open a terminal (Ctrl
+Alt
+t
) and run command $ nvidia-smi
: it will report the use of driver 440 and CUDA 10.2
Work carried out @ University of Toronto's Dynamic Systems Lab / Vector Institute / Mitacs Elevate