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john smith
Asked: 2015-06-17 05:58:56 +0800 CST

What is PPA and why do people use it for Nvidia graphics?

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I'm trying to understand what the PPA is and why some people use the command below for their Nvidia drivers to work:

ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa

I haven't found anyone who can clearly explain why you would need this package for an Nvidia driver, what it does, or how it works. All the posts on various forums just tend to say to put the command in without giving any reasons of why. So can someone please do me the honour of explaining it?

drivers

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    You can read THIS about "what PPA is".

    Xorg-edgers ppa contains Nvidia drivers, that are not yet present in Ubuntu repositories. They are correctly packed to install with DKMS.

    If you need an updated Nvidia driver, the best way is to install it from that ppa.

    But xorg-edgers ppa also contains other testing packages, that are not always good to install automatically.

    That's why it is recommended after you install Nvidia drivers to run

     sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa

    It removes that repository from sources.list.d and prevents from installing other updates from there.

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  2. PPA stands for "Personal Package Archives". They are repositories, compiled by users or developers, to provide different versions of packages to those bundled in the main Ubuntu repositories or to provide software not available by default.

    The reason that some people add the Nvidia PPA is because each Ubuntu release is packaged, by default, with access only to a specific set of versions of the driver and associated proprietary software. However, Nvidia frequently release updates to their drivers. In order to provide easy, seamless access to these newer versions, you can add the PPA and then, as soon as the PPA maintainer adds it, you can install the newer driver with the same ease as any other package.

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