Nvidia on Ubuntu

Because I wanted to run a local Artificial Intelligence platform called Ollama, I wanted to ensure that my GPU was fully utilized in the system since GPUs are the particular type of hardware best suited for these Vector calculations. And, I have a 'decent' GPU - Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 (the best you could get at the time). In trying to install the latest Nvidia driver, I set off on a week's long journey of learning, frustration and perseverance discovering the inner workings of Ubuntu 24.04, Xorg, the Linux kernel and kernel modules, DRM, Secure Boot, initramfs and more.

I still do not have the Nvidia driver loaded - even after 40+ reboots and attempts. Instead I'm using the Nouveau driver but at least I have a working system and I believe now that I've finally figured out what needs to be done to disable Nouveau and install Nvidia - a project that I might tackle shortly. I'm just documenting the things that I encountered in this journey so that I can pick it back up at the right time.

X.org

Here is the Xorg.log file from my first boot into a clean system having no Nvidia drivers.

Digital Restrictions Management = Electronic methods to control what you can and can't do. In the context of video graphics, it means Direct Rendering Manager.