Why can't I install the nvidia proprietary driver on Ubuntu 18?

Question

I am trying to instll the nvidia proprietary driver on Ubuntu becuase I think it runs better and has better application support.

When I go to "Software and Updates" all I see is the (open source) options (see picture).

Why don't I see the proprietary driver option?

What is the difference between the (open source) nVidia driver and the nouveau (open source) driver?

NOTE: I am using an nVidia RTX6000 card.

Possible duplicate of Which graphics driver in the Additional Drivers list should I choose? — karel, May 28 '19 at 20:00
I don't think it is a duplicate. My question is really "what happened to the proprietary driver" - your answer in that question does not answer that. — Startec, May 28 '19 at 20:03
Possible duplicate of Difference between Additional Drivers (Nvidia) — karel, May 28 '19 at 20:06
Same thing. I have read that answer and it does not answer my question — Startec, May 28 '19 at 20:09
I am pretty sure all but the nouveau driver are not open source. Maybe the meta package is, but not the binary driver they pull in. I have nothing to prove my guess right now though, nor an explanation why they'd label these as "open source" too. — Byte Commander, May 28 '19 at 20:17
You do not list what card you use. Heck the system does not even recognize your card. The model should be listed at the top That's is likely your problem; as it does not see the model it will likely not offer the prop driver. Based on the brand it is likely to be able to see it is an nvidia and as we use generic drivers it probably can be used. — Rinzwind, May 28 '19 at 20:23
Thank you, answer edited to be more clear and Q upvote because it's not a dupe! ;-) — Fabby, Oct 21 '19 at 13:51

Fabby · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-21T13:50:29.293

Because the nVidia proprietary driver is not in the standard repositories so you'd eed to:

Download the proprietary drivers From the nVIDIA web site (latest driver for the RTX 6000 at the time of this writing)
OR
Enable a PPA that has this driver
and then:
install the driver according to the method you used above:
- when downloading from nVIDIA
- sudo apt install nvidia-xxx where xxx is the driver number you need (430 at the time of this writing)

1 Answers1