How to use Ubuntu Frame with Nvidia¶

This document outlines how to enable support for Nvidia GPUs for use with Ubuntu Frame.

If you require more outputs, or higher performance, you might decide to use Nvidia GPUs in your solution. Nvidia only provides proprietary drivers for their GPUs, so there’s additional steps required to get it working.

System preparation¶

The steps and requirements differ by the operating system in use, choose the one matching your deployment:

Ubuntu

On classic Ubuntu, it is enough to install the drivers on the host. For example, to install the 570 driver version, issue the following:

sudo ubuntu-drivers install nvidia:570

You can find out more at Ubuntu Server’s NVIDIA drivers installation.

Ubuntu Core 24

On Ubuntu Core 24, the drivers and userspace libraries come in components of the kernel snap. To find out which version is available

sudo snap set pc-kernel nvidia-stream=570

You will need to make sure Ubuntu Frame is from the 24 track:

sudo snap refresh ubuntu-frame --channel 24

Verification¶

First, to verify that your setup works, reboot to load the new drivers:

sudo reboot

Next, check that the Nvidia driver was loaded and the devices node is there:

$ sudo dmesg | grep NVRM
[  830.693443] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module  570.158.01  Tue Apr  8 12:41:17 UTC 2025
$ ls -l /dev/nvidia
/dev/nvidia

Check Ubuntu Frame logs for its use of Nvidia. You want to see GLRenderer detailing the GPU and driver in use:

$ snap logs -n1000 ubuntu-frame | grep -E "GL (vendor|renderer|version):"
... GLRenderer: GL vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
... GLRenderer: GL renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super/PCIe/SSE2
... GLRenderer: GL version: OpenGL ES 3.2 NVIDIA 570.158.01

Finally, run graphics-test-tools.glmark2-es2-wayland to check that clients can use it, too:

Ubuntu

sudo snap install graphics-test-tools

Ubuntu Core 24

sudo snap install graphics-test-tools --channel 24

$ sudo graphics-test-tools.glmark2-es2-wayland
=======================================================
    glmark2 2023.01
=======================================================
    OpenGL Information
    GL_VENDOR:      NVIDIA Corporation
    GL_RENDERER:    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super/PCIe/SSE2
    GL_VERSION:     OpenGL ES 3.2 NVIDIA 570.158.01
# ...

Conclusion¶

Ubuntu Frame supports Nvidia GPUs across Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core, delivering the most value and performance out of your choice of hardware.