I am in a pickle. I have a Plex Media Server on Debian 11 CLI (Bullseye). I’ve had a Nvidia card installed since I built the tower (originally a 960, now upgraded to a 3050). I’ve never been able to get hardware transcoding up and running and I would really like to make use of the new hardware.
My question is more around what I’ve seen involving Debian…everyone uses docker. I do not. Should I use Ubuntu? It seems that is the “go to” linux OS for hardware transcoding. Should I install Ubuntu instead?
Docker was used in the earlier days for NAS boxes before the HDR tone mapping files were included with PMS core. A couple months ago, that changed and PMS now includes the tone mapping libraries.
All you need to do is install the Nvidia drivers and confirm PMS is a member of the group which owns /dev/dri/render* (which the installation scripting does)
That’s what I was hoping for. Yet I’m running into issues. I’ve installed the nvidia driver from the repo, however when I attempt to run nvidia-smi:
deirfyes@debianplex:~$ sudo nvidia-smi
[sudo] password for deirfyes:
NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn’t communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.
deirfyes@debianplex:~$ ll /dev/dri/render*
ls: cannot access ‘/dev/dri/render*’: No such file or directory
deirfyes@debianplex:~$ ^C
deirfyes@debianplex:~$ ll /dev/dri
ls: cannot access ‘/dev/dri’: No such file or directory
deirfyes@debianplex:~$ ll /dev | grep dri
deirfyes@debianplex:~$
deirfyes@debianplex:~$ sudo apt install nvidia-driver
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree… Done
Reading state information… Done
nvidia-driver is already the newest version (525.60.13-1).
I have been chasing my tail for over a week (for like the 9th time) with this and have yet to figure out what I’m missing. Every guide I’ve followed to get this installed and working to get HW transcoding working is coming up empty.
To clarify, HW transcoding didn’t work with the 960 either. I struggled with this when I built the system about a year ago and just gave up. Most of my files don’t require transcoding currently, but would like to add more content that may need it.
Just a note: I don’t have a GUI for my server and is headless.
deirfyes@debianplex:~$ sudo update-initramfs -u
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.0.0-0.deb11.6-amd64
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8125b-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8125a-3.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8107e-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8107e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168fp-3.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168h-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168h-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168g-3.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168g-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8106e-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8106e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8411-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8411-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8402-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168f-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168f-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8105e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-3.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168d-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168d-1.fw for module r8169
Am I going to need the firmware that is listed here?
[chuck@lizum ~.2000]$ command update-initramfs
You must specify at least one of -c, -u, or -d.
Usage: update-initramfs {-c|-d|-u} [-k version] [-v] [-b directory]
Options:
-k version Specify kernel version or 'all'
-c Create a new initramfs
-u Update an existing initramfs
-d Remove an existing initramfs
-b directory Set alternate boot directory
-v Be verbose
See update-initramfs(8) for further details.
[chuck@lizum ~.2001]$
Post reboot:
deirfyes@debianplex:~$ sudo nvidia-smi
NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn’t communicate with the NVIDIA driver. Make sure that the latest NVIDIA driver is installed and running.
Also, still not finding /dev/dri. Any particular reason why that folder isn’t showing up?
If the nvidia drivers are not finding the card then it’s “all stop” until that happens.
see if the card is being seen at all:
sudo lspci | grep -i nvidia
How this works:
The kernel boots
It enumerates what’s found in the CPU in /dev (all the devices)
It scans the PCI bus. It enumerates all those devices
As it looks at each remaining device, if it has a driver for it, it enumerates it in /dev
The Intel QSV is a rendering surface. It therefore goes in /dev/dri (renderD128)
The Nvidia is also a rendering surface. It goes there too (renderD129)
