AlmaLinux OS is a free and open source enterprise Linux distribution that was launched in response to Red Hat ending CentOS in favor of CentOS Stream.
Catering to the community's need for a stable, reliable alternative, AlmaLinux OS provides binary compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux while still maintaining the accessibility and community-driven development that made CentOS a success.
AlmaLinux OS 9 and 10 now ship with native NVIDIA support, addressing the typical headaches people face with graphics drivers on Linux. The integration includes NVIDIA's Linux Open GPU Kernel Module, Secure Boot compatibility, and simple installation via DNF.
The developers made this work by including NVIDIA's open source kernel module and repository configurations in AlmaLinux, so users can install everything through standard DNF commands.
When AlmaLinux started just 5 years ago, this wouldn’t have been possible. However, with NVIDIA releasing an open source version of their graphics drivers, things changed. This open source version is slowly becoming the flagship driver, with new products being added exclusively to it.
Setting it Up on AlmaLinux OS 9 & 10
I followed the instructions laid out in the announcement blog to install the driver for my NVIDIA RTX 3050 6 GB GPU, and it worked well. Here's how you can do it. 👇
First, you update your system by using this command:
sudo dnf update
Then, install the release package that contains the NVIDIA driver and repository configurations:
sudo dnf install almalinux-release-nvidia-driver
When prompted, press "Y" to confirm the package installations. You will see this prompt twice during this step.
Next, install the actual driver components:
sudo dnf install nvidia-open-kmod nvidia-driver
This step may take a while depending on your internet speed, and the installer will prompt you again twice to confirm package installations.
After installation completes, reboot your system with this command, but make sure to save any open work first as it will be lost:
sudo reboot
Post reboot, run these commands to confirm whether the driver is working properly:
sudo dnf install nvidia-cuda-driver
nvidia-smi
If everything goes well, the nvidia-smi output will display your GPU information and indicate that the driver loaded successfully. If you face any issues, then you can ask for help in our community forum.
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