Installing Nvidia Driver For FreeBSD

To install Nvidia drivers on FreeBSD, you can use the FreeBSD Ports Collection, which is a system for managing software installation. Here's a step-by-step guide to install Nvidia drivers on FreeBSD:

Ensure Your System is Up to Date: Before installing any new software, it's a good practice to make sure your FreeBSD system is up to date. You can do this by running:

sudo freebsd-update fetch
sudo freebsd-update install

Install Ports Collection: If you haven't already installed the Ports Collection, you can do so by running:

sudo portsnap fetch
sudo portsnap extract

Locate Nvidia Driver in Ports Collection: Search for the Nvidia driver in the Ports Collection. You can do this by using the whereis command:

whereis nvidia-driver

Install Nvidia Driver: Once you've located the Nvidia driver in the Ports Collection, you can install it using the pkg command. For example, if the Nvidia driver package is called x11/nvidia-driver, you can install it by running:

sudo pkg install x11/nvidia-driver

Make sure to replace x11/nvidia-driver with the actual package name you found in the Ports Collection.

Load Nvidia Kernel Module: After installing the Nvidia driver, you need to load the corresponding kernel module. You can do this by adding nvidia_load="YES" to your /boot/loader.conf file. You can use a text editor like vi or ee to edit the file:

sudo vi /boot/loader.conf

Add the following line to the file:

nvidia_load="YES"

Save the file and exit the text editor.

Reboot Your System: After adding the Nvidia kernel module to /boot/loader.conf, reboot your system to apply the changes:

sudo reboot

After following these steps, the Nvidia driver should be installed and loaded on your FreeBSD system. You can verify the installation by running nvidia-smi in the terminal, which should display information about your Nvidia GPU(s) if the driver is installed correctly.