How to install CUDA from Ubuntu repositories

The Ubuntu repositories now host CUDA packages. These may not be latest and greatest, but I find them to work well with the NVIDIA drivers from the same place. Also, they are very easy to install compared to the packages from the NVIDIA website.

• First, install the latest NVIDIA driver available from the repositories. NVIDIA driver package is named as nvidia-xyz, where xyz is the version. Pick the largest number version that is available from the repositories. For example:

$ sudo apt install nvidia-331

The installation process compiles the driver for your particular Linux kernel and deploys that module. Restart the computer once the install is done.

You must be able to see a NVIDIA module when you list the kernel modules. For example, on my computer:

$ dkms status
nvidia-331, 331.38, 3.13.0-24-generic, x86_64: installed

• Now you are ready to install CUDA. This is really easy since installing the package nvidia-cuda-toolkit will pull in all the hundred other CUDA packages and tools that are needed:

$ sudo apt install nvidia-cuda-toolkit

That is it, enjoy your CUDA programming! :)

Tried with: Linux kernel 3.13.0-24-generic, CUDA 5.5, NVIDIA driver 331, NVIDIA GTX Titan and Ubuntu 14.04