SettingUpCUDA < LCI

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This article documents the process of installing the NVIDIA CUDA GPGPU framework on a self-administered Ubuntu 8.04 Linux computer.  This guide is a collection of the various things we had to do to get CUDA up and running.   For mor info on CUD look here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_what_is.html

   * Requirements
      * CUDA-capable NVIDIA Graphics card.  See the list here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_learn_products.html
      * Computer running Ubuntu 8.04 - other distros and versions are supported, but this is what we used.
      * CUDA installer files:  get them here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_get.html
         * CUDA-compatible NVIDIA drivers
         * CUDA toolkit
         * CUDA SDK installer
         * CUDA GDB debugger installer (optional)
         * CUDA getting started guide

   * CUDA installation
      * The CUDA getting started guide is excellent, and will get you most of the way.  Hoever, there are a few thigs we had to figure out, which are listed here.  Read these first before you begin!
         * NVIDIA driver install.
            * The driver installer may need to compile a kernel-something-or-other during installation, and for this it requires libc.  Install libc now to head this problem off (if it's not already installed).  To do this, issue the command "sudo apt-get install libc6-dev" to download and install the package (or use synaptic). 
            * The driver installer requires that the X server is shut down before it can begin.  To do this on Ubuntu, press CTRL-ALT-F1 (maybe other F-keys) to switch from the graphical interface to a simple terminal.  Note that the graphical interface is still running, but is not displayed.  The instructions say the command "/sbin/init 3" will disable the x-server, but this is incorrect.  The command "sudo killall gdm" will disable the x-server.
            * You can invoke the installer script NVIDIA-Linux-x86-185.18.14-pkg1.run   NOTE: you may need to make the script executable using the command "chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86-185.18.14-pkg1.run".  
            * Once the installer is done executing, issue the command "startx" to reboot the x-server and restart graphics.  A keystroke like CTRL-ALT-F7 will return you to the graphical interface once X is running again.  At this point it would be wise to reboot the machine.
      * The toolkit and sdk installation went smoothly in our case, so hopefully it will for you too.
      * When it is time to compile the sdk examples, you will need a laundry list of dependencies before it will compile properly.  They are:
         * build-essential   (for g++)
         * libglut3 and libglut3-dev  (openGL graphics)
         * libxi-dev
         * libXmu-dev
         You can install them all at once with: "sudo apt-get install build-essential libglut3 libglut3-dev libxi-dev libXmu-dev"  Note that the packages with the -dev suffix contain the headers and other files necessary for development.

   * Testing your install
      * Once you've compiled the examples you can test the system using: NVIDIA_CUDA_SDK/bin/linux/release/deviceQuery   You're looking for the line "There are 'n' devices supporting CUDA" where n > 0.
      * Here are a list of the errors we had and how to fix them (some of the messages are not verbatim because I don't remember the exact wording:
         * "Your NVIDIA driver is not the same version as the NVIDIA kernel module.  They should be the same version."  - Marius fixed this.
         * "There is no device supporting CUDA"  This is a configuration problem (assuming you do have a CUDA-capable card).  This is addressed in the README that comes with the CUDA toolkit.  I will reproduce it here:
         
<verbatim>
         On some Linux releases, due to a GRUB bug in the handling of upper memory 
         and a default vmalloc too small on 32-bit systems, it may be necessary to
         pass this information to the bootloader:

         vmalloc=256MB, uppermem=524288

         Example of grub conf:

         title Red Hat Desktop (2.6.9-42.ELsmp)
         root (hd0,0)
         uppermem 524288
         kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-42.ELsmp ro root=LABEL=/1 rhgb quiet vmalloc=256MB
         pci=nommconf
         initrd /initrd-2.6.9-42.ELsmp.img
</verbatim>

         * In Ubuntu 8.04, the file to edit is NOT /boot/grub/grub.conf , it's /boot/grub/menu.lst .  Open it using the command sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst whic opens nano, a simple terminal text editor.  Scroll down until you see lines that don't begin with '#'.  They should look something like this:

<verbatim>
         title           Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS, kernel 2.6.24-24-generic
         root            (hd0,0)
         kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-24-generic root=UUID=dbb1a9e1-5e3d-45be-9a5e-18ec4260947d ro quiet splash
         initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-24-generic
         quiet
</verbatim>

         * There will probably be several of these blocks, representing the various boot modes (usually 4: the current kernal version, regular and safe mode boot, plus the previous kernel version, regular + safe mode boot, so that you can recover from a bad kernel upgrade).  We wish to edit the one in which the machine boots when we're doing CUDA stuff.  In our case that's the first one.  If you have a dual-boot system or other more interesting setups, be sure you edit the correct set of configurations.
         * We add the line *uppermem=524288* between the lines *root* and *kernel*
         * We append the phrase *vmalloc=256MB* to the end of the kernel line, separating it from the last entry on that line with a single space.  Your file should now look something like this:

<verbatim>
         title           Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS, kernel 2.6.24-24-generic
         root            (hd0,0)
         uppermem        524288
         kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-24-generic root=UUID=dbb1a9e1-5e3d-45be-9a5e-18ec4260947d ro quiet splash vmalloc=256MB
         initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-24-generic
         quiet
</verbatim>

         * Save your handiwork using the command CTRL-O  (won't work unless you did "sudo nano...")
         * Exit nano with CTRL-X
         * Restart the computer.

Thus endeth all the things I figured out for CUDA installation.  If you have other problems,google the error messages, and ask a Linux person, particularly if you find yourself sudo-ing a lot.



-- Main.MattBaumann - 09 Oct 2009
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Topic revision: r1 - 2009-10-09 - MattBaumann