System Notification Helper: Properietary drivers might be required to enable additional features

[Ger Robertson]

Since updating from Kubuntu 13.10 to 14.04 a couple of days ago, I
constantly get the message: Loading Image...
System Notification Helper: Properietary drivers might be required to
enable additional features

What am I supposed to do about that message?
How do I know which drivers it is complaining about?

[Mike Easter]

Post by Ger Robertson
Since updating from Kubuntu 13.10 to 14.04 a couple of days ago, I
constantly get the message: http://i61.tinypic.com/16atc2o.jpg
System Notification Helper: Properietary drivers might be required to
enable additional features
What am I supposed to do about that message?
How do I know which drivers it is complaining about?

This page^1 describes the new driver manager and new systems notification.

// The previous Additional Drivers application is being replaced by the
all new Driver Manager. The manager allows you to install and select the
driver you want to use for software that has more than one supported
driver, including proprietary drivers.//

// Kubuntu's built-in recommendation software now notifies you when
better drivers for your hardware can be installed and when additional
software can be installed to improve the language support. //

http://www.kubuntu.org/news/kubuntu-14.04 Welcome to Kubuntu 14.04 LTS


I would access the (new) driver manager and see what it says.

[Ger Robertson]

Post by Mike Easter
http://www.kubuntu.org/news/kubuntu-14.04 Welcome to Kubuntu 14.04 LTS
I would access the (new) driver manager and see what it says.

It doesn't say much.
"All New Driver Manager
The previous Additional Drivers application is being replaced by
the all new Driver Manager. The manager allows you to install and
select the driver you want to use for software that has more than
one supported driver, including proprietary drivers."

Methinks it should at least point the user to how to start the thing!
There is no "Driver Manager" in the "(Kgear)>System" menu, nor in
the "K(gear)>Utilities" menu.

And, the only place "Drivers" are mentioned are in the old menu
"K(gear)>Additional Drivers", which gives absolutely no information
about what the error message is trying to tell me.

It seems badly designed that the error messages doesn't provide *any*
way to figure out what the error message is trying to indicate!

[Ger Robertson]

Post by Ger Robertson
And, the only place "Drivers" are mentioned are in the old menu
"K(gear)>Additional Drivers", which gives absolutely no information
about what the error message is trying to tell me.

Given that the error message doesn't give you a single way to figure
out what it's referring, I googled and found out that the new driver
manager should be in "K(gear)>System > Driver Manager for Kubuntu",
but it's just not there:
http://kshadeslayer.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/new-driver-manager-for-kubuntu/

Thinking that the upgrade to Kubuntu 14.04 failed to bring in the
new driver manager, I ran the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install kubuntu-driver-manager
[sudo] password for ger:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
kubuntu-driver-manager is already the newest version.
kubuntu-driver-manager set to manually installed.
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
libswscale-extra-2
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove it.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

$ which kubuntu-driver-manager
Reported nothing.

$ locate kubuntu-driver-manager
Reported:
/usr/share/apport/package-hooks/kubuntu-driver-manager.py
/usr/share/doc/kubuntu-driver-manager
/usr/share/doc/kubuntu-driver-manager/changelog.gz
/usr/share/doc/kubuntu-driver-manager/copyright
/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_GB/LC_MESSAGES/desktop_kubuntu-driver-manager.mo
/var/lib/dpkg/info/kubuntu-driver-manager.list
/var/lib/dpkg/info/kubuntu-driver-manager.md5sums

So, how is a normal sane human *supposed* to access this new
driver manager anyway?

[Wildman]

On Sun, 28 Sep 2014 17:40:27 +0000 (UTC)

Post by Ger Robertson
So, how is a normal sane human *supposed* to access this new
driver manager anyway?

Check the menu under Settings-->Additional Drivers.

[Ger Robertson]

Post by Wildman
Check the menu under Settings-->Additional Drivers.

I had checked that before I ever posted.
Loading Image...

There's nothing there that tells me anything about the error.
There are no errors, in fact, if you believe that GUI.

So, if there are no errors, why does Kubuntu report an error?
And, why does Kubuntu, when it reports that error, give you
absolutely no way to figure out what it is that is giving
the error?

And, why can't anyone even *start* the *new* driver manager?

Seems like a usability problem if nobody here can show how to
to that, least of all me, even after googling (as I had shown).

[Mike Easter]

And, why can't anyone even*start* the*new* driver manager?

I downloaded and ran a live Kub 14.04. My experience differs from your
description.

I can access the notification helper from the notification area on the
lower right.

I can access the driver manager from that same notification area and
notification helper, or I can access that driver manager from the
kickoff application launcher (menu button)/System settings/ System
administration section/ Driver manager item.

My useful hardware tool script inxi was not installed in the live
default and it didn't show in the search function of the software
center, but it was available in the repos. (Why is it that if it is in
the repos it doesn't show/search in the software center?) so I installed it.

Both inxi and the driver manager told me that I was using the nouveau
drivers and that I could be using nvidia drivers.

The driver manager recommended that I use the nvidia 331.38

[Mike Easter]

Post by Mike Easter
I can access the notification helper from the notification area on the
lower right.

If I poise my pointer over the notification helper it gives the
information in your Subject because of recommended nvidia drivers.

After installing the recommended nvidia driver, that driver manager says
that the nvidia driver is now installed, but inxi can tell about the new
driver.

I believe I need to log out of the session and log back in, but I can't
seem to accomplish that with the live session.

[Mike Easter]

Post by Ger Robertson
There is no "Driver Manager" in the "(Kgear)>System" menu, nor in
the "K(gear)>Utilities" menu.

I'm not familiar with the Kub 14.04 interface nor if it includes inxi in
the default.

If it did, the command

inxi -G

would be informative about your video and drivers.

inxi is a very useful hardware info script and is in the repos.

[Ger Robertson]

Post by Mike Easter
inxi -G
would be informative about your video and drivers.

I added Google inxi and ran that suggested command:

$ inxi -G
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]
X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau) Resolution: ***@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: Quadro FX 880M/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 331.38

Does that result tell anyone here which driver is causing Kubuntu
to give the error? http://i61.tinypic.com/16atc2o.jpg

[jeff g.]

Post by Ger Robertson

Post by Mike Easter
inxi -G
would be informative about your video and drivers.

$ inxi -G
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GT216GLM [Quadro FX 880M]
GLX Renderer: Quadro FX 880M/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 331.38
Does that result tell anyone here which driver is causing Kubuntu
to give the error? http://i61.tinypic.com/16atc2o.jpg

Its a start - go to the nVidia site and test for their proprietary
driver, download it, and settle back with the instructions - you'll be
awhile - its a learning experience. And you'll need do it after after
every kernel change. But that driver is probable the better than any
other you'll get - thats why KDE wants it.