chore: nvidia issues

partially wip

articles/en/install-additional-drivers.md

@@ -21,7 +21,17 @@ Nvidia drivers are detected and installed automatically in Vanilla OS during the
 abroot config-editor
 ```
 
-here change the `name` parameter to `vanilla-os/nvidia` and save the file. A new update will start automatically, once done, reboot your system to start using the new drivers.
+here change the `name` parameter to `vanilla-os/nvidia` for recent Nvidia GPUs (e.g. GTX 600 series/RTX and newer) or `vanilla-os/nvidia-propietary` for older Nvidia GPUs (e.g. GTX 400 and 500 series) and save the file. 
+
+> Note: both images works with recent images, but the `vanilla-os/nvidia` is the one that should work with most recent GPUs.
+
+Then run:
+
+```bash
+abroot upgrade -f
+```
+
+once done, reboot your system to start using the new drivers.
 
 ## VM Tools
 
@@ -33,7 +43,13 @@ Virtual machines running Vanilla OS will be prompted to install Open VM Tools du
 abroot config-editor
 ```
 
-here change the `name` parameter to `vanilla-os/open-vm` and save the file. A new update will start automatically, once done, reboot your system to start using the new tools.
+here change the `name` parameter to `vanilla-os/open-vm` and save the file. Then run:
+
+```bash
+abroot upgrade -f
+```
+
+once done, reboot your system to start using the new drivers.
 
 ## Specific Drivers (e.g., Printer, Scanner) and Libraries
 

articles/en/nvidia-issues.md

@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+---
+Title: Common NVIDIA issues in Vanilla OS
+Description: Learn how to troubleshoot common NVIDIA issues in Vanilla OS.
+PublicationDate: 2024-08-02
+Listed: true
+Authors:
+    - mirkobrombin
+---
+
+First of all, we have to say that, even if Vanilla OS is designed to work out of the box with most NVIDIA GPUs, there are some common issues that can arise with some specific setups. Please keep in mind that NVIDIA has still poor support for Linux, every Linux distributions does its best to provide a good experience with NVIDIA GPUs, but sometimes issues can arise and this, for now, it's the normality, but things are getting better every day.
+
+## Knowing your GPU
+
+Before starting to troubleshoot your NVIDIA GPU, you should know which GPU you have. 
+
+If your GPU is working fine, you can check it by running the following command in the terminal:
+
+```bash
+host-shell nvidia-smi
+```
+
+If you have an NVIDIA GPU, you should see an output similar to this:
+
+```bash
++-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| NVIDIA-SMI 555.42.06              Driver Version: 555.42.06      CUDA Version: N/A      |
+|-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
+| GPU  Name                 Persistence-M | Bus-Id          Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
+| Fan  Temp   Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |           Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
+|                                         |                        |               MIG M. |
+|=========================================+========================+======================|
+|   0  NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 ...    Off |   00000000:01:00.0 Off |                  N/A |
+| N/A   44C    P3              9W /   35W |      15MiB /   6141MiB |      0%      Default |
+|                                         |                        |                  N/A |
++-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
+
++-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| Processes:                                                                              |
+|  GPU   GI   CI        PID   Type   Process name                              GPU Memory |
+|        ID   ID                                                               Usage      |
+|=========================================================================================|
+|    0   N/A  N/A      3263      G   /usr/bin/gnome-shell                            1MiB |
+|    0   N/A  N/A     94369      G   python3                                         1MiB |
++-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+```
+
+in this case, the GPU is an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 and it's working fine using the `555.42.06` driver.
+
+If you don't have a working NVIDIA GPU, you can still check the model by running the following command:
+
+```bash
+host-shell lspci | grep -i nvidia
+```
+
+This command will output the model of your NVIDIA GPU like the following:
+
+```bash
+01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation AD107M [GeForce RTX 4050 Max-Q / Mobile] (rev a1)
+01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation Device 22be (rev a1)
+```
+
+if you don't see any output, it means that you don't have an NVIDIA GPU.
+
+## Common issues
+
+### Applications are using the wrong GPU
+
+Vanilla OS tries to use the integrated GPU by default, leaving the NVIDIA GPU for more demanding tasks. However, if you want to force an application to use the NVIDIA GPU, you can do so by right-clicking on the application icon and selecting "Launch using Discrete Graphics Card". From the terminal, you can use the following command:
+
+```bash
+nrun application-name
+```
+
+you can ensure `nrun` is working by running the following commands:
+
+```bash
+cur-gpu # should display the integrated GPU
+nrun cur-gpu # should display the NVIDIA GPU
+```
+
+### Install NVIDIA drivers Vanilla OS post-installation
+
+If you installed Vanilla OS without opting for the NVIDIA drivers, you can install them later by following [this](https://docs.vanillaos.org/handbook/en/install-additional-drivers#nvidia%C2%AE-drivers) guide.
+
+### Second monitor not working
+
+If you have a second monitor connected to your NVIDIA GPU and it's not working, this could be due to the some missing kernel arguments or, more likely, you are using the wrong system image.
+
+First ensure you are using the correct system image, issue the command:
+
+```
+abroot status
+```
+
+and check the parameter `Image` under the **ABImage** section, it should be `ghcr.io/vanilla-os/nvidia` for recent NVIDIA GPUs (e.g. GTX 600 series/RTX and newer) or `ghcr.io/vanilla-os/nvidia-propietary` for older NVIDIA GPUs (e.g. GTX 400 and 500 series).