Nvidia has released a new update for the Linux drivers, but it’s a small upgrade that only brings support for a couple of new GPUs.

Keeping track of all the Nvidia branches for Linux drivers is becoming a hassle, especially if you are a gamer. Usually, game developers recommend that you use the latest driver, but that’s a piece of advice a little bit difficult to follow on the Linux platform. The recent Nvidia driver update is a good example of that.

What is the best Nvidia driver for your system? That’s a question that even Nvidia would have a problem answering. As it stands right now, there is the Long-Lived branch, the Short-Lived branch, and three different Legacy branches. On top of these we have a Beta branch, and from time to time, Nvidia releases a driver that doesn’t fit into any of these categories.

If you want the latest Nvidia driver, the 361.18 version that was just released is the latest one, but it’s a Beta, and it’s not really worth it for just a couple of small changes. It’s also unlikely that it will be made available in any of the major reposts out there anytime soon, although it’s ready in the unstable repo for Arch.

What’s new in Nvidia 361.18 Beta for Linux

As I said earlier, this is a very small update, and it brings support for GeForce 940MX and Quadro M500M. As usual, the developers have also posted the minimum requirements for the drivers, but they are nothing out of the ordinary. It should work on any system that has, at least, Linux kernel 2.6.18, X.Org 1.0, glibc 2.0, and libvdpau 0.2.

You can download Nvidia 361.18 Beta for Linux from Softpedia, but please keep in mind that if you install it manually, you might have problems with missing kernel headers after you reboot.