How to Install GPU Viewer on Linux Mint

In this article, we will discuss how to install GPU Viewer on Linux Mint and get a visual idea of the hardware system, so read on to find out more. 

GPU Viewer provides a handy interface to cover necessary information about the GPU running on your system. We will briefly discuss the tool, the installation steps, and how the tool can be uninstalled.

About The GPU Viewer Project

The project has been developed using the python language. GPU Viewer uses pygobject with GTK3. And with an easy-to-use interface, you can obtain basic information about GPU programming without working on the conventional command line interface. It is extremely helpful for users who are not comfortable working on the Terminal.

How to Install GPU Viewer on Linux Mint

We will now discuss the installation steps for the GPU viewer. Follow the steps below to install the GPU viewer on Linux Mint. But before the installation, please have a look at some known issues that could be involved in the process.

Note: People may use cloning and install the application through the install file. It will work with the Vulkan tools 1.2141 or higher. For the version below, use the PPA repository. This will install the latest stable version. 

Prerequisites for installation

Before installing the GPU viewer, ensure that the newest python version is installed. It is advisable to have root access or a user with sudo privileges.

Installation using the PPA repository

We will talk about how to install the GPU Viewer using the PPA repository. We are talking about the installation instruction for the following version:

• (Jammy)/Ubuntu 21.10
• (Impish)/Ubuntu 21.04
• (Hirsute)/Ubuntu 20.04
• (Focal)/Ubuntu 18.04 
• (Bionic)/Linux Mint 20.x/Linux Mint 19.x 

The first step is to add the repository. Open the Terminal by clicking on the system menu and selecting the Terminal.

Then, use the following command to add the repository:

$sudo add-apt-repository ppa:arunsivaraman/gpuviewer

Now update your system by using this command:

$sudo apt-get update

You can now install the GPU viewer with this:

$sudo apt-get install gpu-viewer

The previously mentioned commands will not only install the GPU viewer, but all the dependencies such as python, Vulkan-tools, clinfo, and es2_info (if they are not installed before).

Installation using the Debian distro

The users of the Debian distro can install the GPU viewer by just running the .deb file.

Installation for Arch-based distro

The arch-based distro users can download the application from the following source. Alternatively, the following command can be run on the Terminal:

$yay -S gpu-viewer

Then, all the dependencies will be automatically taken care of and installed.

Installation for Fedora-based distro

Users of the Fedora-based distro can install the GPU viewer by running the following command:

$sudo dnf -y install clinfo eg-utils mesa-demos mesa-vulkan-drivers python3 vdpauinfo vulkan-tools

Then, the below steps will be performed as mentioned in section 2.8.

openSUSE-based distro

For users of openSUSE, they can run the following command for installation:

$sudo zypper install clinfo mesa-demo mesa-vulkan-device-select libvulkan_intel libvulkan_lvp libvulkan_radeon python3 libvdpau1 vulkan-tools

Then, the steps mentioned in section 2.8 will be performed.

Installation for other distros

All the other distros will perform the steps mentioned in section 2.8.

Download, build and install

In this step, we will discuss how to download the file and then extract it to a folder. Open the Terminal and navigate the folder using the cd command. Then, run the following command to first build:

$meson_build

Now, move to the build folder via this command:

$cd_build

Now, you can install the GPU viewer by using the following command:

$ninja install

Vulkan Tab

Now, we will discuss the basic steps for the Vulkan tab to work in Ubuntu. For Ubuntu, run the following command:

$sudo apt-get install vulkan-tools

This will install the Vulkan tools. In addition, Vulkan-enabled drivers should also be installed for proper functioning.

OpenCL Tab

For the OpenCL tab to work in the Ubuntu distro, install the clinfo tool via the following command:

$sduo apt install clinfo

Consult the documentation for installation on other platforms. Also, you should check that you have OpenCL installed for the respective platform, as shown below:

• Nvidia CUDA – Nvidia hardware
• beignet – Intel Graphics 
• pocpl – CPU 
• AMD OpenCL – AMD hardware
  

EGL Info

For the EGL info to be displayed in the OpenCL tab, install the mesa-utils-extra package in Debian.

VDPAU information

Install vdpauinfo for VPDAU information to be displayed.

Launching the tool

You can run the GPU viewer tool in different ways. The first approach is to run the tool from the Terminal by using the following command:

$gpu-viewer

In addition to the Terminal, you can run the tool from the icon found in the GUI interface.

Uninstallation of GPU viewer

Uninstallation may be required in cases where the tool is malfunctioning. In this case, you can perform the following steps to uninstall the GPU viewer:

Remove the gpuviewer directory

Remove GPU-viewer directory /usr/share by running the following command on the Terminal:

$sudo rm /usr/share/gpu-viewer -r

Alternatively, you can browse that folder and use the graphical user interface (GUI) to remove it.

Remove the symlink

You should also remove the symlink to remove the GPU viewer tool from your system altogether. For this purpose, run the following command on your Terminal:

$sudo rm /usr/bin/gpu-viewer

Note: For Debian users, consult the frequently asked questions(FAQ) to uninstall the GPU viewer.

In this article, we have discussed the GPU viewer tool that can be used to find information about the GPU without using the Terminal. 

We talked about the basic steps to install this tool. In addition, we also tackled how the tool can be launched from the command line or graphical user interface. And lastly, we have also briefly discussed how the tool could be uninstalled (in case the tool is not working properly). 

If this guide helped you, please share it.