Install Ubuntu 20.04 on Jetson Nano - Q-engineering (2023)

Please, find a complete Jetson Nano with a pre-installed Ubuntu 20.04, OpenCV, TensorFlow and PyTorch image on our GitHub page. Download the zip file, unzip and flash the image on a 32 GB SD-card, and enjoy!

# remove Chromium and OpenCV

$ sudo apt-get remove --purge chromium-browser chromium-browser-l10n

$ sudo apt-get update

# need nano for editing some files

$ sudo apt-get install nano

$ sudo apt-get upgrade

$ sudo apt-get autoremove

$ sudo nano /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades

# refresh your system again

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

$ sudo reboot

# upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04

$ sudo do-release-upgrade

After entering <y>, the transformation will take place. As mentioned, some questions are asked during the process. Always confirm the default value. There may also be a notification that a new Ubuntu version is available, the Hirsute Hippo 21.04 version. Please cancel that notification, as we won't be installing that version for a while.

When Ubuntu 20.04 is installed, all obsolete files can be removed from your drive, as the screen shows.

Now that the packages have been removed, Ubuntu will ask for a restart. Don't reboot now! That's really important.

You need to check some files and make some changes before Ubuntu can reboot. If you forget this, you will get a warning every time Ubuntu starts. So do it right away.

First, check that WaylandEnable=false is uncommented in the /etc/gdm3/custom.conf file.

Uncomment (remove the hash before the line) Driver "nividia" in the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

Finally, reset the upgrade manager to never.

Now you can safely reboot the system.

$ sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

See the issue posted on Raffaello Bonghi's GitHub page and the solution given by SkrilaxCZ.

# prepare your system

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get upgrade

$ sudo apt-get autoremove

# remove circular symlink

# remove distorted nvidia logo in top bar

$ cd /usr/share/nvpmodel_indicator

$ sudo mv nv_logo.svg no_logo.svg

The last action is to re-enable the original NVIDIA repositories, which were disabled during the upgrade. In the folder /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ you will find the five files that needed to be changed. Open each file with $ sudo nano and remove the hash in front of the line to activate the repository.

Ubuntu 20.04 comes with gcc version 9.3.0.

# setup the gcc selector

$ sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-9 9

$ sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-8 8

# setup the g++ selector

$ sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-9 9

$ sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/g++ g++ /usr/bin/g++-8 8

# if you want to make a selection use these commands

$ sudo update-alternatives --config g++

Always select the two corresponding versions at the same time. Otherwise, very obscure errors may occur during compilation. As mentioned, if you want to compile software that requires CUDA or cuDNN, such as OpenCV, choose version 8.

Your choice is saved and applied system-wide. Even after a reboot, the selected pair is still active. The only way to change the versions is to resubmit the command.

The same goes for the clang compilers. In this case, the CUDA and cuDNN need version 8, while Ubuntu installs default version 10. You can either install version 8 right away with $ sudo apt-get install clang-8 or install more versions and create an sudo update-alternatives --config just like above.

You may run into problems upgrading Ubuntu 20.04 on your Jetson Nano after a while. The Software Updater cannot install all the packages listed. When you run $ sudo apt-get upgrade you will see the following screen.

Now you can upgrade your Ubuntu 20.04 with the usual command $ sudo apt-get upgrade.

Final remarks.

Ubuntu 20.04 is now fully functional on your Jetson Nano. You can customize the installation further to your own needs.

We were surprised by how long it takes for some assignments to complete. When we set up the dphys swap mechanism for the OpenCV installation, it took five nerve-wracking minutes for the reboot to complete. We stare at a blank screen all the time. So be patient is the advice in such cases.

We also had to disable the power-saving blank screen option in the settings as it gives unstable results when rebooting from sleep mode.

There are reasons why Nvidia doesn't ship Ubuntu 20.04 with its JetPacks. It certainly has to do with the little added value compared to version 18.04. But there will also be other reasons. Therefore, see this Ubuntu 20.04 version as an experiment. That's why it comes without any warranty, and we cannot provide (technical) support in any way.