Linux NPU Driver v1.2.0
Components revisions included in the release
- linux-npu-driver: https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/tree/v1.2.0
- Firmware binary:
firmware/bin/vpu_37xx_v0.0.bin, version:20240221*MTL_CLIENT_SILICON-release*2101*ci_tag_ud202408_vpu_rc_20240221_2101*845c105994a - NPU compiler (https://github.com/openvinotoolkit/npu_plugin/tree/mtl_npu_ud_2024_08_rc3) built with OpenVINO 2023.2.0
Tested components
- oneAPI Level Zero Loader - https://github.com/oneapi-src/level-zero/releases/tag/v1.16.1
- Ubuntu 22.04 with Linux kernel v6.8.1 with the
intel_vpu.komodule enabled
Warning
On Ubuntu22.04 the linux-headers can be ignored from Ubuntu Kernel mainline. They are built for latest Ubuntu distribution
Installation procedure on Ubuntu22.04
- Remove old packages
dpkg --purge --force-remove-reinstreq intel-driver-compiler-npu intel-fw-npu intel-level-zero-npu level-zero
- Download all *.deb packages
wget https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases/download/v1.2.0/intel-driver-compiler-npu_1.2.0.20240404-8553879914_ubuntu22.04_amd64.deb
wget https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases/download/v1.2.0/intel-fw-npu_1.2.0.20240404-8553879914_ubuntu22.04_amd64.deb
wget https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases/download/v1.2.0/intel-level-zero-npu_1.2.0.20240404-8553879914_ubuntu22.04_amd64.deb
- Install libtbb12 which is a dependency for intel-driver-compiler-npu
sudo apt update
sudo apt install libtbb12
- Install all packages
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
- Install Level Zero if it is not in the system
# check if Level Zero is installed
dpkg -l level-zero
# download and install package if Level Zero is missing
wget https://github.com/oneapi-src/level-zero/releases/download/v1.16.1/level-zero_1.16.1+u22.04_amd64.deb
dpkg -i level-zero*.deb
- Reboot
reboot
# if everything works, we should see /dev/accel/accel0 device
ls /dev/accel/accel0
/dev/accel/accel0
# to receive intel_vpu state
dmesg
User access to the device
As a root user, this step can be skipped.
The new device /dev/accel/accel0 requires manual setting of permissions access.
The accel devices should be in the "render" group in Ubuntu:
# set the render group for accel device
sudo chown root:render /dev/accel/accel0
sudo chmod g+rw /dev/accel/accel0
# add user to the render group
sudo usermod -a -G render <user-name>
# user needs to restart the session to use the new group (log out and log in)
The above steps must be repeated each time module is reloaded or on every reboot.
To avoid manual setup of the group for accel device, the udev rules can be used:
sudo bash -c "echo 'SUBSYSTEM==\"accel\", KERNEL==\"accel*\", GROUP=\"render\", MODE=\"0660\"' > /etc/udev/rules.d/10-intel-vpu.rules"
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger --subsystem-match=accel
Tip
In case of NPU is not visible, always check the access to the device with following command:
$ ls -lah /dev/accel/accel0
crw-rw---- 1 root render 261, 0 Mar 22 13:22 /dev/accel/accel0
If render is missing, or crw-rw---- is not set, please repeat the steps to set the access to the device.
Additional information
The kernel driver intel_vpu can be found here in the kernel sources.
In case of any problems, please check README first.