The instructions here outline the steps we've followed to configure an NVIDIA Jetson Nano with Ubuntu 22.04 server in a headless configuration. Optionally, the device may be upgraded to Ubuntu 20.04 with Desktop.
These instructions are meant to be concise and a reference, but not comprehensive. Familiarity with Linux and Jetson Nano is required. See the refereces section below for more detailed walkthroughs from which many of these steps derive.
[!NOTE] NVIDIA Jetson Nano is a different product from NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano. Jetson Orin Nano is a later generation product that should be easily configured with Ubuntu 22.04 or later following the product user guides. The instructions here apply only to NVIDIA Jetson Nano.
Jetson Nano firmware is released as part of the NVIDIA SDK Manager. The firmware, Jetson Linux, and Jetson SDK, collectively known as Jetpack, are downloaded and programmed to the device using the SDK Manager. The latest Jetpack SDK that supports NVIDIA Jetson Nano is Jetpack 4.6.3
- Host computer running Ubuntu Desktop 18.04, 20.04, or 22.04
- NVIDIA Jetson Nano
- Use NVIDIA SDK Manager to flash the Jetson Nano with Jetpack 4.6.3.
- SDK Manager
- Jetpack 4.6.3
- Jetson Linux 32.7.3 which is based on Ubuntu Desktop 18.04 (Bionic Beaver)
- Remove Ubuntu Desktop features
- Upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04
- (optionally) install Ubuntu Desktop
- Upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04
[!NOTE] The release page for Jetpack 4.6.3 does not appear to contain a download link for this version, and instead links to a download for 4.6.3. Jetpack 4.6.3 will be downloaded by the SDK Manager directly.
Download and install SDK Manager onto your host machine.
If you are running Ubuntu 20.04 or later, SDK Manager will report your operating system is not compatible with flashing the NVIDIA Jetson. This turns out to be an unncessessary limitation, and SDK Manager works fine with 20.04 and 22.04 if this limitation is bypassed.
You may skip this step if you are running Ubuntu 18.04.
Tricking lsb_release to report your distribution as 18.04 will bypass the limitation in SDK Manager. First backup your OS release information and then substitute a replacement that feigns 18.04:
sudo cp /usr/lib/os-release /usr/lib/os-release-current
sudo cp /usr/lib/os-release /usr/lib/os-release-bionicEdit os-release-bionic with the relevant release information for Ubuntu 18.04:
sudo nano /usr/lib/os-release/os-release-bionicPRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION_ID="18.04"
VERSION="18.04.5 LTS (Bionic Beaver)"
VERSION_CODENAME=bionic
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
UBUNTU_CODENAME=bionicReplace the system os-release file with the Bionic version:
sudo cp /usr/lib/os-release-bionic /usr/lib/os-releaseThis file will be restored once SDK Manager has completed flashing.
Launch NVIDIA SDK Manager and follow the instructions in Install Jetson Software with SDK Manager to flash Jetson 4.6.3 to your Jetson Nano.
Do not install additional SDKs, and uncheck all Jetson SDK Components. The only target components to install should be the Jetson OS.
You may see messages that installation of packages to your local host have failed, or that the overall installation failed. As long as the OS was flashed and boots, the firmware has been loaded successfully.
Revert to your system os-release file:
sudo cp /usr/lib/os-release/os-release-bionic /usr/lib/os-release/os-releaseThe following comands are all run on the Jetson Nano using either SSH or a keyboard / mouse / monitor attached to the device.
The docker installation in 18.04 is very outdated and should be removed prior to upgrading. A more modern version can be installed following the operating system upgrades.
sudo apt remove --purge docker docker.io containerd
sudo rm -rf /etc/dockerRemove Ubuntu Desktop applications, even if you plan to install Ubuntu Desktop later. This prevents some failures during upgrading, especially Chromium which will cause Ubuntu upgrade to fail if it is present. It's cleaner to remove the applications from the older distribution and then install later versions that correspond with the upgraded OS.
sudo apt remove --purge chromium-*
sudo apt remove --purge libreoffice*
sudo apt remove --purge thunderbird*
sudo apt remove --purge ffmpeg smplayer* vlc-*
sudo apt remove --purge youtube-dl
sudo apt remove --purge mobile-broadband-provider-info modemmanager
sudo apt remove --purge example-contentRather than upgrade Java, remove it prior to upgrading and install a later version after upgrading if needed.
sudo apt remove --purge openjdk*Set the default boot target to multi-user.target to boot into the console instead of XWindows.
sudo systemctl set-default multi-user.target
sudo rebootRemove Ubuntu Desktop:
sudo apt remove --purge --auto-remove \
ubuntu-desktop \
ubuntu-gnome-desktop \
ubuntu-artwork \
ubuntu-wallpaper* \
gnome-* libgnome* \
plymouth-theme* \
light-themes \
kde-window-manager kinit kwin-common kwin-x11 \
lxde lxde-* lxdm lxlock lxsession* \
xserver* \
xorg \
x11-common x11-utils \
unity unity-* \
gdm gdm3 \
lightdm \
libgtk* gtk-* \
xwayland \
nautilus nautilus-* \
zeitgeist-core libzeitgeist*Remove snap (it will be reinstalled during the upgrade):
sudo apt remove --purge --autoremove snapdRemove unused packages and reboot:
sudo apt autoremove
sudo rebootUpgrade existing packages to the latest version:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgradeInstall nano and modify Ubuntu Update Manager to allow distribution upgrades:
sudo apt install nano
sudo nano /etc/update-manager/release-upgradesSet the line Prompt=normal in `/etc/update-manager/release-upgrades
Upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04
sudo do-release-upgradeAfter the upgrade completes, reboot and log back in.
Set the default Python version to Python 3, which is the default for a fresh installation of Ubuntu 20.04.
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3 10
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python2 5Restore the NVIDIA l4t apt sources:
sudo mv /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nvidia-l4t-apt-sources.list.distUpgrade /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nvidia-l4t-apt-sources.listUpgrade all packages:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgradeIf you wish to run Ubuntu Desktop, you may install it here. Note that due to kernel limitations, upgrading beyond Ubuntu 20.04 renders the desktop unusable.
The kernel for the Jetson Nano is developed and released by NVIDIA and is no longer supported. Consequently the kernel is locked at 4.9.337-tegra. Ubuntu Desktop does not appear to work with this version beyond Ubuntu 20.04, which uses xorg version 1.20. Later versions of Ubuntu use a later version of xorg which appears incompatible with the kernel.
sudo apt install ubuntu-desktopFollow the instructions in Q-Engineering - Install Ubuntu 20.04 on Jetson Nano to configure Wayland, X11 video driver, and Vulkan, then reboot. The steps are summarized here:
- Check that
WaylandEnable=falseis uncommented in/etc/gdm3/custom.conf. - Uncomment
Driver "nividia"in file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
[!NOTE] If running Ubuntu Desktop, upgrading to Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 may result in XWindows breaking due to incompatibility with xorg and the Tegra kernel version. You may attempt to upgrade anyway by locking the version of xorg with sudo apt-mark xorg=1.2, and upgrade at your own risk.
Upgrade existing packages to the latest version:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgradeInstall nano and modify Ubuntu Update Manager to allow distribution upgrades:
sudo apt install nano
sudo nano /etc/update-manager/release-upgradesSet the line Prompt=normal in `/etc/update-manager/release-upgrades
Upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04
sudo do-release-upgradeAfter the upgrade completes, reboot and log back in.
Restore the NVIDIA l4t apt sources:
sudo mv /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nvidia-l4t-apt-sources.list.distUpgrade /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nvidia-l4t-apt-sources.listUpgrade all packages:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgradeThis is not required but will resolve a boot error regarding SSSD.
sudo cp /usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/sssd/conf/sssd.conf /etc/sssd/.
sudo chmod 600 /etc/sssd/sssd.confThe Tegra kernel version in Jetpack 4.6.3 does not fully support cgroups v2, which is a dependency of docker. To work around this, enable cgroups v1 by appending the following line to the APPEND section in the grub configuration /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf:
systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=0
See bpf_prog_query(BPF_CGROUP_DEVICE) failed: function not implemented: unknown for more information about the error that will present if cgroups v2 is not supported.
The Ubuntu upgrade process installs iptables-nft as the default IP tables, which is not compatible with docker. Downgrade IP tables:
sudo update-alternatives --set iptables /usr/sbin/iptables-legacy
sudo update-alternatives --set ip6tables /usr/sbin/ip6tables-legacyReboot to apply the kernel cgroups setting and new IP tables alternative:
sudo rebootInstall docker (see official docker install instructions)
# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
# Add the repository to Apt sources:
echo \
"deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
$(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo apt update
# Install docker
sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-pluginAdd your user to the docker group, and re-login to apply group change:
sudo usermod -aG docker ${USER}
logoutLog back in and test docker:
docker run hello-world