Linux NPU Driver v1.10.0

Validated on following configuration

Platform	System	Kernel	Firmware
Meteor Lake	Ubuntu22.04 LTS	6.8.0-47-generic	20241025*MTL_CLIENT_SILICON-release*1830*ci_tag_ud202444_vpu_rc_20241025_1830*ae072b315bc
	Ubuntu24.04 LTS	6.8.0-47-generic	20241025*MTL_CLIENT_SILICON-release*1830*ci_tag_ud202444_vpu_rc_20241025_1830*ae072b315bc
Arrow Lake	Ubuntu22.04 LTS	6.8.0-47-generic	20241025*MTL_CLIENT_SILICON-release*1830*ci_tag_ud202444_vpu_rc_20241025_1830*ae072b315bc
	Ubuntu24.04 LTS	6.8.0-47-generic	20241025*MTL_CLIENT_SILICON-release*1830*ci_tag_ud202444_vpu_rc_20241025_1830*ae072b315bc
Lunar Lake	Ubuntu22.04 LTS	6.8.0-47-generic	Oct 25 2024*NPU40xx*ci_tag_ud202444_vpu_eng_20241025_1500*ae072b315bc135fb4cc60cfa758b2a926bd6498f
	Ubuntu24.04 LTS	6.8.0-47-generic	Oct 25 2024*NPU40xx*ci_tag_ud202444_vpu_eng_20241025_1500*ae072b315bc135fb4cc60cfa758b2a926bd6498f

Common:

Component	Version
Level Zero	v1.17.44
OpenVINO Archive Package	2024.4.0
OpenVINO Python Package	2024.4.0
OpenVINO built from source	OpenVINO_rev.0ebff04
NPU Compiler	npu_ud_2024_44_rc1 built using OpenVINO_rev.0ebff04
GPU Driver	24.39.31294.12

Installation procedure

1. Remove old packages

dpkg --purge --force-remove-reinstreq intel-driver-compiler-npu intel-fw-npu intel-level-zero-npu

2. Download all *.deb package

• Ubuntu22.04

wget https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases/download/v1.10.0/intel-driver-compiler-npu_1.10.0.20241107-11729849322_ubuntu22.04_amd64.deb
wget https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases/download/v1.10.0/intel-fw-npu_1.10.0.20241107-11729849322_ubuntu22.04_amd64.deb
wget https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases/download/v1.10.0/intel-level-zero-npu_1.10.0.20241107-11729849322_ubuntu22.04_amd64.deb

• Ubuntu24.04

wget https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases/download/v1.10.0/intel-driver-compiler-npu_1.10.0.20241107-11729849322_ubuntu24.04_amd64.deb
wget https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases/download/v1.10.0/intel-fw-npu_1.10.0.20241107-11729849322_ubuntu24.04_amd64.deb
wget https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases/download/v1.10.0/intel-level-zero-npu_1.10.0.20241107-11729849322_ubuntu24.04_amd64.deb

3. Install libtbb12 which is a dependency for intel-driver-compiler-npu

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libtbb12

4. Install all packages

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

5. 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/v1.17.44/level-zero_1.17.44+u22.04_amd64.deb
dpkg -i level-zero*.deb

6. 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.

Important

For more information check README.md