For novices I do not recommend manually install the nvidia drivers. This can cause problems if things are not done correctly, then the system will not start even using opensource drivers.
My recommendation to install the drivers in a secure way is to do it from “Additional Drivers”, then find and install the “nvidia-modprobe” package. Even you do not need to configure any xorg.conf or anything like that. So that link you share can be confusing. And you always remember to use Blender from the official site. Blender from Ubuntu does not include precompiled CUDA kernel.
I do not understand why you say that “the only” way it works is manual installation. I know a lot of cases where drivers are working properly installing from additional drivers and installing the “nvidia-modprobe” package. Even you can check it in many of these threads where you are doing that claim.
Regards.
You are right, YAFU. There is another way. I am sorry.
Hey, no problem. I know you’re trying to help other users here. Just I know many cases where novice users have broken the system trying to install the binary downloaded from the nvidia site, and I make a warning about it.