SILICON PASSPORT

LINUX SETUP GUIDE · FREE · READ-ONLY

Set up a Linux GPU host for Silicon Passport

This guide prepares a Linux machine with an NVIDIA GPU to run the free Terminal Preflight. The preflight is local and read-only: no account, payment, sudo, uploads or benchmarks.

1. Check your hardware is supported

Supported: Linux with NVIDIA RTX 4090, RTX 4080, RTX 6000 Ada, L40S, A100 or H100, one GPU per run.

Not enabled: RTX 5090, H200, B200, AMD MI300X, Windows and macOS hosts, and eight-GPU node audits. The preflight shows BLOCKED for these — do not buy a pass for an unsupported host.

2. Install the prerequisites

The script installs nothing. Have your administrator provide:

  • Bash, curl and timeout (coreutils) — standard on most distributions.
  • NVIDIA driver with a working nvidia-smi.
  • Node.js 20 or newer — needed later by the diagnostic agent.
  • nvbandwidth on your PATH — only its presence is checked; it is not run.

Confirm each one:

nvidia-smi            # should list your GPU
node --version        # v20 or newer
command -v nvbandwidth timeout curl

In Docker or Kubernetes, the container must have GPU access (for example --gpus all with the NVIDIA Container Toolkit). If nvidia-smi fails inside the container, fix passthrough first.

3. Download and review the script

Download it as a normal user (no sudo), read it, then run it. The downloaded script makes no network requests.

curl -fsSL -o silicon-passport-check.sh https://siliconpassport.com/api/public/terminal-preflight.sh
less silicon-passport-check.sh
bash silicon-passport-check.sh

You can also copy the exact command or download the file from the Terminal Preflight page.

4. Read the result

  • Exit 0 — basic prerequisites found.
  • Exit 2 — blocked or incomplete. Fix the listed items and rerun.

Output stays in your terminal. It includes the full serial and PCI bus ID — redact both before sharing a screenshot or log.

What the preflight does and does not check

  • NVIDIA driver access and detected GPUs
  • Driver-reported model, serial, memory and PCIe link
  • Current GPU temperature and available ECC counters
  • Node.js 20+ and nvbandwidth availability
  • Hardware identity, ownership or SPDM attestation
  • VBIOS proof, bandwidth, stress performance or node topology
  • Anything issued as a certificate — a preflight is not a passport

Host-reported telemetry can be spoofed. Missing fields stay unverified, never filled with zeros.

Troubleshooting

  • nvidia-smi not found or fails: install or reload the NVIDIA driver, then reboot if your distribution requires it. In a container, confirm GPU passthrough.
  • Model, serial, driver, memory or PCI bus ID missing: preflight blocks. Confirm the GPU is supported and visible to the driver.
  • Temperature, PCIe or ECC unavailable: these stay unverified. An unsupported ECC counter is not a zero-error reading.
  • Node.js, nvbandwidth or timeout missing: have your administrator install them, then rerun.
  • Unsupported model: BLOCKED is expected. Do not purchase for this host.

Next steps

After a clean preflight, choose a verification pass. Certification additionally needs a VBIOS dump, measured ambient temperature, an enrolled signer and paid authorization.

Run the free preflightGet verified