How to Startup With Commands? [SOLVED]

[Noob193]

Hello! I did a previous search (viewtopic.php?t=440295) but the proposed solution(s)* didn't work.

I'm trying to boot with powerlimits on my graphics cards but nothing I've tried including rc.local and the startup applications ui have worked so any help would be appreciated.

Here is the info that was generated by the UI (set as 'add custom command')

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Exec=/home/apple/gpupowerlimit.sh
NoDisplay=false
Name[en_US]=/home/apple/gpupowerlimit.sh
X-GNOME-Autostart-Delay=15

And the actual gpupowerlimit.sh code:

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#!/bin/bash

sudo nvidia-smi -i 0 -pl 400

sudo nvidia-smi -i 1,2 -pl 250

exit 0

I feel like I'm missing something really simple here , thanks for your patience!

Edit: Forgot to add that this is a fresh install of Cinnamon 6.6.7 with kernel 6.17.0-14-generic.

[WristWidget]

Hello! I did a previous search (viewtopic.php?t=440295) but the proposed solution didn't work.

Hold up, that thread gives three different options. Define "the proposed solution didn't work."

[Noob193]

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but both the local.rc solution (I made one with sudo nano but kept getting 'file not detected' errors, even when using a hardlink to /home/apple/gpupowerlimit.sh or moving the file to the /etc/ folder + logging in as user thinking it was a PATH issue) and using the simpler "Startup Applications" ui

[WristWidget]

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but both the local.rc solution (I made one with sudo nano but kept getting 'file not detected' errors, even when using a hardlink to /home/apple/gpupowerlimit.sh

Huh?

or moving the file to the /etc/ folder + logging in as user thinking it was a PATH issue)

This doesn't make any sense either.

and using the simpler "Startup Applications" ui

I still don't see any examples of what you tried and what what errors messages were printed. You can describe how these options failed all day long, but you haven't shown what the failure state actually is.

[Noob193]

I actually ended up fixing it but I'll try to explain everything a little bit more clearly.

1. (Command file is located at /home/apple/)
I followed this guide exactly:(https://www.reddit.com/r/EtherMining/co ... smi_power/) and pointed the local.rc file to my script as below

local.rc file

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#!/bin/bash

/home/apple/gpupowerlimit.sh 15 &

/home/apple/gpupowerlimit.sh > /home/apple/gpupowerlimitsh.log

exit 0

This did NOT trigger the powerlimit OR generate a log file (to show that the rc.local script worked)

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sudo systemctl status rc-local.service 

Can't read /home/apple/gpupowerlimit.sh: No such file or directory

2. I learned elsewhere that running a file through rc.local does so as ROOT
See: (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/239 ... spberry-pi) so I ended up bypassing anything involving "Home" to avoid any ambiguity and placed the "gpupowerlimit.sh" script in /etc/

Here's the updated local.rc file:

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#!/bin/bash

/etc/gpupowerlimit.sh 15 &

gpupowerlimit.sh > /etc/gpupowerlimitsh.log

exit 0

Did NOT trigger the powerlimit command but successfully made the log file (I don't actually understand how that works)

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sudo systemctl status rc-local.service

Can't read /etc/gpupowerlimit.sh: No such file or directory

3. I added the bash command shell to startup + added permission to execute as recommended by (viewtopic.php?p=2630631#p2630631)

No error codes/no trigger


4. I ended up trying 2 again and it miraculously worked. I don't know...

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sudo systemctl status rc-local.service

rc-local.service - /etc/rc.local Compatibility
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/rc-local.service; enabled-runtime; preset: enabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/rc-local.service.d
             └─debian.conf
     Active: active (exited) since Wed 2026-02-11 23:11:52 EST; 1min 17s ago
       Docs: man:systemd-rc-local-generator(8)
    Process: 2008 ExecStart=/etc/rc.local start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
        CPU: 39ms

Feb 11 23:11:52 apple-MS-7E70 rc.local[2020]: All done.
Feb 11 23:11:52 apple-MS-7E70 sudo[2011]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root
Feb 11 23:11:52 apple-MS-7E70 sudo[2032]:     root : PWD=/ ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/nvidia-smi -i 1,2 -pl 250
Feb 11 23:11:52 apple-MS-7E70 sudo[2032]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root(uid=0) by (uid=0)
Feb 11 23:11:52 apple-MS-7E70 rc.local[2033]: Power limit for GPU 00000000:0C:00.0 was set to 250.00 W from 420.00 W.
Feb 11 23:11:52 apple-MS-7E70 rc.local[2033]: Warning: persistence mode is disabled on device 00000000:0C:00.0. See the Known Issues section of the nvidia-smi(1) man page for more information. Run with [--help | -h] switch to get more information on how to enable persistence mode.
Feb 11 23:11:52 apple-MS-7E70 rc.local[2033]: Power limit for GPU 00000000:11:00.0 was set to 250.00 W from 350.00 W.
Feb 11 23:11:52 apple-MS-7E70 rc.local[2033]: Warning: persistence mode is disabled on device 00000000:11:00.0. See the Known Issues section of the nvidia-smi(1) man page for more information. Run with [--help | -h] switch to get more information on how to enable persistence mode.
Feb 11 23:11:52 apple-MS-7E70 rc.local[2033]: All done.
Feb 11 23:11:52 apple-MS-7E70 sudo[2032]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root

All I can say is that computers are magic sometimes, sorry for all the trouble and thank you for taking the time to wade through my attempts at documenting all this.

[WristWidget]

I actually ended up fixing it but I'll try to explain everything a little bit more clearly.

I'm glad you got it fixed, but this whole thread strikes me as a very poor way of understanding the Linux startup process.