Nouveau: NVIDIA's New Hardware Is "VERY Open-Source Unfriendly"

[SystemCrasher]

Give nvidia finger, one more time!

Hey, Mr. Torvalds, we need your magic finger! One more time please. Nvidia are stubborn bastards who are slow to learn.

[brosis]

This is the same as BAD REVIEWS! Lots of people search online before buying or even order online from Amazon and alikes. Whenever you see a big offender, leave a comment and a bad rating. Maybe it's time to start doing this on all listings of nvidia's 900+ products on the basis of... IDK exactly what yet... Got to be convinced yet that nvidia is as bad as people portray them since I don't see any other company doing much better. They at least acknowledge Linux users as an existent potential market, which is better than most. :/

... no. Bad reviews today often are made up and paid by a rival. A personal involvement (which removes any anonymity) that takes it serious and brings it to the end is far more trustworthy.

[ihatemichael]

Hey, Mr. Torvalds, we need your magic finger! One more time please. Nvidia are stubborn bastards who are slow to learn.

What we need is people not to buy their hardware. That will teach them.

[grndzro]

Actually there is a better way. You can buy such hardware and then return it, giving as reason the locked down nature and lack of proper open source drivers.
Because a high number of returns will upset the distribution channel and hit a vendor where it hurts.

Ooo great idea, I think I found what to do with my savings

[Panix]

nVidia is a typical corporation and always has been. They "care" about open-source only when they can get some free publicity out of it which means basically never.

What to do? Boycott nVidia hardware. Yes, it's hard. But every time you give them money you validate their point of view.

Nouveau doesn't work - at least, most of the time. Several distros, when they come out with new releases, the video driver (nouveau) makes so you can't even boot properly.

The AMD driver looks like it's in the same state as usual - doesn't work either - Catalyst being a mess and the radeon driver lacking features or being buggy.

The problem there are only two choices. Having a laptop and the integrated dual graphics situation is even more problematic - both companies are not supporting either graphics form in Linux.

So, people go with Nvidia and binary drivers because, they get some functionality - and if you're a gamer - I think that's the only choice still, so far? Dunno as I wanted a low power, low temp card and AMD didn't provide that option - so I went with a Nvidia Maxwell card.

[boltronics]

I just don't understand why AMD can't open up their microcode! If not all of it, then at least enough of it so that basic expected functionality is available when people want to run 100% free software operating systems such as Guix, Trisquel or Debian main. If nVidia already has their microcode effectively open, what does AMD have to lose?

I'm a regular at a local monthly free software meet-up, and it seems everyone is running either Intel, or old Nvidia hardware. thinkpenguin.com are the same - no AMD GPU hardware available for purchase, and it's all because of this silly microcode issue.

So AMD, why not open the microcode, gain some hardware sales and increase the AMD fan-base? I fail to see the harm, and it would make a lot of people very happy.

[b15hop]

Because people stuff them with money. If people bought AMD and ignored nvidia, AMD had money for developing good drivers and nvidia didn't.

I don't think that will ever change. I know some AMD fanboys would tell me otherwise. But several years later and I'm still waiting for proof.

[prodigy_]

Nouveau doesn't work - at least, most of the time. Several distros, when they come out with new releases, the video driver (nouveau) makes so you can't even boot properly.

I have never experienced anything like that with my 680 card. But I rarely boot Linux on the machine. All my dedicated Linux machines have Intel cards.

[computerquip]

I have never experienced anything like that with my 680 card. But I rarely boot Linux on the machine. All my dedicated Linux machines have Intel cards.

The 680 is pretty old now.

[Panix]

Performance is only one factor. In pretty much every other factor the Radeon driver is better than Catalyst or the Nvidia binary. It's nice to not have to deal with things like really nasty obvious tearing.

LOL! Where?!? Where's the full features with the FOSS drivers from AMD? Particularly, with the most recent cards or most recent generations of cards. There is no tearing with radeon drivers with new AMD cards? Source?

Hardware acceleration?

I don't think AMD invests much into drivers either - so Nvidia and AMD are guilty in that regard. It's just that Nvidia is much worse in the investing in open source drivers but the binary ones are reportedly still better (with functioning etc.) than Catalyst and I don't know of any evidence that shows radeon outperforms the Nvidia blob. Would be nice but...

EDIT: P.S. I'm talking about discrete cards, too. Cards you buy to put in your desktop. I think both Nvidia and AMD are poor supporters of hybrid graphics hardware - at least, that's what I read on forums, notebook users constantly having issues with hybrid (integrated/discrete) graphics in Linux - regardless of whether it's an AMD graphics card or Nvidia/Intel.