NVIDIA Announces New Legacy Linux Support

[Gusar]

I guess I'm a newcomer to this. Please explain how I can use the nvidia blob to switch to a console quickly without having to load vesa?

You can't. Because nvidia doesn't provide a fbcon driver. But that's something separate from modesetting.

[logistiker]

You can't. Because nvidia doesn't provide a fbcon driver. But that's something separate from modesetting.

Isn't fast VT switching a feature of kernel mode setting regardless?

[Gusar]

Isn't fast VT switching a feature of kernel mode setting regardless?

Having modesetting in the kernel is a means to achieve it. But you need a fbcon driver for that. KMS drivers have it. Nvidia doesn't.

[logistiker]

Isn't fast VT switching a feature of kernel mode setting regardless?

i.e. without loading an external fbcon driver.

[logistiker]

Having modesetting in the kernel is a means to achieve it. But you need a fbcon driver for that. KMS drivers have it. Nvidia doesn't.

So how does the absence of this fbcon driver in the nvidia blob which is key to having KMS support consider the blob as having KMS support?

[logistiker]

Having modesetting in the kernel is a means to achieve it. But you need a fbcon driver for that. KMS drivers have it. Nvidia doesn't.

Maybe we're debating semantics here. I see what you mean by a "framework" but I'm not sure if it can be considered as KMS support if you have everything but the fbcon driver built in.

[Gusar]

So how does the absence of this fbcon driver in the nvidia blob which is key to having KMS support consider the blob as having KMS support?

One, fbcon is not key to having KMS. It's just that KMS drivers provide it. But they could just as well not. KMS is an implementation of modesetting in the kernel. Nothing less, nothing more.

Two, the blob doesn't have KMS support, I never said that. It has an implementation of modesetting in the kernel. A different one from KMS.

[logistiker]

One, fbcon is not key to having KMS. It's just that KMS drivers provide it. But they could just as well not. KMS is an implementation of modesetting in the kernel. Nothing less, nothing more.

Two, the blob doesn't have KMS support, I never said that. It has an implementation of modesetting in the kernel. A different one from KMS.

So linux kernel modesetting support (separate from the nvidia blob kernel modesetting - how do you differentiate between the two -- prefix one with nvidia and the other with linux?) doesn't require having a built in fbcon? Hmm, seems like multiple phoronix articles point to this as being a feature of kernel modesetting in the linux kernel. Do you have a source that mentions fbcon is optional with the linux kernel-based implementation (not nvidia) of kernel mode setting?

[brent]

If by "KMS" you mean the standard mode setting framework in the kernel, the blob will never be able to implement it due to license issues.

[logistiker]

If by "KMS" you mean the standard mode setting framework in the kernel, the blob will never be able to implement it due to license issues.

So since nvidia has their own kernel mode setting implementation, then I suppose they could just pretend KMS (linux kernel-based - not nvidia-base - kernel mode setting) doesn't exist and implement their own proprietary fbcon driver and accomplish fast VT switching. Then whatever licensing issues that stops them from using KMS can be bypassed right?