Nouveau Still Pushing Forward In 2020 Thanks To Red Hat But Community Developers Leaving

[OneTimeShot]

That is pretty closed minded, don't you think? I am free to use the software that I choose. I am also free to use the hardware that I choose. The point of Linux is to be free for whatever your use case may be. That includes utilizing closed-source software and proprietary hardware. Using such hardware and software does not mean I am incapable of appreciating what the free ecosystem provides, preferring such a free ecosystem, or contributing back to the free ecosystem.

Cheers,
Mike

Erm... No I don't think that buying from companies that support Linux is closed minded. I only have relatively minor contributions to Open Source, so at least I'm going to do that much. You're free to do what you want, I guess, although I disagree that giving money to Nvidia is a good use of that freedom - especially when AMD and Intel do so much for Linux graphics. If I can convince you to think twice about giving $150 to Nvidia then I'm happy enough with this post.

[onicsis]

In 2020 hindering open source devs with binary blobs and not releasing proper documentations, really make no sens. So go and f yourself NVIDIA, on your own money.

[onicsis]

If i have to choose between NVIDIA or AMD clearly I will choose AMD for support they offer to open source drivers and OSS software in generally. Also they drivers are in good shape, stable, good quality. Don't care about NVIDIA anymore. And if something's wrong with some AMD drivers this can be fixed easily, I think. And this due to openness

[Hi-Angel]

IMHO the reason people don't contribute to nouveau is pretty clear. To have a driver that performs like the closed one requires thousands of man-hours. Especially so, given how NVidia hinders these efforts. By the time you put it, the hardware would get obsolete. This is different from r600g vs proprietary fglrx story, where the later was buggy and from my experience weren't performing well. NVidia proprietary driver is pretty well made.

So when I'm asking myself would I contribute to NVidia driver or Intel or AMD, in the first case I feel like my efforts would just go into nothingness. Whereas with Intel and AMD I actually feel like my contribution does something, improves someone's life, etc.

[RSpliet]

this question is stupid if you recall that nouveau had many community contributors in the past when novideo had same corporate windows shit with linux wrapper. and now they have left nouveau, so the reason is not existence of novideo proprietary shit. my guess is they all bought amd videocards, because people smarter than you wouldn't support most linux-hostile vendor

Speaking for myself, nah. Honestly, nouveau has been an amazing way of developing reverse engineering and developing skills that you just don't learn in school. There's a ton of fun projects contained within nouveau, and I joined because I saw an itch that I wanted to try and scratch. As for "leaving", I'm still interested in the project and I could still perceivably enjoy getting back to hacking on it, but priorities shift on account of being a human being. Studying for a PhD doesn't allow doing such side-projects any more, and quite frankly I also crave non-computer hobbies and activities. Sometimes hobbies got to give despite the hobby.
I'm sure other devs that have come and gone have similar stories... we're all humans in the end. People aren't guaranteed to be passionate about a single thing in life forever. Hence for any open source project, no, for any team effort, it's paramount to stay open to new curious and driven minds and to establish a healthy cycle of contributors coming and going.

[mroche]

In any case, buying Nvidia is incompatible with being a Linux fan.

That is pretty closed minded, don't you think? I am free to use the software that I choose. I am also free to use the hardware that I choose. The point of Linux is to be free for whatever your use case may be. That includes utilizing closed-source software and proprietary hardware. Using such hardware and software does not mean I am incapable of appreciating what the free ecosystem provides, preferring such a free ecosystem, or contributing back to the free ecosystem.

Cheers,
Mike

[OneTimeShot]

Thankfully, AMD are pushing both Nvidia and Intel really hard. Sure people are buying Nvidia for now, but times they are a-changin' Soon it'll be AMD for games, and stock Intel for the office.

The Windows gaming fanboys are starting to say "Ryzen this" and "Radeon RX that" in their dream systems. It's ironic that all AMD had to do was stick 8000 cores into a $5000 graphics card that only a few dozen people will ever buy, and it's enough to be manufacturer of the year...


In any case, buying Nvidia is incompatible with being a Linux fan. It's basically like going hunting and joining the League against Cruel Spots.

[risyasin]

Being a long time of Linux desktop user and numerous Nvidia cards owner, I think I have a right to share my experience of Nvidia cards on Linux desktops.
TLDR: Ugly as hell, fundamentally broken and cheap unlike their cards.

I've started using Nvidia cards since Riva TNT/Geforce MX series on Linux since kernel v2 with Redhat 9 mostly with dual boot with windows just for gaming. My last card was 1050 ti and MX150. So far my experience with proprietary driver worsened through the years. Once it was decent enough even allowing to play some game on linux via Wine. It was better than ATI firegl drivers which they were also proprietary 10 years ago, that's why I was buying Nvidia cards in past becuase of their drivers, But recently, especially Linux folks switched to Wayland, Nvidia literally sucked on both Desktop and mobile. Their approach of to not to follow GBM and insisting on EGLStreams was a signal. Each time for every updated version of their driver not to mention 340 series but even beta drivers, They just made it cheap and cheaper. I think this is somehow related with company's decisions and focus, probably related with investors not quality of workforce they spared for Linux support. Nvidia is dealing with too many problems right now more than ever, and it seems like supporting open source is not in thier priority list even if they have announced that they would, I don't think they will make it properly, most likely will make it cheap again. It was always marketing. Just like now that announcement is also marketing speech at best. How am I so sure about this? Just look at the tegra/jetson support for Linux/Android. They had literally given up of chance to sell millions of devices. But again I have to thank Linux developers at Nvidia. I've used their driver far too long. I respect their work.

Right now using a NAVI10 based card with Gnome on wayland. It's so far the best desktop experience I've ever got in last two decades. Amazing performance. Kudos to AMD.

[loganj]

Britoid but don't confuse linux with everything that runs on linux. from what i understand there are also a lot of "free" types of licenses out there that has some restrictions. there are also a lot of software that are not free but runs on linux.
so yes, linux is free (for now and hope forever). is not just "SUPPOSE". it is free.

no back to nvidia: im not so sure i want so many drivers for my GPU as there are for radeon cards. just imaging to want to report a bug and keep switching/building and so on to figure out if its happening with only 1 driver or 1 version of one of driver or is the software that has problems..... its much easier with only one driver.

[zexelon]

Don't forget to take regular breaks and stay well hydrated while you're shilling for Nvidia. You should also ask for a pay raise soon -- you earned it.

Lol thanks for the advice!