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

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[mroche]

Erm... No I don't think that buying from companies that support Linux is closed minded.

That statement has different implications from what you said before:

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

Using a closed-source or proprietary product does not put a blanket ban on you supporting an ecosystem which is what this statement implies. That was the point I was making. When it comes to the choice of NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel, it is a complex situation for people who need to do more than look at a browser or word processor. It's totally fine for people to choose solely on the principle of open-source or more-free, but it is also just as valid to choose on the principle of best value for oneself outside of those reasons.

Cheers,
Mike

[Prescience500]

Nouveau is important because people who first try out Linux will have whatever hardware they have. We should strive to have it so that all of the hardware just works upon installation. I really hope that the open source announcement is an NVIDIA equivalent to the AMDGPU kernelside driver. That would solve a lot of problems and move them closer to having a great mostly open option on Linux...just like AMD has.

[blackiwid]

Hey feel free to not use Nvidia No one is forcing anyone to use Nvidia. I use them because they have the best support and performance... especially on Linux!

Freedom is great that way!

So how is the support if I install a current Fedora version or upgrade it when it's new and the current kernel is to new or the driver is to old rather and there is no current one to work and the distro starts with a black screen.

You either need to install special Nvidia Linux versions like Ubuntu that always keeps it kernel as old as possible (which then maybe not supports other hardware you have) or do much hand work to manually install drivers on the konsole like a animal.

So you have to use special linux versions that are specifically designed to be good for Nvidia you just don't understand that because you made this chances already like a frog in the water not even noticing it. That you forgo many features or speed or bugfixes because you are so invested in Nvidia and build your linux world around Nvidia.

No Ubuntu Support is maybe arguably good for Nvidia "Linux" support in general can be horrible. Of course you would then say it's Fedora fault, but that is wrong because they are a general Linux distribution so they can't just deliver bad support for Intel and AMD with old Kernels therefor old drivers from that companies just to support Nvidia with their need of old kernels.

But of course it's your choice, you also can buy a knife and cut of 4 fingers of you, freedom is nice? I guess so yes, have fun cutting of your fingers and enjoy your freedom it's nice that you are allowed to enjoy hurting yourself.

And I wonder how your vga driver work when a current compisor like gnome-shell starts, yes Distros could detect it and come with a different desktop to install their driver, but Linux distros / devs have also no obligation to do any extra work to support Nvidia. So yes that is a 2way street.