NVIDIA Publishes Signed Ampere Firmware To Finally Allow Accelerated Open-Source Support

[Drago]

4. Not only you have many distros, but most also have a really fast pace between releases compared to Windows and MacOS. Both Windows and MacOS do release updates, but they do so without breaking driver compatibility, while Linux breaks it. Which, in practice, is equivalent to supporting many more targets.

And this is one of the biggest driver, for hardware companies, to opensource the drivers, and include them in the kernel.
This moves the burden from them to whom actually makes the breaking change.

[shmerl]

No reclocking support from Nvidia = ditch them and don't buy their hardware.

[Developer12]

imirkin Does this new signed firmware only permit gpu acceleration (ie, gpu context switching and similar functionality) or does it also provide the ability to reclock cards for reasonable performance?

(I'm referencing your explanations here: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gamin...xactly_nvidia/)

[sinepgib]

And this is one of the biggest driver, for hardware companies, to opensource the drivers, and include them in the kernel.
This moves the burden from them to whom actually makes the breaking change.

I agree, and I think it's the right technical choice to open source it, but It's apparently not that easy for other reasons.
However, that doesn't make it any less of a fact that, given things as they are, it's hard for a company to support the multiple configurations properly. And if that involves having multiple drivers to deal with that makes it even harder.

[Rabiator]

3. You wish changing the package manager was the only relevant difference, but it isn't, not even close. Userspace library versions, kernel versions, kernel flags, etc. All have to be verified, all have to be developed for, it's non-trivial work.
4. Not only you have many distros, but most also have a really fast pace between releases compared to Windows and MacOS. Both Windows and MacOS do release updates, but they do so without breaking driver compatibility, while Linux breaks it. Which, in practice, is equivalent to supporting many more targets.

3. Sounds a bit like the DLL Hell under Windows. But I don't see a perfect solution here, for either OS. I guess you can just install every library version in parallel, if you don't mind the bloat. An example would be several .NET versions installed on one Windows PC. Or you can specify a minimum version number and trust that future changes won't break the particular API you're using. Fat chance, I know.

4. With some Ubuntu LTS or enterprise Linux version, you can get 5 years+ support with a more conservative update policy.
Also, Microsoft tends to change their driver model from major release to major release (such as Win2000 => XP => Win7), which usually breaks drivers for the previous version. Some hardware makers follow up with adapted drivers, others don't and a switch of the OS requires new hardware too.
Edit: Sometimes, the Linux kernel developers throw out support for really old hardware too. Which usually gets reported on Phoronix. But that tends to be 20 years+ old stuff. Imagine the ATI 9000 series of graphics cards had been supported up to Windows 10, and would only be kicked out now with Windows 11. That would be 18 years of support and comparable.

[Drago]

Also, Microsoft tends to change their driver model from major release to major release (such as Win2000 => XP => Win7), which usually breaks drivers for .

I think that only GPU driver model changed in these major versions of windos. The rest of the drivers were compatible.

[bemerk]

what about previous generations before ampere? Can you reclock a 980, 1080 or 2080 yet?

[sinepgib]

3. Sounds a bit like the DLL Hell under Windows. But I don't see a perfect solution here, for either OS. I guess you can just install every library version in parallel, if you don't mind the bloat. An example would be several .NET versions installed on one Windows PC. Or you can specify a minimum version number and trust that future changes won't break the particular API you're using. Fat chance, I know.

Installing every library version in parallel is essentially Snap/Flatpak sans the sandbox, isn't it?

4. With some Ubuntu LTS or enterprise Linux version, you can get 5 years+ support with a more conservative update policy.
Also, Microsoft tends to change their driver model from major release to major release (such as Win2000 => XP => Win7), which usually breaks drivers for the previous version. Some hardware makers follow up with adapted drivers, others don't and a switch of the OS requires new hardware too.
Edit: Sometimes, the Linux kernel developers throw out support for really old hardware too. Which usually gets reported on Phoronix. But that tends to be 20 years+ old stuff. Imagine the ATI 9000 series of graphics cards had been supported up to Windows 10, and would only be kicked out now with Windows 11. That would be 18 years of support and comparable.

I know, but that doesn't address the point. It isn't that releases get dropped, but that they accumulate. Windows breaks drivers between major versions, but that happens in a several years timeframe. Compare that to at least two incompatible releases per year to support.
Regarding long term support for existing hardware, open source and in-tree is the only practical way to go. Past a certain point, only users have any incentive to update the drivers, and also having a single tree makes it easier to adapt to changes.
But, again, there seems to be an incentive for nvidia not to do so, be it rational (e.g. some 3rd party IP or fear that it contains too much knowledge on things that give them an edge) or not (some suits tend to have a really closed mind, I don't think it's the case but it happens).

[ElectricPrism]

It's like being given a bone when there's steaks on the table. Not only that but they expect us to pay $600 - $2149.99 for each bone.

Yeah bro, I'd like a plane ticket, sure I don't mind being stuffed in the luggage compartment for 20 hours.

[sinepgib]

It's like being given a bone when there's steaks on the table. Not only that but they expect us to pay $600 - $2149.99 for each bone.

Yeah bro, I'd like a plane ticket, sure I don't mind being stuffed in the luggage compartment for 20 hours.

They give you the steak if you want tho, just not the recipe